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Excellent Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: June 14, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game simply because I wanted to see how far the team who made Xenogears could come to making a bastardized (if you will) prequel to the legendary though-provoking game. In that area, I was not disappointed.

First thing I noticed: excellent graphics. Eye candy certainly doesn't make a game, but it doesn't hurt to have some of it, either. The voice acting is awesome, too. They managed to find a guy who had the perfect insane laugh for one of the villains in this game, and I enjoy a good evil/demented/deranged laugh.

There are some long cutscenes in this game. I don't care, personally. There are many RPGs that have very long dialouges; I got cramps from pushing the X button so many times, not even caring what bombshell or plot development was being revealed. This? If I felt the same way, I would have...well, pushed start and then pushed Triangle. And the cutscene would be done. And I would go and...do what you do in RPGs.

Luckily, the same geniuses behind Xenogears were here to ensure that I did NOT hate the characters or think they were shallow. In fact, these are some of the best-developed characters I've seen in a long time. The conversations (sci-fi as they were) actually made sense to me; there was not another way to have the characters interact. That can be bad, but these people did it so that it was a good thing.

Music? Wow. Good stuff, that's all I've got to say.

And my favorite part is how the development team has smuggled in enough from Xenogears to effectively bite their thumbs at Squaresoft for leaving them out in the cold. And it's always fun for true geeks such as myself to see familiar faces and ideas.

I give this 5 stars. If I could have another, I would give it to this rating. But I don't. So 5 it is. A VERY enthusiastic 5.

The Best

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: March 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I did not think another video game could ever top Xenogears. I was mistaken. Xenosaga takes the top on my list of great role playing games. This game will make a great addition to the serious RPG player's collection.

The story is good enough for a movie screen play. Drama, comedy, suspense, and mystery are all present. It is unfortunate that most Americans do not see video games as a valid and serious medium for telling stories. Perhaps this game will change that mentality. By giving you the opportunity to take on the role of the main character, an RPG can immerse and involve you in the story in such a way that a movie can never do.

Xenosaga is an epic story that starts off with the discovery of a mysterious golden artifact in Lake Turkana (The Jade Sea, supposedly the birthplace of man), sometime during our century. The story leaps 4,000 years into the future, where man's technology has evolved to the point of being magic. But still, humans have yet to unlock the secrets of the mysterious artifact. To complicate matters, a very mysterious and lethal species of aliens, called the Gnosis, are trying to take the artifact.

The central character is Chief Engineer Shion Uzuki, a brilliant young scientist working for an intergalactic corporation called Vector. The former project chief had died during a freak accident two years before. Her assignment is to continue and finish the development of Vector's most ambitious project, an Anti-Gnosis humanoid weapons system called KOS-MOS. KOS-MOS is the only weapon capable of fighting and defeating the ethereal Gnosis. KOS-MOS is equipped with the Hilbert Effect, which sets off a wave that forces the Gnosis to materialize and take on a physical form. At that point, she can finish them off with her powerful Triple Gatling Guns. However, as the game progresses, it becomes obvious that the battle android is hiding many secrets from her human handlers. Is this battle android simply a weapons system, or perhaps a totally new and unique form of life?

In addition to controlling KOS-MOS, you have the option of using giant, mechanical humanoids during combat. Those who have played Xenogears would feel familiar with the concept. Anyway, controlling these mechs is the most fun aspect of the battle system. You can customize your mech's weapons, armor, and abilities. Weapons can range from the more exotic Gatling guns, grenade launchers, drill claws, gyro saucers, to the more traditional swords and axes.

There are no random battles in the game, so you will not have to put up with that repetitive and distracting time-filler that you have to put up with in most other RPGs. This is like a breath of fresh air after playing Final Fantasy X, where you could not walk for more than thirty seconds without triggering a battle. With Xenosaga, you can see the enemies. And, since the amount of Xenosaga battles are less, there is little to get in the way of the grand story. However, if you really love to fight battles, then you will certainly have the option of engaging the enemies that you can see, or you can follow one of the optional battle-rich sidequests.

This is easily the best RPG that this old gamer has ever played. The main selling point being the epic story. However, let me say that this game may not appeal to everyone. It might not appeal to the more energetic gamers who care very little for strategy or story and instead mainly prefer to bash, hack, and slash at enemies every fifteen seconds. And you do need to pay attention in order to catch nuances in the story and character interactions. In addition, this is only part one of a six-part series, so do not expect most of the plot lines to be resolved at game's end.

You'll either love it or hate it. I, personally, love it.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: March 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I won't bother going into huge detail; there are a billion reviews here, and I don't want to drone what everyone else has already said.

What I mean with my title, though, I suppose I should discuss. If you're going to mind about 30 hours of your game spent WATCHING and not playing, you will hate this game. Really, you will. If you don't mind that, or if you LIKE that, as I do (at least now that I experience it), then I think you'll really enjoy this game. I, personally, feel that it is the strongest RPG franchise to be released in America in a long time. The gameplay systems are unique and fun, and while this is not the most innovative game ever made, everything it does, it does with a very high degree of style and solidity. If you play RPGs for the storyline, you will very much enjoy this one.

Other pluses are phenomenal music by the Xenogears/Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross composer, Yasunori Mitsuda (who absolutely outdoes himself--and the tunes are performed by the London Symphonic Orchesta), great graphics (which everyone seems to underrate--these are being generated by the PS2, they're not pre-rendered, and they're amazing), an enjoyable battle system (again, all the game systems are very well done), and enough extra stuff to keep you busy for a long time. This is one I'm going to hold on to after I've finished it. It's my favorite game to come out this year and in my opinion is rivaled on the PS2 only by titles like Suikoden III and (obligatorily) Final Fantasy X.

Finally, as always, I'll report on the localization, which is actually quite good. The character voices are about on par and will grow on you (they're as good as Final Fantasy X). I do wish, however, that there would have been some way to include the original Japanese voice track, either through a double-sided DVD (it's already dual layer) or a second DVD included. This was a great feature of .hack and in my opinion should be a must when translating a game that is originally in another language. It's just common sense.

To sum up, think of this as a really long anime with top-notch gameplay segments. Sound good? Then you'll like this. Sound awful? Then avoid this game and all its sequels.

All that said, it is possible to exagerate the amount of cinemas. This is a long game, 80-100 hours. That leaves you with about 30% cinema, and Final Fantasy X really isn't all that far behind (FFX basically pioneered the concept of including lots of cinema in games, building on previous FFs).

This game's highly worthy of 5 stars, has been underrated by many, and is my top pick out of all the very good RPGs that came out in February (Dark Cloud 2, .hack, Breath of Fire V, and Xenosaga).

This is not an ordinary game.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: March 11, 2003
Author: Amazon User

A good game is more than just a disc with some data on it, organized in such a way that when inserted into a device, it will set up systems with which you can interact and simulate experiences in some fictional context. Lots of games exist in your TV, and stop there.
Xenosaga is a game that exists in your TV, but also exists in your head, in your conversations with others, in your consciousness, and in your heart. As you play, you'll become close to its characters, like they were old friends. You'll unravel mysteries while discovering even more boggling ones. You'll question what it means to be human, to be alive, or to exist at all.
You'll also do these things when you're not playing. There is intense discussion of the game's themes at sites around the world. There are entire communities built up around appreciating this game's depth. For every hour you spend playing, you can then spend many, many more hours outside of the game contemplating it, fondly remembering it, discussing it with others, and looking toward its future. Your memories of this game will not just be of hitting the buttons.
And there are plenty of in-game hours to be had. Monolith Soft, like so few companies, know the meaning of "added value". Lots and lots of fun is to be had outside of the main game structure, in a completely free and optional capacity. It has the finest minigames of any RPG I've encountered. How about a full-fledged collectible card game with deck building and deep strategy? It's just one of the four minigames included, and you are forced to play none of them. This is a game you can play and play and play, and then when you think you're done playing, come back to one more time. I'm on my fourth run through it, and it still makes me smile.
I guess that's why I don't dig technical reviews: I could tell you that Xenosaga has the best graphics, or an excellent localization from the original Japanese version, or a captivating story, or top-notch character designs, or the best battle system I've ever seen, which is all true, but in the end all that matters is whether it'll make you smile, whether it'll make you feel good, whether it'll create memories for you. It's done all of those things for more hours than I can count. This is not an ordinary game.

Inspired JRPG

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: August 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Positive and negative aspects of this game:

+ Good, epic sci-fi story
+ Great anime art
+ Deep character advancement and combat system

- Really bad lip-synch

heheh

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: December 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I love this game. The real fmv's are beautiful. You need to be able to sit for hours trying to absorb the plot... which is so thick you could make stew out of it... once you beat it... go play it again! Then you know more, and can see more into the world that was created. Also! Who has seen the screenshots for XS2... it looks (graphicly) so so so much better! ...I hope the dubbing gets better... yeah we'll get more lovely Xeno in about a year i'm thinking...

BUY THIS GAME FOR DIE-HARD RPG PLAYERS... no one else can put up with it... :)

Gamers! Hear me! Find each other and unite! Us Gamers need to take over the world... non-gamers.. you hear nothing... ;)

Tired of Final Fantasy? This is your game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: February 03, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Having exhausted myself of Final Fantasy (from the PS1 all the way through the PSX) I decided to walk on the wild side and try this game.

Boy was I pleasently surprised!

If you happened to play Xenogears for the PS1, this game is loosely based on events that occured in that game.

One thing this game has going for it is a story. Many reviews peg the game time at 80 hours but don't worry: A great portion of this is made up of those cinematic events!

I've only completed the first 2 portions of the game but I am well impressed enough to provide ratings for this game:

Graphics: 9/10
The cinema events in this game will simply blow you away. Keep in mind if you've seen the XBox 360 or PS3, you can't compare the graphics of the 2 systems (duh!). But compare this game to other PS2 releases and I assure you the graphics hold up just fine to any other PS2 game, and in many cases far exceed them. In battles, the special effects are impressive, from Shion's Ray attack to KOS-MOS R-Blade. Tecmo defintely had a winner with the graphics from this game.

Sound: 9/10
The music often fits the mood of the situation perfectly. I was definitely on the edge of my seat in the level where you are trying to evade the Gnomis without getting touched! Now, my ONE gripe with this so far is the music doesn't change for bosses as it does with other RPG's. This is slightly annoying but a minor complaint.

Sound effects are right in place and very good.

Presentation: 9/10
So far, the game directs you well in where to go, but allows a lot of freedom on how to get there. There are several paths, for example, you can take on the ship level to get around.

Add in the email system, the ether system and the ability to extract skills from different items you can equip and you've got a very deep experience here.

Lasting Appeal/Overall: 9.5/10
If you are tired of ordinary RPG's and want something different, Xenosaga Episode 1 is definitely for you. It can be had for around 10-15 bucks in most used game stores and is well worth the investment. You'll definitely spend a lot of time exploring the game dynamics, which are very much in-depth both in battles and in strategy.

This game does have some language (hence the "T" for teen) so if you happen to have a kiddie (8-12 or so) I'd be careful about this one.

But if you've got a teenager (or you're a kid at heart) who loves RPG's and strategy, this is the game for you!

Pretentious and Painful

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 34
Date: June 09, 2003
Author: Amazon User

A pretentious space opera gallop through Jungian philosophy and Nietzschean platitudes. The battle system is complicated but yields surprisingly depth if the player sticks with it long enough - unfortunately, the game's heavy-handed narrative techniques and obnoxious abuse of symbolism will cause massive eye-rolling in all but the most under-educated fanboy.

Xenosaga is really an M rated game, not T rated.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 31
Date: December 23, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Despite the T, Teen, rating it has earned from the ESRB, the game is truly an M, Mature, rated game. This comes from someone who played the Japanese version. This game has deep issues such as the rights of Realiens, aka "test-tube" humans, religion, humanity, and other mature-theme related topics, which are often hot topics for debate and contraversory. This game will be censored for the US version cause of its deep issues that may be too much for the American audience.

When buying, keep in mind this game is really an M rated game (R-rated like in the movies); it's censored; and it's a very deep story-driven game, unlike the other mindless action based games out there. There will be lots of reading pages and pages of text and watching movie cutscenes that can least as long as 50 minutes! Again, this is for the matured gamer who can appreciate the deep contents of this game which requires heavy watching and reading with an open mind to possibly beliefs counter to your own.

Make note that this version will be censored, which I'm repeating, and will be in full English voices, which will may or may not be good. Never the less, the differences in voices will convey a different message to the US audience cause of the difference in the voice tones in the English voices from the Japanese voices and the scenes where censorship took placed.

Again, this game deserves an M rating, so ignore the T rating, and keep this in mind for your purchasing decision on this particular title.

This is what Sci-Fi RPG's should be

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: June 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Ok, I will start by simply saying I loved this game, it was a lot of fun, had a complex and compelling Sci-Fi story, and it had characters with depth to match the story. There has beeen an overwhelming shortage of decent Sc-Fi RPG's, and I'm happy to say this is the best one I've played since Star Ocean:the Second Story.

The layout of the game isn't complicated. The battle system is traditional turn based, and each charater has a different set of special moves that you can use to attack, and upgrade to cause more damaage. Encounters can be dodged by avoiding enemies and there special canisters in the environments that can be used to give you an edge against opponents. It doesn't seem like a wholee lot at firrst, but the turn based battle system became much more fun as I upgraded more and more special moves and soon had characteers that could devastate any enemy group. Even when my characters were this powerful, the game still posed a challenge. This is a place where the game strikes gold, it is one of the most balanced games in termes of ddifficulty. It is sharp enough to challenge you, but not so much as to have you breaking controllers off the wall. There are even some battles that you can't possibly win through brute force, and some of these encounters are done with very fragile characters. in these cases you'll have to use strategy too defeat your opponents, and this is something the developers did very well.

The story is absolutely incredible and very compelling. the story is very complex though, even I somtimes forgot what was going when i didn't play it for a couple of weeks. Still it has a deep richness of quality that the market is sadly lacking. The only reason i didn't givee this game aa perfect review is that the cinematic cutscenes suffer from Kojima syndrome. The cutscenes in this game rival and possibly excede the length of the cut scenes in the Hideo Kojima series Metal gear Solid. Metal gear Solid 2:sons off liberty had some of the most unruly and over extended cut scenes in game history. The cutscenes in thsi game are just as long, and some may be longer. With a story this complex, the long cutscenes are asking you to absorb a lot of information all at once. I didn't have a problem with this since I liked the story so much, but for the common gamer this is a bit of stretch. Despite tthis, it's a worrthy purchase

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