I grew up with the original, so this one I was looking forward to. Ultimately, it ended up being more of a makeover with (much-needed) quality of life changes.

The original was seen as the "definitive version" at the time by the creator. It's what he envisioned the series to look like when not restricted by hardware limitations.

What you get is a quaint little valley on a decently sized farm that you can expand with time and effort put into the task at end.

The original suffered from many flaws and glitches that were rectified. No more useless goat, crops that don't grow from trees are actually a worthy investment, and expansion is a bit more rewarding. One thing I also noticed is that influencing the kid's career path is more streamlined and easier to see the progress that you are making in that regard.

The graphics and remixed songs are gorgeous. The character re-designs are hit and miss. I prefer the older games' more rustic designs. The younger adult males are turned into your every day anime pretty boy, which is disappointing but not unexpected from the newer titles of this franchise.

Some of the flaws remain in this game: Lack of festivals, pacing issues, lack of character development, the lack of valley alterations. These could be forgiven due to the hardware limitations at the time, but I feel like this remake should have used the chance to re-introduce rival marriages (as long as you meet the criterias) with their own little families. This would have allowed for a more immersive world as the chapters go on. Some characters could die (as they logically should have) and be replaced by these families or even new migrants. As it is right now, the valley still stagnates at around chapter 4 and beyond. By then you've befriended everyone and you have no reason to really bother with anyone. A missed opportunity to repair the issues with the immersion and longevity of the game.

Overall, it's a solid game, but you'll likely achieve everything you want by the time the child becomes an adult in chapter 5. At that point, you're mostly just farming and mixing crops. The game abruptly slows down and never picks up again. It is simply too front-heavy like the original, which they missed the chance to fix.

This game has incredible presentation and is a great love-letter to the series' core of adventure, but it does begin to falter as the longer it goes on.

The Saiyan and Frieza sagas are top notch. They use the overworld excellently and the fights + cutscenes are at their most engaging. This is likely due to the level scaling. Around Cell and Buu, it is rather easy to stomp everyone if you simply play the game as it was intended by exploring.

The fighting gets worse as it goes on as a result, as well. The developers try to counter this by having the AI constantly charge a powerful blow attack that stuns you. But the AI never really do anything for follow-ups to punish you if they hit you...which is a big if in itself. As long as you guard or even afterimage at the right time, you can easily negate this attack. It eventually only serves to slow down the fights at an increasingly annoying rate. They will eventually boil down to near button bashing, albeit the abilities you unlock do provide some combos that are great to pull off.

Some of the boss battles are interesting. Raditz, the entirety of Namek, and Dr. Gero offer something interesting in your approach.

Cell and Buu also suffer in the presentation. It appears those arcs were severely rushed. Most likely to meet deadlines. There's a huge difference between the first half of the main game and the second. Almost distractingly so.

The game has side quests and, while it is amazing to see original Dragon Ball characters pop up again, they boil down to three different kinds of quest: fighting, scavenging, or collecting. Sometimes in stages to include all three. This wouldn't be bad, but it gets tedious fighting the same nameless goons or blowing up rocks for these quests.

Speaking of these goons, they litter the overworld too much. They aren't interesting to fight and discourage you from exploring due to the sheer volume of them. This appears to get worse as the game goes on. Such a shame as the overworld is the best part of the game, despite being fairly barren.

I purchased the 23rd Martial Arts Tournament, Future Trunks, and Bardock DLCs to expand on the game. While they have great presentation and offer some good fights and new features, they are simply too short for the market price. I'd definitely get them on sale if you like this game, but it's a little frustrating that they don't add anything to the base game. Tien and Future Trunks could have easily gotten post-game sub stories added to the mix.

The game had its moments but feels like a wasted opportunity. Maybe a sequel can fix all of these problems and offer the optimal adventure game for the series. I personally think it would have been better off as a OG Dragon Ball focused game, but that would have required some changes in the design philosophy. The latest DLC shows that they could pull it off nicely with the ground fighting at least. I'd say the game is worth experiencing if you find a good sale.