Xenosaga II

[Raph]

Xenosaga II... It is understood that this entry in the Xenosaga series is something of an aberration. I was reading this on game informers top 8 most disappointing games:

Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und B?se
PS2 – 2005
The original Xenosaga was a good game with a few flaws. The sequel in Namco’s experiment in excessive storytelling tried to fix them by removing everything about the series that was fresh and exciting. It was like fixing a man's broken arm by chopping off his head. Xenosaga II’s simplified battle system robbed the game of any fun and most of the voice actors sounded like they were chugging NyQuil. We’re kind of glad the game was only half as long as its predecessor.

I certainly agree that Xenosaga II took a few steps back in overall quality, most likely because it was handed to a different development team, but I must admit the truth: I did enjoy Xenosaga II for what it was. Why? First, it just felt more Xenogears-ish to me. The parts of the story that dealt with proto-omega were great for me because it was so reminiscent of Deus. And the introduction of the E.S. mechs also helped with the Xenogears feel. Secondly, I really enjoyed the U.R.T.V. trio more than any other characters in Xenosaga, and they were all in the spotlight in Xenosaga II. So, while I couldn't possibly agrue that Monolith didn't mishandle Xenosaga II, I still find myself fond of this game despite all of its flaws. What are your feelings on Xenosaga II? Was anyone else able to extract any enjoyment from Xenosaga II as I have?

[Phakiel]

Not really. Sure the story was there as always, and it was interesting to watch Rubedo, Nigredo and Albedo as youngings (was Celery/Cytheria/Cymarron also on Ep 2 or did she appear on 3, I dont remember, it has been ages since I played), but the main problem I had with Ep 2 is that it was way too short.

It was like Disc 2 of Xenogears, after a great first part, all you got was some plot advancement but it was told by Fei sitting in a chair.

Still, i wouldnt call it the worst rpg ever, and it was highly more enjoyable than FFX-2 for example, mostly based on that early movie when Kos-Mos rips shit all over the place with her new bike. Also the new gears looked better and more personalized (AMWS?).

[Raph]

Originally Posted by Phakiel

but the main problem I had with Ep 2 is that it was way too short.

Oh, I agree. Episode II was very much mishandled, mostly because the project was done by new, unproven staff. Xenosaga I + II on the DS corrected much of what went awry in Episode II, but it was never released outside of Japan. What pity.

[Phakiel]

Hmmm, are you sure about that, wasnt until on ep 3 that everybody was fired?

[Raph]

No one was fired; Monolith(the studio behind Xenosaga) was sold to Nintendo.

Anyhow, it's sort of complicated. The mastermind behind Xenosaga (Tetsuya Takahashi) and his wife (Soraya Saga) were the ones responsible for the entire XG/XS storyline/story-arc. And Takahashi was very involved with Episode I, as he directed it. However, with Episode II, the project was handed off to a younger staff, thus the jarring lapse in quality. Takahashi was just the author of content in Episode II, but not very active in producing it. So, this new staff fumbled Episode II, as we know, which forced Takahashi to rewrite and flesh-out the story with Xenosaga I = II on the DS. Tetsuya was then a bit more involved for the final episode III. Look at this, Takahashi's credits:

Xenogears (1998): Director, Scenario Writer
Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht (2002): Director, Scenario Writer
Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und B?se (2004): Original Author
Xenosaga: Pied Piper (2004): Story Writer
Xenosaga I & II (2006): Scenario Writer
Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra (2006): Author, Music Coordinator, Supervisor of Scenario and Database

[Cyrus the virus]

I didn't play II or III of that series, but I've heard a few times that II is more manageable to play than I and it isn't much worse. I must actually play it!

[Void]

For what it's worth, I liked XenoSaga II much more than XenoSaga. It felt slightly more 'free' than the first game. The battle system IMHO was much improved. And the plot itself was a little more interesting. I never played III though, and I don't plan on it.

[Phakiel]

The Game system was indeed improved in Ep 2 and was rather refined more in Ep 3. Ep 1 was a bit jaggy albeit I just loved watching Rubedo's moves.

[Ges]

III is the best in the series. If you've played I and II, you've gotta play III. It's your civic duty.

[Raph]

I think Void detests anything Xeno, and as a gamer, it is often prudent to trust your own instincts. III is definately the best in the series, but the man knows what he likes and dislikes.

[Phakiel]

Yes its true, they got it quite right with Ep 3.

Also I forgot how changed the character style was in Ep 2. That was quite a shock, from like full blown 3d anime to the weird realm of the uncanny valley.

[Void]

Originally Posted by Ges

III is the best in the series. If you've played I and II, you've gotta play III. It's your civic duty.

That's what everyone told me about the first two. It was my civic duty as someone who has played XenoGears. It was my civic duty to give XenoSaga II a chance because it's not the same as XenoSaga I.

As if. If I'm not playing Halo Reach, which I would probably love, I'm sure as hell not playing another XenoSaga game.

[Raph]

Just started another playthrough of Xenosaga II. Man, this series has an epic feel that is unmatched.

[Idun]

Bump, bump.

Xenosaga Episode II had the most coherent story out of the series. Keeping in consideration how Episode I ended, Episode II did gamers a favor with a development team losing important people for storyline development. It focused much more on URTV relationships and their relation in the entire UMN. II also has some of the best executed storyline scenes despite their non-relation to the overall spontaneous (and ultimately) All Knowing God, collective consciousness and phenomenon fallouts in Episode III. Episode II actually showed that the development team should have focused much more on individual character stories, which was quite entertaining, than clumsily wrap the storyline up in III with empty and underdeveloped references to Christianity, IE, the Gnosis pretty much become completely irrelevant after Episode II despite the imminence they were given in more than half of the franchise.

Not only that, but Episode II benefited from being shorter in gameplay length, with a very abusable battle system, some more U-TIC backstory for Old Miltia which properly included JIN UUUUUUUUUUUUZUKI into the storyline (ES Rueben, not AGW is fucking awesome in III), showed you the power you can abuse with MOMO which leaks over into III . . . quite frankly, Episode II was the most solid in terms of balancing categories.

I still prefer Episode III only because I preference gameplay over story. The story completely flops, Shion proves she completely mental, there are some badass scenes with KOS-MOS, chaos really becomes unnecessary and his given prominence in the last few scenes is baffling. The mech battles are the best mech battles, from the boring and completely rape-able mechs of Xenogears, to the power rangers inclusion in Episode I, to the ambivalence in Episode II, to supreme awesome motherfucking mech battles in Episode III. That, and they have better aesthetic guidance - II was full of a fairly drab palette.

[Cyrus the virus]

I was super into Xenosaga I but never really played the other two. Maybe I am a dummy. I did literally everything in the first one but never went on to the other games... I'm weird.