The canon of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot follows that of the original story very closely, but there are some concessions made in order to make for a more enjoyable game. When v, Kakarot took some liberties to account for these changes, but still opted to leave the original story’s most grievous mistake untouched. The climax of the the battle against Golden Frieza has often been criticized for trivializing the entire battle, as Whis ends up turning back time to undo any mistake that Goku or Vegeta might have made. With how widely disliked this ending is, many thought Kakarot might decide to change it.
Despite these hopes, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot left that aspect of the story completely unchanged. For those unfamiliar with the events of Resurrection F and that haven’t played through the second DLC yet, Golden Frieza ends up destroying the earth in a last ditch attempt to kill the Saiyans. The Evil Emperor knows that he’s the only one that can survive in the vacuum of space, and decides that destroying the planet will be enough to kill both Goku and Vegeta, reasserting his dominance over the galaxy. After doing so, Whis turns back time and gives Goku a chance to kill Frieza before he has the chance to pull this trick.
Part of why it’s such a shame to see this moment go unchanged is that there were a lot of other changes made to the story. In the canon of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, characters like Zarbon, Dodoria, Cui, and the Ginyu Force were all revived by Earth’s dragon balls. Players have the option to do this in order to unlock more sub-stories, but the decision carries over into this DLC as well. In the original rendition of Resurrection F, none of these characters were present.
On a similar note, Master Roshi was initially present for the battle against the new Frieza Force, but was removed in the game since Roshi is not a support character that can be used. Likewise, Android 18 initially stayed home to watch her daughter, Maron, leaving the fighting up to Krillin instead. Even the ending was changed to allow for one more fight between Super Saiyan Blue Goku and Golden Frieza, as the original story shows Goku killing Frieza outright rather than having another fight with the tyrant.
Even with all these changes, the ending of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot DLC 2 follows the same story as the original. After beating Golden Frieza as Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta, the villain destroys the planet’s core, causing the entire earth to explode in a matter of seconds. It all happens so fast that even Vegeta isn’t able to do anything about it, and it’s up to Whis and Beerus to grab everyone and whisk Goku and them away before they’re killed in the explosion.
Whis explains to Goku that none of this would have happened if Goku had killed Frieza when he had the chance, and then offers to turn back time for three minutes. At this point, Goku rushes to Frieza, shooting a power Kamehameha wave to stop him from destroying the earth. The two then engage in a final battle that ends with Goku killing him once and for all. In general, fans aren’t fond of this ending, as it trivializes the entire fight leading up to Whis’ intervention and steals a well deserved revenge from Vegeta.
Instead, there are a number of ways that the ending could have been changed to allow for a more satisfying conclusion. Rather than have Whis jump in and save the day using his godly powers, the best thing would have been to simply let Vegeta kill Golden Frieza instead of Goku. The two have a longer history together than Goku and Frieza, and although Goku’s the one that killed him, Vegeta has just as much of a grudge against the tyrant.
This ending would also circumvent one of Dragon Ball Super‘s greatest criticisms, as until the final saga of the series, the Z Warriors don’t actually defeat a single villain on their own. In Battle of Gods, Beerus handily defeats Goku and Vegeta and simply decides not to destroy Earth on a whim. Resurrection F sees the Z Warriors lose everything to Frieza before Whis’ divine powers turn back time, and the Universe 6 and 7 Tournament is only won because Hit decides to throw the fight against Monaka. Continuing on, the Future Trunks Saga requires the help of the Omni King to destroy Zamasu once and for all.
The worst part about this ending is that Whis’ intervention doesn’t really accomplish anything. Vegeta was already intending to kill Golden Frieza right then, so it doesn’t make much sense that Goku jumping in and doing the same would make any difference. It seems the main purpose of this is to create a teaching moment for Goku that he can’t be so prideful and aloof, but that message doesn’t seem to stick with him moving on as he continues his absurd behavior.
It does help showcase just how powerful the Angel is, but fans didn’t really need to see that at such a pivotal point in the plot. Essentially, it’s the exact definition of a Deus Ex Machina plot line, as Whis is able to save the day from a seemingly hopeless situation for no reason other than plot. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot had a chance to fix this and create a more compelling end to the story, but it unfortunately decided to keep this aspect of Resurrection F in the game.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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