Xenosaga

A forum for non-Suikoden games.
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Icegryphon
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Xenosaga

Post by Icegryphon »

I played Xenogears back in the day and loved it (who didn't?) and then Xenosaga came out and got mixed reviews and I was in the middle of other game and never played it. So in this game I'm playing now you get KOS MOS so I'm thinking about Xenosaga again. I went onto Gamefaqs and looked at reviews and the reviews for Xenosagas 1 and 3 are very good, but for 2 they're absolute crap.

So anyone played them? What're your thoughts on the games? Please no spoilers.
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patapi
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Re: Xenosaga

Post by patapi »

I didn't like Xenogears' infamous walls of text in its second disc (on top of all-too-common religion conspiracy and incessant psycho-babbles), and apparently Xenosaga trilogy is more of the same but instead substituted with hours and hours of cutscenes?

I also heard they had to compress some 4 episodes into just that 1 concluding episode, due to constraints.

I would still like to give the entire trilogy a fair chance some time soon though.
Oppenheimer
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Re: Xenosaga

Post by Oppenheimer »

I played the first one and was pretty turned off so I never finished it or played the second or third.

What didn't do it for me was not so much the fact that there are tons of cut scenes (as I don't mind that about Metal Gear Solid) but that so little time was spent in control and in battle that you forget how to work the game. I don't know if they never explained it or they explained it but didn't let me use it until 5 hours of cut scenes had played, but I didn't know how to learn new spells and abilities for a very long time. There's some sort of branching tree or something. . . by the time I figured out it existed I didn't care anymore.
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Blutiger Engel
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Re: Xenosaga

Post by Blutiger Engel »

I've played all three since I was in love with Xenogears, but sadly none of the sagas were as good. It was rumored that there were going to be 6 episodes, but after the first game the development team (or something like that) changed so that's why it was cut to three and screwed up. I think after the first game the crew had no idea where they wanted to go with the storyline so they just added things to make it even more complicated without answering any of the questions or mysteries from the previous games. Despite that, I did enjoy the series enough to get through it. Episode 2 was the worst because the graphics and some of the voices were changed and the cut scenes seemed to focus on less important characters. The battle systems also differ between the three games and I personally think ep. 1 had the best battle system (though repetitive). They all have their respective flaws in certain aspects of gameplay, but I'd say give ep. 1 a shot and if you dislike it, there isn't a reason to keep going.
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Re: Xenosaga

Post by ThricebornPhoenix »

Their stories aren't very good (in an overall sense, at least - there are some good twists and bits of characterization), and you're stuck with one of the most hate-worthy protagonists ever for most of it, to boot. I and III play well enough that I could easily overlook the plot, and III in particular is loaded with Xenogears cameos. Unfortunately, Episode II is wedged between them: drawn-out battles, altered character designs and different voices, and a general 'not-quite-Xeno' vibe are probably the main reasons for its low rating. I think there was some decent music in each of them, but I don't recall much of it.

To be honest, I think the main draw of Xenosaga (aside from the Xenogears parallels and nostalgia) is the NPCs. Somehow, Xeno NPCs usually seem more like actual characters to me than NPCs in other RPGs.
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Noraibah
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Re: Xenosaga

Post by Noraibah »

My big(elder) sister bought my second original game which was Xenosaga III from Los Angelas,California when she went to America to see whether she liked the country(she wanted to study at America).She did not stay because she did not really like the country and she bought it for me because my 15th birthday was coming up.
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RangerDeon
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Re: Xenosaga

Post by RangerDeon »

oooooh Xenosaga.

I remember way back when, when I was obsessed.

The following does not contain any spoilers. . . .
All of the games are great, in my opinion. They each possess a great story and development.
Sure they aren't perfect (referring to the second one). The only reasons why I would say I'd give Episode 2 the slightest negative review are incredibly superficial at best. Like, it took some time to adjust to the 'realistic' animation they switched to instead of the anime-style they had going for them in Episode 1, or that Shion's voice actor made Shion sound more Witchy with a B than her previous voice actor. Or maybe because the second one lacked shops. But other than that, the game was decent if not great. I replayed it 3 times already.

Xenosaga was -- and might very well still be -- one of my favorite game series. I wish they didn't stop with just 3.

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Blutiger Engel
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Re: Xenosaga

Post by Blutiger Engel »

Yeah, despite the flaws I wish they went with the originally planned 6 episodes. Although, if they went with that plan, the developing team wouldn't have changed and the second two episodes would have probably been completely different (and better). The only one I bothered replaying multiple times was episode I, and the biggest issue I had with that game was the lack of background music for many of the maps. Two really disappointed me up until the very, very end (by that I mean the actual ending sequence, which I would seriously describe as orgasmic). Seriously, the ending half hour (or maybe hour, since this series had long ass cut scenes) was the best video game ending I have ever seen and made the 15 or so hours of crap worth it. As for three... it took me a while to finish because I got stuck at a boss that I couldn't beat, and when I went back to beat it I forgot the previous story line. Oh well, best thing I can say about it is that it had great music.

Damn, now I want to replay the series.
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Captain Tenneal
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Re: Xenosaga

Post by Captain Tenneal »

I recently tried going through the first Xenosaga, but I just had to put it aside when I picked up Persona 4. This isn't the first time this has happened. When I bought the game over 2 years ago I also tried playing it but was taken by something more intriguing. It's not that I don't like the game, the technology is really interesting along with some interesting social commentary and ethical dilemmas, I just like science fiction. I'll get to it, maybe after Persona 4.
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avenger
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Re: Xenosaga

Post by avenger »

this series was a blast and i enjoyed the whole story. heck i even made movies so that i can just watch them...
xenogears happened after this.. it's funny how they put out this game long ago and in the battle tune , played xenosaga for ps2.. heh heh..

shion uzuki's story was very sad and moving.. and not only that, other charecters had their issues to deal with.. basically it was a game done with great emphesis on charecter growth and history.
the music was excellent also.
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RangerDeon
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Re: Xenosaga

Post by RangerDeon »

Xenosaga is amazing. One of my favorite game series...

The only beef I had was with Episode 3 and the fact that I couldn't revisit cities. Because of this I was forced to beat the game instead of procrastinating like I usually do :D

oh and While Shion was my favorite character...I love Ziggy. His calmness and cool attitude was...awesome.

"I wasn't getting rid of you. I want you to do whatever you want to do with me. I know that sounded dirty, and dirty things count, but I didn't mean the dirty things. You and me can hang whenever, wherever."
-Lorelai Gilmore
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