Yeah, I was kind of put off by the fact that a couple of things happened that you could read about in the database that didn't actually happen.
But then I read it all, and it was really like a couple of things that weren't that important over-all or were revealed during the story.
Hmm some of that I do agree with. But I thought the battle system was rather good... And I don't mind the Dialogue Box scenes, because it's better than cutting it all out due to time like they did in Episode II. With staff members leaving, this being the final one, and only so much time to make it... I still cannot believe they found a way to string everything together in a believable manner while answering everything (ha, well most things) that needed to be.
Unfortunately, the Japanese website got a flash series called A Missing Year, and that explains what Shion was doing prior to Episode III. So they got to actually watch a mini-series concerning Grimoire and Lemageton, and we got stuck reading it in the database. The English website got a whole lot of nothing.
It wasn't a big deal to me though. Later on, all those plot points really aren't that important. It sort of drops off and starts to answer Episode I and II questions.
I love cutscenes, so the beginning did not bother me at all, but for the first 4 hours you do really fight like 8 timesAnd then after that the pacing becomes much better. I guess they just couldn't get the start packed in with enough playing parts.
Well, Australian websites have stated with 29th of September, or 15th of October release. I can't wait though.
Must. Have. Xenosaga. III.
"... and so I close, realizing that perhaps the ending has not yet been written."
I admit I have not gotten all the way through the game yet so some aspects will improve or get worse for me. This is the close to half way point impressions.
I don't mind the dialog boxes either because they do get the story in there but I think I mentioned that I was probably just spoiled by Xenosaga one. My big grip though is the non-cinematic way they present most of the scenes with a static camera and stock animations in the background. They don't always do it like when Margulis is talking to the head of Ormus but from what I have seen...that is the exception instead of the rule.
ES battles are awesome so far but I will see how it all pans out in the end.
I heard that they were going to be doing those Website cutscene things in english soon as well...or at least subtitled. Don't know when though and stuff.
By the end of the game I enjoyed E.S. battles even more than characters battles. It's about damn time, they were freakin' horrible in Episode II and the mechs were useless in Episode I.
I heard the English site is going to get some Missing Year stuff as well... I hope it's soon.
And for the most dialogue box scenes the camera really is just static and sitting there =/ I guess they made up for that by making the camera shake non-stop in the actual cutscenes.
xenosaga has the greatest story ever thought up!!!!!!!
sure its confusing but its so worth it in the end....its so much more than just a game...its an experience:rolleyes2
Only Shion can Score!!!
It was a nice game overall. I did feel like things were very much rushed over towards the end of the game though. Before and after the final battle, there was just too much information to absorb, not to mention not enough explanation of this information. Though the database helps, it doesn't help enough.
I'm almost finished with my second time through the game and feel I understand things a little better but there are still many questions that need to be answered. Of course, I can't help but blame most of this on Episode II since things that were supposed to happen in that game end up happening in Episode III. Plus, like ed said, it feels like we missed an entire episode.
Despite these faults, it is my second favorite game in the trilogy. The battles are fun yet challenging (assuming you don't bother with Heaven's Door and Erde Kaiser Sigma). The ES battles are much closer to the way they should've been from the beginning. My only beef is the lack of Ether attacks while using the ES's. For once, I actually enjoyed the in-game music as well. It wasn't obnoxious like Episode II.
Overall, I'm happy with the game and welcome it as a finish to the story. Of course, I certainly wouldn't be bothered if they decided to continue the story with a different story arc.
I'm loving every moment of this game. Just saw the face of Heinline. To be honest I Never watched the trailer and predicted that
(SPOILER)Kevin was going to be heinline
As much as id love to be able to review this game it isnt possible as the bas***ds didnt release ANY of the series over in Europe its slightly not possible
I have now just finished the game and I was happy with how everything resolved in the end.
Now for my dissappointments. Ziggy and Chaos never really have everything fully explained.
Ziggy and his past with Voyager are touch on but they didn't really explore it and how things went down. I hoped for more of his back story.
Chaos and Wilhelm...they never really explain what they are. It seems like at some point they were human but they don't really go into anything and then the game just kind of ends.
Overall it was quite the awesome game and everything gets wrapped up as nice as can be. But with how things go down it is obviously open ended but I doubt any of the cast will return except for a few if they do make a sequel.
Great game. 1 trillion times better than that [img]/xxx.gif[/img][img]/xxx.gif[/img][img]/xxx.gif[/img][img]/xxx.gif[/img]ty game they call Xenosaga II. Now all they have to do is bring over Xenosaga DS and I will be super satified.
The originally planned episodes 4, 5, and 6 were going to have all new characters. It is my understanding that the second half of the six-part series was going to be years, maybe centuries after the events of Shion and co.Originally Posted by edczxcvbnm
I hope that sometime in the future we will see more from the Xenosaga universe. That would make me happy.
Actually, Xenosaga II was released in PAL format for Europe, Australia and New Zealand. It also came with a 7-8 hour movie that explains what happanes in the first game.
"... and so I close, realizing that perhaps the ending has not yet been written."
does number 3 relieve some of the character battle imbalances that number 2 had?
Yeah, poor ZiggyAll he got was Pied Piper on the cell phone of all things. He got the short stick big time. His story is actually so interesting too... what a gipped fellow he is.
(SPOILER)chaos has existed since forever as a "failsafe". He literally is "chaos" so to speak. He's the universe's self-destruct button. The database says he may exist because humans themselves want him to exist. When human's destructive nature fills the universe and our destructive consciousness goes into overload, chaos will expunge everything and start it anew. Essentially, this would leave us with order.
chaos didn't want to see that happen, so Mary, or Order, split his power up so that he would never activate. When she did that she lost her body and was sent to the Unus-Mundus.
He basically does live up to his real name Yeshua as being "Jesus". I've been told the Gnostic Christian idea of Jesus is different, to the point it was more of an idea a group carried and not one person. Jesus will end humanity and make us all go to heaven or whatever, so I guess that's his job.
But they show during the flashbacks chaos and Mary listening to a man that looks just like Jesus, which could be chalked up to a different take on the idea of Jesus, but that is still rather confusing to see. And many other things; things that hint he and Mary were a couple and that he died or something something.
I quite agree he was left far too ambiguous. They explained him like 60% of the way and then stopped and just left it a mystery. What the smurf
Wilhelm I cannot even begin to grasp. He seems similar to Order and chaos...He seems like a tool of the universe. As he said, eternal recurrence is "his job". He reverses time over and over and over to forever stop our universe's destruction and all, and in the database it says conscioussness can still change during this loop and that may be "what he was waiting for all along."
In my opinion, he was reversing time until Shion chose the future (or Allen) instead of the past (Kevin basically).
The problem (or best thing, depending on the person) is that they left so much to personal interpretation. What exactly IS Wilhelm and chaos indeed, eh? Some straight up pure explanation would have been nice too
Not to say you didn't know all that already... I'm not explaining or something. I'm just...rambling. I get like that with Xenosaga :laugh:
But long and unnecessarily humongous post short: yeah, what the hell Bamco. Explain some things.
I did hear this as well. Which, OK, I'm dropping "I heard" sentences, but just saying. I heard that Shion's story arc would be the first half and then a new one would begin much later, possibly thousands of years later. (SPOILER)I also heard only KOS-MOS and chaos would carry over through the entire thing. I really hope they continue it =/ I love this series.
Though to be honest, I wouldn't even want Takahashi directing it if they continued it. He'd just go overbudget on the first Episode and then leave/get fired and in his absence make Episode II,er well, not entirely bad but just...half-assed. Episode II is like putting in disc 2 of Xenogears, except I had to repay 50 dollars for it.
The team apparently knows what the hell they're doing with Episode III finally, so I would much rather they carry it on themselves at this point.
It is the most balanced of the three but still not perfectly balanced. There are some characters that are stronger than others, but I have used them all extensively and found you will be alright with any of them if you do the proper Skill Line. Hell I used Shion, chaos, and Jr. my first time, not exactly the perfect team by any means, and I was fine the entire game.
Each character gets two Skill Lines you slowly work down as the game progresses (though play enough and you'll do both anyway), and each is pretty different. For instance, Shion gets a Supporter Skill Line that contains absolute garbage and is useless, whereas her Attacker Skill Line is actually useful. In my opinion, Jin, Kossy, and Ziggy are fine no matter which you do while MOMO, Shion, Jr. and chaos are all better doing one than the other.
Last edited by LunarWeaver; 10-04-2006 at 05:50 AM.
I gotta watch that ending again. I got out of it what you said but I also got out of other parts that(SPOILER) Chaos was human at some point and through Zarathrustra and all that jazz he became what he is and junk.
Had they explained Wilhelm at all then it would have been a bit easier to piece it together.
I know that the next set of games(if that happens) would end up taking place tens of thousands of years in the future as it was alluded to at the end of the game...but those that alluded to it would probably make appearances in the game at some point. I really wish they would make another series. HELL! Just make it on the DS. Super awesome graphics are nice but look what Xenogears did with those horrible sprites and broken 3-D backgrounds. I could easily live with Xenosaga in that form.
I prefered Shion for the Supporter skill line. I needed someone that could heal and have magic next to KOS MOS and Jin. I thought Ziggy and Chaos were garbage. Jr and MOMO were okay and I would switch out with them as needed.
(SPOILER)I found the best place to level up was Able's Ark in the ES. 2000 EXP and 30 Skill points on average is awesome!
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