Xenosaga III, Zone of the Enders 2, Rogue Galaxy, Tales of the Abyss

[FinalBob42]

Has anyone played any of the following games, and if so, what did you think about them? What are the negatives of each of these games?

Xenosaga III
Zone of the Enders 2
Rogue Galaxy
Tales of the Abyss

Note that I haven't played the earlier installments in the Xenosaga or Zone of the Enders series (or any of the Tales games) but I hear the above mentioned games are by far the best in their respective series.

[Slothy]

I haven't played any but ZOE2, though I have played previous Tales games, and Xenosaga I (I'd like to grab III sometime though). I would still go with ZOE2 (and the first onw if you can grab a copy). One of the best action games ever.

[Orophin]

I played all the Xenosaga, Rogue Galaxy and some of the Tales of.

Xenosaga III : Great game, it's the best of the trilogy but you should play the first two before playing this one. You won't understand most of it if you don't. You can always read the summary that is include in the game options but playing the other games is recommended.

Rogue Galaxy : I played it but I didn't finish it yet. I'm only 12 or so hours into it right now. It's yet another good game from Levels 5, they never disapointed me so far and I own all 4 games they made for the PS2 (I thought Dragon Quest VIII and Dark Cloud 2 were better through).

Tales of the Abyss : It's a must if you like Action/RPG games. The story is good, the battle system is solid and there is a lot of humor. 2nd best Tales of game in my opinion (I liked Tales of Symphonia more).

[Dreddz]

Ive played Zone of Enders 2 briefly at a friends house, but have completed Rogue Galaxy and gone through most of the sidequests.

I liked Zone of Enders 2 but havent even played the first, so I havent bother to get ZOE2. Maybe later down the road I might buy both of them for cheap.

Rogue Galaxy was amazing, as expected from Level 5, my only problem was the story, which sucked. Level 5 arent amazing story tellers, but Rogue Galaxy's story was bottem of the bunch, just so cliche and predictable. I did however like the gameplay, and the weapon customization was so much better than Dark Clouds, not saying Dark Clouds was bad but Rogue Galaxy's was several steps ahead. I'd say the characters were alright, no one I'd really remember come a decade.

[Maxico]

Zone of the Ender 2 is an amazing action game. I can't say much for the other games, although Rouge Galaxy is a Level 5 game so a certain level of quality is assumed. However, ZOE2 is one of the better games I own, and sadly a mostly overlooked series.

[Monol]

:D Xenosaga 3: Well like all "Third" installments to a trilogy you play it for the answers that the first two games created...you want closure...and even if you dont get it you still want somthing to appease your inquisitve appetite...now unlike most serie's that fail miserably at the this Xenosaga does very very well dealing with a story thats genuinly compressed to wrap of alot of loop holes....it could have been a TAD bit longer for me...and some characters could have done more...and i wished for a little more romance i suppose (thats just how i am) but all in all its and OUTSTANDING finish to a great series

All in all...i was impressed....good job Xeno..."may you live forever"
_The great spartan king Leonadias (pardon the sp)

[Rostum]

I would say go out and buy Xenosaga 1 & 2, and then get 3. Or if you don't really have the money to spend on multiple games, just go for Rogue Galaxy.

I've never played ZOE2.

[Markus. D]

I will be going to XenoIII, Rogue and ToA myself :]

[Monol]

Oh right yea definatly get the first two Xenosaga's :rolleyes2

[Laddy]

Rogue Galaxy: Good: Combat, Colorful World and Story. Cons: A bit annoying in diffculty.

ToA: Good: Kick ass combat, good story and visuals, Cons: Cliche in tons of parts.

Xenosaga III: Good: Combat, Story Cons: A bit overwhelming, not for people who hate deep stuff.

ZoE2: Good: Interesting visuals, grand action, good story. Cons: Bad voice acting in some parts. Not for anime haters. (Like ToA.)

Generally, all of them a pretty good, although I prefer Tales of Symphonia compared to other Tales games, and Xenosaga III MUST be played after the other two are completed, otherwise, all are solid purchases.

[Honest Abel]

The voice acting was pretty decent in ZOE2. Also, the directing is brilliant. Amazing game, like stated before. Also, the extras are just so good. The shooter mini-game kept me occupied forever.

[Red Phire]

Xenosaga 3 - GREAT game, loved the music,story and characters. The battle system while the most "traditional" one out of all three, I found to be the dullest out of all three. Still good though.

ZOE 2 - Never played so can't really comment on it.

Rogue Galaxy - The battle system is loads of fun, once you get into.. you can stop!!(or I couldn't). The graphics are good and there are hardly any load times. There's only one (huge) downside and that's the story which is really lame imo. I saw just about everything coming a mile away. If you get it, get it for the game play only.

Tales of the Abyss - TotA has one of the best battle systems in rpg's right now, it is effin' sweet! I never got tired of it. The graphics are nothing special, not good but not bad. The characters are really well done imo, cliche but funny(I <3 Jade) as for the story it's ok but I found Symphonia's to be a lot better. I would recommend this to any rpg fan.

[Ishin Ookami]

Anyone who's played ZOE 2 will tell you the game is one of the best action/shooter games ever produced. The voice acting indeed sucked, and the script was poorly translated, but the game itself is devine. Definitely the best game on the list.

[Melodies_of_life]

Xenosaga III OMG I absoutly LOVE this game!!!! I thought it was great......but yeah you reayll do need to get the first two. The game makers of this one did a good job at makin' it like you wouldn't really need to play the first two..... but really you will be overwhelmed if you just start on the third one.......I think that I liked XSII's battle system best it is very unique, but you arn't asking about XSII so.........and absoutly I think that XSIII is the best in the series (so far)..........

Zone of the Enders 2...... I've never even heard of this game...... then agian I just got into video games about a year ago and I have a lot to learn........

Rogue Galaxy This is a great game so far!!!!..... I haven't finished yet though.....

Tales of the Abyss..... Same on this one.... I haven't heard of it....

[Ishin Ookami]

Zone of the Enders 2...... I've never even heard of this game......

The first Zone of Enders was released early in the PS2's life. It was released by Kojima studios, and came with a playable demo for the, at the time, in demand and much sought after, Metal Gear Solid 2. The public at large bought the game for the demo, played the hell out of it, and never paid the actual Zone of Enders title any mind and most ended up using it as a coaster.

This is a shame because the First Zone of Enders was a good game overall. The boss battles were great, and the control scheme was fresh and new, and made controlling a mech very fun. Not to mention it looked incredible for it's time, and is still a damn good looking game. The game was poo poo'd due to it's having only three enemy types, repetitive levels, poor voice acting, and it was incredibly short.

The second Runner on the other hand, took the control scheme, ironed out every flaw it had, made the gameplay faster, Jehuty (the main mecha) super powerful, and basically gave you enough weaponry to blow the shat out of everything. The bosses were even more incredible, more fun then the majority of MGS's bosses, and there were many more enemy types this time around, and more ways to blow them up, or slice them to pieces. The game had a great sondtrack, and the graphics were so hot they've been accused of causing global warming. The script had a Engrish translation feel, and the acting was even worse, but Zone of enders 2 still ranks as one of this gamings generation defining classics.

Too bad people associated Zone of Enders with Metal Gear Solid hype. And when Second Runner hit with no MGS anything attatched to it, other than mecha designs done by MGS artist Koji Shinkawa and Kajima's name attatched to the project, people ignored it all together. There was a altogether really good anime series, but when Second Runner was ignored the entire franchise was discontinued.

So yah, thats my rant on Zone of Enders, if you ever come across ZOE: Second Runner, buy it then and there. Its one of the best games you will every play. As for the rest, Rogue Galaxy, Tales of the Abyss, and Xenosaga III are all on my "To play eventually" list. The tales series has a great pedigree, though I wish they'd get with the times and release their games with a option to hear the japanese voice overs. Rogue Galaxy I hear looks great, but I also hear it has a story that runs hot and cold so I'm not in any rush. I'm a huge fan of the whole Xeno mythos, so I will be definitely checking out XS III sooner or later.

[Maxico]

Words

You fail to mention that you can cut giant spaceships in half with your enormous laser.

I cannot stress that enough.

[JKTrix]

I'm a huge ZOE fan. You really don't need to buy the first game, because you can watch the ZOE1 story cutscenes in "The Second Runner". I own the 2nd game and a Japanese special edition I got for 1000 yen, plus the GBA SRPG and the entire anime series.

ZOE 2 is definitely the best on that list, and my top pick.

If you're gonna go with Xenosaga (hint: Don't) you have to get all 3 of them. You can't really just jump in at the end and expect to 'get' everything. I say skip it entirely, and if you're at all interested in the crazy story read it up on Wikipedia.

Haven't played Tales of the Abyss yet, but I've played a few of the previous Tales games. Tales series has one of the more interesting combat systems in any RPG I've played, so I'm sure it would be a good buy.

Rogue Galaxy is just fine. Nothing particularly special about it, but it's not bad at all.

Still, you have ZOE2--which I agree with Ookami as being a Generation Classic--against other less-than-outstanding games. If I had to rank them 'in order' to buy them:

1: ZOE2
2: Tales of the Abyss
3: Rogue Galaxy
4: ????
999*:Xenosaga III

I don't like Xenosaga :P

[Crossblades]

Out of all those games, I only played Tales of the Abyss and I found that game to be fun. It has a great battle system and a good story

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

ZOE2. Hands. Down. One of my absolute favorite top 5 games I think everyone should play. It's all kinds of amazing. What other game has hundreds of on-screen enemies for you to take down while trying to defend a bunch of your own units? Or lets you do an aerial combat run against 5 huge battleships that are armed to the teeth or chase after a train trying to blast your way to the front before it reaches the end of the tunnel?

[Madame Adequate]

I've not played Tales of the Abyss, but when has a Tales game not been pretty classy?

ZoE is huge amounts of fun. Can't recommend it enough.

Rogue Galaxy is ridiculously good. Sure, the story's cheesy, but there are some great characters (Steve ftw!) and the gameplay itself is some of the most solid I've seen in a long time. There is something of a dependance on items, but that's about the only criticism of note.

Xenosaga, well, I couldn't really get into the first one and never played the second. I doubt it's bad in any way, just not my cup of tea.

[JKTrix]

What other game has hundreds of on-screen enemies for you to take down while trying to defend a bunch of your own units?

Kingdom Hearts 2 tried this, it was nowhere near as grand. That scene in ZOE2 was probably the most epic in any game I've played. Vic Viper FTW. I played it again last night, though I'm pretty rusty :P Too many LEVs died.

I spoke to one of my co-workers yesterday about it, and he said he'd never even heard of ZOE2. Sacrilege! (Well, not really. It's easy to miss stuff in Bermuda.) I gave him the game today to check it out. He's one of those 'GTA/Madden/FIFA' players who I'm trying to get to expand his interests, will be interesting to see how he takes to it.