After a long waiting period, fans finally know what to expect from Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot DLC 3, but even that's not entirely true. Players know about where the DLC will kick off, it focuses on the alternate timeline in which Future Trunks and Gohan are the only survivors of the Android attack, but there's no indication of when it will end. Most of the arcs in Dragon Ball Z are bookended rather neatly, but the same can't be said for this story. Future Trunks' story arc mixes together with the main Cell Saga by nature, and it's hard to say where it should stop in order to maintain a satisfying ending.
DLC 3 is confirmed to be the final piece of content for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, so its ending is all the more important. While the first two DLCs could afford to slack off here a little bit, it's vital that DLC 3 brings it home for the game as a whole. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot has been a roller coaster for many fans, with the base game blowing most away and the DLC leaving some with a bad taste. As the culmination of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, this will not only determine how fans remember the game but also set the precedent for future sequels in this new franchise.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot DLC 3 - Goku Black
One thing that many would love to see is for the DLC focusing on Future Trunks to expand all the way into the Goku Black arc of Dragon Ball Super. Unfortunately, Bandai Namco has already confirmed that this won't be the case, reaffirming its desire to stay within the confines of Dragon Ball Z rather than venturing into Dragon Ball Super. For those confused about the inclusion of the first two DLCs, they were technically based on the canon Dragon Ball Z movies Battle of Gods and Resurrection F rather than on the corresponding story arcs in Dragon Ball Super.
While this rules out Goku Black or anything relating to the other universes and Dragon Ball Super, it still doesn't tell fans how far the DLC will go. There are still plenty of potential stopping points, but each one has some issues that can't be overlooked. These could cause the DLC to be either too short, too repetitive, or inconclusive altogether. So if the story doesn't end with Goku Black, what other options are there?
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot DLC 3 - Before Time Travel
One potential option is for the DLC to end after Bulma creates the time machine but right before Trunks uses it to travel back in time. This would avoid the need to retread the story of the Cell Saga as it was told in the base game but has some obvious and glaring negative side effects. For one, this would cause the DLC to be incredibly short, featuring just a few battles between Gohan, Trunks, and the Androids and that's it. What's more, it also would feel like there wasn't a real ending.
If DLC 3 cuts to the credits with Trunks climbing into the Time Machine to try and set things straight by curing Goku's heart disease and warning the Z Warriors of the impending Android threat, it won't feel like a conclusive end to the game. Sure players could always use the time machine to replay the Cell Saga afterwards, but the tonal shift would be jarring and it still wouldn't feel cohesive thanks to the lack of level scaling on the time machine. Although this is a feasible way for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot to end, most can agree that it is far from the best option.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot DLC 3 - Trunks Defeats the Androids
One of the better potential endings circumvents the issues of being too short or inconclusive by wrapping up the Android saga from Trunks' perspective. Players would start at the very beginning from when the Androids come and kill the Z Warriors, playing as Gohan as he helps to raise and train Trunks to fight. After some battles with the Androids, Trunks would go back in time and the events of the base game would unfold. The DLC would end with Trunks returning to his timeline and finishing off the Androids once and for all.
The trouble with this approach is how Bandai Namco will handle the time Trunks spends in the main timeline. The two main options seem to be for players to play through that story again but from Trunks' perspective or for it to be skipped over, neither of which seem all too appealing. Playing that arc again could be fun, but runs the risk of feeling repetitive. What's more, skipping over it will cause the DLC's story to feel fragmented and Trunks' massive power boost to feel arbitrary. While this is one of the better potential endings, it isn't without its problems.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot DLC 3 - Future Trunks' Buu Saga
The final option is for the story to continue on past Trunks' final battle with the Androids and onto his own version of the Buu Saga. Although this is described in some detail in Dragon Ball Super, it likely would technically fall into the realm of Dragon Ball Z since Buu is a Z villain. In this story, Trunks manages to stop Babadi and Dabura before they are able to summon Majin Buu, but it would still be interesting to see more of nonetheless.
It's also possible that this will be yet another alternate timeline, giving developers the freedom to write whatever ending they want, but that would probably confuse things more. Ending with Future Trunks' version of the Buu Saga would be a strong ending for Kakarot because it would give fans something they've never seen before. It would still have to contend with the problems of recapping the main timeline story, but skipping over it wouldn't be as bad if the story were to continue. This may be the best option, but it remains to be seen whether or not Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot DLC 3 will go this far.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
