skLaFarebear
Member
Untagged spoilers in this thread. A quick thought before I get into spoiler territory though for those who haven't played that want my thoughts of the game/series.
Xenosaga 3, truly isan amazing linguist a fantastic game and is worth suffering through the first two games for. And who knows, you might enjoy Xenosaga 1 more than I did! You probably will hate Ep.2 though.
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD
It took me a while, but after finishing Xenosaga Ep. 1 and 2, I finally got around to finishing episode 3.
After being disappointed in many aspects of Episodes 1 and 2, I went into 3 with the lowest of expectations. I've seen people talk it up as being one of the greatest RPGs of all time, but I wasn't convinced at all that something coming from the same series could be that great.
How completely wrong I was.
Honestly, I can't even begin to sing the praises of this game. They took every single thing that was wrong with Episode 1 and 2 and just completely fixed it in the most mind blowing transition between two games I've ever seen. It even beats the transition from DMC2 to DMC3.
The first major problem they completely addressed was the horrid battle system in Ep.2 and the tedious battle system of Ep.1, while still keeping the interesting ideas each one presented. They sped up the animations so that battles went by much faster, while keeping the break system, but balancing it so that it wasn't essential to winning every fight like it was in Ep. 2. Magic was finally useful and they cleaned up the overly complicated menu of 1, but adding more depth to it with the Equipment/E.S and Skill Links. Something that was missing in Ep.2 which was a little too simple.
Also, bringing back the shops. I can't believe I should even have to say this, but thank god for that lol. And you also have enough money to finally upgrade every thing which is great too.
The E.S battles are also incredible. Giving the battles dynamic camera angles to help make the fights look much more amazing from a visual standpoint helps to also increase the tension you would see in an actual mecha fights similar to the kind you'd see in a lot of anime. It was a minor touch, but one that helped made this one of, if not, the best Mecha RPG you'll ever see (though we'll have to wait for Xenoblade Chronicles X to see how long that stands). The micromanaging of the E.S's was also very fun, opting to go for either one or two handed weapons and the advantages/disadvantages of each one in battles.
And the last aspect I'll talk about for gameplay is the boss battles which are incredible. Ignoring the score by Yuki Kajura for now, the bosses in scope, design, and intelligence are fantastic, though I was disappointed by the final boss, who was annoying in its design to abuse the break/crystal mechanic. The rest of the game however, had incredible boss fights that really added tension to the story. Some were really emotionally charged and some felt like you had very little chance, but you still wanted to give it your all and win the fight.
The first time you met/fought against T-elos, you felt like you had very little chance, but god damn you wanted to win that fight!
And to add to the boss fights, the music. My goodness, this music is sooooooooooooooooo good. The number of songs, the high quality, the vocals, the instruments. God damn its all just so incredible. I can go on for weeks about how good this soundtrack is, but just listen to some of my favorite ones for yourself and you can see.
Forgotten Sanctuary
The Battle of Your Soul
Promised Pain
The Harsh Truth
Testament (my personal favorite)
MOTHER FUCKING GODSIBB
Maybe Tomorrow (Ending Medley)
Abel's Ark (That blatant Xenogears reference)
*Unreleased* Battle Against Yuriev
Fatal Fight
Hepatica (KOS-MOS)
Forgotten Sanctuary
And I can go on forever. The sheer number of boss themes rivals Paper Mario games in general and just the whole score is fantastic. Its arguably the greatest soundtrack ever in a game and its a shame the whole OST never got an official release because I would pay a significant amount of money for it. Yuki Kajura needs to compose more game music. And good on Takahashi for the sound directing because he used Kajura's songs in some fantastic places.
And last, but certainly not least. The characters and the story.
Its a great cast of characters with my personal favorite being Jin and Kos Mos (which made that ending hurt in the heart so much more). Though, I liked all the characters in general, especially Albedo and that fucked up scene he had with MOMO in Episode 1 which was pretty damn awesome. I'm not a big fan of Shion, though for about 98% of the series she was written to be very unlikable so its understandable why I'm not a fan.
Also, the english voices are great. Wendee Lee did a great job on VO directing, taking mostly unknowns (though you still have your Crispins and your Lowenthals) and making them really fit their roles.
The sheer ambition of the plot itself is insane. This is probably the most in depth universe in a game to the point where without the database and the guides written outside of the game itself, it'd be impossible to decipher what everything is. Its probably one of the most interesting database's to actually read just to learn about every thing in that world. The plot goes to some insane places in Episode 3 after being kind of slow in a lot of points earlier in the series (mostly 1). When the story gets going though, it really gets insane. Its something I still haven't fully comprehended myself, but I plan on reading the perfect guide and possibly replaying Xenogears just to understand more of it.
That ending though, what a perfect way to end such an ambitious series. I didn't think they could do it, but it worked out really well. Its a shame we'll never get to see the full scope of Takahashi's ambitious story in game form, but I'm happy with how it ended.
The last thing I really want to talk about though is what makes this game so much better than the other Xenosaga games, and even most RPGs in general. And that's the pacing. The pacing in this game is fantastic in almost every way. The game still has plenty of plot and cutscenes, but just when things start to feel like its getting really slow, BOOM boss fight! The pacing of the dungeons is much better too, even with Abel's Ark's very very long dungeon (though I loved it just as a gigantic Xenogears reference). Battles don't last long, dungeons don't last long, and cutscenes don't go on for too long. It knows how to balance all three of these things and keep the player intrigued from the first minute, right to the very end. Something most RPG's, even today, can't figure out (here's looking at you Persona 4). Xenosaga 3, truly isan amazing linguist a fantastic game and is worth suffering through the first two games for, even with its meh final boss. And who knows, you might enjoy Xenosaga 1 more than I did! You probably will hate Ep.2 though. Even if Albedo is the bestest best.
So TL;DR for the people who didn't want to read, here's some numbers.
Xenosaga Episode 1 - 3/5 (changed to a 3 after doing some more research. Even as flawed as it is, its pretty decent for an introduction into the lore/characters which was its biggest job)
Xenosaga Episode 2 - 2/5
Xenosaga Episode 3 - 5/5
Xenosaga 3, truly is
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD
It took me a while, but after finishing Xenosaga Ep. 1 and 2, I finally got around to finishing episode 3.
After being disappointed in many aspects of Episodes 1 and 2, I went into 3 with the lowest of expectations. I've seen people talk it up as being one of the greatest RPGs of all time, but I wasn't convinced at all that something coming from the same series could be that great.
How completely wrong I was.
Honestly, I can't even begin to sing the praises of this game. They took every single thing that was wrong with Episode 1 and 2 and just completely fixed it in the most mind blowing transition between two games I've ever seen. It even beats the transition from DMC2 to DMC3.
The first major problem they completely addressed was the horrid battle system in Ep.2 and the tedious battle system of Ep.1, while still keeping the interesting ideas each one presented. They sped up the animations so that battles went by much faster, while keeping the break system, but balancing it so that it wasn't essential to winning every fight like it was in Ep. 2. Magic was finally useful and they cleaned up the overly complicated menu of 1, but adding more depth to it with the Equipment/E.S and Skill Links. Something that was missing in Ep.2 which was a little too simple.
Also, bringing back the shops. I can't believe I should even have to say this, but thank god for that lol. And you also have enough money to finally upgrade every thing which is great too.
The E.S battles are also incredible. Giving the battles dynamic camera angles to help make the fights look much more amazing from a visual standpoint helps to also increase the tension you would see in an actual mecha fights similar to the kind you'd see in a lot of anime. It was a minor touch, but one that helped made this one of, if not, the best Mecha RPG you'll ever see (though we'll have to wait for Xenoblade Chronicles X to see how long that stands). The micromanaging of the E.S's was also very fun, opting to go for either one or two handed weapons and the advantages/disadvantages of each one in battles.
And the last aspect I'll talk about for gameplay is the boss battles which are incredible. Ignoring the score by Yuki Kajura for now, the bosses in scope, design, and intelligence are fantastic, though I was disappointed by the final boss, who was annoying in its design to abuse the break/crystal mechanic. The rest of the game however, had incredible boss fights that really added tension to the story. Some were really emotionally charged and some felt like you had very little chance, but you still wanted to give it your all and win the fight.
The first time you met/fought against T-elos, you felt like you had very little chance, but god damn you wanted to win that fight!
And to add to the boss fights, the music. My goodness, this music is sooooooooooooooooo good. The number of songs, the high quality, the vocals, the instruments. God damn its all just so incredible. I can go on for weeks about how good this soundtrack is, but just listen to some of my favorite ones for yourself and you can see.
Forgotten Sanctuary
The Battle of Your Soul
Promised Pain
The Harsh Truth
Testament (my personal favorite)
MOTHER FUCKING GODSIBB
Maybe Tomorrow (Ending Medley)
Abel's Ark (That blatant Xenogears reference)
*Unreleased* Battle Against Yuriev
Fatal Fight
Hepatica (KOS-MOS)
Forgotten Sanctuary
And I can go on forever. The sheer number of boss themes rivals Paper Mario games in general and just the whole score is fantastic. Its arguably the greatest soundtrack ever in a game and its a shame the whole OST never got an official release because I would pay a significant amount of money for it. Yuki Kajura needs to compose more game music. And good on Takahashi for the sound directing because he used Kajura's songs in some fantastic places.
And last, but certainly not least. The characters and the story.
Its a great cast of characters with my personal favorite being Jin and Kos Mos (which made that ending hurt in the heart so much more). Though, I liked all the characters in general, especially Albedo and that fucked up scene he had with MOMO in Episode 1 which was pretty damn awesome. I'm not a big fan of Shion, though for about 98% of the series she was written to be very unlikable so its understandable why I'm not a fan.
Also, the english voices are great. Wendee Lee did a great job on VO directing, taking mostly unknowns (though you still have your Crispins and your Lowenthals) and making them really fit their roles.
The sheer ambition of the plot itself is insane. This is probably the most in depth universe in a game to the point where without the database and the guides written outside of the game itself, it'd be impossible to decipher what everything is. Its probably one of the most interesting database's to actually read just to learn about every thing in that world. The plot goes to some insane places in Episode 3 after being kind of slow in a lot of points earlier in the series (mostly 1). When the story gets going though, it really gets insane. Its something I still haven't fully comprehended myself, but I plan on reading the perfect guide and possibly replaying Xenogears just to understand more of it.
That ending though, what a perfect way to end such an ambitious series. I didn't think they could do it, but it worked out really well. Its a shame we'll never get to see the full scope of Takahashi's ambitious story in game form, but I'm happy with how it ended.
The last thing I really want to talk about though is what makes this game so much better than the other Xenosaga games, and even most RPGs in general. And that's the pacing. The pacing in this game is fantastic in almost every way. The game still has plenty of plot and cutscenes, but just when things start to feel like its getting really slow, BOOM boss fight! The pacing of the dungeons is much better too, even with Abel's Ark's very very long dungeon (though I loved it just as a gigantic Xenogears reference). Battles don't last long, dungeons don't last long, and cutscenes don't go on for too long. It knows how to balance all three of these things and keep the player intrigued from the first minute, right to the very end. Something most RPG's, even today, can't figure out (here's looking at you Persona 4). Xenosaga 3, truly is
So TL;DR for the people who didn't want to read, here's some numbers.
Xenosaga Episode 1 - 3/5 (changed to a 3 after doing some more research. Even as flawed as it is, its pretty decent for an introduction into the lore/characters which was its biggest job)
Xenosaga Episode 2 - 2/5
Xenosaga Episode 3 - 5/5
