Xenosaga

[dessa]

So, anyone else looking forward to Episode III?

[neo_ranga]

Im one.

Xenosaga story has have me intrigued and thinking since Episode I.

[Holy Dragon Sword]

Despite the absences of Takahashi and Soraya Saga, I'll certainly be nabbing Also Spracht Zarathustra. It's sad that Episodes IV and VI might not ever be completed, though. =/

[slaynlanser]

I never could beat Xenosaga... though I DID beat Xenogears. <3's Fei

[GoldenSkySet]

One of my favourite games. I'm not sure I liked the animation style in Episode II as much as Episode I, but boy those games are fun.

I've decided that once I become a billionaire as a J-pop singer, I'm going to somehow fund the rest of the series if they don't put them out themselves. Somehow, they've got to finish it!

[kariuchiha]

i know i am.. and i can't wait for it!

[Mecha]

Oh man..I'm really looking forward to III. All that stuff there in the end of II had me really excited. I won't say anything and spoil the ending but...chaos...whoa >>

[Alphonse Elric]

i wonder how far its gonna go..

[AnastasiaBeaverhausen]

Well, I have yet to play Episode II but I have finished the first one.

@_@ It was like a movie.

I like it though^^

[Sukeny]

I really liked the first one a lot. But Episode II dissapointed me. I didn't even buy, I rented it. I know I'll be playing Episode III for sure, but I might end up just renting it.

[Kairi]

I'm looking forward to Xenosaga III ^_^ I like how the characters look in this installment X3 But most of the time you just sit there and watch the movies in the Xenosaga games, because they're so long O_O. haha. ^_^ It's good though ^^

[dessa]

**looks at Kairi's sig text** Hmm... that reminds me of what I have on my GameFAQs sig... wonder where that came from...


**points at avatar** Bet no one can tell what I play the game for...

[madjoker1918]

this is a little off topic but when does episode III come out:confused:

[Kyaa the Catlord]

I think the subtitle for Episode III should be "The Continued Slutification of Shion". :P

[Holy Dragon Sword]

I think the subtitle for Episode III should be "The Continued Slutification of Shion". :P

Don't remind me! I just wanna keep the image of that clumsy, saucy, glasses-wearin' thing... ;-;

[Kyaa the Catlord]

Shion, my physical appearance is down 4%, please clean me.

It sounds like dialogue from one of my fanfics. :P I loved that game. :P

[Holy Dragon Sword]

It'll be great if the dialogue makes it into XS 1&2DS, even if in text form.

[Kyaa the Catlord]

It should, the quirky lesbian subtext between Shion and KOS-MOS was fun. :P

[Lady Kaoru]

I just got the first one, so I haven't played it enough to say yet. They certainly have a lot of movie time!

[PinkKirby]

Lots of people said that its gonna come out in december or something!!!!!!
I CAN'T WAIT TILL IT COMES OUT SO
THAT I CAN CONTINUE THE ADVENTURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sukeny]

December? So it's comming out pretty soon-ish... Do they have any screens out for Episode 3? I haven't really been looking into the serise lately ^^;

[PinkKirby]

December? So it's comming out pretty soon-ish... Do they have any screens out for Episode 3? I haven't really been looking into the serise lately ^^;

Go to ign.com and find the search and enter xenosaga episode 3 and then click on screen then look at it!!!!!!!!!:D :eek:

[dessa]

http://namco-ch.net/xenosaga3/index.php

Release date is July 6th in Japan, no US release date.

And if you load your Ep. 2 data, you can have Shion's original outfit, complete with glasses.

Oh, and for everyone's amusement:
http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/5395/xenosaga2053a9zf.jpg
http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/4587/xenosaga2050b4fj.jpg
http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/743/xenosaga2048a5id.jpg
http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/3163/xenosaga2050a4dn.jpg
http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/9734/xenosaga1008a9hj.jpg

[Miako]

I LOVED Xenosaga after that I bought Xenogears and loved that too. I heard and read about Xenosaga II and didn't really read anything to great about it. Never bought it as I didn't want to be disappointed. If you guys are looking forward to III then maybe it was pretty good, huh? I don't know ANYONE who has played it actually. But, maybe I will now so I can get pumped for III too. Is 3 going to be the last one? I heard they were no longer going to make it a saga?

[eternal_midget]

I picked up XS2, and the battle system just killed me, so I went and found XS1 online for $15 new, and the guide, and played through it. After that, tackled 2 again, but after getting towards the end of the game, and doing all the sidequests, the guides like, oh yeah, to do the last 6 side quests, you have to load save data from this game. Then, you can complete the last several quests. Then, you have to play through it a third time to get the extras associated with the sidequests, and to get Shion's ultimate attack, or some crap like that... really pissed me off, and so I haven't finished it, but I read in the guide how it ends, and I am looking forward to XS3... hopefully it can redeem itself...

[Mithsipan]

Xenosaga was really awsome but part 2 was kind of disapointing....(no offense for people that liked it, just my opinion.) ^-^

[The Treasoner]

The first part of Xenosaga was great but the second one was sort of disappointing, wasn't bad but I didn't like the changes that were made. Just hope the third one is awesome. It's a real bummer that the saga had to be cut in half though. Hopefully they do manage to find a way to finish the whole complete saga.

[Miako]

How can they make it only 3 and still call it Xenosaga...that in itself kinda pushes the game down for me.

[Holy Dragon Sword]

Because for some unknown reason, Tetsuya Takahasi and Soraya Saga had their dream project taken away.

[BerserkFury]

I've beaten both games, Just waiting for the third to be released. I've heard of another kos-mos will be in xenosaga 3.

[The Treasoner]

I read that Xenosaga I & II are supposed to come out for the DS in the fall.

[tomselleck69]

could never get into it. i found it to be too big of a let-down compared to xenogears.

[Miako]

But... Xenosaga Episode I really was so awesome, tomselleck. :( It WAS. Albedo was like the best villian ever... and he had great lines.

[ronginusu]

Xenosaga I was really good, it hooked me like no other Rpg could, then 2 came and was kinda a let down compared to number 1, and the minigames in 1 were super cool like the mech game. i hope 3 will have that or something similar to it

[tomselleck69]

But... Xenosaga Episode I really was so awesome, tomselleck. :( It WAS. Albedo was like the best villian ever... and he had great lines.
haha, i disagree!!!

[Miako]

But but... he had regeneration and nice hair. :(

[tomselleck69]

Krelian > Albedo


this, i swear by.

[Miako]

*defeated* Krelian in anime form.. so hot. I liked Xenogears, liked it a lot.

And if Xenosaga II didn't seem to suck so bad I'd probably cry that Xenosaga was no longer going to be a saga. BUT STILL... I have much love for Episode I, it had the promise of great things to come *and Albedo still rocked*... and then :( the creators were fired and that promise died.

Teehee, Krelian. *swoon*

[tomselleck69]

i'm biased by having been such a huge fan of xenogears for so long (ex. i own a copy of perfect works,) but also because i absolutely detest the idea of having to play an RPG that takes place primarily in space and aboard spaceships. even if the story is impeccable, something about spaceships just bores me to tears.

[AniGamer]

episode 1...im stuck on the boss inside Shion's mind, the one were ur at a church then you talk to a woman to go inside a door..

anyways the story is good in this game..gotta get episode ii

[Kurapika]

You have to kill it with Shion, and then you have to kill it again with Jr.

You have to kill it twice with these characters and It won't work if you kill it with any other characters.

tomselleck - I just pretend that this holds absolutly no relation to Xenogears <.< since it's not even made by the same people either. But I really didn't like the second disc of Xenogears >< WAY too much reading with the characters sitting on chairs and just talking ._. was still a good game though.

As for the spaceships... yes spaceships are pretty boring.

[chaos dragoon]

I'm looking forward to it. I hope they get rid of the stock system. With it the game becomes stock, heal yourself, stock, unleash, heal yourself, and it gets really old,really fast.

[eternal_midget]

@chaosdragoon

I agree... the first Xenosaga was good, the stock system was unique, and the special attacks were character specific. Then II came out, and it's like, 'Hey, let's simplify it!' they cried! And then it sucked... the enemy AI seemed to be able to boost before you to get all the good cards, their stock gauge went up more often and in larger chunks, they added the assinine 'Air' and 'Down' statuses that ALMOST completely ruined the game... they just kinda murdered the franchise. And then I heard later that the version of Episode I that we got was edited from the original Japanese version. And as it relates to Xenogears, you (generalization, not you personally) can't say Xenosaga sucks cause they changed it too much. Xenogears was by Squaresoft. It's so old, it was before Square-Enix (and I'm not bashing Xenogears, I do own it). Xenosaga is by Namco. The ONLY thing they kept remotely similar from my understanding is, big mechs, and battles where you can choose to be either in your mech, or on foot, but even that went away for the most part in Episode II... I can only hope that Episode III will revive this series...

[aeris_888]

Am I the only one who liked Xenosaga II's battle system? Awww... Anyway, Tetsuya Takahashi is still part of the production, but in a much minor role. While according to news Soraya Saga wasn't really fired, she's a freelance writer and Monolith just didn't hire her again. That's not too bad though. Still, I'm looking forward for XS III.

[eternal_midget]

I am too... I admit, I've already pre-ordered it... I just buy pretty much every RPG I can afford... and some, I make a point to get, like VP: Lenneth... but, whether or not I liked the battle system in II (which I did, I just thought the enemies were programming whores), I'm definitely looking forward to III.

[Talim]

http://namco-ch.net/xenosaga3/index.php

Release date is July 6th in Japan, no US release date.

And if you load your Ep. 2 data, you can have Shion's original outfit, complete with glasses.

Oh, and for everyone's amusement:
http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/5395/xenosaga2053a9zf.jpg
http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/4587/xenosaga2050b4fj.jpg
http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/743/xenosaga2048a5id.jpg
http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/3163/xenosaga2050a4dn.jpg
http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/9734/xenosaga1008a9hj.jpg

I really liked the images. Especially the last one. But I think on this other forum: http://www.labyrinthos.org/forum/ : contains the release date. I'm a member there so thats why ... yeah ...

[eternal_midget]

I've seen those images before...
So have you pre-ordered the game yet? I got it at gamestop (electronics boutique...), and if they do release a special edition, I'll just convert the reserve over like I did for .hack//G.U. and FF XII...

[Technical Magician]

Hello, it's my first post here on the Tokyopop forums!
Let's get started shall we?

@chaosdragoon

I agree... the first Xenosaga was good, the stock system was unique, and the special attacks were character specific. Then II came out, and it's like, 'Hey, let's simplify it!' they cried! And then it sucked... the enemy AI seemed to be able to boost before you to get all the good cards, their stock gauge went up more often and in larger chunks, they added the assinine 'Air' and 'Down' statuses that ALMOST completely ruined the game... they just kinda murdered the franchise. And then I heard later that the version of Episode I that we got was edited from the original Japanese version. (Edit-much ranting on SquareNix) I can only hope that Episode III will revive this series...

I do agree that the second game lost alot of the character of the system, with its odd side quest system, the dull attacks that could never be customized and the generic ether chart, it was still a reasonably decent title. Was it better than part one? I doubt it but I've played considerbly worse and I don't regret paying for my copy when it came out. Nor do I believe that part two's gameplay design the reason the series was cut down to 3 installments instead of 5. (that's a whole new can of tuna)

However, I have seen the cut footage of part one, and you're not really missing much, infact the US version may be a little superior as one of the changed sequences has Albedo (spoilers- highlight to view) brutally ripping off his own arm and head, and his body moves around while you can clearly see the head. In the japanese version, he uses a knife to do the deed (pansy) and you can't see where the head went. (End spoilers) everything else consisted of changing Albedo's gold emblem from a X and some panty shots of MOMO (the 11-12 yr old synthetic girl) were removed. This isn't exactly a 4kids-style hack job, and there's lots of things that could have easily been pulled to make the game "safe" (Jr.'s mark on his hand, Alien designs, christianity talk, child killing, cannibalisim and characters that smoke like chimneys to name a few things off the top of my head.)

I'm not one to endorse censorship or to stifle creativity, but simply avoiding a lawsuit from Marvel Comics or reducing the kiddy-style fan service isn't something that doesn't even remotely put the designers/publishers on my "To Nuke" list.

Who knows, of what I've seen from promo videos, Monolith may have learned its lesson so time will tell.

-TM

[eternal_midget]

However, I have seen the cut footage of part one, and you're not really missing much, infact the US version may be a little superior
-TM

As for what you say was edited, I've heard about that stuff, but what I'm referring to was that I heard that Albedo did something to MOMO, possibly punching through her chest or something like that after the afore-mentioned limbs were replaced, and they cut the entire scene out. I don't know if that's true, but yeah... just the fact that they censored a game... jeez. And they didn't do a very good job with the panty-shots... there were still several of them in-game, and in the movie they released with Episode II...

But anyways, good first post, and welcome to the boards. Hope you have fun here!

[Technical Magician]

As for what you say was edited, I've heard about that stuff, but what I'm referring to was that I heard that Albedo did something to MOMO, possibly punching through her chest or something like that after the afore-mentioned limbs were replaced, and they cut the entire scene out. I don't know if that's true, but yeah... just the fact that they censored a game... jeez. And they didn't do a very good job with the panty-shots... there were still several of them in-game, and in the movie they released with Episode II...

But anyways, good first post, and welcome to the boards. Hope you have fun here!

I was curious like yourself so I did some detective work regarding the title.

Yes, that scene you mentioned was changed, but not removed. In the original japanese video, he dives his hand into her stomach, phasing it through in search of the "Y DATA". In it's stead, he places his hand over her head and scans it. However you can still hear the "smooshing" sounds made from the more physical dive, and she still says "Get out of my body." Also a few facial expressions of Albedo that had a lustful tone were altered. We already saw how evil the guy is before, so it wasn't like we were missing out on the pedopheliac side of Albedo.

As for the pantyshots, there were a few that were altered and removed, but not many as it seems like they didn't want to remove too much content. As I said before, the edit work seems to be more surgically precise than your standard 4Kids hackjob and if there are edits that need to occur for whatever reason, I hope that they are more slight like this than say... removing a whole portion of the story or insulting the audience with lame situations like "Dr. Yuriev is in the hospital" or "The crew of the Woglinde managed to survive in time and got out with their parachutes."

Thanks for the warm greeting, I hope to be around here for some time.

[chaos dragoon]

@chaosdragoon

I agree... the first Xenosaga was good, the stock system was unique, and the special attacks were character specific. Then II came out, and it's like, 'Hey, let's simplify it!' they cried! And then it sucked... the enemy AI seemed to be able to boost before you to get all the good cards, their stock gauge went up more often and in larger chunks, they added the assinine 'Air' and 'Down' statuses that ALMOST completely ruined the game... they just kinda murdered the franchise. And then I heard later that the version of Episode I that we got was edited from the original Japanese version. And as it relates to Xenogears, you (generalization, not you personally) can't say Xenosaga sucks cause they changed it too much. Xenogears was by Squaresoft. It's so old, it was before Square-Enix (and I'm not bashing Xenogears, I do own it). Xenosaga is by Namco. The ONLY thing they kept remotely similar from my understanding is, big mechs, and battles where you can choose to be either in your mech, or on foot, but even that went away for the most part in Episode II... I can only hope that Episode III will revive this series...

I did like both games overall. I enjoyed playing them especially the side quests. I Never finished II's though it was too much and I was also playing Star Ocean 3(it has a kick-ass battle system!!!). II's battle system had it's perks but it got boring. The only thing that kept me going was after 'air'ing or 'down'ing an enemy, I would triple boost a fully stocked KOS-MOS(my favorite character) and use the Dragon Laser 3 times!!! Tons of damage plus a really cool feeling while doing it! III better revive the series cause it's the last one. Maybe square enix should take over from III and do their "magic" and revive the series.

[Technical Magician]

I did like both games overall. I enjoyed playing them especially the side quests. I Never finished II's though it was too much and I was also playing Star Ocean 3(it has a kick-ass battle system!!!). II's battle system had it's perks but it got boring. The only thing that kept me going was after 'air'ing or 'down'ing an enemy, I would triple boost a fully stocked KOS-MOS(my favorite character) and use the Dragon Laser 3 times!!! Tons of damage plus a really cool feeling while doing it! III better revive the series cause it's the last one. Maybe square enix should take over from III and do their "magic" and revive the series.

By "magic", do you mean take the characters, revamp them and innapropriately cast them alongside hanna barberra cartoons from the 70s?:D

[chaos dragoon]

No, I was just refering to the fact that square enix specializes in rpg's while namco specializes in fighters.

[eternal_midget]

No, I was just refering to the fact that square enix specializes in rpg's while namco specializes in fighters.

Well, even though that is true, I have to say, most of my favorite rpg's are not from squeenix... yeah they make really good ones, but they do so many, that sometimes they just slack off. Namco making mainly fighters, when they do release an rpg, it's usually a lot better than most other companies, cause it has to be good to make it in the market in japan. Which is why the 'Tales' series is so good. But I digress. I don't play fighting games, so I rely on Namco to make good rpg's that are different from the one's squeenix releases, and I can count on them to do that. Whether they are good or not is another story.

[chaos dragoon]

Tales' series...Tales of symphonia is another awesome game. I just LOVE real-time battles. I haven't gotten to play Tales of Legendia yet. I wonder what a real-time battle Xenosaga would be like? I think it would PWN!

[eternal_midget]

I think if they could do a real-time battle rpg correctly, especially Namco, it'd be awesome. Imagine a fighting-style controller setup. X is kick, O is right punch, square is left punch, and triangle is grapple. Combine triangle with either punch to throw enemies and do damage. Special attacks are linked to the shoulder buttons, while pushing any direction will access alternate special moves, allowing up to 16 different moves to be assigned to each character. Now combine that with the 3D battle field from '-Symphonia' and a couple AI- or player-controlled party members and you'd have a killer game. Also, if a specific character uses weapons, whichever hand holds the weapon attacks, and the other hand can hold a shield which you would use to defend. Also, with a weapon equipped, grabbing an enemy and attempting a throw with the weapon hand would skewer the enemy and throw them to the ground.

Anyways, on-topic, yeah, Xenosaga, good game, third one's coming out. Go Namco.

[chaos dragoon]

That would be great. Real time battle systems with your AI-controlled party members makes you feel like are you are actually a PART of a team rather than controlling the team. Even though you can switch characters still...

Anyway my favorite characters will probably KOS-MOS(for sure),chaos,(for sure), and Jr(maybe). If the red dragon mode gives Jr some new abilities then definitely.

[eternal_midget]

Red dragon mode? I haven't actually read anything about the game yet... what is that? And I think my favorite characters will still be Shion and chaos.

[Fighterspledge]

If only there was a way to make the cenemas shorter... or at least make it so you can make chapter stops haha.

[chaos dragoon]

Red dragon mode? I haven't actually read anything about the game yet... what is that? And I think my favorite characters will still be Shion and chaos.

If you don't know you haven't beaten Episode II yet. I suggest you get on the ball. If you don't remember, it was the last battle of the game. That's enough spoilers. If you want more info on it, PM me.

[eternal_midget]

If you don't know you haven't beaten Episode II yet. I suggest you get on the ball. If you don't remember, it was the last battle of the game. That's enough spoilers. If you want more info on it, PM me.

Aha.... nope, haven't beaten II yet... I'll probably do so right before or after I pick up III. I didn't beat 'Kingdom Hearts I' until after I'd had 'Kingdom Hearts II' for about 3 weeks... that's how far I still had to go... I'm just no good at sitting down and playing all the way through a game... hell, I didn't even own Episode I when I bought Episode II. It wasn't until after I was getting thoroughly schooled by the combat system that I tracked down the first one online and bought it, then played through it in about a month. So, yeah, I'll finish it here in the next couple months...
Heck, I've got the new .hack//G.U. game pre-ordered, and I haven't even beat Outbreak or started Quarantine yet... I need to get on the ball. And I'm picking up Blade Dancer and Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth later today... GGGAAAHHH!!!

[Himura_77]

Since Xenosaga III has now been released, I have desire again to finish episode 2 where I left off. But there's a slight problem...... Since the game was downright bad and boring as hell, I was trying to finish as little side junk as possible and just see the storyline. But my characters are right now between lvs. 34-40 and I have to fight Margulis, and I've downloaded some strategy on beating him but ughhhhhhh..... I get my butt kicked every time I try to fight him. Training is mind-numbingly boring and time consuming. So, any advice like good strategies, cheat codes for Codebreaker, etc. would be appriciated. Generally I never cheat, but I want to see the story and the gameplay itself is so boring to play it isn't funny. I don't want to replay the game, so I'm kinda stuck.

[chaos dragoon]

If only there was a way to make the cenemas shorter... or at least make it so you can make chapter stops haha.

....You know you can pause the cinemas, right? Since they aren't CG cutscenes, you can pause them and it asks you to press triangle if you want to skip it. But skipping it means you'll miss a GREAT deal of the story. They do in fact have the longest cutscenes on average out of all the games I've ever played. But since they mix it up with drama and action they are okay. Episode had the best voice acting though in my opinion. Shion just felt more energetic, now she's all calm and melancholy.

himura_77- That's what I didn't like about 2. It forced you to rely on breaking your oppenents waaaaay too much. It gets really old, really fast. I had to make it interesting by hitting my opponents with KOS-MOS' dragon laser 3 times in a row(the ability to boost a character when it their turn is a must). That combo does supreme damage! Enemies cheat by self(counter)boosting all the time interupting your chains alot. This time I think they perfected the battle system and I'm only 10 hours into the game.

Anyway, to beat most bosses, you have to use every advantage you can. Especially check for elemental weaknesses or even to just see what spell does slightly more damage. Take whatever you can get because the enemies definitely do. You MUST break bosses to win. They take it easy on you for a while, but when they are about to croak, you be hearing yourself say,"WTF!? What was that!?" everytime the boss gets a turn.

Infact. Xenosaga's bosses all have this tendency toward the end of the game really bad.

[JamieRisk]

i'm looking forward to it

[Himura_77]

@chaos dragoon: Thanks, I'll try that! The first game I didn't mind, it was fun to play. The final boss though was a little sad, WAY to easy to beat! Oh, those bosses taking turns unexpectedly, ughhhhh, Margulis started doing that like crazy, which was my downfall each time.

Oh, I failed to mention this, but training in that game is so boring I'd rather do schoolwork instead :p!

[WilliamRLBaker]

I would have liked the series if it was xenogears but its xenosaga and though it shares alots of characters it not the same story..

I personally didn't like the fact that 1 and 2 we're basically interactive movies. walk 2 steps fmv, walk 5 steps fmv, Fight a battle fight another battle fmv.. another fmv and another fmv then fight then walk...
u get my drift...

[KaziNeko]

I actually enjoyed the interactive movie aspect, but that might have been because thats what I expected it to be... although I can say, in #1, one of the first missions, where you go alone as Ziggy, I almost quit the whole series because of the difficulty of that mission, but, besides that, each game has been better than the last, quite a shame they're ending it with three though... I was really looking forward to V (which was going to be a remake of Xenogears). but, oh well, all said, I can't complain.

[chaos dragoon]

I hope they remake Xenogears because....I never got to play it. I saw my friend playing Xenosaga Ep.I and he was vague on describing it. I saw it in the store a little later for 20 dollars as a greatest hits title. I bought and was like "This is AWESOME!!!" and I've been hooked ever since. I'm playing Episode III now.(Not exactly now because I'm on the net, but you get what I mean...)

[shadowmose]

So how does it end?

[chaos dragoon]

I'm playing it. I'm only 15 or so hours into it.

Having a hard ass job and having to get sleep REALLY takes away my game time. That, plus my biological dad, who I just started staying with months ago after 19 years of phone calls, stole my PS2 for a few days and just gave it back this morning. Technically he did steal it because I paid for it years ago with my own money that I worked for. We had a fallout and stuff...(him being anal-retentive about some chores).

I was willing to kill him over it. Yes, it is that important to me. It represents an important symbol to me and he being an idiot has no idea of that. Getting off subject...

I've REALLY been trying to resist the urge to play it. I'll play it tonight since I'm off today(well, tonight because I work 3rd shift).