Official Webpage

Platform: Playstation 2

Genre: RPG

Number of Players: 1

I’ve been a fan of role playing games, at least for consoles, since the original Final Fantasy was released way back when for the original Nintendo. That may be dating myself a tad, but having played the pencil and paper version for years prior, and seeing the interest slowly die off meant I needed to find another way to cease the craving. This love of the RPG has basically led me to play just about any RPG that’s released, and as a rule, wherever Square goes, I’ll follow.

Square hasn’t always made RPG’s that are to die for however. Back when Xenogears was released for the Playstation, I can recall being a bit excited. Finally, a RPG was coming out that involved mechas’ (Front Mission hasn’t been released yet) instead of the same old, tried and true concepts from all the other games. However, I found Xenosaga to not be nearly as engrossing and interesting as what I had anticipated, and I remember being so disappointed that the game lost my attention all together before I even finished it.

When Xenosaga was announced for release for the PS2, I wasn’t quite sure what to think. What was even stranger was the game had jumped from the hands of Square to the waiting embrace of Namco, a company that is best known for its fighting and shooting games. That’s not to say that I didn’t have faith they could handle it, but an RPG coming from Namco is just such a rare thing. However, the original creators of the Xeno series, Monolith, are still at the development helm, and it seems they’ve picked up several new tricks in between games.

Xenosaga isn’t exactly the sequel for Xenogears rather it is the prequel. Now, don’t go thinking that this is going to be the PS2 version of The Phantom Menace because this game has one (of many) things that it lacked, and that’s a coherent story. The game is set some 6,000 years in the future. Mankind has managed to move throughout the galaxy and colonize many planets, until the day the Gnosis arrived. These menacing aliens have been the cause of great grief across the universe, destroying planets and attacking without warning. The Gnosis have one other thing in their favor, and they tend of appear in an incorporeal form, making battling them more than difficult.

In an effort to find a means to eliminate the Gnosis the Vector agency has developed KOS-MOS, a battle android of enormous power. The project, headed by Shion Uzuki, has been hard at work in an effort to get KOS-MOS as up to speed as they can. Unfortunately though, there has also been the rediscovery of an ancient artifact known as Zohar prompts the Gnosis to seek out the craft carrying the relic, destroying everyone that crosses their paths.

And that’s about where I’m going to leave off. I suppose that the first thing that should be talked about, since I’ve already started on it, is the story itself. Notice this is XenoSAGA with the most important word being saga. The story is mammoth with lengthy cut scenes taking place quite often. These are done in what has become the latest trend in RPG’s, and that is instead of having flashy CG graphics, the cut scenes are done in the same graphics style. And, taking a cue from Square, Xenosaga also has spoken dialog throughout most of the game.

Shion and KOS-MOS aren’t the only characters that you’ll take control of though, and the others are introduced in an interesting fashion, and although it’s something that’s been seen in RPG’s of the past, it hasn’t been used for quite a while. During the course of the story, you’ll assume the role of other characters. Ziggurat 8, or Ziggy, is the first. A man who was once human, he donated his body to medial science, only to be resurrected as a cyborg. Now a hired gun of sorts, he wants what’s left of his humanity eliminated. His job is to break into the headquarters of a terrorist group and free MOMO, a young girl who is part of a manufactured simulant group known as Realians. Of course, the harrowing escape leads MOMO and Ziggy across the path of Shion had her group. You’ll also take time to play as Junior, the director of a group known as the Kukai Foundation. Junior comes across as somewhat cocky, and he’s quite sure of himself. Last, we have chaos, the archetypical optimist.

One of the things that set Xenogears apart from the rest of the RPG’s out on the market is that the combat involves mechas as well, and Saga is no exception to the rule. These mecha, known as AWGS, are just one of your many options. And, just like a character, you can buy parts to upgrade them and cause a heck of a lot more damage. You can also select who will pilot which AWG, which gives some nice advantages and of course, disadvantages depending on just who is in control.

The battle system itself, while good, isn’t nearly perfect. Its interface is a little clunky at first and takes a little getting used to. You may find yourself back in the games main menu from time to time. The characters attacks are made up of close and far combat and done in a combo style. So, you can get in a distance attack and then jump in for the kill, or go head-to-head immediately. However, there is another combat option as well. Guarding allows you to fill an extra attack slot. With this filled, you can either get in a third combo technique, which ends up being a little more powerful, or use a special attack. Lastly, characters do have the ether command. Ether is magic, and each character has it to one extent or another. What’s more interesting though is the method used to increase it.

Even more unique features have been added into the battles though. You have the option to boost a characters attack phase at times, letting you bring have someone with healing cure that character that’s almost dead, or brining in a heavy hitter to even the odds a little. There’s also an series of icons near the field that will let’s you know a variety of things. A simple gray square earns you no bonus at all but there are others to pay attention to. Some will increase your boost gauge, others earn you bonus points to use later on, and finally, another icon will increase your critical hit rate. Paying attention to these is fairly important, especially if you want to complete battle quickly. It’s best to heal when you get no bonus, but definitely attack when your critical hit rate will be improved.

As you level up and win more and more battles, you’ll get a variety of points that can be used for different abilities. With Ether, you start with a certain spell, or even spells. As you advance and gain points, you can use these to purchase new spells. If you don’t have quite enough though, you can always transfer them from character to character, and you’ll also find items you can use to gain more points. It’s not just your Ether than can be improved upon though. You’ll have the option to improve your stats as well as your skills ability.

Skills in an interesting concept. Different items come with different abilities and bonuses locked inside. Use your skill points and you’ll unlock something beneficial. For instance, the skill to be immune to various status effects is just one of many example. But, once it’s unlocked, that does mean it can be used to every character. They have to unlock them individually, so it’s best to wait before you sell an item. However, your skill ability will level up just like anything else, so some things will have locked abilities until you reach a level to be able to obtain them.

The way all of these things work creates so interesting character options. In some ways, it reminds me quite a bit of the job class that was used in Final Fantasy Tactics. You can mix and match things with the skills, change what attack will be where for the combos, and just about anything else. At first, it comes across as being a slight bit confusing, but once you start to figure it out, it makes complete and total sense.

Another interesting theme is Shion’s cell phone. She gets e-mail from time to time, letting you know what abilities may have been unlocked on COS-MOS or any variety of things. You can also go in and take a look at some of the terminology that has been used in the game so far, and even take a look at the enemies that you’ve ran afoul of so far. You may even get a notice that Ninja Assault has been released from some company called Namco. And, just in case you’re wondering how you’ll get back to some of the areas in the game, there is a means to take part in a simulated version of these locations with everything just the way it was when you visited originally.

Like the old days of Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, you can actually see what enemies are where in the over world screens. Of course, you know this means you can avoid encounters when you don’t want to fight or are too weak, or even prepare yourself a little better. There are also items that you an destroy, some of which will change the odds during battle, while others will give you items and the ever important money. A lot of these fields also involve a minor bit of puzzle solving. None of it’s too difficult, but it makes things a little more interesting than just running around from place to place.

The battles themselves are fairly simple for the most part, but the boss encounters can be a real pain. With many RPG’s, it’s not until you reach close to the end where things get a little more aggressive, but with Xenosaga, it’s best to be prepared for battle. Stock up on healing and revive potions, and don’t always rely on using your AWG. There’s nothing worse than having one of your best characters stuck inside an inoperable AWG until either the end of battle or when the game over screen comes up. Again, boss battles are where paying attention to the various icons is important.

The graphics are fairly well done. They may not rival Final Fantasy X, but they certainly aren’t the worst thing to ever be done either. Most of the areas are easy enough to navigate through, and the battles are filled with flashy moves and flashier spells. There are some occasional glitches here and there, but nothing too major, and certainly not enough to take away from the game. Complete with a soundtrack done by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the anime inspired world comes to life with each twist and turn.

One minor thing, and it was something that I’ve had problems with in other RPG titles, is having to review a scene. Let’s say you’ve unfortunately died in a recent boss battle, and now you have to make your way back. Great, here’s that five-minute dialog session once again. Well, push start to pause it (yes, you can pause the cut scenes) and then you have the option of skipping the scene all together. Nice. The only ting is that someone forgot that at times during battle, you may want to pause as well.

There are a few things that are a little annoying though. The battle phrases are highly repetitious. I got to the point where I was really sick of hearing MOMO say, “Mystic powers, grant me a miracle.” The miracle would have been if she could keep her mouth shut when casting. Also, some of the minor incident cut scenes are a bit pointless. I really don’t need to see the characters go all the way down to the bottom of a shaft in an elevator. There is also the occasional period of pointless running around. Start in the bottom of the ship as Shion, make your way to the bridge after being summoned, only to run right back to where you were to check out a minor problem. Also, the shop screens are a bit confusing. It wasn’t until 4 or 5 hours into the game I actually realized I could scroll across the different icons to buy new items for my AWG and equipment for myself. However, I may have myself to blame since I didn’t look at the, what are those called again? Oh yeah, instructions.

Aside from a few minor complaints though, Xenosaga is a fantastic game filled with hours of engrossing story, interesting character combinations, and fun filled battles. At times it may get a little frustrating, and as interesting as the story is, there are times that I had to walk away for a while, but that was counter by being lured back in due to my curiosity and the typical, “I wonder what happens next” attitude. I will honestly say that my vote for favorite classic style RPG goes for FFX (for the new generation of consoles at least) but Xenosaga definitely comes in at second place now. Xenosaga is more than a role playing game, it’s a role playing epic.

-mike-