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not good

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 23
Date: January 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

don't get this game when it comes out. you will be dissapointed since the cutscenes look boring. other than that avoid this came no questions do it.

terible

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 19
Date: February 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

namco's xenosaga 2 really looks horible. with scenes that have bad cgi. so don't get this game.

Absolutely Awful

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: March 18, 2007
Author: Amazon User

After sludging through this game, it's pretty easy to see why the 5 games announced were reduced to 3. Honestly, I can't believe that the series got the funding to wrap things up after this. This "game" just fails in every possible respect. From the clunky battle system, to the ridiculously over-thought skills tables, and even the so-called plot, the whole thing is a convoluted, nearly unplayable mess.

What in the universe happened???

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

If anyone enjoyed the entry that was Xenosaga (part one) the character design, story, gameplay and music would stand out first in your mind. The voice acting was spot on, although many say that MOMO was annoying to begin with. I enjoyed the leveling up and appreciated each character's diverse weaponry. I love the lengthy cut scenes and the cliffhanger ending with the re-entry into Second Milita. Xenosaga II however, should expound on all of these things and more...

The first disappointment I had once I popped this game in was the vast difference in character models. Yes, there are those who don't like the big-eyed anime look and chubby faces, but once you guide these guys though 40+ hours of gameplay I think it grows on you. What the development team was thinking in making the character change is beyond me.

The second disappointment is the drastic change Shion makes as a person. Didn't this game start immediately after the first? Now she is no longer the sweet, polite, intelligent scientist we knew. She tells Allen to "be a man!" It's not the same Shion that was like "okay, sure..." when Tony hits on her!

The voice acting took a wide left as KOS-MOS sounds like well... a girl instead of the straight-to-business android. The music that was the epic London Symphony was replaced by an 1993 Casio beat machine. I will not comment more.

The biggest departure in my experience was the eternal loading times before each battle. I went to make a sandwich when I got into a battle.

It was at this point after finishing the first disk I did not even complete the game, I just dropped it off at the store for my refund. We all wonder why this game is on two disks when it is far shorter (cutscenes included) and part one was all on one disk and it was double the length. It is good that Xenosaga III redeemed the series.

A BIG dissapointment

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: April 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Oh my. What has namco done?! To me Xenosaga II was such a dissappointment and a heartbreak! I impatiently waited for a couple of years with high hopes after finishing the first one for the second part of the series. I found Xenosaga 1 to be a wonderful game. The music was great (it was performed by the Boston Orchestra), the graphics were good, the storyline really enthralled me, and I fell in love with the characters and found most of their voice actors perfectly fitting. In fact, it still remains as one of my favorite games. Then, when the store got Xenosaga II, I immediately shelled out $55 to get it. I started it, got a little far in the game, then stopped because it was so mangled. They changed the characters looks, which was fine by me, but then they changed their VOICES. My god.
KOS-MOS' new voice actor sounds like she's bored throughout the game, I don't know WHY they didn't stay with the old one.
Shion's voice is now whiny and annoying, she's sounds like a total snob. The old voice sounded kind and soft.
MOMO's voice is now REALLY annoying, before she was just somewhat annoying.
Chaos' voice is actually MUCH better, I like his, it now really suits. All the rest of the characters voices are the same, which is good.
The storyline got very mangled, and is now even harder to follow without the word database from before. I just don't see why they got rid of the UMN stuff...
THE BATTLE SYSTEM IS COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY HORRIBLE. I have NO idea why they decided to do that. They also messed up the techs, the skills, and items. They make it much more complicated than it should be. I sincerely hope that this system will go back to the much appreciated old one in Xenosaga III.
The music was DISGRACEFUL! IT sounded like they went on the internet and got a whole bunch of MIDIs! Either that or horrible elavator music! It was NOTHING like the sweet tones of the Boston Orchestra! I had to hit mute on the parts with no characters talking.
So, overall, this game was, well, a failure next to the first one. I grew bored of this game after only a little while and found myself wishing I hadn't spent my money on it. The game has been sitting in the same spot for a good three months now, since I got so bored with it. Be aware this is only my view of the game, so maybe YOU would actually find it to be the best game out there and worth the price. Either way, I hope you pick the decision that's right for you :)

Namco's got guts releasing a mediocre game after the hype

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: May 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

In all honestly, how could a game series take this big of a step backward? I mean even the best or most average of game series' take a while and a few bad sequels to degrade to such a point (example Mega Man X5~X7). How could one even work on the development team with a straight consciousnesses knowing you were developing and planned to release such a inferior product? These are the questions about Xenosaga II that keep me up at night...

But seriously (no I don't say up at odd hours of the night pondering about what Xenosaga II could have, should have been), for as great as the original was and the amount of hype this game received, Xenosaga II is a perfect example of a 'almost' complete bust.

First off, the game is way to short. I was really surprised I was on disc 2 after 7 hours of gameplay. I'm not quite sure, but does Xenosaga II use dual layer DVD's like the first Xenosaga, cause if it does and that's all they put on the first disc, that's pretty sad. It's almost seems they put it on two normal DVD's instead of a dual layer disc just to give the player the illusion that because it's two discs it must be a long game. Nice marketing tactic guys, gamers aren't as dumb as you think...

Xenosaga II's battle system is absolutely horrendous; it's up there with Legend of Dragoon's battle system in my book (I love to bash that game to no end). Expect to die a few times and spend a few hours taking a severe beating (especially if your battle party is surrounded by enemies ~ that's the definition of fun!) until you get the hang of it. Add to the fact the longer you take to enter a command, the more likely the enemy is going to boost and slap you around in the next turn. To add to this atrocity, add the fun of constantly stocking and boosting attacks in conjunction with airing and downing a opponent to cause any kind of reasonable damage. Then add to that fact not all characters can damage airborne opponents. Combat in Xenosaga I may have been a little basic and simplistic, but at least it was easy to pickup and learn, you almost need a degree (or a really good guide) to get anywhere in Xenoaga II. Oh, and don't get me started on the Mech or E.S. combat. While character combat is confusing to no end, E.S. combat is so pathetically simple it makes the gear combat in Xenogears look good in comparison.

As for side quests, add another point to the lame column. 35 sub quests helping complete strangers out of their stupid, insignificant daily problems they won't remember a week from now while the fate of the universe swings in the balance of your quest's success. Yeah sure, that sounds like fun as well. If I don't like to help complete strangers within the real world with their problems, what makes game developers think I want to do it in a video game? Come on!

Graphically, Xenosaga II is pretty much the same as the original, which makes me wonder why they hyped up that part of the game so much? Do they think gamers are so fixated on that lone aspect of a game, they are willing to forgive flaws in execution and gameplay? I mean, you can take the most graphically gorgeous game, and if the gameplay stinks, the game as whole suffers. Xenosaga II, as a game, proves this theory without a doubt.

As for sound or music, you actually better off turning the volume off, unless you're viewing a cut scene. Most of the music is pretty bad (a slim few interesting tracks do exist), and the voice acting is decent, outside battle that is. In battle, the voices make you cringe, where talking "Star Ocean: The 2nd Story" sound bite territory here. MOMO has to be the worst, the first time you hear her say "I'll lend support" you just want reach though the TV screen, or hope she reaches puberty before the series is over.

On the plus side (yes, their is a plus side ~ surprisingly) Xenosaga II's story continues on the rich tale from the first game, even if it seems a little touch and go, and they seem to focus too long on certain characters (the first disc is basically Jr. and MOMO centered); the second disc plays like "hey, we forgot about the core of the story, let's go find the Zohar".

The bottom line, if you like the story, you should play Xenosaga II, despite all it shortcomings. Actually, I'd recommend renting the game instead of buying it, it's short enough, and it'll teach the developers a very meaningful lesson. If this game becomes a greatest hit, like the original, I'd be very suprised (but it probably will just because I said that).

A disappointment

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: April 04, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The subtitle Jenseits von Gut und Boese is clearly a reference about Friedrich Nietzsche and his critic against Religion in general. Famous sentence: "God is dead". Unfortunately in German this also has another meaning. When something is beyond good and evil, it is so awful, that there are almost no words to describe it. Although harsh, this is the more fitting meaning of this subtitle.
Graphics: Although boasting about the progress in graphics, the game looks more or the less the same. The characters have improved, except for the hands, and especially in close up the mimic can be quite convincing. The game also has some nicely done backgrounds. FFX may still point a finger and laugh, but it is a rather nice looking game.
Story: It is interesting enough that you finish the game, however it is excessively short and seems to be only a subplot to the overall plot. Considering Xenogears is Episode Five and the other Episodes also have to deal with Lacan and another form of Fey, the one who created Emeralda I think, this should actually have been the end of the Kos Mos-chaos plotline. Had they actually made it the subplot of a much bigger game, that would have been a great improvement. The story is centered entirely on Rubedo and his relationships to his twin Albedo and to a lesser degree his brother Negredo. Also his relationship with Momo is explained. There are some slight intermezzos with Shion and her brother Jin, the rest of the cast is more or less irrelevant for the story. KOS MOS saves Shion from time to time, which opens the question why she isn't a more powerful character in game, Ziggy is only featured because Momo clings to him, and chaos is as mysterious as ever. Of course half the storyline is lost in the usual cryptic dialogue of enemies.
The one thing that is bothersome about the story, besides its length, is the fact that all its protagonists are kings and queens of misery. No other game features that much suffering and self-pity. Especially Shion exceeds in that aspect, and here voice only adds to being annoying.
Sound: Awful. There is no other term to describe it. Especially Second Miltia. MIDI at its finest.
Gameplay: The battle system comes close to being an absolute catastrophy. There are no longer any techs. Unless you stock, you just watch your character walking up to the enemy and hitting them twice. Stocking and boosting is much to important.
Without the Sword skills (e.g. Flame sword) this game is almost impossible to play, which also means, since you have to exploit the elemental weaknesses of the enemy, that the three characters, who already have an elemental alignement, Shion, chaos and Ziggy, are useless for most battles. Still, even using these, unless you stock and use elemental chains, the most damage you will do is about 450 points. With the later enemies having mostly over 5000 Hp the battles are not only boring, but also endless.
Mostly in RPGs you have one character, usually the main protagonist, who is an absolute powerhouse. However due to the battle mechanics, all characters are about the same, and you have to choose them according to situation. Hence, the possibility to switch characters in battle. I won't even complain about the fact that only the three characters who actually finish the battle get Skill and Class points, since I already made it clear that this battle system is seriously flawed and this is only one of its minor annoyances.
There are no cure magics strong enough to actually refill your HP. At later levels, some of your characters will have at least over 2000 HP, unfortunately the strongest healing magic, Medica 2, used by the strongest magic user, Momo, only gives about 500 HP. Need I say more. Even combining two Medica 2s by boosting doesn't help, because this will result in a Medica 2 all.
Items do not really make up for this lack, since most enemies just hand over small Medikits, and there is no shop.
There are actually two kinds of status ailments. Status ailments are annoying as such, without you having to differ between Poison L (the most common group) or Poison H (rather rare, and even rarer are the items for curing it).
Side Quests mostly consist of endlessly traveling back and forth between Miltia and Kukai Foundation and talking to people or collecting items. Considering the considerable loading times, this is even more annoying then it should be. You can finish the main game including most of the side quests in 35 hours. There are some epilogue dungeons that will stretch this by maybe another ten hours.
A last critic, though I do not know if this is true for everyone. On my television the character portraits were cut off at the top, making the amount of HP I had at the moment sometimes hard to read.
Though still enjoyable to play because of the storyline, even though the generall plot was only advanced in the last 15 minutes of the game, and the pretty graphics, the gameplay has so many faults that I would clearly advise to rent this game rather than buy it. Normally RPGs are too long to make renting profitable, but this really is no problem here.
I do hope they improve the gameplay for the third episode. Since they also planned on remaking Episode V, Xenogears, I am really anxious about Episode 3.

To tough for me

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: March 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game because I thought it might be a good game to play. But I didn't get very far in playing it. I was really disappointed and felt that I had waisted my money. The game stategy is very complicated. I just couldn't understand and handle it.

A big step down

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: April 16, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Long loading times at the start of every battle. A battle system that forces you to fight a certain way; a certain way that makes even the trivial random encounters take >5 minutes per battle. A short main story arc with dozens of annoying side quests that will have you spend more time walking from point A to point B (namely between 2nd miltia and the Kukai Foundation) than you will doing everything else in the entire game.

The story even seems to lag a bit in the beggining, but luckily the second half of the game or so seems to pick up the pace. As The cutscenes and story are good, but seem lacking compared to the first one as well. Albedo can only laugh maniacally for 5 minutes straight a couple of times before it gets old.

Did I enjoy playing the game? no. Do I recomend it? no. But,...since I plan on playing the 3rd episode as well (which is supposed to be much better) I trudged my way through it.

Why are the pretty ones always so dumb?

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

I bought this game with a great deal of anticipation. I had absolutely loved the first game, and I even hail that game as one of the best Sci-Fi RPG's of all time. I got this game and was immediately immersed in the opening scenes and first few steps of gameplay. When I got to the first boss fight that wasn't a flash back, I was swept with a deep despair......I realized that i absolutely hated this game with all my heart and soul.

This game is the biggest disappointment I've experienced since i played Final Fantasy 5 (which I personally think was the worst game in that series). They kept the same characters (though with a few disappointing voice cast changes) , they upgraded the character design models (well most of them) and they still had the same amazing story that made me love the first one. The story in this game actually delves deeper into the complexity of the world this game is set in, and answers several questions left over from the first game, as well as adding new ones. everything was generally kept the same, but as with all RPGs in a series, people always assume that they need to completely change part of the operational makeup of the game to add a new feel, something that doesn't make you feel like you're playing the same game again. More often than not, it's the battle system, in this case it was one of the biggest mistakes in gaming history.

Game Informer called this game "a dropped ball of Devil may Cry 2 proportions" and they were right. The battle system in this game has something to do with zones and certain attack forms that correspond to them, it really doesn't matter. All you need to know is that the enemies remain at about the same level of strength as they were in the previous game, but the strength of your characters is severely handicapped. All of the relished special attacks and super moves from the first game are gone, and replaced with pale little sissy slaps that conveniently have the same names. I actually had to have characters wait to charge up points to launch a succession of attacks (much like you did in the first game to use special moves) just to be able to inflict as much damage as a casual kick did in the first game. This makes fighting in this game, the most frustrating and completely uninteresting part of the entire game and, this being an RPG after all, IT ENCOMPASSES 1/2 OF THE FREAKING GAME.

I played through to the end (don't ask me how i tolerated doing it, it'll just piss me off more) and in terms of the story it was a homerun. The story is once again amazing, but sadly carries all the depth the game has to offer. if this had been a 3 hour animated film, it would have been worthwhile, but as a game this is a pale imitation of the greatness of Xenosaga 1. If you're curious about the story, buy a cheap copy of it, use a cheat machine to blast through the game quick, soak up all there is to the story and then sell it or return it. You won't feel bad, there isn't any game to be played here beyond watching the cutscenes.

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