User Reviews (1 - 11 of 64)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

Amazing, Truly Amazing!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 17
Date: March 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The Xenosaga series is truly the most amazing and enthralling RPG that I have ever played. The size and scope of the story being told here is nothing short of epic. The game play is very good, with a fine balance between solving puzzles, fighting, and cinematics.

You can complete this game in less amount of time than the previous game. However, the battles in this second installment in the series are much harder and much more strategic than in Episode I. Even minor enemies possess high amounts of HP, and they can also inflict various status effects that must be properly dealt with if you want your battle party to survive. The pace of the battles are faster though. Because some of the battles must be completed within a certain time limit, there is an additional surge of adrenaline rush in trying to plan and execute your moves. The concept of boosting your characters is carried over from the previous game. However, in this one, there are some tricks involved in using boost. Four of your characters have the ability to either "air" (send an opponent flying in the air) or "down" (knock the enemy down). While the enemy is in such a state, more damage can be inflicted by the next battle character. But, you would need to boost properly and at the right time in order to put this chain of events together. Anyway, do not let that discourage you. The battle system has been simplified. Also, the character development system has also been greatly simplified. You do not have the multitude of weapons and armor options here that you had in Episode I. The types of attacks at your disposal have been narrowed down. In other words, the learning curve will be less steep. It seems like the game developers might have wanted to attract a broader range of RPG players to the game. This may be for the good; however, there are some of us who really enjoy the ability to customize our characters to our specifications.

The Mechs play a vital role in this episode. You must use your mechs (or Gears, for those who have played Xenogears) for certain battles. The design of the mechs themselves are quite interesting. It seems that the artists might have taken quite a bit of liberty with their artwork. Throughout the game, you will have three at your disposal.

A new playable character has been added to the main party. You might recall seeing Jin Uzuki during the ending credits to episode I. Here, he joins the party for reasons of his own.

The cinemas and scenes in the game have really gravitated more towards "serious" and "powerful". Yes, there were plenty of powerful and emotional scenes in episode I. However, here you have a couple of scenes that were just downright heartbreaking. Definitely, this is a game for a more mature and intelligent crowd. Our friend Allen is not quite as funny in this one. You do have plenty of lighthearted moments, however, that soon gives way to the very serious themes that dominate the plot.

The sidequests are optional, however, the best features of the game can only be experienced by engaging in them. The much talked-about Cooperative Attacks (where two characters work together to put a very devastating chain of attacks) can only be earned through the sidequests. I suspect that you can easily lose 50+ hours in this game, if you engage in a few of those optional sidequests. I also suspect that there are excellent side stories and adventures to go along with these adventures. I chose to pursue a couple of them and found them to be worthwhile and entertaining. Some of these adventures can only be played after you have beaten the game once and saved. You can then reload your save data and pursue a variety of side stories and quests.

A lot of the questions from episode I are answered here for you. However, most of these answers come towards the end. All I can say is be prepared for one grand story to unfold.

I highly recommend this to anyone interested in RPGs. Particularly, for those who have an interest in watching a great story unfold. You will appreciate the story more if you play Episode I first, however, there is a DVD out there with some of the more important and pivotal scenes from episode I. If you are short on time, perhaps you can locate one of these DVDs and spend a few hours watching them, prior to playing episode II. Is Xenosaga II: Beyond Good and Evil as good a game as Xenosaga I: Will to Power? That is a hard question to answer. That would really have to depend on what you look for in an RPG. However, let me state that both games are great. My only wish is that someday, this story will be released in the form of a novel. The story is just too good.

An RPG to look forward to.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 9
Date: January 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User

No, I haven't played this game, but I can't believe people are giving 1 and 2 star ratings to a game that has not even been released yet!! Stranger still is that these low ratings are being given to a game whose predecessor received critical acclaim! Anyway, I am very much looking forward to this game. All previews thus far have been very positive. I'm always a sucker for a good story and I'm sure this one, like the first game, will have it in spades. The graphics look sweeter, they are making the battle system more fun, and it looks like they are addressing the problem of the extremely long cut scenes from the first one. Any RPG fan should definitely keep a good eye on this one.

Let's just see, shall we?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 9
Date: January 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I know I don't have much room to review the game since it's not released yet. Strange that some others think they can review an entire 40-hour experience based on trailers and opinions. Even stranger that it should be a bad game because, excuse me, the models are less colorful and look feminine? Please, people. Anywho, I was a little upset myself to find that they had changed the overall look of the game. But you know what? What attracted me was the story, which is why I loved the long cinematics. It was a bold move and very successful.

So I'm very hyped for the sequel because the story expands, and there are as much as 5 more games on the way after this one(though I hear that Xenogears was actually episode 5; it says so in the credits)!

I laughed, I cried, I enjoyed completely

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: February 24, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I just finished this game last night, and I'm still blown away. I should have expected it, but still, the ending shocked me, and I couldn't help but nearly cry at the heavily religious themed ending. This wasn't the only time I was filled with emotion in this game. Scenes with the 'villain' gave me simpathy for a character who seemed to deserve none in the first game, and were often very heavy in nature. Shion is forced to make a choice which breaks her hearts and an emotional player's as well. This whole game is infused with emotional depth and philosophical ideas in a way no other video game can compare to, and will never fail to amaze the player at the power Xenosaga has over their hearts.

This amazing story is told through cut scenes with good graphics, some lasting at least 15 minutes. I never found myself tired of the endless cut scenes because the improved character models look great, the story is enormous, and the action scenes are greatly done.

For fans of the first game, gone are the four experience types, now you get three, and one of them you rarely get. Skill points are used to learn abilities on the new skill tree. All characters share the same skills, but each can put the skills to use differently. Class points are earned easily, from bosses and from mastering parts of the skill tree. Exp is earned from fighting battles, as usual. Some people say that the skill tree makes all characters nearly the same, but this is far from true. some characters have stronger ether (magic) casting ability, some have ether based attacks, strong against a few types of enemies, but horribly weak against others, some have strong physical attacks, some can only hit ground enemies, and some can knock enemies into the air and then hit them hard. Stocking allows you to build powerful combos to utilize the new break system. In the break system, certain move sets will 'break' the enemy, after which they will recieve slightly more damage and can be knocked to the ground or into the air. Using the improved boost function, which now goes with the entire party, as well as enemy party, you can have your other characters attack the enemies which are in the air and deal at least twice the normal damage. Gone are the long, annoying, repetitive animations from the first game, battles now go almost twice as fast, causing the game to be about half as short as the first. There is no money system in this game, although you can sell items for a side quest, so all items must be found or aquired from enemies, although eventually you will get spells which will make the items mostly unimportant, and the 'psycho pocket' skill will allow you to steal usefull items from enemies. Sadly, gone are Yasunori Mitsuda's orchestrated themes, now Yuki Kajiura is in charge of the music, which seemed to me to be so 'Phantasy Star 2' (Sega Genisis), which isn't a bad thing, I just miss the orchestra.

Anyway, I think I've summed up the differences well, so if you can get by those, you will hopefully enjoy the game. By the end of this game, even more than in the first, you will feel that you are standing in the middle of two very powerful, ancient forces, and the series is reaching the point of being an epic. If you haven't played the first yet, there's a lot going on in this game, it will be confusing to someone who hasn't played the first. It's a greatest hits title, so you can pick it up without emptying your wallet.

From the previews it looks great!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 8
Date: January 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Contrary to the other review, this game looks fun. It is one of (hopefully) 7 installments. The battlesystem is similar to the first one but you can attack with a team mate. Also, I noticed in one of the previews, theres alot of ether you can use. The graphics have improved from the last one, and all the characters are back (I think) plus some. I would recommend buying this game.

A Worthy Sequel ( with a few changes)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: February 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The first Xenosaga was a great game, and my all time favorite. This one comes a close second. There is a new battle system, and graphics are overall enhanced. And if you have at least a decent home theatre system, the game sounds absolutely magnificent, especially during cut scenes where Dolby Digital 5.1 kicks in. On my 51' HDTV with Bose surround system, it was a true slice of heaven and the cut scenes became truly something of an epic. Words simply cannot do justice to how good the overall experience of the game can be with the right system. I haven't seen many games with this high of a production value. I understand that the number one complaint about the first game was the long cut scenes and now you have the option of skipping them (although I personally loved every minute of it and don't understand why you'd want to skip them, as they are vital to the game.. the series was never meant to be a 'light' RPG..)

Few changes have been made that may or may not be good depending on one's taste. One, they changed the voice actors for a few characters. Two, there is a new music composer, so if you loved the music from the previous game, you might be a little dissapointed. Finally, and this is just a rumor I heard and I may be wrong on the details, one of the original story writers seem to have left the game. As to where this will take the future progression of the Xenosaga series, I don't know. But the story so far was very satisfying, and I'm already looking forward to the third one. Since there hasn't been any RPGs of this caliber for PS2 recently(Except for Shadow Hearts 2, but it was released nearly 5 months ago..) do yourself a favor and give it a try. Oh, and if you still haven't, make sure you play the first one before you play this one. The first game can be picked up for around $15 bucks now I believe, truly a bargain if there ever was one. You won't be dissapointed.

The best

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 9
Date: August 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I thought this game was one of the best!!! For a while there I thought i was watching a movie! LOL!! I like the battle a lot more than #1 and I thought Shion looked a whole lot better and the same with KOS-MOS. This game was sooo cool. I think this game was a lot longer, too. I think this game had way kool graphics and it was suspensful and entertaining!!!

--Alex-- if ur wonderin i am 13

Not as excellent as Xenosaga I, but still good!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: February 20, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Xenosaga II-Jenseits von Gut und Boese came in November to Europe and was the first Xenosaga, which was released here!!! But we European players never played Xenosaga I before, so Namco released the second Xenosaga in a great "Special Box". In this box was the game itself and a Movie-DVD with nearly all Xenosaga I movies.
Back to topic, in my opinion Xenosaga II is a pretty game with cool movies and a battle system that makes fun.
The music in this game was composed from Yuki Kajiura in the movies and Shinji Hosoe in the rest of the game. I think Kajiuras music is really good but Shinji Hosoe did a bad job, with his elevator music ;o)
The graphics are okay but I couldn't see anything outstanding.
In the end I must say, that Xenosaga II is a good RPG, even if it's not so wonderful than the first Xenosaga. That's the reason, why I imported Xenosaga I from your country ^_~
But at last the most PAL-players are happy, that actually (my dictionary doesn't give me the right English translation for "ueberhaupt" ;_; sorry) Xenosaga II come to Europe yet!!!!
So I look forward to the third and last Xenosaga and hope, that this Episode will be like the first!!!!
Many greets from Germany.....Viele Grueße aus Deutschland ^^

It is important to play the first

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

At first this game begins at a point where you think the story has nothing to do with xenosaga episode 1, but while you advance in it you think of how much you're missing if you don't know anything of the first game. Great storyline, great graphics, great sound, simply Namco did it again!. If you beated the first one don't erase the saved games and get this one, you'll like it a lot. But on the contrary if you haven't played the first then avoid it, because you'll be lost in the storyline.

Half and Half

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: March 06, 2005
Author: Amazon User

After I fnished the first game I waited almost two years for the second one to come out as I watched trailers and movies. The trailers made it seem intresting. When I began the game it was okay, although the battle system is a bit confusing, I loved the cut scenes but the battling is the tough part. It deals with many new things that it takes time to get used to.

That was the bad part. the good part is that the plot and other side stories of the game are really intresting so it keeps you playing just to see what happens next. There are also lots of twists that you wouldn't have expected with just finishing the first game.

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next 

Actions