'Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2' release date news: next iteration may be more RPG than fighting title

'Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2' is scheduled to arrive in Japan late this year.Twitter/Bandai Namco US

While staying in the timeline for the franchise, the current "Dragon Ball Xenoverse" title is still a fighting game, where players are pitted against each other in tournaments or against NPC enemies. Speculations suggest that its sequel, "Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2," will shift slightly and will focus more on being an RPG than a fighting game.

According to The Bitbag, Bandai Namco has just dropped a new trailer to showcase the upcoming sequel, and it hints that players will need to save the bad guys from time to time. This deviates from the gameplay of "Dragon Ball Xenoverse," where players create a character to serve as a Time Patroller, trying to stop the enemies from altering the known "Dragon Ball" timeline.

The current title also has a story mode, so there is still a role-playing element to it. However, the industry observer surmises that for "Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2," Bandai Namco may have a surprise for fans, like a "moral choice system" where players can take the side of either the good and bad guys, and their choices will have weight on future actions.

Meanwhile, since "Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2" is a direct sequel, fans expect that the character selections and customization options will have a wider range. Although some of the new characters from the "Dragon Ball Z" world have been added to the current title, the new ones are only in a limited capacity like NPCs and expansion content add-ons.

"Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2" is expected to be released later this year. However, it is still unclear if the supposed 2016 outing is a global roll-out or only in selected regions like Bandai Namco's backyard, Japan. Meanwhile, it is also confirmed that unlike the first game, the new title will no longer be released for the PS3 and Xbox 360.