Final Xenosaga impressions

**Ryos** · March 6th, 2003

I'm dividing this up into two areas, nonspoilery and (censored) huge spoilers (like not a good idea to read unless you've finished the first episode of Xenosaga at the very least

) conveniently blocked off with the spoiler tag.

Nonspoiler impressions:

I'd heard a lot more about Xenosaga than I really wanted to before the U.S. release by huge fans of Xenogears who also happened to know Japanese, a luxury that came in handy at the forum I am talking about. Nothing as far as content goes, but plenty of reviews about the game. The consensus on that forum was that Xenosaga, if not outright bad, was significantly worse than Xenogears. So I went into the game not expecting much. I figure light expectations mean I won't be disappointed. I was right. However, not in the way I expected. I enjoyed Xenosaga more than Xenogears. I will only focus on two aspects of the game since they are really all that's important to me in an RPG: music and the plot.

Music: not as good as Xenogears. That would be very hard to duplicate, especially given how FEW tracks are in Xenosaga - when they're even playing. Thankfully, being a fairly avid PC RPG player, I didn't mind the fact most areas have no music whatsoever playing. But what was a little more annoying was the lack of any boss music whatsoever. It's not like there HAS to be a different boss song, but it helps to break the monotony, if nothing else. And some of these bosses could have had some extremely interesting songs composed for them that would have helped to better the mood and heighten the climax.

Plot: I'll say it right now - I thought this plot beat Xenogears' plot to death with both hands tied behind its back. And that's even ignoring the second disk. The plot starts off kind of uneven with the many, many cutscenes in the game. It was literally not unusual to control your character for maybe five minutes before having to sit down and watch a 10+ minute cutscene unfold that was used to further the plot and characterization. Fortunately, such uneven storytelling eventually gave way to more interaction and better cutscenes. And what a way the plot eventually unfolds! I haven't run into characters this compelling in an RPG since...er...hmm...actually, nothing really comes to mind right now. And with the way the characters are fleshed out, pieces of the puzzle start to come together, but more pieces appear to make the picture cloudier. But unlike Xenogears near the end, this is a good thing, not convoluted/rushed as it got. It reminded me of a good novel where a bone is thrown to the reader every couple minutes but snatched back as soon as the reader got close to the tempting morsel.

In the end, Xenosaga has one of the best plots and best batch of characters - both good and evil - of any game ever. I can't wait for Xenosaga II.

Spoiler:

KOS-MOS 0wns me more than I ever expected, as I've mentioned before. Despite her godawful voice (who the devil picked her actress?), I couldn't omit her from my party at any point in the game. She was so powerful, it was really rather absurd. Not only did she have the best stats in the game by far (at the end, she had almost all of her stats completely maxed out, as can be seen at the character custom stat allocation screen), but her attacks did obscene damage, notably her X-Buster and R Dragon attacks. I was not surprised to see her exceed the 1000 point damage barrier when Ziggy and chaos just sort of pricked enemies by comparison. And after KOS-MOS had a speed of shoes on, Ziggy's speed boost spell, AND a boost pack equipped, KOS-MOS made Citan look kind of like Maria.

The "edited" part of Xenosaga with Albedo annoyed the heck out of me. Some will undoubtedly say there wasn't a big difference. Before I played, I felt the same way. But the realistic intensity of that scene in the Japanese version is LOST, with an important part of Albedo's twisted personality going to the wayside. When I watched the new scene and Jr. told Albedo to stop hurting MOMO, all I was thinking was, "Gee, all Albedo is doing is shining MOMO's head. Wax on, wax off." Do you look around in a "puppet" by buffing its head? I think not.

Although some parts of the plot were so godawful predictable (Virgil is back? I know I was surprised! Not.

), a lot was quite interesting, especially the foreshadowing for episode 2 (and beyond). It's almost a given we're going to end up piloting Albedo's mech - it just SCREAMS that it's the ancestor of Xenogears. And one can easily tell who get a MUCH more important part in episode 2 by his conspicuous lack of characterization/character history in episode 1: chaos. I have no idea if I'll be able to survive that tedious voice having an increased role, but it'll be interesting to see just how his powers came about and what key he holds to this arc of the Xenosaga series. Here's hoping we control Jin in episode 2 - he looks like quite the Citanlike character, which certainly isn't a bad thing. And we'll get to see Shion's jujitsu - something I'm not at all looking forward to...except maybe in that swimsuit "armor." Hehe.

I found it extremely interesting that Virgil's new outfit/situation is quite similar to that of Grahf. I almost have to wonder if Virgil might end up being remotely connected to the rise of Grahf. That's thousands of years away, but that doesn't mean anything.

Do you know what one thing annoyed me about Xenosaga perhaps more than anything else? KOS-MOS couldn't wear the swimsuit. I tried. More than once, as a matter of fact. But alas, I guess anyone interested in pursuing that "aspect" of her will have to be content with the X-Buster attack. Heh. Speaking of which, I have this vague feeling that KOS-MOS is quite a bit more than even the characters suspect. So here's hoping for an even more prevalent role for her in Xenosaga episode II.

__________________
Sanity is overrated.

Adair · March 6th, 2003

Quote:

Originally posted by Ryos
In the end, Xenosaga has one of the best plots and best batch of characters - both good and evil - of any game ever.

What about for those of us who haven't played Xenogears?(I know, shame on me) Does the plot stand alone enough to make it this good by itself? In your opinion of coarse.

__________________

Syed Fawad · March 6th, 2003

I am too one of those who ain't much in RPGs and haven't played Xenogears (yet).

To put it in one line, straight forward: Is it BETTER than Xenogears?

__________________

Asus K8N (nForce3)
AMD64 3000+ (754)
768MB DDR 400MHz (PC 3200)
nVidia Geforce 6600GT 128MB (AGP)

Aquamark3 - 53,000

"Good friends mustn't always be together. It is the feeling of oneness when distant that proves a lasting friendship"

Sera · March 6th, 2003

Xenogears vs. Xenosaga that's a good one

.

**OK-OK** · March 6th, 2003

They follow the same story. It's like Star Wars.

__________________
Don't let the beautiful eyes trick you before they eat you alive.

Rhombus · March 6th, 2003

Quote:

Originally posted by OK-OK
They follow the same story. It's like Star Wars.

Yes, but it's not really a tangible timeline. In Star Wars all the events over the course of 6 episodes happen over a short period of time... about 50 years. In the Xenosaga timeline, Xenosaga (episode 1) takes place thousands of years before the events of Xenogears (episode 5, supposedly) so obviously there are no common characters and in plot there are only similarities and some slight foreshadowing, not enough to directly tie the 2 together without episodes 2-4.

__________________

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Kaotic Soul · March 6th, 2003

So far I like Xenosaga, I think if it weren't for the cinema scenes I'd probably have a play time of 2 hours opposed to 7 hours.

**Ryos** · March 6th, 2003

You do NOT have to play Xenogears to have any idea what's going on in Xenosaga. In fact, they pretty much have nothing to do with each other other than a similar battle system and mechs and save points and a few important elements that you don't need to know about while playing episode 1.

> To put it in one line, straight forward: Is it BETTER than Xenogears?

Yes.

__________________
Sanity is overrated.

beckham_m7u · March 6th, 2003

Ryos, I've bought Xenosaga yesterday. But I've read some sites wrote about its' bad gameplay although the storyline's great. Is that true?

__________________
"Hyolee is my dahling"

**Ryos** · March 6th, 2003

The gameplay is worse because some functions of Xenogears weren't really brought over very well. The deathblow system (if you really loved that

) is no longer used for learning skills and has been replaced with a gain new battle technique every couple of levels deal. The mecha in this game are surprisingly ineffective and generally aren't worth bothering with because mechs do less damage than characters on foot, attack far less, and don't even have all that much HP for a bonus. After you get used to the changes, it's still a lot better than most RPG systems. At least there's a variety of enemies in Xenosaga.

__________________
Sanity is overrated.

Syed Fawad · March 7th, 2003

Quote:

Originally posted by Ryos
> To put it in one line, straight forward: Is it BETTER than Xenogears?

Yes.

Ryos, that is saying a LOT!
Because many ppl treat Xenogears as the best game EVER made and your statements indirectly means: "Xenosaga is the best game ever made"?

You sure?

__________________

Asus K8N (nForce3)
AMD64 3000+ (754)
768MB DDR 400MHz (PC 3200)
nVidia Geforce 6600GT 128MB (AGP)

Aquamark3 - 53,000

"Good friends mustn't always be together. It is the feeling of oneness when distant that proves a lasting friendship"

Kaotic Soul · March 7th, 2003

I remember when Xenogears first came out and most ppl didn't really like the game because of the topics it dealt with. But as we got older our tastes developed and soon we found Xenogears more engaging than it once was.To me Xenogears is one of a kind and nothing will compare to it in terms of story and battle system.Plus it had alot more music tracks, don't get me wrong I like the music in Xenosaga but it could of used more.Especially boss music.What happened to that feel of when you faced a boss and heard the awesome boss music that you knew it was gonna be tough. I'm only twelve hours in the game and I think I've only heard about 5 diffrent music tracks.I think Xenosaga is a great game but it strays too far from from what the first one was.

Sera · March 7th, 2003

I think we appreciate games when time goes by, a good example is a wine, the longer it takes to make the better of its quality of taste.

March 6th, 2003	#1 (permalink)
Ryos Bearsona Join Date: May 2001 Location: Nowhere Posts: 11,307	Final Xenosaga impressions I'm dividing this up into two areas, nonspoilery and (censored) huge spoilers (like not a good idea to read unless you've finished the first episode of Xenosaga at the very least ) conveniently blocked off with the spoiler tag. Nonspoiler impressions: I'd heard a lot more about Xenosaga than I really wanted to before the U.S. release by huge fans of Xenogears who also happened to know Japanese, a luxury that came in handy at the forum I am talking about. Nothing as far as content goes, but plenty of reviews about the game. The consensus on that forum was that Xenosaga, if not outright bad, was significantly worse than Xenogears. So I went into the game not expecting much. I figure light expectations mean I won't be disappointed. I was right. However, not in the way I expected. I enjoyed Xenosaga more than Xenogears. I will only focus on two aspects of the game since they are really all that's important to me in an RPG: music and the plot. Music: not as good as Xenogears. That would be very hard to duplicate, especially given how FEW tracks are in Xenosaga - when they're even playing. Thankfully, being a fairly avid PC RPG player, I didn't mind the fact most areas have no music whatsoever playing. But what was a little more annoying was the lack of any boss music whatsoever. It's not like there HAS to be a different boss song, but it helps to break the monotony, if nothing else. And some of these bosses could have had some extremely interesting songs composed for them that would have helped to better the mood and heighten the climax. Plot: I'll say it right now - I thought this plot beat Xenogears' plot to death with both hands tied behind its back. And that's even ignoring the second disk. The plot starts off kind of uneven with the many, many cutscenes in the game. It was literally not unusual to control your character for maybe five minutes before having to sit down and watch a 10+ minute cutscene unfold that was used to further the plot and characterization. Fortunately, such uneven storytelling eventually gave way to more interaction and better cutscenes. And what a way the plot eventually unfolds! I haven't run into characters this compelling in an RPG since...er...hmm...actually, nothing really comes to mind right now. And with the way the characters are fleshed out, pieces of the puzzle start to come together, but more pieces appear to make the picture cloudier. But unlike Xenogears near the end, this is a good thing, not convoluted/rushed as it got. It reminded me of a good novel where a bone is thrown to the reader every couple minutes but snatched back as soon as the reader got close to the tempting morsel. In the end, Xenosaga has one of the best plots and best batch of characters - both good and evil - of any game ever. I can't wait for Xenosaga II. Spoiler: KOS-MOS 0wns me more than I ever expected, as I've mentioned before. Despite her godawful voice (who the devil picked her actress?), I couldn't omit her from my party at any point in the game. She was so powerful, it was really rather absurd. Not only did she have the best stats in the game by far (at the end, she had almost all of her stats completely maxed out, as can be seen at the character custom stat allocation screen), but her attacks did obscene damage, notably her X-Buster and R Dragon attacks. I was not surprised to see her exceed the 1000 point damage barrier when Ziggy and chaos just sort of pricked enemies by comparison. And after KOS-MOS had a speed of shoes on, Ziggy's speed boost spell, AND a boost pack equipped, KOS-MOS made Citan look kind of like Maria. The "edited" part of Xenosaga with Albedo annoyed the heck out of me. Some will undoubtedly say there wasn't a big difference. Before I played, I felt the same way. But the realistic intensity of that scene in the Japanese version is LOST, with an important part of Albedo's twisted personality going to the wayside. When I watched the new scene and Jr. told Albedo to stop hurting MOMO, all I was thinking was, "Gee, all Albedo is doing is shining MOMO's head. Wax on, wax off." Do you look around in a "puppet" by buffing its head? I think not. Although some parts of the plot were so godawful predictable (Virgil is back? I know I was surprised! Not. ), a lot was quite interesting, especially the foreshadowing for episode 2 (and beyond). It's almost a given we're going to end up piloting Albedo's mech - it just SCREAMS that it's the ancestor of Xenogears. And one can easily tell who get a MUCH more important part in episode 2 by his conspicuous lack of characterization/character history in episode 1: chaos. I have no idea if I'll be able to survive that tedious voice having an increased role, but it'll be interesting to see just how his powers came about and what key he holds to this arc of the Xenosaga series. Here's hoping we control Jin in episode 2 - he looks like quite the Citanlike character, which certainly isn't a bad thing. And we'll get to see Shion's jujitsu - something I'm not at all looking forward to...except maybe in that swimsuit "armor." Hehe. I found it extremely interesting that Virgil's new outfit/situation is quite similar to that of Grahf. I almost have to wonder if Virgil might end up being remotely connected to the rise of Grahf. That's thousands of years away, but that doesn't mean anything. Do you know what one thing annoyed me about Xenosaga perhaps more than anything else? KOS-MOS couldn't wear the swimsuit. I tried. More than once, as a matter of fact. But alas, I guess anyone interested in pursuing that "aspect" of her will have to be content with the X-Buster attack. Heh. Speaking of which, I have this vague feeling that KOS-MOS is quite a bit more than even the characters suspect. So here's hoping for an even more prevalent role for her in Xenosaga episode II. __________________ Sanity is overrated.

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March 6th, 2003	#3 (permalink)
Syed Fawad -PM to advertise here- Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: In an average country of an average planet of the solar system of an average star of an average galaxy of an average cluster. Still not average... Posts: 8,260	I am too one of those who ain't much in RPGs and haven't played Xenogears (yet). To put it in one line, straight forward: Is it BETTER than Xenogears? __________________ Asus K8N (nForce3) AMD64 3000+ (754) 768MB DDR 400MHz (PC 3200) nVidia Geforce 6600GT 128MB (AGP) Aquamark3 - 53,000 "Good friends mustn't always be together. It is the feeling of oneness when distant that proves a lasting friendship"

March 6th, 2003	#4 (permalink)
Sera Registered User Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Manila, Philippines Posts: 2,967	Xenogears vs. Xenosaga that's a good one .

March 6th, 2003	#5 (permalink)
OK-OK I'm back... Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Montreal Posts: 1,507	They follow the same story. It's like Star Wars. __________________ Don't let the beautiful eyes trick you before they eat you alive.

March 6th, 2003	#7 (permalink)
Kaotic Soul Random Madness Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Pearl,Mississippi,USA Posts: 494	So far I like Xenosaga, I think if it weren't for the cinema scenes I'd probably have a play time of 2 hours opposed to 7 hours. __________________ ---------------------------------- \| Intel Pentium 4 3.4 GHz \| Windows Vista \| 1.7 Gig of Ram \| Nvidia 8600 GT OC \| Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS - Gamer : Limited Edition \| Western Digital 250 Gig HD \| Lite-on DVD-RW/CD-RW \| HP Pavilion 19" LCD" --------------------------------

March 6th, 2003	#8 (permalink)
Ryos Bearsona Join Date: May 2001 Location: Nowhere Posts: 11,307	You do NOT have to play Xenogears to have any idea what's going on in Xenosaga. In fact, they pretty much have nothing to do with each other other than a similar battle system and mechs and save points and a few important elements that you don't need to know about while playing episode 1. > To put it in one line, straight forward: Is it BETTER than Xenogears? Yes. __________________ Sanity is overrated.

March 6th, 2003	#9 (permalink)
beckham_m7u Luv Hyolee Join Date: Apr 2001 Posts: 551	Ryos, I've bought Xenosaga yesterday. But I've read some sites wrote about its' bad gameplay although the storyline's great. Is that true? __________________ "Hyolee is my dahling"

March 6th, 2003	#10 (permalink)
Ryos Bearsona Join Date: May 2001 Location: Nowhere Posts: 11,307	The gameplay is worse because some functions of Xenogears weren't really brought over very well. The deathblow system (if you really loved that ) is no longer used for learning skills and has been replaced with a gain new battle technique every couple of levels deal. The mecha in this game are surprisingly ineffective and generally aren't worth bothering with because mechs do less damage than characters on foot, attack far less, and don't even have all that much HP for a bonus. After you get used to the changes, it's still a lot better than most RPG systems. At least there's a variety of enemies in Xenosaga. __________________ Sanity is overrated.

March 7th, 2003	#12 (permalink)
Kaotic Soul Random Madness Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Pearl,Mississippi,USA Posts: 494	I remember when Xenogears first came out and most ppl didn't really like the game because of the topics it dealt with. But as we got older our tastes developed and soon we found Xenogears more engaging than it once was.To me Xenogears is one of a kind and nothing will compare to it in terms of story and battle system.Plus it had alot more music tracks, don't get me wrong I like the music in Xenosaga but it could of used more.Especially boss music.What happened to that feel of when you faced a boss and heard the awesome boss music that you knew it was gonna be tough. I'm only twelve hours in the game and I think I've only heard about 5 diffrent music tracks.I think Xenosaga is a great game but it strays too far from from what the first one was. __________________ ---------------------------------- \| Intel Pentium 4 3.4 GHz \| Windows Vista \| 1.7 Gig of Ram \| Nvidia 8600 GT OC \| Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS - Gamer : Limited Edition \| Western Digital 250 Gig HD \| Lite-on DVD-RW/CD-RW \| HP Pavilion 19" LCD" --------------------------------

March 7th, 2003	#13 (permalink)
Sera Registered User Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Manila, Philippines Posts: 2,967	I think we appreciate games when time goes by, a good example is a wine, the longer it takes to make the better of its quality of taste.