The latest Dragon Ball Z adaptation doesn’t always explain itself that well so here’s what you need to do to get a head start.
If you’re looking to start your journey to becoming a Super Saiyan in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot then you’ll find things aren’t always easy.
Taking on some of the universe’s toughest enemies is harder than the colourful visuals would have you believe – especially if you’re under-levelled or ill-equipped. Thankfully, we’ve put together the following tips to get your power level climbing so you can reach your final form.
1. Levelling is very important
While action role-playing games often let you sneak by tough encounters by relying on your wits and quick-thinking alone, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot will crush you like Yamcha if you don’t get your characters to at least close to the required levels.
With that in mind, while the first battle has Goku and Piccolo take on Raditz when he’s multiple levels higher than you, you should really complete some side quests to help prepare.
As we noted in our review, these are the best way to level up and aren’t usually too taxing. It might be a lot like busywork, but even if you don’t level up a great deal you can use any currency earned to pick up some healing items – which brings us to our next point.
2. Preparation is everything
Items in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot are incredibly important, especially healing ones. These can be assigned to a quick select menu called the Item Palette, which is bought up by using the D-pad. You’d be surprised how often your mighty warriors will need them!
You can also heal at campfires, so it’s worth resting before a big fight – which also offers the opportunity for a bite to eat.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot explains early on that cooking is incredibly important, and in this regard it’s similar to something like Monster Hunter: World, in that meals provide stat bonuses that carry on into battle.
Thy can be something like improved Ki for special attacks, or improved resistance to damage. Be sure to keep an eye on your stats before heading into a battle (using the pause menu) and get some food in your heroes to plug any gaps.
3. Team effort
As the game progresses, Goku will be accompanied on his adventures by other characters that join the player’s party.
These fighters level up individually, so be sure all characters are prepared for whatever battle you’re dragging them into.
Once you are fighting, holding the R1 button will allow you to request special moves from your comrades. These not only do damage but can cause status effects and sometimes distract an opponent.
Goku’s Body Blow can keep an opponent still for a second or two, which makes it ideal for pairing with Piccolo’s Special Beam Cannon, for example. Experimenting with different fighters will be key for later engagements, so be sure to keep everyone as levelled as you can (see point 1!).
4. Community centre
In the opening half an hour, Kakarot throws dozens of tutorials at the player – but the Community Board is one of the more important ones, and it isn’t explained all that well.
This hub page in the pause menu allows you to assign characters that give you bonuses, both in and out of combat.
That means you can tailor your loadout to favour XP gains, boost attack power, or food bonuses.
Many of these characters can be levelled up too. On Goku’s adventures, you’ll find ‘Gift Items’ which can be turned in to the Community Board and boost the corresponding ability.
With boosts of up to 50% on offer when you level up to Rank 10, it’s worth investing as much time as possible in the Community Board.
5. Collect as many orbs as you can!
Kakarot’s open world sections feature a very liberal helping of Z Orbs which can be found all over the place and work something like the upgrade orbs in Crackdown.
These unlock even more attacks, so are always worth picking up; they come in different colours, including versions that are time-limited, so be sure to grab them when you can.
You can spend these orbs in the Character menu of the pause screen and collecting them to power-up your heroes can be a great way to get through otherwise tricky encounters.
6. Practice makes perfect
The bicep icons on the world map are training sessions, and you can access them with ‘D Medals’, which are earned through side quests or exploration.
These one-time only sessions can open up more moves for your arsenal and are boosted by the aforementioned Community Board, helping you to level up rapidly with the right setup.
Another great way to earn fistfuls of XP is to finish the Frieza Saga and unlock the opportunity to earn Dragon Balls. Once you collect all seven you can ‘wish’ an enemy back from the dead to battle them all over again.
Once you’ve earned the ability to track Dragon Balls, you can see them from the world map (visible when flying directly upwards in the open world) and also using the Dragon Radar.
Hopefully these tips will have you conquering aliens and androids alike, but if you’re not certain whether Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is for you, be sure to check out our full review.
By Lloyd Coombes
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