Bandai Namco's upcoming action adventure RPG game, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, tells the story of DBZ in a brand new way, releases tomorrow, and fans are beyond excited for it. This game hopes to change the very formula of Dragon Ball games, removing all aspects of multiplayer and crafting a challenging yet rewarding single player experience. A recent Famitsu review of the game stated that it will take around 35 to 40 hours to beat the main story of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, assuming side quests are mostly ignored. Some fans are curious to know exactly how this stacks up compared to the completion time of other major Dragon Ball Z games.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot will take players through each saga of the Dragon Ball Z story, and with its promise to retell the story as accurately as possible, there is a lot of ground to cover. Filler arcs have even been seen in trailers and gameplay, and with numerous side quests and some original material, the game is sure to be packed full of content for payers to enjoy well past the 40 hour mark. Traditionally, though, Dragon Ball games have been fighter type games, with even those that feature open world traits relying mainly on text boxes or light voice acting followed by a typical fighting game encounter, as such it seems likely that Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot's story will be significantly longer than previous games.
For example, one of the most recent games in the franchise, Dragon Ball FighterZ, takes only six and a half hours to beat. Although this time seems minuscule, especially in comparison to the 40 hours it takes to conquer Kakarot, it makes sense when considering what Dragon Ball FighterZ actually is. As a fighting game, the main draw of the game doesn't come from the story, but of the replayability and the intricacy of the fighting system. Players don't need 40 hours of story because they will find those 40 hours and many more battling other players with their favorite fighters, developing new tactics and combos, and the like.
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, on the other hand, is more closely related to the genre of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, as both could be classified as an action RPG. While the Xenoverse series certainly exhibits these qualities like character leveling and a more involved story, it is still at its core meant to balance fighters for the most part and provide an enjoyable multiplayer experience. Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2's main story takes an average of 18 1/2 hours to beat. Far more formidable than Dragon Ball FighterZ to be sure, but it still pales in comparison to tomorrow's upcoming game. Once again, though, the story mode is more of an afterthought for most players of this game, something that needs to be done in order to unlock all the characters, items, and masters in Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. The real fun comes in the end game activities and maxing out characters.
Compared to the most recent of Dragon Ball games, it seems that Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is the easy winner in terms of length of the main story. Although that isn't usually a metric which Dragon Ball games are measured by, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot has much more going for it than that. The game has been praised by fans and critics alike for being incredibly faithful to the Dragon Ball Z anime source material and including a lot for the players to do. Bandai Namco has stated that, including all of the side quests and other activities, it should take players about 100 hours to get through everything.
For reference, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, a game infamous for its seemingly endless supply of side quests and activities, is listed as taking on average 33 hours to complete the main story and 108 hours to complete the main story plus extras on How Long To Beat. This fits almost exactly with what is known about Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, with a 35 to 40 hour main story and estimated 100 hours if additional content is included. The thought of having a Skyrim scale Dragon Ball Z game is certainly exciting for fans of the franchise, and that may be exactly what is coming. It's no surprise though, given that it has been known for quite some time that the game would try to recreate nearly everything from the original Dragon Ball Z anime.
This brings up another point worthy of mention. The original English dub of the beloved Dragon Ball Z anime has 291 epiosdes, with the Saiyan Saga taking 39 episodes, the Frieza Saga lasting 68 episodes, the Cell Saga being 87 episodes in length, and the Buu saga closing the franchise with its final 97 episodes. With an average episode run time of 24 minutes, this means that the entirety of the anime would take about 116 hours and 24 minutes to binge, which is strikingly close to the claimed time it will take to fully complete Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. Going further, one can expect that each saga in the game will be longer than the last, as the same was true in the anime.
Overall, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot seems like it deserves all the praise it has received. A Dragon Ball game hasn't been this highly anticipated for quite some time, but then again, a Dragon Ball game hasn't been this ambitious for a long time either. Ultimately, players can see for themselves how long it takes them to beat this game, as the game finally releases tomorrow, January 17th. Even ignoring all side quests, it seems the game's length will be more than sufficient to satisfy players, but throw in extra content and the possibility of eventual downloadable content like a Dragon Ball Super DLC, and prospects seem even brighter. Players would do well to remember, though, that while flying around doing endless sidequests, the fate of the world may be at stake.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot releases January 17, 2020, for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.