[PS2] Xenosaga III: Also Sprach Zarathustra

During the downtime, some new info has been released:

Quote:

New Xenosaga Epsiode III Details Revealed
02.26.06 - 1:40 AM

Namco has revealed some more details regarding its PlayStation 2 RPG Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra). In addition to Shion, KOS-MOS, Jr., MOMO, Chaos and Ziggy, U.R.T.V. creator Dimitri Yuriev, U-TIC scientist Sellers, the Godwin sisters Shelly and Mary and the white-clad member of Testament have been confirmed to make returing appearances in Epiosde III.

Among the new locations the protagonists will venture to, is a strange splitter of land that has suddenly appeared in outer space. To investigate this strange floating structure, Yuri Mizrahi is sending Jr. and company. The floating structure however is guarded by an unknown E.S. To make things worse, when the party tries to reach the structure, it starts emitting a glowing light. Other dramatic scenes will take place aboard the Durandal, as Dimtri invades the ship and releases the Zohar emulators. Dimitri is apparently conspiring with his former colleague and current U-TIC scientist Sellers. Furthermore, judging from screenshots released today, Episode III will follow the example of its prequels in being heavy on flashbacks. The main means of transportation, the spaceship Elsa, has also been confirmed to return in Episode III. Its enlarged hangar now offers space for up to four E.S. units.

System-wise, Jr. will come equipped with a new special technique known as Red Dragon. Related to Jr.'s history as an U.R.T.V., this move is said to be the most powerful special technique in the entire game.

The development team at Monolith Soft decided to bring back the good old E.V.S. simulators, dungeon traps and Segment Addresses. Traps however can now be set where ever the player wishes. If an enemy gets caught in a trap, he will not only be at a disadvantage at the beginning of the battle, but your party will also be treated to a boost bonus. When a party member approaches a NPC in a city or town, a conversation window will automatically open.

In response to criticism directed at Episode II, the development has also significantly increased the size of the game's scenario. After being left out of Episode II, shops allowing for the purchase of weapons, accessories and healing items will be implemented in Episode III. In addition to shops located in cities and towns, many shops will also be accessible from plates standing next to yellow-colored savespots.

Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra has yet to receive an official release date.

Source: RPG fan

RPGamer also offers a bunch of new screenshots.

Some general rules:
-Any new info containing spoilers for the older games should be placed in spoiler tags.
-don't ask for release dates, since general RPG sites much better for that information.
-stay on topic

How ya doing, buddy?

Concerning Chaos:

Spoiler:

From the trailer I remember a confrontation between chaos and Shion near a coffin, so he'll be unplayable at some point. There have been some screens of chaos in battle though (check out the link in my first post), so you'll be able to use him. Maybe Canaan will replace him when he leaves, since I don't think that he'll be in your team for the entire game. It's more likely that he'll be going of alone at some point, to confront Wilhelm about his plan, or to play a role in KOS-MOS's awakening.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

July 6! I'll probably get the demo somewhere of the net, just to check out the battle system.

Casaubon, the pile looks like some kind of spell effect, with the chains and all. I think one of the stronger ether attacks had it, but I can always be confusing it with another game.

And I don't know what to think about Junior's new outfit, I mean, I liked the long jacket, but this is also pretty cool, and somehow makes him look more like an adult.

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

Why don't you read the gamefaq boards for a while aku, they seem to be more on your level. They can also help you with the connections between the games.

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

Hasn't been confirmed yet, as far as I know. I really hope so, since her Episode II soundtrack is just <3.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Rydia, that's the main complaint people have about Kaijiura's work, too repetitive. I don't really care, since I only listen to her work for anime/games that I've actually seen/played, so it's limited to Hack and Xenosaga.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I' m wondering how hyped the game is in Japan. I've heard that the sales for the first two games where below expectations, and that the main reason for continuation was because it did rather good in the US. I don't know about any Japanese reviews though, so it's unsure how hyped that community will be.

FELIPE NO

You can't really have anymore relaxing scenes like the one on the beach when there's a rather big war going on with you almost at the center of it.Don't forget that the family mood wasn't really there anymore in XS2, and there will be bound to be some conflicts (Shion and Jin, Chaos). I doubt that we'll see Ziggy's story, since it's explained in Pied Piper. Maybe a quick scene when he confronts Voyager ("why did you kill them?!" or other blabla).

The trailer excited me to no ends, Dimitri and Citrine, Canaan, getting his ass kicked, a flashback of Joachim Mizrahi in all his madness, and the confrontation between KOS-MOS and the other android (who's not Pellegri as said before). This has really gotten me too damn excited. There are a lot of different conflicts left to be resolved, and this game'd better make it worth it.

I'll probably be importing a game for the first time with this one.

(also, lol at the garbled Shakespeare quote).

How ya doing, buddy?

Was it ever said what the "Beach of Nothingness" exactly was? I do't really recall it anywhere else but during the Cherenkov scene.

I'm also glad that we finally get to see some Gnosis posing a threat again, since their abscence in II was disappointing (except for a few Encephalon missions).

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I don't really care about the Xenogears comparison, since I didn't play it until after I finished XSII. I like the Testaments a lot more than Grahf, who was a rather disappointing character imo, except for a few scenes (Solaris mainly). It seems that the testaments will get a lot more background, with Voyager starring in a seperate game, white being covered before, Virgil also seems to be worked out pretty well, and it hasn't ended yet. Red is the only mystery as to what his motivations are, especially since he seems to be second in command in the whole Zarathustra thing.

In the Trailer, there's a glimpse of an Omega weapon attacking. Was it ever explained what it was exactly, or who developed it (I really can't remember)?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Why the hell do they keep adding some nobodies as playable characters? What good can those Vector people do? Aside from that, I personally am a bit disappointed with all the removals that were made from the original script; but it looks like some of these things will still be in the final game, which makes me anticipate it even more. Also, I'd be surprised if there would be people who had recognized this woman's touch in those few scenes.

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

Just on a random note, according to the Wikipedia page on Ep III, it seems that Yuki Kajiura will be the sole composer for this episode, which is the most exciting news, if it is true that is. I really loved her songs for Ep II, and I really want to see how she'll handle battle themes. The remixes for the trailers don't disappoint either.

On a random note, does anyone know more about Scientia? In the first info released for III, it was stated that it was some kind of rebel organization against Vector, but it seems to have existed before that, working against the UMN dominating the world (as read in the Pied Piper script, which is an excellent read for more info on Yuriev, maybe I'll post thoughts later). Was Vector the driving force behind the UMN or what?

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

American release CONFIRMED, thanks to RPGfan.

Quote:

Namco Bandai today announced that the third and final chapter of its epic RPG series Xenosaga, Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus spoke Zarathustra) for PlayStation 2 will be released on this side of Pacific sometime this fall. The game will be available in Japan on July 6th.

To get an idea of what to expect from the conclusion of Xenosaga, keep your eyes peeled for RPGFan's upcoming preview of the game.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Episode II had just a little under 5 hours, if I have all the movie rips, and I think it would be impossible to put the entire finale in 3 hours, perhaps 3 hours of CG? (wishful thinking)

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I downloaded nearly every cutscene that appeared in the game, and it was something 4 hours and 45 minutes, that is if I got all of them, because I think I'm still missing some, like the maintenance Yuli Mizrahi performs on Ziggy before the Y-data extraction attempt.

Seraphite, iirc, Cathedral, if that is the boss you're referring to is a boss in Proto Omega, correct? If that's so, you're right before the ending.

FELIPE NO

A new trailer has been revealed, mostly gameplay footage but also some cutscenes. Some info I could get out of it:

Spoiler:

The first two movies deal with Shion, Miyuki and Canaan infiltrating a Vector division. They are there to make a back up of some data, what it exactly is, is unclear to me, but it seems to have something to do with Vector wanting to use the power of the UMN.

They are attacked by a Gnosis, and we see the first footage of battle. Overall impression is that it moves a lot more fluent than in EP II, character switching works fine, but it does look like you have a lot of commands at your disposal. Battle theme's nice, but not as good as the one from EP I. Miyuki also seems to fight the exact same way as Shion, same weapon and all. After the fight, more Gnosis show up and the party escapes in ES. The unknown pilot says "This way, REALIAN", I wonder who she means with that? During the escape, Shion has some vision of Abel, she receives some sort of warning, and she tells Miyuki to disconnect. Does this mean that they are in the Encephalon?

The third movie is the most interesting. The first scene is Shion trying to convince Kevin to stop doing something. After that, we see more footage of Yuriev (one of my favourites), but I can't hear what he says because of the pretty good music.

The next scene is pretty important I think, but I don't understand everything. I THINK that T-Elos says that not Shion is the child of Maria, maybe she's the marienkind that the zohar refers to? After that, we see another fight with Voyager, I think it's a different one since I don't see the device he activates in the second trailer. Next is a short scene futuring Yuli Mizrahi, Shion and Abel. It looks to me as if Shion doesn't know him, but Yuli is familiar with him.

Another scene wit T-ELOS, who seems to be searching for the "thirteenth key", in order to awaken (not sure if she means her awakening or KOS-MOS). And finally, we see more battle footage, like Jin-Margulis in ES, and the party against T-Elos.

The trailer can be found here. The password is xeno.

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

I'm downloading it as we speak. Expect comments here in a few days.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Spoiler:

I'm curious about Nigredo's role as a URTV. He is referred to as an executioner, and he managed to blow of Albedo's arm by nothing but psychic powers. I don't think he himself is evil though

As for Yuriev's role, he won't be helping Shion & co, I think. His only interest is the zohar and U-DO. He also poses a threat to Wilhelm and the circle, according to the Pied Piper script. In the first trailer, I think, we see Yuriev activating the zohar and the emulators, and the party storms in to stop him. For me, he's easily one of the most interesting characters, even better than Albedo imo.

Most amazing jew boots

I think that the three hours mentioned are the actual cutscenes, where as the 8 hours include the cutscenes that als use textboxes, Famitsu mentioned this iirc.

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

Kajiura was responsible for the music during the cutscenes, and she did a terrific job at it (the OST is one of my personal favourites), and Hosoe did the town and battle music, as some other themes. I can't imagine why anyone thinks that he did a better job than Mitsuda or Kajiura. Monolith apparently thought the same, and now Kajiura's responsible for the entire OST.

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

I've also seen Kouli's spoilers, but I managed to resist. I quickly read over the text, picking up some terms here and there, but nothing to significant, except for the first line in your spoiler box, which only confirmed something that I was expecting.

As for the "Missing Year":

Spoiler:

This is the first thing I hear about someone actually controlling the Gnosis, I wonder how they'll implement this in the story with the previous events taken into account.

Apparently, this "Grimoire Verum" is the main guy behind the Zohar project back in the days of Lost Jerusalem. It seems that the gnosis aren't a new phenomenon, but that they showed up around the same time as the Zohar. It seems that the research, called Lemegeton (katakana) is also responsible for the disappearance of Lost Jerusalem.

Vecto took this Lemegeton with him, and Joachim placed it in some special realian (perhaps even something related to it in momo since Wilhelm says that there's still something beyond the Y-data?).

The story focuses around Grimoire's daughter who was supposedly used in the experiments. The girl refers to herself as Nephilim, could it be the same one as Shion knows?

I'm glad to see that the gnosis threat isn't being neglected, since it was very disappointing in Episode II. Although I'm a little sceptic to see how they'll implement this new villain, I'm curious, although it wouldn't be surprised if it's also Wilhelm.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Well, I finished the Japanese version a couple of weeks ago, and I'd like to post some of my (I have to admit, very longwinded)thoughts. Note that they are based on the Japanese version, so there coul be some useless parts, like voice acting.

Spoiler:

Those who’ve read my previous review, know that I wasn’t too happy with the state of affairs in Episode II. Still, despite knowing better, I couldn’t help but getting more and more excited for Episode III, after seeing the few trailers that were released. Even though I knew that it could be a disappointment, I still couldn’t wait to get my hands on the game. After playing through it, I’d like to present to you my final conclusions. Please note that this review will contain inevitable spoilers for the previous two games.

Storyline
The story was one of the weakest points of the second game, but it was still one of the most awesome stories I’ve seen in an RPG in a while. The main criticism that I had was the lack of real story advancement, since the game mostly focused on background for Jr. and Albedo, Momo to a certain extent. After the announcement that this would be the last episode, I was a bit disappointed, since I feared that it would be a rush job. I’ve been proven both right and wrong in this point. Episode III starts one year after Episode II. The crew has been spread around, and it seems like everything has return to normal. Shion is still looking for answers, concerning KOS-MOS and the gnosis phenomenon. She has quit Vector, and has joined an anti-UMN organization, Scientia. Soon, she’ll realize that nothing has ended with Albedo’s death, and that the real plans have only just been set in motion.

For those who’ve played the previous games, you know that there are A LOT of questions to be answered, concerning nearly all the characters. The first disc starts out nice and slowly, as we are introduced to some new characters. After a lengthy introduction, we go through a long segment finally giving some more insight in Shion’s past. I was really pleased with the events up until the events at the end of the first disc, since it’s obvious that a lot of the characters get some (much-needed) development. The second disc, however, is still good, but doesn’t really live up to my expectations. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with the story which is still simply incredible, but the execution is a bit lacking. Since there are so many loose ends that need to be tied up, you’ll soon be fighting antagonist after antagonist, giving little room for their development. This also makes the game lose that epic feeling that it had on the first disc, making the final battle of the entire series lose some power, even though it’s still a pretty cool fight.

Most of this can be blamed on the cancellation of the rest of the series. It seems to me that the overall story was supposed to be a lot more wider, as is also shown with A Missing Year, a flash movie on the official website that ties the events from XS II to the ones of this game. Because of this there is quite a lot of new information to digest at the start of the game, which can be rather confusing. But once you are in the game for a few hours, you’ll know what’s going on, mostly thanks to the magnificent Database (more on this later). Still, it’s a bit annoying that you are kinda thrown into the deep. The cancellation also shows itself in the ending, even though it answers most questions, you feel like you are missing some essential background stuff. Luckily, there’s a final update on the database that gives some much needed background, but it still would have been nice if they had the time to develop this during the course of the game.

There are some fans who will disagree with me on what I’ll be saying next, but you have to look at the entire game in context. You can’t just ask “Is the final instalment a worthy ending?”, just like that, but you have to ask “Given the cancellation of the series, have they managed to create a worthy ending for this saga?”. I personally can say yes, since most of the questions have been answered, almost everything has been resolved, but they still left some room for a sequel. Even though it felt rushed, the ending still managed to strike an emotional cord with me. Of course, some aspects could have been handled better, but there has never been a game where I didn’t have complaints regarding the overall story (except Vagrant Story, maybe)

Characters
Character development is a bit unbalanced. Some characters have received sufficient development in previous games, namely Jr. and Ziggy (Pied Piper), and Momo to a certain extent. The character development in this game is almost entirely focused on Shion, who had, at least for me, the most interesting background to explore. Unfortunately, some of the most enigmatic party members, namely chaos and KOS-MOS don’t get nearly enough attention until the very end, but at time it’s a bit too late, in my opinion. KOS-MOS has one of the most interesting stories, and has been one of the main points that drew people into the saga, but her back story feels rushed, and could have been far more interesting if only they took the time to focus on it a bit more. The same can be said about chaos, and only if they paid a bit more attention to his development over the game, he would have had a major impact

The villains suffer from the same problem, even though some of them have a magnificent role, namely the Blue Testament and Dimitri Yuriev (you didn’t really think that he would be on your side), and for me personally they are the most interesting villains in the game. The rest of the Testaments get sufficient development, (especially White gets a memorable moment to shine), but the main antagonist, the one who has been pulling strings behind the scenes for three games gets not nearly enough light shed upon. He really had the potential to be one of the better characters that I’ve encountered in an RPG, but they just didn’t seem to find the time for some development. I was pretty disappointed with this, but then again, when looking at it with the cancellation in mind, it’s an understandable problem, although this doesn’t make up for it.

Once again, character designs have undergone some changes, not as radical as the differences between Episode I and II, but still serious enough for me to comment on. Several characters now have a better look, especially KOS-MOS, who looks pretty awesome in her upgraded outfit, but Jin has also changed out of his kimono, which actually bothered me quite a bit since it’s a bit too unrealistic to keep on battling in an outfit like that, and he now wears something that Xenogears fans will surely recognize as the Citan Uzuki outfit. Two designs disappointed me, namely Shion and Jr. Shion’s outfit in the second game was perfectly acceptable to me, but this time she looks a bit… cheap and skanky to me. Jr. hasn’t had a nice outfit since the first game, and they are really turning him into a cowboy-wannabe in this game, which disappoints me.

Graphics
Those who have read my review for Xenosaga Episode II, will remember how disappointed I was with the environmental graphics, which were bland and unoriginal. Luckily, the third episode gives us some of the most beautiful environments that I’ve seen in a PS2 game. From the huge city that is Fifth Jerusalem, where I immensely enjoyed myself by just looking at the landscapes, to the desolate Limestone Cave, all the environments are detailed, and have enough variation, unlike other RPG’s where most dungeons all look the same. I’m really glad that they made some improvements here, since it gives the whole game a rather majestic feel. As for battle effects, they aren’t better or worse than in the previous games, and since I didn’t have a problem with them then, I don’t see a need to complain now. The ES battles deserve a special mentioning, since they are just awesome. The regular attacks are already cool, but the real fun starts when you unleash your Anima attacks, which are visually astonishing. There’s nothing better to look at than your party battling some uber-mech.

Music
As for music, I was a huge fan of the Episode II Movie soundtrack, composed by Yuki Kajiura, and I was disappointed in the other themes composed by Hosoe. Knowing this, it can’t be a surprise if I say that I was excited when it became known that Yuki Kajiura would be responsible for the entire Episode III soundtrack. A comparison to Episode II’s music is inevitable, and the first thing that can be noted is that Episode III’s music has a darker, more subdued feeling than the previous OST, which could have been expected seeing what serious issues are coming up in this episode. The trailers released before the game already confirmed this, and the tracks used to accompany those can be considered some of the highlights of the game.

There are some incredibly powerful compositions in this game, that can easily rival with “Communication Breakdown”, or “Lamentation”. Some of my personal favourites are “Godsibb”, coincidentally the only track that doesn’t seem to be composed by Kajiura, “Promised Pain”, which is one of the best battle themes I heard in a long time, and “Hepathica”, the theme for KOS-MOS in this game. There are also some remixed versions of tracks that we heard in the second episode, like “Here She Comes”, or “Fatal Flight”, that are nice, but they essentially don’t add anything new.

One of the biggest fears that fans had was that Kajiura would screw up background music, for towns and dungeons. I’m glad to say that this is not the case, especially compared to the previous games (no background music in towns in Episode I, boring and repetitive tunes in II). The tunes are nice to listen to, they don’t linger in your head until they annoy the hell out of you, and they accompany the long treks through the dungeons or towns nicely. The battle themes are also a strong point, even though the general battle theme is a bit boring, this is easily overlooked as soon as you enter a boss battle with “Battle of your soul”, or even better, “Promised Pain”. Overall, I’m really pleased with this soundtrack, and it’s one of the strongest points of the game, just as it was one of the best aspects of the second episode.

Voice Acting
I consider voice acting one of the most important parts of a game with a story like this, especially since it can either really enhance certain scenes, or make them bland and boring, no matter how interesting the content is. Luckily, the Japanese cast does a stellar job, especially the various antagonists that your party encounters. Of course, we all know what Albedo sounds like now, so there’s no questioning his skills, but the real surprise had to be Red Testament, who does one of the best jobs I’ve heard in a long time. Dimitri Yuriev’s a personal favourite, just like Margulis, who both just sound deliciously evil. The only voices that bothered me a bit was Miyuki, who can sound a bit too whiny and childish, even though it fits her character, and Hammer, because he has the incredibly annoying habit of adding “su” to every goddamn sentence, but that shouldn’t bother the fans of the US version. But the rest of the cast, as we already know them is just excellent.

One thing that should be noted about the sound is that there is no option to turn off the background noise. During the entire game, the sound of footsteps and shooting will have the same volume as the background music, which can be a bit bothering during the dungeon crawling, but it gets really irritating during the battles. It really got on my nerves at times, when you are fighting a boss battle with a cool tune playing, and all of a sudden the boss uses a big attack with a lot of noise, and you can’t hear the music anymore. In the beginning this isn’t so bad, but there were moments later on where I got mad at the game for not having an option for volume control.

Battle System
When you ask someone why they didn’t like the second episode, they will most likely say that they were annoyed by the battle system. I’d have to agree with them, because even though there where plenty of different attacks available, the system was flawed so that normal attacks where the only useful ones. Luckily, it seems like Monolith has listened to it’s fans, and they have returned to a more traditional system combining various elements from the first two episodes.

From episode I, we see the return of the use of ether and arts. While they were useless in Episode II, they will be your main attack in the game. Ether attacks are divided into 4 different elements, fire, ice, thunder and beam, so you’ll have to check out an enemy’s weaknesses in order to successfully defeat it. Aside from the obligatory healing ethers, most of the ether skills can be divided into these categories, and almost everyone in your party possesses these same skills. It isn’t until the end of the game that there will be some character-specific ether skills, which are most likely the most skills that you’ll use

Arts are unique for each character, and have various uses. For example, KOS-MOS has a wide range of attacks, that can be used against a specific enemy (biological, machines and gnosis), while Ziggy’s attacks are most effective when used against humans. Although this may sound like you’ll be switching characters constantly in order to effectively exploit an enemy’s weak points, this is not the case, since you’ll combat is rather easy, and it isn’t until the end of the game that you’ll be switching characters, because enemy HP will be so high that you’d want to exploit enemy weaknesses to speed up combat.

A character can learn new ether or arts by levelling up, or by using the Styleline. After each combat, a character will earn style points, that can be used to buy new skills on the Styleling. This system is reminiscent of the skill tree in the first game, and it’s specific for each character. It’s not really a tree this time, since you only have two branches, each with slightly different focuses. The ether skills that everyone can learn are all the same, as I’ve said before, but the character skills are unique, although they can have the same effect. Aside from that, both branches offer various stat boosts (HP+100, Strength+2, …), and some passive skills, like counter skills or critical hits. Overall, it’s a pretty basic system, but it’s nice to have at least some customization for your character. It’s unfortunate that XSIII seems to suffer from the same problem that FFX had; near the end of the game, you’ll have so many skill points, that you will most likely turn the characters into cardboard copies of the rest, even though they still have some unique skills.

Another element that has survived since the first episode is the boost gauge. Every attack will fill up this gauge little by little, and you can use the gauge to get an extra turn, to heal or to obliterate the enemy before he gets a chance to attack. But there’s more; each character possesses so-called deathblows (I think that’ll be the English translation), which don’t consume any ether points, but it will consume the boost gauge. These are some of the more powerful attacks in the game, and as they level up the more you use them, the more powerful they’ll get. But that’s not their only use; if you kill an enemy using a deathblow, you’ll have performed a “Finishing Strike”, and you’ll get more experience, more style points, and more money, so it’s a rather good thing if you can use deathblows effectively.

There is only one element that hasn’t been present since the first game, and that’s the Break gauge, although it’s simplified compared to the second episode. Every time you attack an enemy or one of your characters get attacked, this gauge will fill up slowly, and when it’s full, the character will go in “Break” status, and he won’t be able to act for a couple of turns, and he’ll be more likely to receive critical hits. Now, this sounds nice, and you’d think that it would be useful during boss battles, but there are some flaws. First of all, the enemy’s gauge fills up real slow, and you’ll most likely have killed him before he breaks. There are some skills that can speed this up, but it’s till a bit too slow for me. Second, your characters will have a small break gauge, which means that they can be broken rather easy, making the whole system only a nuisance for you. A little bit more thought behind this would have been nice.

ES Battles
Now that I’ve discussed normal combat, it’s time to move on to ES battles, something that I really liked in the second game. The system has been simplified, and some of the flaws that were present in the second game have been taken care of. Each ES has it’s specific pilots, so no more switching like in episode II. Since equipment made a return (more on this further on), you can customize the various ES to a certain extent, but each suit will have it’s advantages and disadvantages. For example, Dinah (Shion and KOS-MOS) will have more beam attacks, while Reuben (Jin) can only carry one weapon, but he has a lot more power. In battle, there are most of the time 2 or 3 attacks to choose from. Each of these attacks will consume a certain amount of energy, and you can choose to put all the energy you have in one attack, or you can spread it and unleash 3 or 4 smaller, less powerful attacks.

That’s the basis of ES combat, but there’s more. Every time you attack, the anima gauge will fill up slowly. When the gauge’s filled up, you can awaken the Anima Vessel installed in your ES, which allows you to use an ES deathblow, or it gives you the option to use normal attacks for a lower energy cost. Just like character deathblows, the ES deathblows function as Finishing Strikes, giving you bonuses after the battle. The ES deathblows can be obscenely powerful, dealing more than 100000 damage, and what’s more, they can chain with other characters normal attacks, making an ES a very powerful weapon. Overall, I really enjoyed ES combat, more than character battles, and I only wished that there were more ES dungeons in the game. A minor point of criticism is that ES battles can take a bit too long near the end of the game, because the HP of certain enemies can be way too high.

Other Gameplay
Aside from the battle system, there have been some changes in the rest of the gameplay. For example, shops have made a welcome return, and you finally have the option to put equipment on your characters. It’s standard RPG equipping, nothing new, but it’s still a lot better than the painful absence in the second episode. I’ve heard people complaining about the lack of money, but I never had any problems buying what I wanted, until the end of the game when I made some purchases that weren’t needed.

There are some gamers who will be disappointed by the lack of towns to explore, since there are only two in the entire game, but I personally didn’t really bothered with it, since the dungeons are pretty awesome this time around. In episode II, they sent you from one end of the dungeon to another a few times, and combined with the lack of decent puzzles, and the painful battle system, dungeons where boring as hell. This time, dungeons are still huge, but at least you make some progress, and you don’t have to do a lot of backtracking. Most of the stuff’s straightforward, but I really didn’t mind it, since the designs were neat, and I loved spending my time looking at the environments.

Speaking of dungeons, traps have also made a comeback, and they are actually useful this time around. You have to purchase them from shops, and when they hit an enemy, you often get a pre-emptive attack, and a boost bonus (or anima gauge bonus when in an ES), so you have to take advantage of them. The only downside is that you can only have 10 with you, and since dungeons are huge, you’ll run out of them too quickly.

Optional Stuff
As for sidequests, they got rid of the Good Samaritan Campaign, a loss that I don’t regret. The Segment addresses make a return, which is nice because it was some of the coolest side quests in the first game. Not much has changed here, and you’ll still be using the EVS plate to go back to old dungeons. There is a rather big sub event in the cities, but it’s missable, and unfortunately, I missed it, so no comments on that. There are a few sidequests right for the final dungeon, mostly getting the ultimate weapons for your characters, but there are also a few optional bosses to fight, and they pose a nice challenge for you.

There is one more sidequest during the game, namely Ge-Mix. I haven’t really bothered that much with it, since the instructions are a bit confusing, but you can compare it to Lemmings, some old NES game, where you have to get your character from point A to point B, and you can only change the environment in order to get them there safe.

One of the most welcome returns is the return of the Database, an option that I really missed in the second game. It’s even bigger than the one in the first game, and it gives details on every aspect of the game. From the characters to the various organizations, to the most meaningless technical term, everything gets explained. There are several categories, and you if there’s a term that you don’t understand, you can quickly link to an explanation. I spent hours reading this, because of the interesting stories, but of course also because it’s filled with way too many kanji ^^. Aside from the database, there’s also a data option on the start screen. You can view past event movies, if you need a quick recap, but there are also options for character and enemy 3D models, which is a very nice addition if you want a close look at some of the ES for example. The further you get in the game, the more movies and models get unlocked, so it’s a really nice future.

Overall, is Episode III a worthy ending for a saga spanning 5 years? Given the circumstances, I’d have to say yes, but I still can’t help but wonder what it would look like if the original planning had been followed. I don’t think that there are many XS fans who will be disappointed with the overall story or the gameplay (best that the series has seen since its debut), but I think that they will share my disappointment whenever I think that there could have been more.

Also Southjag, characters will randomly assist eachother in ES battles, you can't control it, or improve the rate at what they'll do it.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Spoiler:

Wilhelm is not the anti-christ or a reference to it, I think that he's just a guardian of the Zarathustra. The Zarathustra was a device developed by the so-called ancients (the game never gives more details on this), and they wanted to use it to defy the gods (U-DO). Wilhelm didn't agree with this, since he didn't find meaning in their objective. He was more interested in the 永延回帰 (eternal return, don't know what it's called in English), in the hope that mankind would finally "mature". In the DS version he tells Chaos that he wants to do "that" again, meaning that he wants to reset the universe, which is not defying the gods.

I do agree with you that he really isn't that powerful, he can't do anything about Kevin or Maria/KOS-MOS betraying him, nor can he just walk up to Shion and take the pendant from her. He also doesn't seem to have full control over the Zarathustra, since he can't stop it from going out of control.

But what is Wilhelm exactly? A theory that was rather popular when the spoilers from the database were leaked, was that he is a part of chaos. We know that chaos doubted his destiny during the ages, and Wilhelm is most likely the part that cared about humanity to give them enough chances, but he didn't had the faith that mankind was powerful enough to do it without his help.

Also, chaos is NOT Jesus. We can clearly see him in the audience listening to Christ. Some guy over at gamefaqs had a rather interesting explanation of this, but I'm too lazy to search for it. There's also the matter of the Lemegeton Words, Ormus was established to protect these. It is mentioned that Ormus had been around long before the Messiah, and Wilhelm also says that "that man" (Jesus) doesn't know the meaning of those words. chaos has also been around since the beginning of the universe, so why would he wait until that exact moment to try and guide humanity, and why didn't he ever tried it again afterwards?

FELIPE NO

Well, if you've been following the news about the game, you'll know that the rest of the series has been cancelled, meaning that they don't really have a large budget to work with for this game. Besides, I suggest that you should play the game and base your opinion on that, instead of the screens and movies, since there are some terrific looking sceneries in the game.

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

Guest: It was from the gatling gun attack

Cobalt: that scene wasn't censored, it's the same in the JP version, only the blood was edited out in the crappiest way possible.

Kurado: Reading the database will get you fully up to date of all the events that happened in the previous games, and if you still think that you are in the dark about certain things, blue laguna has all the cutscenes from episode II.

I was rather glad that Momo didn't get enough attention, since her story was pretty much ended in the previous games. She still gets one scene in the first disc, but after that there isn't a lot of room to develop her character even more, unless you want her going into emo-mode or something. Soldier, continue the bloody game before making your judgements will ya?

Jam it back in, in the dark.