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 (SPOILER)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.