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[shark sandwich]

I'm glad Monolith finally got around to making a Shogo sequel!



(....sorry if this joke has been made already)

 

[Riki]

I like complicated.

Xenosaga's story was complicated in a way that you had to know about obscure psychology books and weird Japanese references that few people in Japan knew.
I loved it, but only because my friend was obsessed with the series and basically explained what everything meant.

/kicks


lol

So have we had any discussions why they showed us a Shulk-lookalike in the first reveal yet everything else is this other guy?

We had the discussion in the initial thread. It was definitely on purpose, but to what purpose, is impossible to say.

 

[Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule]

I don't know if this was mentioned but according to FAQs, one of the characters was talking about calling the planet their home someday.

The story could be something about colonising the planet or something?

Link pleaseee

 

[TheGreatLugia]

I could see the Shulk lookalike just being a reference considering the United States being around would make no sense in a Xenoblade sequel, or maybe...

(Major Xenoblade Endgame Spoilers)

Spoiler

The game is actually a distant prequel with the Shulk lookalike being a younger Klaus, taking place a few years before his experiment destroyed the universe.

I'm pretty sure the former is the much more likely scenario, though.

 

[bobbychalkers]

AGAIN...there was a serious lack of nopons in that trailer.

There is a lack of any other races too other than Homs....well Humans provided that it really is a US flag and United States tag on that ship in the background. There was a giant mech in the first trailer and even bigger one teased at the end of the second. Also the architecture in this gif:

Looks a bit more exotic than the colony so I'm thinking either the planet is already inhabited or it could be some long gone ancient civilization.....and really I just wanted an excuse to post another gif.

Oh man, this would have benefited so much from next-gen power it pains me to see it like this. No chance of a ps4 release?

I'm sure they'll get around to it once The Last Guardian lands on N-Gage.

 

[Levyne]

Oops, replied to an old post

 

[Riki]

I'm betting that they land on the planet, see that it's life supporting, and decide to try and colonize it.
Only to find out that the life there is not only hostile, but also there is already intelligent life on the planet.


Another scenario is that someone finds the planet (judging by the massive city ship, I'd guess America) which sets off a race with all of Earth and it ends up being a giant tech war.

 

[SoraanTribal]

If I had to guess, the Shulk look-a-like was probably just similar to how they handled Abel/Fei and Elly/Nephilim in Xenosaga. Takahashi said about that: "Though there are familiar faces that serve as important characters in Xenosaga, others are more like self-parodies, so we don't really want Xenogears fans to overreact. Like movies, sometimes you have the director of the movie or friend of the leading actor appearing as cameos, so it's similar to that."

I suspect the Shulk-ish character is just kind of like that. A familiar face, but not the same character.

While not to the extent of Abel/Nephilim, Xenoblade also had a kind of similar character to that from Xenosaga. (big Xenoblade/Xenosaga spoilers ahead)

Spoiler

Fiora kind of resembled KOS-MOS in some outfits and she also had the whole eyes changing colors + housing the soul of another person inside her plot point.

 

[rocketskates]

dems gnosis

 

[MogCakes]

dems gnosis

That's exactly what I think when I look at it.

 

[Highwind]

Link pleaseee

Here it is

One of the characters says that someday they will be able to think of this planet as their hometown, wonder if this means that they are colonists or something.

 

[Elixist]

i almost thought that gif was ninja gaiden.

 

[SoraanTribal]

dems gnosis

That's exactly what I think when I look at it.

Same. That's the first thing I thought of when that trailer aired, lol.

 

[MogCakes]

Xenosaga's story was complicated in a way that you had to know about obscure psychology books and weird Japanese references that few people in Japan knew.
I loved it, but only because my friend was obsessed with the series and basically explained what everything meant.

I am that type of person. I was obsessed with Saga back in the day and I know everything about it. 100%'d all three games.

 

[Levyne]

I was pretty obssessed with it as well. I look at the wiki now though and I am completely lost.

Like..

Spoiler

Furthermore, Zarathustra--a relic of god--when triggered by Mary Magdalene (Maria), who is granted access to it by Shion (the maiden of Mary), brings humanity's consciousness/wills into Zarathustra before the domain shift. Similarly in End of Evangelion (The movie that offers a canonical ending to Neon Genesis Evangelion), the Adam-Lilith hybrid causes everyone's A.T. fields to disappear which causes their physical bodies to turn into LCL while their souls--vis-a-vis consciousnesses/wills in Xenosaga--are gathered in the Chamber of Guf which is shown to appear in the real dimension in front of Lilith's black moon

.

From the Collective Unconscious wiki page.

I'm just like....que?

 

[SoraanTribal]

^Might wanna spoiler tag that stuff in case people haven't played Xenosaga yet and plan to at some point.

 

[IncandescentPrecept]

Doesn't look very interesting.

 

[Levyne]

^Might wanna spoiler tag that stuff in case people haven't played Xenosaga yet and plan to at some point.

I was thinking about it, figured the games were old enough, but I will to be safe.

 

[Riki]

I was pretty obssessed with it as well. I look at the wiki now though and I am completely lost.

Like..



From the Collective Unconscious wiki page.

I'm just like....que?

Like I said, you have to read an entire set of very obscure and old philosophy books to understand this. Literally.
They're by a man named Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche. He was insane, but his works really set a ground work for a lot of stories that came after. Xenosaga and NGE are both loosely based on them.

 

[MogCakes]

I'm just like....que?

Xenosaga and NGE are both loosely based on them.

Go read some Nietzsche! Mindfuckery at its best Xenosaga is one of the few JRPGs to really tread those waters.

 

[rocketskates]

That's exactly what I think when I look at it.

Same. That's the first thing I thought of when that trailer aired, lol.

Seriously, how cool would it be if this was more towards the saga story? Like maybe this is the planet they went to after abandoning earth when the Zohar was found? I know I sure wouldnt mind seeing more stuff on Lost Jerusalem, Immigrant Fleet and the Miltian Conflict.

Does Namco-Bandai own the rights to those properties?

Even if so, a simple name change would solve that, and they could call that another of their reimaginings.

 

[SoraanTribal]

Despite its complexities, I loved the storyline of the Xenosaga series. And I still maintain that Xenogears has the best story of any game (just my personal opinion, of course). While I love Xenoblade (game of the gen for me), its story is not quite up to the heights of Gears and Saga. Don't get me wrong, I actually really did enjoy Xenoblade's storyline and had a blast with it, but where Xenoblade really shown brightest was the world/exploration/gameplay/battle system (which was an improvement on Takahashi's previous games imo).

Can't wait to see where the story of X goes...

Spoiler

Please show off some story cutscenes next time... I want some concrete stuff to speculate about!

Seriously, how cool would it be if this was more towards the saga story? Like maybe this is the planet they went to after abandoning earth when the Zohar was found? I know I sure wouldnt mind seeing more stuff on Lost Jerusalem, Immigrant Fleet and the Miltian Conflict.

Does Namco-Bandai own the rights to those properties?

Even if so, a simple name change would solve that, and they could call that another of their reimaginings.

Xenosaga 4 - yes please... xD

 

[Riki]

I really think that the X that they showed is alluding to it being closer to Gears in a lot of ways.

 

[SoraanTribal]

I really think that the X that they showed is alluding to it being closer to Gears in a lot of ways.

That plus the sound it makes when the X pops up in the reveal trailer reminds me of a sound from Xenogears. I think it was the save file sound? Or something.. I can't place it exactly, but it sounded very familiar to me.

 

[anaron]

dems gnosis

Lol, that's all I can see when that part of the trailer comes up.

 

[Riki]

That plus the sound it makes when the X pops up in the reveal trailer reminds me of a sound from Xenogears. I think it was the save file sound? Or something.. I can't place it exactly, but it sounded very familiar to me.

Save File Sound

X sound

Pretty much spot on, yeah.

 

[bobbychalkers]

I really need to get around to playing Gears. I don't have access to Saga but I downloaded Gears on my PSP years ago and never really touched it.

 

[Levyne]

I really need to get around to playing Gears. I don't have access to Saga but I downloaded Gears on my PSP years ago and never really touched it.

I tried to get into Gears wwaaayy after the fact (like, 2010) and simply could not. Felt dated and unfinished. I feel like you had to be there.

 

[SoraanTribal]

Save File Sound

X sound

Pretty much spot on, yeah.

Oh nice, I was too lazy to go check, lol. They are very close, yep.

I really need to get around to playing Gears. I don't have access to Saga but I downloaded Gears on my PSP years ago and never really touched it.

You should get on that.

 

[Soriku]

Xenosaga's story was complicated in a way that you had to know about obscure psychology books and weird Japanese references that few people in Japan knew.
I loved it, but only because my friend was obsessed with the series and basically explained what everything meant.

wut. No you don't. What "Japanese references" are you referring to?

You can understand everything about the games by just playing the games, reading entries in the in-game database, and reading the Perfect Guide online.

It's complex but pretty coherent.

 

[Riki]

I tried to get into Gears wwaaayy after the fact (like, 2010) and simply could not. Felt dated and unfinished. I feel like you had to be there.

Well, it basically was. Square cut the game super short. The entire Xeno development story is plagued with set backs and cuts. It still was never told, even in the Xenosaga series.

wut. No you don't. What "Japanese references" are you referring to?

You can understand everything about the games by just playing the games, reading entries in the in-game database, and reading the Perfect Guide online.

It's complex but pretty coherent.

A lot of it has to do with the choices in hair color and the significance behind them. You can still enjoy the story without knowing the background, but there's a lot of stuff that's in it that you'd only get by knowing why those choices are made.
And a lot of it comes from Nietzsche.

 

[Kriken]

I really need to get around to playing Gears. I don't have access to Saga but I downloaded Gears on my PSP years ago and never really touched it.

Same here, except I got a physical copy of Gears at MAGFest and then realized I have a huge backlog already which includes Xenoblade :/

Also, in terms of the UI with a day and a clear head, I wonder what it looks like in a situation like this (Fighting an enemy)

I mean the Doll Fuel is by just one person as opposed to 4. Eh, I'm hoping they show more at E3

 

[Levyne]

Well, it basically was. Square cut the game super short. The entire Xeno development story is plagued with set backs and cuts. It still was never told, even in the Xenosaga series.

Yeah, I'm aware. That second disk just took all of the wind out of the sails. Too bad we could never see the full original vision, or even the full revised vision.

 

[thebisonxrc]

This game looks incredible. I sure do hope that we'll get more information and videos sooner rather than later. In the meantime, I'm loving all of the analysis that everyone's providing!

 

[rocketskates]

I really think that the X that they showed is alluding to it being closer to Gears in a lot of ways.

That plus the sound it makes when the X pops up in the reveal trailer reminds me of a sound from Xenogears. I think it was the save file sound? Or something.. I can't place it exactly, but it sounded very familiar to me.

Agree on both parts. That X is definitely a flipped/upside down X from Gears.

That being said, what if this is a "reimagined" Xenogears Episode 1??

 

[Riki]

Same here, except I got a physical copy of Gears at MAGFest and then realized I have a huge backlog already which includes Xenoblade :/

Also, in terms of the UI with a day and a clear head, I wonder what it looks like in a situation like this (Fighting an enemy)

I mean the Doll Fuel is by just one person as opposed to 4. Eh, I'm hoping they show more at E3

It's hard to say. The UI has changed quite a bit since that trailer.

The minimap is much more detailed. The text pops more. And we no longer see Doll Fuel anywhere.

Agree on both parts. That X is definitely a flipped/upside down X from Gears.

That being said, what if this is a "reimagined" Xenogears Episode 1??

I'd go for that. I would love to see what they had in mind for the beginning of the series.

 

[Soriku]

A lot of it has to do with the choices in hair color and the significance behind them. You can still enjoy the story without knowing the background, but there's a lot of stuff that's in it that you'd only get by knowing why those choices are made.
And a lot of it comes from Nietzsche.

I didn't know they picked hair color for certain reasons (any elaboration?). But it's not important to understand the story.

A lot of the concepts come from Nietzsche but you don't have to read his books. The games and the text guides explain the concepts just fine.

 

[Kriken]

It's hard to say. The UI has changed quite a bit since that trailer.

The minimap is much more detailed. The text pops more. And we no longer see Doll Fuel anywhere.



I'd go for that. I would love to see what they had in mind for the beginning of the series.

For some reason, I thought the E3 trailer had the doll fuel on the left as well for 4 player, it didn't, my mistake

 

[Benzychenz]

/kicks


lol

So have we had any discussions why they showed us a Shulk-lookalike in the first reveal yet everything else is this other guy?

Playable characters could be player created and the Shulk lookalike is a major NPC in the story.

 

[rocketskates]

I'd go for that. I would love to see what they had in mind for the beginning of the series.

Based off the Perfect Works summary of Episode 1 I find this VERY likely. Humankind setting out from Earth and interplanetary war on this new planet.

 

[Phatosaurus]

I feel the gameplay would have went down smoother with some people if they showed off a bit more of the world and then went into to combat.

Personally, the combat looks good to me. Looks a lot like Xenoblades but it seems to have a better UI. I do wonder how well it'll control with a regular pad as I found XB to play a lot better with the Wii remote + nunchuck than with the classic controller pro.

 

[anaron]

Agree on both parts. That X is definitely a flipped/upside down X from Gears.

That being said, what if this is a "reimagined" Xenogears Episode 1??

I've definitely thought about that and whether it could be Xenogears/saga reimagined under their new design philosophy.

 

[Riki]

I didn't know they picked hair color for certain reasons (any elaboration?). But it's not important to understand the story.

A lot of the concepts come from Nietzsche but you don't have to read his books. The games and the text guides explain the concepts just fine.

Ah, sorry. It wasn't Japanese. It was actually Swiss.

Like Rubedo:

The name "Rubedo" refers to the philosophic beliefs of Karl Jung, who believed that the process of self-realization has three major steps, which he named using terms derived from alchemy, which he studied prior to developing his theories. These three steps are known as Negredo, the death of the old, perceived self, Albedo, the discovering of one’s inner identity, and Rubedo, the process of living a self-aware life.

666 is the number of the Beast (also called the Anti-Christ), a seven-headed emissary of the Devil in the Book of Revelation and alongside his power of the Red Dragon Jr. is set up as a demonic character superficially but lacks any such personality traits. However, the comparison to the anti-christ is fitting considering he was designed to produce the anti-wave of U-DO, a god.

Rubedo was given Red hair as a sign of life.

Nigredo was given black hair because he represented death.

Albedo was given white hair as a sign of your inner self. (angelic)

Like I said, you can still enjoy it without knowing these things, but these choices were made for very specific reasons.

 

[LadyRiven]

My body is ready for all of this.

 

[rocketskates]

I've definitely thought about that and whether it could be Xenogears/saga reimagined under their new design philosophy.

I wonder what name they would call the planet? Can't be Neo-Jerusalem, and Saga had New-Jerusalem.

 

[Levyne]

I loved the URTV subplot. Most interesting story part of the game. Those flashback scenes from when that were "kids" are memorable to me, even if they aren't objectively very good.

 

[SoraanTribal]

All this talk about Xenosaga makes me want to replay the series again. I replayed Xenogears a couple years ago and loved it just as much as the first time (if not more). I haven't played the Xenosaga games in like 6+ years now. I remember the main bits of the storyline, but not the smaller details. Would be fun to replay after I get caught up on some of my newer games.

 

[Levyne]

Someone in the steam thread was replaying it as well. Now I see it here. AAH. I have too big of a backlog to replay 3 long-ish jrpgs but it's still very tempting.

 

[Soriku]

Xenosaga 3 is the only one I can replay. Replayed it some time ago and I think I enjoyed it more than the first time.

 

[MogCakes]

I wonder what name they would call the planet? Can't be Neo-Jerusalem, and Saga had New-Jerusalem.

Saga had Fifth Jerusalem (the best looking futuristic city of any PS2 JRPG IMO), implying that there were 3 other locations named Jerusalem aside from the first one

Spoiler

(Earth).

This may be the first relocated Jerusalem if it is indeed in the same universe, though I don't think it will be.