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Hazzard
08-13-2007, 09:29 PM
Is it good? Just got it today, want some opinions.

Khaotic
08-13-2007, 09:36 PM
Don't people usually ask if a game is good if they're interested in buying it? You have the game.. go find out.

Lots of people didn't like it, I however enjoyed it. Honestly it was quite awhile ago, and I've played 3 since, so I don't exactly remember it, but I enjoyed all 3 of them so it must've been good(to me).

Hazzard
08-13-2007, 09:40 PM
Don't people usually ask if a game is good if they're interested in buying it? You have the game.. go find out.

Lots of people didn't like it, I however enjoyed it. Honestly it was quite awhile ago, and I've played 3 since, so I don't exactly remember it, but I enjoyed all 3 of them so it must've been good(to me).

It wasn't planned, but completely spontaineous, cause it only cost £5.00

Zante
08-13-2007, 09:55 PM
Its not a bad game, though it has really long cutscenes which can be a turnoff.

Vermachtnis
08-13-2007, 10:01 PM
I like it. The music is better. Although I don't like the new character designs they graphics are smoother. Some of the new voice actors are bad too. But again the music is awesome and so is the story. The post game is pretty fun too.

Dreddz
08-13-2007, 10:58 PM
I stopped with the Xenosaga series after the first game. Determined not to deal with the lame bonus DVD telling you what happened in Xenosaga I that comes with Xenosaga II in the UK. I imported the original. I really liked Xenogears but hated Xenosaga so much. Everything in that game is off, the characters, story...everything. Cant imagine the sequel is any better.

CloudDragon
08-13-2007, 11:38 PM
I still need to play through this game too. I hear Xenosaga III is a great improvement, so playing through II would be worth it to get to III.

Markus. D
08-14-2007, 12:19 AM
Xenosaga III is about the most perfected version of the Xenosaga... saga (nice amount of storytelling and Actual >>>good<<< gameplay).

Xenosaga II has especially lengthy storyline cutscenes (Think you'll enjoy it if you like watching Anime and stuff :]).

Rostum
08-14-2007, 01:48 AM
I absolutely enjoyed Xenosaga II. Though I was very frustrated with the battle system because I only figured out how to properly use it at the final boss.

In Australia, Xenosaga II came with an 8 hour movie of Xenosaga I. I didn't mind watching it, but would rather play it.

Still waiting for Xenosaga III to come out here. =\

Khaotic
08-14-2007, 01:52 AM
I absolutely enjoyed Xenosaga II. Though I was very frustrated with the battle system because I only figured out how to properly use it at the final boss.

In Australia, Xenosaga II came with an 8 hour movie of Xenosaga I. I didn't mind watching it, but would rather play it.

Still waiting for Xenosaga III to come out here. =\

An 8 hour movie of the first?....damn other countries :( First Europe gets Dark Aeons, now Australia gets an 8 hour movie.

Rostum
08-14-2007, 02:09 AM
Yeah, it was alright, but I'd still rather just play it.

By the way, the sword fight between Jin and Margulis was absolutely awesome.

Shoeberto
08-14-2007, 02:14 AM
I absolutely enjoyed Xenosaga II. Though I was very frustrated with the battle system because I only figured out how to properly use it at the final boss.

In Australia, Xenosaga II came with an 8 hour movie of Xenosaga I. I didn't mind watching it, but would rather play it.

Still waiting for Xenosaga III to come out here. =\

An 8 hour movie of the first?....damn other countries :( First Europe gets Dark Aeons, now Australia gets an 8 hour movie.
I'm pretty sure it was just of the FMVs in Episode I. Some of Episode I's FMVs lasted upwards of half an hour.

SeeDRankLou
08-14-2007, 04:20 AM
An 8 hour movie of the first?....damn other countries :( First Europe gets Dark Aeons, now Australia gets an 8 hour movie.
Dude, we actually got to play the game. The PAL countries just got to watch the game. You'd rather watch the game than play it? And the PAL countries got the Dark Aeons because of the especially long amount of time they had to wait for the game, at least a half a year longer than they should have had to wait. They might get a few perks here and there but they pay for them, trust.

I liked Xenosaga II, but it was my least favorite of the three, not to say it was bad at all, just my least favorite.

tidus_rox
08-14-2007, 04:30 AM
lol I just got Xenosaga I today. I think the storyline is sooo confusing..

LunarWeaver
08-14-2007, 04:35 AM
As a Xenosaga fanatic, my extremely biased opinion says it's awesome. Episode II was the weak link, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it a lot. I actually liked its battle system better than the first, but I seem to be on a lone branch with that one. I wish there was more plot in it though. Soraya Saga, who was pretty much the main writer before they more-or-less fired her, even listed all the things they cut out before Namco made her take it off her website (it was a hella lot).

My big hint for Episode II: Use MOMO or Shion, one or the other (MOMO is the better choice gameplay-wise). People think they suck, but they are the only ones capable of truly hurting some enemies. :jess:

Hazzard
08-14-2007, 06:55 AM
I just watched fifteen minutes of the bonus DVD and was bored to death. Turned it off quickly, I hope the game won't be like that - I'm happy with most of your replies, but is it essential to of played or at least have some knowledge of the first Xenosaga installment?

Wolf Kanno
08-14-2007, 07:17 AM
Yes it is imperitive that you have some knowledge of the first (it gets better it just has a slow start I'm afraid.) The second game mostly expands on characters and introduces new factors in the plot. Be grateful you don't have to deal with some of the more tedious gameplay issues.

I love this series (though I still love Xenogears more) but I agree with Lunar Weaver about this being the weak link in the series. It's not bad but lord does it make some bad mistakes...

The character designs vary from scene to scene and their is a general lack of effort on consistency... to be honest that's really the whole games problem really. A lot of great ideas and no follow through. The music varies depending on whether you are watching a cutscene (This music is fantastic though the sound department doesn't like sharing it too well:mad: ) or if you are in a dungeon or city (this music goes anywhere from boring and forgettable to OMG! MY EARS ARE BLEEDING!!!:eek: ).

I personally hate most of the new VAs for the game. MOMO, Shion and Kos-Mos have horrible VA while chaos is the only one to make it out with a decent VA (His VA changes from the guy who playent Kentaro in Love Hina to the person who plays TK in Digimon) but luckily most of the originals that matter come back. (I love you Crispin Freeman:love: )

The Story being good or bad depends on a few factors... mostly whether you like the U.R.T.V. units or if you want to know more about the "grand mystery" of the series. If you want the latter than you are probably going to find the plot boring. Most die hard Saga fanboys I know hate this games story cause it feels like a side story.

The first disc and the end of the second disc focus purely on Gaignun, Albedo, and Jr. and fan favorites like Kos-Mos and chaos get only bit parts that seem more like an after thought than being relevant to the story (well chaos does have the prologue and the ending but should that make up for nearly 40 hours of being absent from the plot?).

Personally I love the U.R.T.V. guys and if I had any real complaints it's the fact that most of the "revelations and plot twists" were pretty much explained in Eps. 1. Only the twist with Sakura and Nigredo were really new. Oh and at least they finally explain Unit 668...

Shion is still a bitch, Allen is still fawning over her cause he's obviously desperate... Jin and Canaan are welcome members to the cast but once again their roles seem like an after thought once the prologue ends... MOMO is annoying with her new VA (I want Sasami back:cry: ) Ziggy still proves to be awesome. The Elsa crew are still comical, Margulis and Pelligri are still villanous and you get to meet the Space Pope (He's not a lizard)

The major thing that makes the story suffer is the absence of the Xenopedia that gives you the insight on characters and story related elements. Regretfully the game drops a lot of terminology and introduces a ton of characters but has little to no in-game explanation...

The game play is where things are really overhauled. The game has done away with RPG staples like equipment and shops. Now you must procur items from treasue chest in dungeons, battles, or the side quests. This also means that items like Med Kits and Revive must be used as last resorts as there are no way to get them easily.

Luckily other gameplay mechanics make this a non-issue. Mostly due to your party no longer having specialized abilites (well except for Shion's Erde Kaiser Summon...) and instead your party gains ability from a communial ability pool. Of course your parties different stats do affect things.

Your party no longer uses Tech Attacks, instead they utilize a "tag team system". First one of your party members need to hit an enemy with the correct combo to "break their guard" once this happens you can utilize Boost to have other party members create long combo chains to attack the enemy while they are in a weakend state. Their are also two special types of Breaks that only a few members have. They are called Air and Ground. Air knocks and opponent in the air and allows even more damage to specific targets while ground smashes opponents to the ground... enough said. Just be warned that Ziggy and chaos have no way of participating in Air combos while Kos-Mos and Jin seem to suffer from doing damage in Ground combos.

Now here's where the battle system becomes a problem... there is no balance. The battle system is fun and exciting for boss battles but when you have to pull off deeply complex combos to take out guard #43 in the long dungeons, the battle system gets a little old...

Mecha comabt is also different (it exists!) but rather straight forward...

It is a really good game regardless of it's short comings but I was one of those guys who wondered why the combat of Eps. 1 needed to be changed, the game was fine the way it was. Luckily Eps.3 fixes alot of things...

Definetly play it and hopefully we can discuss more about the plot and characters;)


As a Xenosaga fanatic, my extremely biased opinion says it's awesome. Episode II was the weak link, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it a lot. I actually liked its battle system better than the first, but I seem to be on a lone branch with that one. I wish there was more plot in it though. Soraya Saga, who was pretty much the main writer before they more-or-less fired her, even listed all the things they cut out before Namco made her take it off her website (it was a hella lot).

My big hint for Episode II: Use MOMO or Shion, one or the other (MOMO is the better choice gameplay-wise). People think they suck, but they are the only ones capable of truly hurting some enemies. :jess:

I remember that letter... luckily most of what was supposed to be done winded up in Eps. 3 except for a few things... I still can't believe they fired her though.:cry:

Also I am happy to see someone else noticed that MOMO is freaking over powered! Lord she's really good in the first game once you put some work into her but damn if she isn't like the most powerful and useful character in Eps. II and III...

Hazzard
08-14-2007, 07:31 AM
I will choose this MOMO...

Markus. D
08-14-2007, 07:46 AM
MOMO is unexpectedly Broken in the game X__x

Karellen
08-14-2007, 09:37 AM
Xenosaga II is a compilations of elements that are either pretty good or irredeemably bad. The gameplay will probably be down to taste. I liked the stratagy in the battles but the load times are ass and it annoyed me that physical attacks are pretty much the only effective form of offense. The game is also far shorter then the other two unless you do all the sidequests, none of which are particularly entertaining. The cutscene music is pretty good, but the dungeon music will make your ears bleed. I don't really have a problem with the lack of unique ether abilities and equipment others have. Character's maintain their individuality in their attack styles and elemental alignment. The game itself is about as linear as episode I and the cutscenes are about as long (although there are less of them, due to the decreased length), so if you didn't have an issue with them in I I can't see that bothering you.

The real problem with the game is the plot. If you weren't really a fan of the URTVs, the forget about this game because that's all you're going to get. Almost all the other plot elements that were intended for the game have been cut and pasted into Episode III or left unexplained, leading to a few notably plot holes. The elements that do make it into III aren't particularly well explained and you're probably going to be left searching through databases in III or online for information.

But yeah, if you don't really mind the negatives listed above you'll probably be able to sit through it for the 20-odd hours it takes to finish the main quest. It's not a great game by any means and I generally agree with most reviews that tend to give it an average in the low 70s but it's not as god-awful as a lot of the Xeno fanbase makes it out to be.


Still waiting for Xenosaga III to come out here. =\
Never going to happen. III sold pretty poorly in the US and II sold horribly in PAL territories. It simply wouldn't be worth Namco's while to release the game in Europe/Australasia.

Hazzard
08-14-2007, 11:00 AM
Well, I played an hour of it, the beginning was a enormously long cutscene. The battling system kinda confuses me, but I have a moderate understanding of it - don't know how to hit A-zone hits though, only can manage two B-zone attacks. If the game only lasts for 20 hours then I'm already feeling disappointed, I like ones that can span from 40-60 hours.
Overall, so far, I think it's decent, just need to play it a bit more, progress until I get all the characters, and then my judgment will probably be more fairly put across.

computer-geekz
08-14-2007, 01:34 PM
I thought the biggest problem with Xenosaga II was that it seemed very rushed. The excellent music and combat system from Part I were thrown out the window, in exchange for a mishmash of neo-Megaman music and a cumbersome sort-of-strategic battle system. Also, the voice acting changed around far too much for my tastes; KOS-MOS went from female android to valley girl (I exaggerate just a little), and chaos went from a calm, kind "young" man to a moody-sounding, monotone teenager. That being said, I think chaos's new voice was more appropriate to the overall character, but the sudden change was just too much of a distraction through the early parts of II's storytelling.

The story was fantastic, continuing on from the first and creating more questions than answers. The big problem I saw story-wise, though, was that Part II's story came to a close too quickly. My understanding was that they were trying to get the game out as quickly as possible, so they pushed off some story elements to Part III that should have been in II.

Had they taken their time with this game and gotten it right, I'd bet there would indeed have been Xenosaga Parts IV and V, as originally promised. II put off too many of the fans, I think, which is what probably most helped kill the series prematurely.

Anyway, to answer your original question, if you liked the story of Part I, you will like Part II. I can't guarantee you'll like the gameplay, but if you ever plan to play Part III (which I HIGHLY recommend), you should definitely play through II.

Wolf Kanno
08-15-2007, 05:11 AM
I thought the biggest problem with Xenosaga II was that it seemed very rushed. The excellent music and combat system from Part I were thrown out the window, in exchange for a mishmash of neo-Megaman music and a cumbersome sort-of-strategic battle system. Also, the voice acting changed around far too much for my tastes; KOS-MOS went from female android to valley girl (I exaggerate just a little), and chaos went from a calm, kind "young" man to a moody-sounding, monotone teenager. That being said, I think chaos's new voice was more appropriate to the overall character, but the sudden change was just too much of a distraction through the early parts of II's storytelling.

The story was fantastic, continuing on from the first and creating more questions than answers. The big problem I saw story-wise, though, was that Part II's story came to a close too quickly. My understanding was that they were trying to get the game out as quickly as possible, so they pushed off some story elements to Part III that should have been in II.

Had they taken their time with this game and gotten it right, I'd bet there would indeed have been Xenosaga Parts IV and V, as originally promised. II put off too many of the fans, I think, which is what probably most helped kill the series prematurely.

Anyway, to answer your original question, if you liked the story of Part I, you will like Part II. I can't guarantee you'll like the gameplay, but if you ever plan to play Part III (which I HIGHLY recommend), you should definitely play through II.

To be honest, the whole series has been rushed. Xenosaga is a perfect example of a series destroyed by the publisher and developers having different ideas of where to take the project. If you ever watched the original trailer for Eps.1 (the infamous 8min. 8sec. trailer) you'll see that Eps. 1 and 2 were supposed to be one game.

The trailer featured scenes from Eps. 2 in it utilizing the the graphics of Eps.1. Both the scenes where chaos and Jin talk outside on the Uzuki estate and the battle between Jin and Margulis in Labyrinthos (and for us Xenogears fans, the symbol of Kadamony is seen in the background of the room:( )

Unfortunately, Namco got impatient and had the game released prematurely so most of what became Eps. 2 was cut. It would be like releasing only the first disc of FFVII...

With Eps 2 we got a new problem. Namco took over and decided to listen to all the feedback for the game... Causal gamers were put off by Eps.1 numerous cutscenes, they hated certain voices, and many didn't like the heavy anime influence to the character designs. Basically the game was streamlined to appease everyone and in the end made everyone angry and ultimately killed the project. Throw in the fact that Namco had most of the staff of Eps 1 fired mid way through the project and brought in a new and inexperienced team. The game was a disaster waiting to happen.

By Eps. 3, they company decided to listen to feedback from the die hard fans of the franchise and not so much of the casual consumer. I also feel the team was so embarrassed about Eps.2 that they decided to go all out to make Eps 3 as good as possible.

The original idea of Xenosaga was that it was going to span throughout time and be a serial. Shion's story was supposed to be Eps.1 not Eps. 1-3. Most Xenogears fans feel that Saga was supposed to follow a timeline similiar to the one put forth in Perfect Works. Perhaps Namco didn't understand or Monolith Soft decided to curb their ambition a little. I guess we'll never know...

Karellen
08-15-2007, 05:33 AM
NAMCO apparently had little to do with what happened to the project. After Soraya Saga was removed she left her final thoughts on the site listing, among other things, a notice that the 'parent company' was not involved in the change-over and that the decision was made by Monolith Soft itself. source (http://secondmiltia.com/site/?page_id=9)

That site also lists all the things that were cut from Episode II for those interested, but also lists spoilers for that which wasn't so read with care.

Markus. D
08-15-2007, 09:06 AM
I actually enjoyed the piece of music from Sakura's Summer Domain place thing :]

That was probably the only dungeon/in-gameplay music I liked out of it though.

Hazzard
08-15-2007, 10:32 AM
Man, you people are kinda putting me off, making me know that the game was rushed, confusing, and the weakest link out of them all...I'm worried and curious what this game will do for me, the twenty hour long thing still bothers me and if I read right - this will be compared to one VII disc? That's...horrid.

Markus. D
08-15-2007, 10:39 AM
xD... It's not for everyone.

I <3ed it though.

Hazzard
08-15-2007, 10:46 AM
Not to mention that I just got my prized FFX game back from the stores, haven't fully completed VIII or my Yiazmat hunt on XII, and I also have got IX coming in a few days, consequently meaning that my play on Xenosaga will be probably limited to like 25 minutes every other day or something like that.

Karellen
08-15-2007, 11:13 AM
One FFVII disk is kind of an exaggeration. Despite having a lot of plot cut from it, the section of the story that the game does cover resolves itself by its conclusion.

Rostum
08-15-2007, 02:09 PM
I actually enjoyed watching Xenosaga I's movie, but that may have been just because I had the flu and could only lay around.

And don't let statements of the game being rushed discourage you. It still is a very decent game, and I had a lot of fun with it. I seriously wish I had of spent my money on a mod chip to import the third, but I guess now I'll just have to wait...

Hazzard
08-15-2007, 02:21 PM
You're right, Omecle, but there's something about me which doesn't like "decent~" games, ya know? I like "this was the best game ever" comments, a bit shallow as a gamer, but that's me, man...personally I thought it was decent from the intro to when I met Jin, so I'll bring it to my dad's today and play some of it...

LunarWeaver
08-15-2007, 07:11 PM
Aww, I say weak link loosely. It's mostly just that it changed directors and felt different so it turned some people off, but it retains the Xenosaga feel. This is the series that ruined other RPGs for me because I always compare them, after all. I personally liked that they took many chances with the game; the battle system is totally different, there's no shops, there's greater stress on skill learning and stat raising, they redesigned the characters, blah etc. It was nice to see them at least try and make a new game rather than reuse absolutely everything from the first and call it a sequel *cough .hack cough*

My brother and a friend nearly gave up at the part you're coming up to because it gets a little harder and they didn't know a lot of the battle system's smaller intricacies. I had to type out this big thingie explaining how to use double ethers and keep a break going almost indefinitely through boost and what characters weapon attributes mean and all that crap, so if you have any trouble and want a looksie, I will copy paste it for you. :hat:

Wolf Kanno
08-15-2007, 08:32 PM
Thanks for the correction Karellen. So it was actually Monolith Soft? I wonder what happened in the company...

Anyway, I don't believe in "sugar-coating" a game review but to be honest you should theoretically like it more cause you never had a chance to play the original; so much of the changes won't affect you. The game is good, and though I was diappointed (more from a story perspective mind you)the first play through, I went through the game a second time a year later and had to say it was way better than I remmeber. Just remember that Lunar Weaver and I are fans of the series dating back to the original so we have more fanboy gripes than others;) Even though we complain it doesn't mean we don't love this game.

If you want to hear my real gripes with the series... it mostly deals with firing Soraya Saga and changing the script as well as never releasing Pied Piper (one of the best written pieces in the series and Soraya's last writing contribution to the series) and never releasing Xenosaga 1&2 (a remake of the first two games with a more fleshed out plot as well as the official "canon" that Eps 3 is based on) outside of Japan:mad:

As for the "One Disc" comment it mostly deals with the fact that when you really start getting into the story and game it just abruptly ends. Granted Eps.2 has a much better ending and wrap up than Eps. 1 did. Most people got thrown off by the fact that the final dungeon and boss fight in Eps. 1 didn't feel right...It came as a surprise for many fans and felt like the story ended too abruptly. Eps.2 doesn't suffer from this, of anything it was the fact that the game looked like it was going to finally reveal some plot elements and instead gives us a beautiful teaser... It was handled way better in my opinion.

The only real problem with Xenosaga is the fact that since it's episodic it's difficult to judge the games on an individual basis. When you see how the whole story works, the game is a thing of beauty.:love:

Hazzard
08-15-2007, 08:39 PM
Basically it would be better if I had the first episode, or watched the bonus DVD, which I absolutely can't bear. This Soraya Saga, did she relate the game series to her second name by chance or was it intended?

Wolf Kanno
08-15-2007, 08:42 PM
Basically it would be better if I had the first episode, or watched the bonus DVD, which I absolutely can't bear. This Soraya Saga, did she relate the game series to her second name by chance or was it intended?

Purely a coincedence I believe. ;)

And yes you should probably watch the DVD or read up on the plot and cast of Eps.1. Alot of things are not going to make sense really soon...

LunarWeaver
08-15-2007, 10:07 PM
Yeah, stick with the DVD. Trust me, there's good stuff in there. Just think of it as an anime, because the game is pretty close to that sort of thing. You have to give yourself time to get into it and such. Once Episode I picks you up, then you can't stop. I know people who burned all the cutscenes on a disc and watched it even though they own the game, if that makes you feel better about it all.

Hazzard
08-15-2007, 11:09 PM
Aaaah...it working, it's working. I will watch it, then make my decision on how I feel about the whole "Xenosaga" alignment and see I would be interested to carry on playing the second one, I'll post regular updates about queries or tips, OK, off to play now.

edczxcvbnm
08-15-2007, 11:17 PM
Xenosaga II is a horrible game for the following reasons

- The battle system is like experiencing a quadruple heart attack with a stroke while giving birth. It is that insanely painful and wish you were dead. Not only that but it is also slow and agonizing.

- Music is like playing russian roulette except that there is only one empty chamber. Most of the songs in the game you want the bullet to put you out of your misery but every now and then there is a good song.

- The voice acting you don't get russian roulette. Just take the gun and pain the wall with blood and brains. Talk about huge misstep.

- Story...it doesn't really answer any questions from the previous game and only brings up new things. Most of which is pointless when looked at from the greater overall perspective. Jr. might be an important character but what about this massive whatever that is going on. All the story parts they cut was what I cared about. Thank God most of them made it into episode III.

- Graphics...Jaggy central? With a more realistic and bigger look to the game it suffered big time in the jaggy department. Also what the fuck was up with their hands? Either make them blocks that don't move or give them all 4 fingers. Don't half ass it. :skull::skull::skull::skull: that annoyed me.

Those are the five big points I have against Xenosaga II. Horrible game in all aspects. Probably one of my least favorite games of the last generation.

crono_logical
08-20-2007, 09:08 AM
I just finished playing this earlier this week :p Not a bad game, and I actually liked the slow battle system for some odd reason, but I think it wouldn't have made any sense at all if I hadn't played Episode 1 beforehand. Also, since it's part of a trilogy, the ending was disappointingly anticlimactic, and I'd say you really need to play all 3 to see the full story in all it's glory (though I've not played 3 yet :D )

As ed said though, the voice acting in the english version is a bit bleh for some of the characters, and at times, I think Shion's is comparable to Yuna's from FFX US, it was that cringeworthy :p

edczxcvbnm
08-20-2007, 09:24 AM
My biggest problem with the battle system was that I 'figured it out' very early on. Not in the same way that I eventually figured out how to abuse the system in Xenosaga I. More like I figured out a pattern that would guarantee me a win...pretty much no matter what. All I remember is that I avoided battles as much as I could and I did none of the sidequests which ultimatly hindered the ability to advance higher in the abilities or characters.

Sephex eventually broke down and just used my win tactic because it just works. I have probably outlined it before here and I can't really remember what the hell it was at the moment.

I am happy to say that Xenosaga III fixed all of the problems that the second one had. Everything might not be cinema happy like the first two but it gets that story in there and they wrap it all up.

Good voice acting, music, graphics, battle sytem, story. Hell the battles are even a bit challenging this time around. I tend to be an avoid he battles type player and I found the first two easy(second one really shouldn't count because of its broken battle system) so maybe this one is easy to everyone else. It wasn't hard but I couldn't sleep walk my way through this one either.

Karellen
08-20-2007, 01:41 PM
Everyone claims the third one was much easier then the first two, but I can't think of a single battle in I or II that where anywhere near as hard as The Red Testament. Maybe I wasn't trying as hard or something but that's pretty much the only battle in the series where I had to got back and gain a few levels.

Episode III was much better then II, but I'm still kind of disapointed about how short it was. The game was probably only about 3-4 hours longer then II despite having more plot to cover then the first two combined and ended up feeling almost as rushed as the second disk of Xenogears. It doesn't help that a lot of the plot points assume that the player has knowledge of Pied Piper and to a lesser extent Xenosaga I & II which as previously noted never received an English translation.

LunarWeaver
08-20-2007, 02:36 PM
My biggest problem with the battle system was that I 'figured it out' very early on. Not in the same way that I eventually figured out how to abuse the system in Xenosaga I. More like I figured out a pattern that would guarantee me a win...pretty much no matter what.

This was definately the biggest flaw of II's system. There was just one way to kill everything and all other tactics were garbage. The game pressures you to do the same thing in every battle to succeed.




To the folks who skipped the first one, you can always go on Blue Laguna and watch all the cutscenes <3 Or Episode III had the grand return of the database, so if you don't mind reading for 10 days you can catch up that way.

Vermachtnis
08-20-2007, 04:00 PM
My biggest problem with the battle system was that I 'figured it out' very early on. Not in the same way that I eventually figured out how to abuse the system in Xenosaga I. More like I figured out a pattern that would guarantee me a win...pretty much no matter what.

This was definately the biggest flaw of II's system. There was just one way to kill everything and all other tactics were garbage. The game pressures you to do the same thing in every battle to succeed.




Yea and with that you couldn't make a team of you favorite characters and use them the whole time. Well you could, but it'd make it difficult at times.