IS XENOSAGA WORTH IT

[Omega_x]

I saw xenosaga at ebgames for 19.99 and I was thinking about buying it, but i've read alot of bad review saying the it has a good story, but the story sequences are way to long and the ATVS suits are completely useless.

I'm the kind of gamer that likes rpg with long epic storylines, so I was wondering, should I pick this one up, or not.

[CloudDragon]

If you played Xenogears, well not that it matters but helps, like epic storylines, and now that's its a Greatest Hits for 19.99, you should definitely pick this game up. You'll love the long story sequences, and I never had a problem with them.


EDIT: Oh and considering Xenosaga actually isn't developed by Square, its developed by Namco but still the same guys that worked on Xenogears now called Monolith Soft, this should go in General Gaming.

[Omega_x]

any more opinions on this game????????

[Bahamut2000X]

I liekd it, it's not like a typical RPG as to fully understand everything you have to play all 6 games, but currently only 2 are out (Xenogears/Episode 5, and Xenosaga/Episode 1)

But other then that minor detail it's still a great game, it has well over 40 if not hours worth of play time especially if you play the minigames and such. I say it's very worth it. Especially for a measily 20 bucks.

[Omega_x]

I never got a chance to play xenogears, but since you say that gears is episode 5, then I guess I won't really have any trouble picking up saga's storyline.

I also heard that at the end of ep.1, there is no ending, it's kind of a "to be continued" sorta thing.

so I guess i'll get it after my next paycheck (it is 20 bucks after all, not like it's a big investment or anything)

[Jalbrean]

I love Xenosaga. It's by far one of my favorite PS2 RPG's. It has a very good storyline, and yes it is a "to be continued." that's to be expected since it's part one of six. The battle system isn't that great. It can be a bit tedious, but it's tolerable. (Episode II will be fixing both the battle system, at least a little bit, and the Mechs will play a more important role. Woo.)

Not to open up this tired debate but you really don't need to play Xenogears since it's not technicially apart of the 'Saga timeline. There are many ideas and refrences that will be mingled between the two though.

[Germ Hamee]

I think Xenosaga is great, but it's definitely different from the usual RPG. As said, only the first is available of six. Since it has such a broad storytelling range, the story is kind of slower than most expect, though it's choke full of cutscenes. It's like watching a movie if it followed a book exactly, only with a few bits of interaction here and there.

But if you don't mind the story being the focus, you'll more than likely enjoy it. It's worth a try anyway.

[Imperia]

It IS a good game. Some parts are challenging, but it's still awesome. Those who gave it bad reviews were very impatient with the cut scenes, but the cut scenes really are good to watch. You'll miss out on the story if you just skip through them.

[Omega_x]

I heard that some of the cutscenes in saga run on for like 30 mins.

Now I do like deep stroylines in my rpgs, but 30 FREAKIN MINUTES!, damnnnn!

[darkchrono]

actually if I remember right there is one that runs 45 minutes.

Again if you do not like long detailed stories in rpg's than the game probably is not for you.

But if you do like deep storylines I would go for it. As the story is much more realistic and detailed than most rpg's. As the characters actually act like real people. Not like most rpg's where the characters act very unrealistic in an unrealistic fantasy land.

[Lord Chainsaw]

I absolutely LOVE the cutscenes

I'll never be able to understand why people actually complained about that. A game getting bad reviews for having a good storyline? That's a first for me. If it's 40 minutes of text nobody minds, but if it's 40 minutes of a movie cutscene all hell breaks loose!

It's a shame, but you just can't please everybody.

[Germ Hamee]

Originally posted by Lord Chainsaw
If it's 40 minutes of text nobody minds, but if it's 40 minutes of a movie cutscene all hell breaks loose!

It's a shame, but you just can't please everybody.

:rolleyes2 I was thinking the same thing, with FFIX in mind particularly. RPGs were always meant to put priority on storylines and charactor... Xenosaga just puts more emphasis on this. Most of the time when I play RPGs, I race through the game just to get to the next cutscene. For once a game saved me the trouble.

[Erdrick the Hero]

I think the reason that most people have a beef with it is that there is a dramatic pause after everyone single person says something. It makes the dialogue choppy. It seemed to drone on and on forever when the people lines are chopped up like that.

[CVFreak]

Omega, try to ignore most of the bad reviews over it, I picked it up about a month ago and fell in love with it, I am currently playing like 5 other games so I am only half way into chapter 4. Anyway...about the AGWS ( or gears ), they do have a use, just they are not as important as they were in Xenogears, there is one battle that comes to mind at the end of Chapter 3, using two of em ( one with chaos ) makes it very easy and is sorta a must ( something to do with the boss saving and you grinding your teeth to reset the console hehe ).

Some people may consider this a non square game, and the debate rages on, see....technicly yes, it is NOT a square game, however because the "series" was originaly going to be square doing it, you can see where this is going, not like this would happen, but think of like square major FF guys leaving, going to say...konami and making a game called "Final Saga" or somethin ( ok bad example lol ) that is VERY similar to FF to the point you swear it all takes place in the same world and whatever. Its not really a xenogears 2 nor is it xenogears 0 or 1, although it is at the same time, this of course pretty much has to do with square owning it etc...

Anyway, to give you a more blunt example of the gameplay/game, its a cinema-fest alright, but depending on how you like your rpg's this can be really nice. Basicly you start off getting to know each character and their story, almost like missions, in each chapter you CAN level up and explore in a somewhat linear way, but it does get better as you get further into the game, alot of it takes place in space on ships, at times some of the movie parts can seem a little long, but normaly I have found them to be fun and interesting, they range from warm silly little cute parts to darth vader and luke type themes or just basic convos so you get to see what each person is like, there is a really funny part at the start of chapter 3, when you read someones hat and get to see how he acts, it made me laugh alot.

The battles are not exactly complex, although it will take a good while to fully understand how everything works including boosts and mechs ( AGWS ), when guard you get combos and stuff, KOS MOS has this awsome mini gun like weapon and it just rocks ! They also throw in emails and VR type stuff, there is a fair bit of goodies and secrets to hunt around for, you can even get some weapon upgrades and profit from emails...and of course the manditory card games and crap like that.

Anyway, from what I have played, its solid and a really amazing rpg, I rank it exactly beside xenogears, I think its that good even though they are different but really part of the same universe ( at least I would say they are ), for cash it costs....buy it....I highly doubt you will be sorry.

[LH]

Maybe it's not bad for 20 bucks, but I was and still am a huge fan of Xenogears (since before the game came out and it was totally obscure) and I still haven't finished Xenosaga. It's not really an extension of XG but more like a plagiarism. A lot of the terms (all most all) are featured in XG and some themes are similar but I don't relate the two games at all past that point.