ProCon: Xenosaga Series
Ecks wrote this on Thursday, May 21, 2009 in ProCon, Reviews
For those of you who have not had the pleasure of playing Xenosaga, allow me to summarize the general opinion of the series. Episode I – Decent, Episode II – Tedious, Episode III – Great. It’s a shame that by the time Namco-Bandai found a good formula for making the game, there was very little interest left in the game and from what I’ve been told, it sold horribly. (Correct me if I’m wrong.) Today, we’re going to cover each episodes pros and cons. I warn you that there will be spoilers. Let’s get to it!
Wonder what happened to this one?
Xenosaga Episode I – Der Wille Zur Macht
Pros:
- Original Setting
- Innovative (if slightly confusing at first) Battle System
- Pleasant anime-esque appearance.
- Interesting Enemy choice.
- Plot is quite interesting.
Cons:
- Very lengthy cutscenes cause you to watch the game more than play it.
- With the exception of Chaos, the characters are pretty stereotypical for RPG’s.
- Poor character development (aside from perhaps MOMO).
It has been a long time since I played this game, but I did enjoy it for the time I played, well, watched it. It’s an interesting concept, but the execution was a bit off.
Judgment: 5/7 Stars
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Xenosaga Episode II – Jenseits von Gut und Bose
Pros:
- Directly picks up after the first game.
- Character development is improved.
- The story is interesting at times.
Cons:
- Battle System is irritating to get used to, and not enjoyable.
- Learning Skills requires too many different sets of points when only one would be necessary.
- Graphical style changed to attempt to make the characters appear more realistic. (It did not succeed.)
- The plot tends to drag on for long periods of time.
- Most areas are dull in appearance.
I finished this game a few weeks ago. It was an excruciating experience that I never want to repeat and I’m frankly amazed I found any Pros at all. It’s not the worst RPG ever, but it’s certainly not a good one.
Judgment: 3/7 Stars.
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Xenosaga Episode III – Also sprach Zarathustra
(Note: I am aware the US release of this game was censored. While these are technically Cons, I will omit them as they were not in the original game.)
Pros:
- Jin.
- Interesting Plot that progresses smoothly.
- Allen stops being a pansy.
- Shion’s character finally gets decent development.
- Revised battle system meaning the gaming is actually fun.
- E.S. battles are really fun.
- The graphics of Xenosaga I and II are blended successfully.
- The Break System works excellently.
- Erde Kaiser Sigma.
Cons:
- A tad easy.
- Final Boss can be killed in two attacks.
- Shion became really dependent on Kevin seemingly out of nowhere.
This was a step up from the last two games. It was fun, it was interesting and it was what an RPG should be.
Judgment: 6/7 Stars
