[PS2] Xenosaga III: Also Sprach Zarathustra

Well you can imagine if Miyuki's playable, she'll probably end up playing exactly like Shion, and in those instances it probably means that she'll be a replacement party member while Shion is gone for some unknown reason.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

If the DS game does make it over, I'll finally have a reason to buy one.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

If you knew me well enough, you'd know that I don't think too highly of the DS -- no games I wanna play on it.

Anyway, Soldier I gotta ask -- is it coming out in the States this year, or is that a Japanese release? If memory serves me, the Japanese version of Xenosaga 2 came out a good while before the US version.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

After reading all these spoilers, I really need to go back and play Xenosaga II to completion. Might as well restart the game though, as I've completely forgotten the story save for what refresher spoilers I've read here.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

EB and GameStop have this on their pre-order lists now -- reseved mine a few days ago.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Motsy

Great to hear the original voices for Shion and KOS-MOS are back.

And the soundtrack sounds fucking awesome.

Shion yes, but I didn't hear KOS-MOS's voice in that trailer. I heard T-Elos's voice, and it sounded a lot like the original KOS-MOS, so maybe that VA is voicing both characters. It's a good possibility if that really is her doing T-Elos's voice.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

In an unrelated note. Browsed IGN for a bit and saw that Xenosaga I & II for the DS still has not gotten a US release date, and I couldn't find any word of that actually having been confirmed for the US either. How's about an update on that, if anyone has one?

FELIPE NO

I've a somewhat odd question for you then, Hiro. You say you liked Episode II & III's battle system, but you didn't mention Ep. I.

I didn't like the battle system in Ep. II, but I loved I's. Knowing that, would someone like me enjoy the battle system from III or not so much?

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Spatula

;________;

Alright just let me see when more reviews come in... maybe I'll change my mind. Is there some sort of cutscene disc with XSIII so I can see what happened in ep 2? As long as I can get some sort of idea what happened, plus my memory is foggy from the last time I played ep 1.

No featurette disc, but supposedly there's a huge dictionary and reference menu in XS3 that chronicles the story and characters up to this point.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

You said Soldier -- Namco, you fail at LIFE. I admit, I'm very, very cautious about picking this up today. Shion looks like a whore, KOS-MOS, an ANDROID, looks like a whore, T-Elos looks like a whore and the voices are not entirely back to their original cast.

This would've been a much better trilogy if they had stuck with the same formula from the first game, no question. Ah well.

I do still plan to pick it up, if only to say "Hey I own all three." However, I don't plan on starting it until much later, as Okami comes out next Wednesday and I am WAY more excited for its release than Xenosaga 3's.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Well, I've had my 3-hour sit down of the game. And I gotta say, if nothing else, this is one hell of a beautiful game to look at.

The visuals are absolutely top-notch. Pedea Island is incredibly attractive -- the environment has been designed by someone who has a very clear vision of what the perfect island would look like. I can't even begin to describe the detail. If something like this appeared on the PS3...I could die a happy gamer. I've never been one to put graphics over gameplay, but I gotta say when a game looks this good, you almost forget you're even playing a video game! It's worth mentioning that Namco through in a bit of bragging rights -- there's a cave you can walk through, and at the exit is a cliff you stand on and the camera shifts to give the player that long-distance view over the ocean. Yeah, they knew what they were doin'.

Also, the First Business District in Fifth Jerusalem -- more specific, the park. At the very top, there's another overhang. The park itself isn't really anything to woo yourself over, but the view is. You get to see nearly the entire city in all its splendor, and it's truly an amazing sight. Just seeing the visuals in this game make my inner gamer burst with joy and sincerely pray that a Xenosaga is made for the PS3. I would LOVE to see something like this done on the PS3's power.

My memory's a bit rusty, but it does sound like the majority of the original cast has returned, although MOMO's voice is in fact brand new (doesn't sound like Ep. 2's, but I could be mistaken. Either way it's not Sherry Lynn) and chaos's VA from Ep. 2 returns as well. Miyuki's migh tbe different, but for such a minor role throughout the trilogy, it doesn't matter. Her VA is pretty good though, so concern should be minor.

It's good to hear Shion back to her old self though, I'll admit. I've yet to hear KOS-MOS....I just pray her Ep. 1 actress is back in full-form.

So, on to the burning question -- does the battle system suck? No, actually. It's much more reminiscent of Ep. 1's than 2's, thank God, visually as well as mechanically. With the exception of the two ES battle's I was put in, the battles came and went with no load times, but the game itself does contain a few, though nothing harsh. This time, your characters' special attacks consume Boost -- Shion, to this point, is the only one able to use a Special Attack, and hers requires 2 Boost. Boost is acquired by attacking the enemy. ES's have "limit break" style attacks. When they receive damage, their Anima gauge fills up, and they can activate the Anima and use Special Attacks from there.

I noticed something odd in the ES battles though -- occasionally, my other party members would join in on my attack. Now, I'm not complaining, but I've yet to determine is this is a random occurrence, or if it's controllable. Also, the game's tutorial says that so long as your Energy Gauge isn't empty, you can attack "consecutively." When I battled, it was just like a regular fight though. I never saw the Energy gauge actually go down, either. So I don't know what to think. Two battles wasn't enough to get everything together.

The battle system is much easier though, that's for sure. At least compared to Episode 2. If Okami weren't coming out next Wednesday, I'd continue playing this for sure.

As for my own opinion on the game as a whole...I think the Xenosaga trilogy, to date, would have succeeded to a much greater degree if it followed one of two paths -- sticking to the first game's design all the way through, or using the third game's design all the way two. Most people I've spoken with agree that Episode 2 is inherently flawed, but this game is not. It doesn't have that charming quality that Episode 1 had, but it's certainly much better than it's predecessor. This is what Xenosaga 2 should've been, in my opinion.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I didn't think about it until after Cetra posted it, but walking around in towns is certainly not a mundane task anymore.

I really like the fact that conversation boxes appear, and that NPCs will speak to each other -- pressing Square when it appears lets Shion butt in on the conversation. Really, it's handled quite nicely. I'd almost say that I've liked checking out the environments and listening to the people more than any other aspect of the game thus far.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Yeah, I played in the Merkabah museum. I'm not really too fond of it though. It's fun and all, but it's easy to see that at the harder levels, this is gonna bring frustration-a-plenty.

Spoiler:

According to the strategy guide, you must be the hardest level to get either Jr.'s or Ziggy's ultimate weapon. In fact, several of the levels have rewards similar to that.

Most amazing jew boots

Spoiler alerts a-plenty would've nice, Motsy. Not really for me, but for some.

I imagine that the Bandai half of Namco-Bandai had something to do with all this censorship. Namco, as a solitary company, might've changed the methods in which they showed such content, but they still showed it. The censorship is that much greater in Episode III though, and I don't think it's merely coincidence that Bandai's a part of the team now.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Honestly, I don't like HaKox all that much. However, one of the levels -- and perhaps all of them -- had music from Episode 2 playing in the background.

FELIPE NO