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Official Xenosaga II Thread...

C

Cloudy

Banned
It's about that time, folks! Picked up the ep 1 dvd today and I'll post "impressions" later. Anyways, I know the series supposedly sucks but I can't wait for the 15th :D

PS: I still prefer the old Kos Mos character design! >_<
 
The preview dvd was pretty good but it's useless to anyone who didn't play the first game. No narrative, backstory text or anything. Just the cutscenes...

Oh and the lack of Xeno-hype on this board is pretty sickening :(
 
I liked Xenogears but hated Xenosaga. I'm officially off the Xeno* bandwagon

I'll probably be more entertained if I just looped the soundtrack for 60 hours
 
Its that damn collector's instinct in me. Make an RPG series with numbers in the titles and I will buy it.
Save games carry over right? I wouldn't want to start all over on powering up MOMO.
 
I've lost interest because of this god damn board and it's importers.

People who liked Episode I and imported Episode II said it completly sucks :(
 
jiggle said:
All that does is opening up alternative costumes(swimwears) I read.
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Bullplop! Oh well. I'll just have to make MOMO more powerful than Ziggy again.
 
it does carry over stastics but it's not direct. it rewards you with more points to level up skills in 2, depending on how high your levels were in the first game.
 
I still haven't bothered to finish Episode I, and at this rate, I probably never will :/. I was hoping that Episode II would be an improvement and interest me enough to finish up Episode I and get back into the series, but it sounds like it's a degeneration instead...
 
ferricide said:
it does carry over stastics but it's not direct. it rewards you with more points to level up skills in 2, depending on how high your levels were in the first game.
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That's gonna be a lot of points.
MOMO, Jr. and Chaos were rediculous in my game, MOMO especially. As much as people hate this game, I just loved the character leveling system to death.
 
RevenantKioku said:
That's gonna be a lot of points.
MOMO, Jr. and Chaos were rediculous in my game, MOMO especially. As much as people hate this game, I just loved the character leveling system to death.
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Yeah I definately agree, but what do we know since Monolith saw it fit to completely Strip it out of Ep. 2. Idiots.
 
Bonus DVD information from "gpn" on TheEthos forums (Episode I spoilers marked just in case):
I haven't watched the full disc yet, but I thought I'd post some info about it. The new Xenosaga II trailer that's been making the rounds the past few days is on here. And, this is going to be the big one for many people, the hard-coded subtitles from the game are gone and replaced with soft-subs which makes it possible to include not just the English language track, but also the Japanese language track.

Running time on the package is listed at 288 mins. but even at that length, as any veteran of the game can attest to, not all the cinemas would be able to be included. So far the biggest omission has been in regards to the crew of the Elsa.
They don't make an appearance until the point when they rescue Ziggy and Momo, so we lost the entire introduction portion when Kos-Mos initially commandeers the ship and then when Shion and company are brought on board. Also Chernekov's Gnosis encounter is only seen in flashback. Other missing portions include Shion's visit to the Realian lab and initial enounter with Lt. Vigil, and the sequence where Shion is almost shot by Virgil's AGWS squad and the subsequent massacre of the Realians.

All-in-all I really like it so far, but I can see where it might be a bit confusing to some who haven't played the game due to the missing material.
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Footage is from the US version, so Albedo is only interested in Momo for her mind. ;)
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Source: http://www.zenosaga.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?p=75532&sid=7e011ebc058ded6f82c02647f3b93e2d#75532


Save file transfer information from "President Creepy" on GameFAQs:
TO SUM IT ALL UP:
- Xenosaga Episode I OR Xenosaga Episode I: Reloaded(Japan ONLY) Clear Data will get you 'Swim Suit Skill' for KOS-MOS and Ziggy. Otherwise, you won't be able to find those in the game of Xenosaga Episode II. You equip these skills, when? As soon as you get control of these characters. It works the same way for other characters, except the other characters' are obtained in the game while these two aren't.

- Also, initial possession skill points Bonus (Depends on the level when you beat the game). The formular is character level * 30 + 600

If you got Lv 99 for all,

then

99 * 30 + 600 = 3570

That's the Skill Points your characters will start with in Episode II. Jin gets none of these, obviously, since he isn't playable in Episode I.

- Xenosaga Freaks(Japan ONLY) will get you a Key Item called 'Swim Suit For Oldman' which you can give it to the pink Robot before the Arcademy in the Elsa. Hakase/Professor will dress up with Hawaiian beach wears. This means all cut scenes in the game will have him dress up with that outfit. However, we don't know how will they do it in the NA version of Episode II. And for the Xenosaga Freaks data, you just seem to need to complete Xeno Comi, all 7 characters.

*These are all based on the Japanese version of Episode II. The NA version, isn't likely to change those, except, they have to do something else for the 'Swim Suit For Oldman' key item, because Xenosaga Freaks isn't available in NA*
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Source: http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=917917&topic=17450042
 
ferricide said:
you can. hooray for localization-friendly design decisions in wake of western success!

and heeeeeeeere's my gamespy review of the game:

http://ps2.gamespy.com/playstation-2/xenosaga-episode-ii-jenseits-von-gut-und-bose/586164p1.html

bebpo and duckroll may officially kill me now, i assume.
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Good review, I don't have to kill you now :P I guess the biggest differences between our thoughts on the game are character design and battle system (I thought the enemies had too much HP so the system of breaking -> combo -> breaking -> combo got boring and lacked strategy or depth since you were just doing the same thing each battle). Also you didn't really talk about the new characters (like the ponytail girl and Canon) are have absolutely zero development and are basically pointless in the story. Lastly, no mention of the replacement of mini-games with the G2 campaign? I found that pretty disappointing after the great Xenocard mini-game in ep1.
 
Bebpo said:
nope
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BOO!

Looks like this will only be a rental instead of a purchase. It also looks like there will be no Episode 3, since the storylines of Episode 1 and Episode 2 don't seem to be jiving together, and any new one would be broken anyway since Takahashi is gone.
 
Mr. E. Yis said:
It also looks like there will be no Episode 3, since the storylines of Episode 1 and Episode 2 don't seem to be jiving together, and any new one would be broken anyway since Takahashi is gone.
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If ep2 sells in the US than ep3 is a sure thing. Going from Soraya Soga's info it seems that she left Monolith Soft. even before ep2 and most likely Takahashi had little say in it. So basically ep3 shouldn't be any worse than ep2. With ep2 it seems like they took Takahashi's original draft for the 6ep story and then wrote their own game/plot based on it (adding and removing things here and there). I'd guess ep3 would similar.
 
Miburou said:
I'm pretty sure I've seen videos where Jin Uzuki is in your party.
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He meant the
the little kid (abel?) who is seen during the end game sequence
 
ferricide said:
you can. hooray for localization-friendly design decisions in wake of western success!

and heeeeeeeere's my gamespy review of the game:

http://ps2.gamespy.com/playstation-2/xenosaga-episode-ii-jenseits-von-gut-und-bose/586164p1.html

bebpo and duckroll may officially kill me now, i assume.
Click to expand...

I kinda overslept and it's a late saturday afternoon now so my senses aren't really working. I skimmed the review, and it's pretty much what I expect. Although I'm not sure how you can call the game highly polished and then later say it's very uneven too. Just an odd choice of words, or maybe I misread. Play-asia's ACE has FINALLY arrived, and I'm picking RE4 up later, so..... yeah I'm not going to get worried about someone liking XS Ep2 at this point because I have GAME GOODNESS TO ENJOY! :D :D :D
 
duckroll said:
Although I'm not sure how you can call the game highly polished and then later say it's very uneven too.
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yeah, i guess that sounds a bit contradictory. the game itself, like the visuals, graphics, animation and stuff -- that's very polished. the story pacing is not very good, though.

mini/sub games in RPGs don't mean a lot to me. i usually skip them. i played xenocard like once or twice. i don't like stopping the story to do bullshit. i didn't do much G2 campaign either. from a reviewer's perspective, i consider that stuff to be pretty much optional content and doesn't really factor much into the score.
 
ferricide said:
yeah, i guess that sounds a bit contradictory. the game itself, like the visuals, graphics, animation and stuff -- that's very polished. the story pacing is not very good, though.

mini/sub games in RPGs don't mean a lot to me. i usually skip them. i played xenocard like once or twice. i don't like stopping the story to do bullshit. i didn't do much G2 campaign either. from a reviewer's perspective, i consider that stuff to be pretty much optional content and doesn't really factor much into the score.
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Has the loading improved any?
 
Cloudy said:
Is it supposed to be out today?
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Today would be the ship date. Target is gonna have it for $37.77 on Thursday and most others should have it tomorrow. So price match or wait ahoy.
 
kiryogi said:
Has the loading improved any?
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That's what I want to know...

It looked absolutely awful in the original Japanese release, what with the stuttering and pausing that occured during the length battle swirl and all. Very sloppy...

Shame we can't have more RPGs pull off battle entries and exits as quickly as Grandia Xtreme did. GX was SO fast, in fact, that it occasionally made me jump a bit. It's possibly the fastest RPG yet made, in that regard (and that includes cart based RPGs). XS2 seems more like Eternal Arcadia...but with more stuttering.
 
dark10x said:
That's what I want to know...

It looked absolutely awful in the original Japanese release, what with the stuttering and pausing that occured during the length battle swirl and all. Very sloppy...

Shame we can't have more RPGs pull off battle entries and exits as quickly as Grandia Xtreme did. GX was SO fast, in fact, that it occasionally made me jump a bit. It's possibly the fastest RPG yet made, in that regard (and that includes cart based RPGs). XS2 seems more like Eternal Arcadia...but with more stuttering.
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This is one of my biggest problems with most modern rpgs. I think the excessive battle times really takes a lot of the fun out of rpgs. I love seeing the fancy animation and magic spells maybe the first 200 times I see them, but eventually you begin to hate the loading and long drawn out battles.
 
dark10x said:
Shame we can't have more RPGs pull off battle entries and exits as quickly as Grandia Xtreme did. GX was SO fast, in fact, that it occasionally made me jump a bit. It's possibly the fastest RPG yet made, in that regard (and that includes cart based RPGs)
Click to expand...

If you havn't already, you should atleast give Suikoden IV a rent. Battles are very quick like Grandia was. The game is also actually better than some reviews would have you believe. Well, that is if you don't hold it up to the holy grail that was Suikoden 2 and enjoy it for what it is.
 
DHGamer said:
If you havn't already, you should atleast give Suikoden IV a rent. Battles are very quick like Grandia was. The game is also actually better than some reviews would have you believe. Well, that is if you don't hold it up to the holy grail that was Suikoden 2 and enjoy it for what it is.
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I was considering that, but the demo kinda turned me off. While the battles ARE very fast, they are also incredibly frequent and random...more so than I am willing to deal with these days. Is it really that frequent in the final game? It was never this bad in the previous games...
 
With about 15 hours in I'd say yeah they are that frequent but being so quick it doesn't really test my nerves. There's also a rune later in the game that will make lower level mobs ignore you so that helps too.
 
dark10x said:
I was considering that, but the demo kinda turned me off. While the battles ARE very fast, they are also incredibly frequent and random...more so than I am willing to deal with these days. Is it really that frequent in the final game? It was never this bad in the previous games...
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very frequent and very, very basic and dull. only interesting fights in the game are boss battles. and it forces a lot of boring resource management on you because of the broken leveling system as well.

SUIKODEN 4 = DO NOT SPEND MORE THAN $20 AND ONLY IF YOU LIKE SUIKODEN AND HAVE PLAYED ALL YOUR 2004 GAMES ALREADY
 
More companies need to take a note from the gameplay in Nintendo's rpgs like Mario and Luigi and Paper Mario. I think it is possible to keep all the extras and still make the gameplay fun like in the mario rpg games.
 
bionic77 said:
More companies need to take a note from the gameplay in Nintendo's rpgs like Mario and Luigi and Paper Mario. I think it is possible to keep all the extras and still make the gameplay fun like in the mario rpg games.
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Eh, after playing through Shadow Hearts 2 and Paper Mario 2, it was a nice change to go back to RPGs that didn't require timing. Now I'm playing Vagrant Story and cursing it haha. They have their place, but I would be lost without a good turn based every now and again.
 
ferricide said:
very frequent and very, very basic and dull. only interesting fights in the game are boss battles. and it forces a lot of boring resource management on you because of the broken leveling system as well.

SUIKODEN 4 = DO NOT SPEND MORE THAN $20 AND ONLY IF YOU LIKE SUIKODEN AND HAVE PLAYED ALL YOUR 2004 GAMES ALREADY
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As a fan of the Suikoden series, I really enjoyed the game.

All the complaints I have are paled in comparison to the Suikoden goodness this game has.
 
RevenantKioku said:
Eh, after playing through Shadow Hearts 2 and Paper Mario 2, it was a nice change to go back to RPGs that didn't require timing. Now I'm playing Vagrant Story and cursing it haha. They have their place, but I would be lost without a good turn based every now and again.
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It doesn't need to have timing though. I just meant that they make a real effort to make the gameplay fun. I think I would have more fun on turn based rpgs if the battles went faster. I agree that timing in every rpg would get old fast, but no one likes to sit around for 3 minutes while they battle the same fucking monster for experience. What I envision is some option you could toggle on or off where it removes almost all battle animations, camera movement, magic spells, etc. And at the same time, it would conceivably lessen load times (would that work?). That would really speed the battles up when you just wanted to level up and you have the option of playing it the other way as well.
 
but no one likes to sit around for 3 minutes while they battle the same fucking monster for experience.
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Actually, a lot of people do. Infact, most of the people who complain about current turn based games praise older games with even more boring combat systems.
 
Umm, 1UP.com gave it a very unfriendly score of 6.0.

http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3138433&did=1

"The battle system and character skill trees are largely to blame for the unpleasantness of the adventure. True, they're recognizable mutations of the concepts established back in Xenogears, but they seem to have drifted into something of an evolutionary dead end. Gone is the quick, intuitive combat of Episode I; say farewell to unique character abilities. Although your party members aren't quite as interchangeable as in, say, Final Fantasy VII, they demonstrate few distinguishing attributes beyond their statistics."
 
Tabris said:
Actually, a lot of people do. Infact, most of the people who complain about current turn based games praise older games with even more boring combat systems.
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I am one of those people. :lol

I don't mind finding endless random battles, I just want the battles to be over quickly.
 
Despite being happy with the 1up score, the review is all kinds of wtf.

Less obvious than the visuals is an even more important upgrade: the game's vastly improved cinematic direction. Episode II features just as much chatty dialogue and storytelling as its predecessor -- more, really, when weighed in proportion to the surprisingly short quest -- but every second of noninteractive game time is much more involving thanks to smarter work by the game's directors.
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!!?

Episode I was incredibly boring...
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oh.

So yea, again it breaks down to:

People who thought ep1 was great = hate ep2
People who thought ep1 was boring = like ep2 more but still think it's a 6
Finally people who thought ep1 had it's positives and negatives = think ep2 also has positives and negatives and give it about a 7/8.

Decide where you stand on ep1 before you decide whether to plunk down $50 on the sequel :P
 
Bebpo said:
So yea, again it breaks down to:

People who thought ep1 was great = hate ep2
People who thought ep1 was boring = like ep2 more but still think it's a 6
Finally people who thought ep1 had it's positives and negatives = think ep2 also has positives and negatives and give it about a 7/8.

Decide where you stand on ep1 before you decide whether to plunk down $50 on the sequel :P
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I enjoyed Episode 1, but I liked it in spite of what I felt were a couple of glaring flaws. Oddly, it seems that many of the Ep. 1 fans have latched onto those very flaws (like the hideous 'walking, talking resin kit' CG character models) with a vengeance, and insist that Ep. 2 is 'trash' (or worse) because they were changed for the sequel. While I'm not certain how Namco marginalizing Takahashi is going to ultimately affect the series, I'm far from giving up on it yet. I think I may end up being one of the few people who honestly liked Ep. 1, but happens to like Ep. 2 more. We'll see once I get around to playing.
 
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