So can we officially put the xenosaga series in its deathbed now

[darkchrono]

Can we now officially assume that there will be no more xenosaga games.

On the xenosaga forums many of them remain optimistic about them going on and making a 4th game in the series after the sells for Ep. III were decent.

But now with it being close to two years since ep. III was made and with a whole new system generation coming to pass can we now safely say that their is no chance of another xenosaga game (at least in terms of a game that will continue on with the storyline).

[Germ Hamee]

Yes.

Monolith Soft is owned by Nintendo now, while Namco Bandai owns the rights to Xenosaga. This essentially sends the series into the same copyright black hole that the Chrono series suffered. Until this changes, I doubt we'll see another Xenosaga game any time soon. If we do, I doubt it will be anything resembling the first three games considering the creative team is signed with another company.

Which I think is a shame. I'm actually playing Xenosaga III for the first time, and quite enjoying it.

[Ouch!]

I think the ending of XS3 was sufficient. XS4 just wouldn't be the same without Jin, KOS-MOS, and chaos anyway.

[KentaRawr!]

Yeah, no more Xenosaga.

[Zeromus_X]

I still need to finish the first one. =(

[Necronopticous]

XS4 just wouldn't be the same without Jin, KOS-MOS, and chaos anyway.And, more importantly, Albedo.

[NeoCracker]

I believe they said III would be the last one anyway.



XS4 just wouldn't be the same without Jin, KOS-MOS, and chaos anyway.And, more importantly, Albedo.

Actually, While Jin is definately Done for, Chaos will definately make another appearance. I would suspect to See Kos-Mos is some form or another as well, given her relevance and history. And I wouldn't be surprised if Albedo would rise up in Jr. from time to time, in some form or another. He and Jr. did unite in the end after all.

This is all if a fourth was coming, which it probably won't.

[Wolf Kanno]

I'm afraid its done for... Half the team left in the middle of XSII due to internal strife and the other half is now owned by Nintendo. Personally, even though the third game was pretty damn good. I feel we should just end it there, on a good note.

The whole series has been marked with bad decisions I'm afraid. I only wish we could have seen the true vision the creators intended.

[darkchrono]

I think the Shion storyarc pretty much got out as planned (though not as quickly as it was originally planned as they intended for the Shion story to be over and done with in two games in the beginning from what I heard).

However I believe they intended to have one or two more sets of characters that would take place many many many years after the Shion story ended. Much like in Xenogears where the group of Fei, Elly, and Bart were positioned thousands of years after the original story started and the old stories were just referenced to in Xenogears.

In the Xenosaga universe Shion's time on the clock would have been at the very beginning of the trilogy. Just like in the Xenogears universe the Eldridge was at the very beginning of the trilogy.

If you want to find out what may have taken place in Xenosaga a good choice would be to go ahead and play Xenogears. As the Xenosaga story probably would have ended up fairly similar to the way the Xenogears story played out (since xenosaga was basically just a re-telling of xenogears).

[Ouch!]

XS4 just wouldn't be the same without Jin, KOS-MOS, and chaos anyway.And, more importantly, Albedo.
I thought that went without saying.

[escobert]

I've never played any of them. I did watch my girlfriend play I for a little while and looked up faqs for her xD

[Alucard von Elru]

I consider it to be put to rest. The series had its many major flaws, and didn't turn out in any way like I expected. I feel it failed to live up to its potential, but at the same time it could have turned out far, far worse than it did. Mostly, I agree with Kanno. III was a pretty decent experience overall, and its ending moments were unbefreakinglievable, so I'd say the series should just be put to rest. The ending of the overall Saga left me satisfied, even if the journey there didn't. I'd call that a high note, and it's nice that the series ended on one.

[darkchrono]

I think what was originally planned was for them to go and start populating a new planet after they began searching for Lost Jerusalem at the end of the game (much like they began populating the xenogears planet in that game).

And then the rest of the series probably would have taken place on that planet that they showed at the very end of Ep. III.

So I think xenosaga would have ended up in much the same way that xenogears did with Shion being referenced to in much the same way that the first Elly and Miang were referenced to.

[Wolf Kanno]

I think the Shion storyarc pretty much got out as planned (though not as quickly as it was originally planned as they intended for the Shion story to be over and done with in two games in the beginning from what I heard).

However I believe they intended to have one or two more sets of characters that would take place many many many years after the Shion story ended. Much like in Xenogears where the group of Fei, Elly, and Bart were positioned thousands of years after the original story started and the old stories were just referenced to in Xenogears.

In the Xenosaga universe Shion's time on the clock would have been at the very beginning of the trilogy. Just like in the Xenogears universe the Eldridge was at the very beginning of the trilogy.

If you want to find out what may have taken place in Xenosaga a good choice would be to go ahead and play Xenogears. As the Xenosaga story probably would have ended up fairly similar to the way the Xenogears story played out (since xenosaga was basically just a re-telling of xenogears).

Id say playing Xenogears is the next best thing to a sequel for the series. When they say there was internal strife they meant it for this series. Shion's story arc was supposed to be Episode 1 only. I don't know how long it took before they realized they couldn't pull this off but an early and infamous trailer known as the "8min 8sec trailer" shows that Episode 1 was still half complete.

The trailer features mostly cutscenes of the first game but also features cutscenes from Episode 2 (using the first games engine no less) mostly the scenes of Jin fighting Margulis at Old Miltia (The second battle not the flashback. There was also a blatant reference to Xenogears in the background that was removed later), Jin talking to chaos at the Uzuki estate, a conversation between chaos and Nephilim that never happened, and a conversation between Jr. and Albedo that never happened. So, alot went missing between this trailer being shown and what we got.

After Episode 2 was released, one of the main writiers who left the project talked about everything that was removed from Episode 2's plot, it was never stated why this stuff was removed but implied that Monolith (not Namco) was trying to extend the series. The stuff listed as being removed from the story was basically the entire plot of Episode III. Meaning Episode 2 was originally supposed to end Shion's Story...

This series has been marred by some of the worst buisness decisions and internal fighting I've seen in ages. I was actually surprised we got Episode 3 and that it was so damn good. I say let it rest...

[darkchrono]

So are you saying that when Takahashi originally planned out the series he planned on Ep. I being about another 70-90 hour long game (much like Xenogears) and encompassing everything that happened during the three games that came out?

But then realized that that couldn't be done and decided to do it in two games and then Monolith came in and said they wanted to extend it to three games?

If Takashi originally thought that Shion's storyarc could be done in one game on ps2 technology that just shows how poor of a business man he was.

You could see something like that being done on a ps1 but with the hyped up graphics and voice acting it would be garsh darn expensive and time consuming to do that on the ps2. And also given the fact that monolith or namco would be investing all that money into a game where they didn't know yet how big of payoff they would get for it.

[Wolf Kanno]

Takahashi is a dreamer and a writer I'm afraid. Hell Xenogears is proof since its also half finished. Monolith Soft is proof as well since he formed the company cause Square didn't appreciate his vision. Some people can come up with good ideas but it doesn't necessarily mean they know how to go about executing it properly. The Xeno series is proof of that I'm afraid. :(

[darkchrono]

Takahashi just should have written the story and then teamed up with someone who would know how to translate that story into a video game setting.

The best way to go about something like this is to start off small and then if the money rolls in start getting bigger.

To try to start things off huge to begin with is just a poor idea and nobody who is putting money into it is going to back it.

I also think that since Takashi was pretty much demoted during the project shows that he wasn't real willing to listen to advice. And that is the worst type of business person their is. Someone who doesn't have a good grasp of things to begin with but also isn't willing to listen to others.

[Roogle]

I think that the Xenosaga series sent out a knell when Soraya Saga was asked to leave the project.

[Dragonsoul]

Maybe the story will come out as three more animated movies or three more graphics novels?

[Alucard von Elru]

graphics novels?
Actually, that's a really good idea. Graphic novels, or just novels in general... comitting the storyline to a medium like that might actually allow it some breathing room. I think I'd enjoy that.

[Forsaken Lover]

You naysayers are annoying.
Like all the people who crawl out of their holes every year to say "the Legacy of Kain series is over."

No one's saying it's not over. We just have hope there might some day be a new game. Just let us have our hope. It's not like we only live for this hope and cling to it. It's just one of those things you'd like. Like I'd love to win the lottery but the odds are slim.

So don't come and tell me "put your hopes of winning the lottery to rest". Because maybe I'll win someday. And maybe a new LoK or Xeno game will be made.

[Wolf Kanno]

I know LoK series has moved around a bit but I don't think it has as bad as a rep as Xenosaga did. It depends on what Nintendo wants to do with Monolith Soft. Right now they have them making some nice DS titles (that suffer from long drawn out story sequences I've read ;)) Who knows, maybe Episode IV will be released around the same time Duke Nukem Forever is released :D

[Roogle]

No one's saying it's not over. We just have hope there might some day be a new game. Just let us have our hope. It's not like we only live for this hope and cling to it. It's just one of those things you'd like. Like I'd love to win the lottery but the odds are slim.

I think that it is necessary to accept facts.

One of my favorite series is LUNAR localized by Working Designs. I wanted to see a sequel to the game after Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete was released, but a new Lunar game hasn't been made in years aside from a side story game on the Nintendo DS localized by another company; furthermore, Working Designs no longer exists, so...

[edczxcvbnm]

There is not going to be a new game. At some point Namco announced that Xenosaga IV was in the works along with 2 Xenosaga DS games. All of these games were cancelled. I think one of the DS games was Frontier or something.

[Proxy]

I still need to finish the first one. =(
yeah...me too. i hear it the hardest one to get through. not in that it`s a hard game, but boring as hell.
I fell asleep during a battle once...so damn boring.

[Wolf Kanno]

I still need to finish the first one. =(
yeah...me too. i hear it the hardest one to get through. not in that it`s a hard game, but boring as hell.
I fell asleep during a battle once...so damn boring.

Lol! I actually felt that XSII is the hardest to get through cause the games combat is long winded and the story feels like the Reader's Digest version of it all (which is true if you read the plot summary in XSIII) :p

[Karellen]

I'm more then willing to just let it die at this point. I liked Xenosaga III but ultimately it only fixed about half of the problems I had with the series. Unless the new Monolith Soft DS games hold any surprises, I doubt we're missing anything brilliant.

[Proxy]

I still need to finish the first one. =(
yeah...me too. i hear it the hardest one to get through. not in that it`s a hard game, but boring as hell.
I fell asleep during a battle once...so damn boring.

Lol! I actually felt that XSII is the hardest to get through cause the games combat is long winded and the story feels like the Reader's Digest version of it all (which is true if you read the plot summary in XSIII) :p

I kinda just wanna play III and then trade them in. Or sell them or something.
Do I really need to play the other 2?

[DMKA]

Good riddance.

[Ouch!]

I kinda just wanna play III and then trade them in. Or sell them or something.
Do I really need to play the other 2?
There's summaries for the previous games in three, but it's probably best to play them. About the same as watching Return of the Jedi and having your friend explain A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back--it can work, but you'll be missing out.

[Vivisteiner]

Hehe, I finished reading a book called 'Physics of the Impossible' today by Michio Kaku. In it he very briefy mentioned Xenosaga. I was impressed that a physicist had played/or at least heard of such games.

Btw, can you play Xenosaga III without knowing the story of I and II? Im assuming you cant but Im hoping you can. Are the stories strongly connected?


EDIT: lol, didnt read that last post there...

[NeoCracker]

Oh yeah, the stories are connected.

However in III, theres a Computer Terminal in which you can look up and read he events of I and II, however that doesn't quite feel the same as actually playing the games.