Yeah it's sad to see that Xenosaga has become the black sheep entry. I enjoyed all three entries overall and even came around to Episode 2 in my last run through the series. While I enjoy Xenoblade Chronicles 1, I never found its writing to be as interesting as its predecessors. I haven't had a chance to play XCX or XC2 so I can't comment on either. I'm hoping XCX gets a Switch port so I can rectify that issue and I just need to find a copy of XC2 now that I own a Switch.

As for the future of the franchise. I wouldn't mind seeing Monolith Soft take a stab at another title like Gear/Saga now that the studio has more major titles under their belt. It always seemed like the biggest issues with both titles was the staff's inexperience especially in relation to tech and meeting deadlines. With that said, I hope they continue to branch out and make new games as well. The genre has enough wallowing in the past as it is so I hope any retread back to their older titles are either new spiritual successors, or low budget remaster type affairs. Granted that's likely to never happen since I can't imagine SE or Namco-Bandai giving up their IPs without forcing Nintendo to pay through the nose for them.

Gears is still my all time favorite followed by Xenosaga and then Xenoblade Chronicles. Though gameplay-wise I feel XC1 might be the best game of the three franchises but I actually really like Xenogears gameplay and design as well, sadistic dungeons be damn. Xenosaga is the weird one here for me. I love the gameplay of the fist entry the most despite being a hot mess of ideas that don't always work how it was intended. I have a serious love/hate relationship with Episode 2's battle system, but Episode III has the issue of being the most vanilla entry. Not bad, but the first two installments are far more challenging and more interesting to play even if they both make me rage in places.

I will hand Monolith Soft props for always having great soundtracks for their games and some of the best villains in gaming.