Xenosaga Episode II

The Core RPGC Main Forum
1

Xenosaga Episode II has just been released in Japan, no word on the official NA release date yet. But knowing Namco, and seeing how long it took them to bring Episode I over, it’ll likely take awhile.

Who’s really looking forward to it? I know I am. It seems they’ve taken a lot of the gameplay issues that the first one had, long loading times, slow and clunky combat, and improved on them all. XSII is now two DVDs instead of one double-layer DVD, thus making the loading times MUCH better. I don’t know all the specifics about the improved combat system, but it seems to be much more fast-paced than the original, you can even switch party members in and out while in battle, that’s a plus.

Then there’s the music, as everyone should know Mitsuda is no working on this one. The musics are composed by Shinji Hosoe, who is the one behind the in-game music, and Yuki Kajiura, who is behind the cinematics. This should make it all quite interesting, as they both have two completely different styles, and hopefully they’ll intermix well. Dragon God, though, could probably say a lot more on Hosoe and Kajiura, and likely already has ^^

Then there’s the previous save-data from XSI, how does that work? Well it seems to do two things, one it allows a swimsuit item to be obtained to allow KOS-MOS and Ziggy to wear swimsuits in battle. Yeah, I kid you not, since they were the only two in Episode I who couldn’t. It’s even more fanservice, for players of BOTH sexes :wink: Also, I believe that the party will start with a certain amount of ability points to spend, based on their level at the end of XSI. So if you were an obsessive compulsive type who got everyone up to Lv99, despite the maddening amount of time that would take, then you get a huge reward.

Finally, from what I’ve heard it seems this story STILL isn’t wrapped up, and it’ll instead become a trilogy. Rather, it looks like Xenosaga Episode III will once again star the same cast. This makes me wonder, because the original timeline for the chapters in the Xeno story conflicts with this, I don’t know the specifics but originally Episode II was supposed to take place a few thousand years later, with Episode III certainly taking place on the planet where the Eldridge crashed. Of course, the director of Xenosaga has stated that the series is NOT a remake and retelling of Xenogears, so I guess we can no longer go by that timeline. Who knows where Xenosaga will end up now. To be honest, I lost interest in the connection between Xenogears long ago, and I’m much more interested in where it will take its own story. We still have a long way to wait, though, before we get to see for ourselves. However, if you’re the type who REALLY doesn’t mind some spoilers, and can understand some Japanese, check this out:

<a href =“http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Media/Media.htm?CS_pid={F82FFCBD-9273-4C07-A61B-05C4B63E32A5}”>Some Episode II movies in the first few hours of gameplay</a>

Heavy spoilers for the early parts of the game, but nothing too revealing. At any rate, and discussion to be found for Episode II? Or is everyone mostly apathetic to it? :hahaha;

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I’ve seen some stuff from E3 about it, and I’ve also seen a movie about it…

I’ve never been a real fan of the game series because I’ve never played it, but MAN IT LOOKS COOL!

I will probably try to get my ahdns on it when(/if) it comes here…

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It’s slated for a spring 2K5 release. Not too bad, I guess. I’d like to have gotten through the whole series before I’m 30 though :frowning: I wonder what they’ll do when Xenogears, Episode 5 rolls around. Will they jsut rerelease it, or will they totally remake it?

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I am so excited about this game.

Jin :D~~~~

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Actually, Dragons Revenge, as I said in the initial post the director of Xenosaga has stated that it is <i>not</i> a retelling of Xenogears. Essentially it now seems that it took events that likely started off the story in Xenogears and is now doing its own thing with them. Whatever that IS, well, we’ll have to wait and see. But I wouldn’t expect Xenosaga Episode V to have much at all to do with the Xenogears storyline.

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Yes, I always thought that Xenosaga was a separate story from Xenogears - there are some common threads, but overall the two are not connected.

I swear, I think Episode 2 will be one of the very few games I’d buy on the first day. I absolutely loved Episode 1. I’m excited about having more music in the game, but at the same time I sort of liked the sound styles in “dungeon” areas and I hope that effect isn’t lost. I liked the battle system (except when my least favorite monsters chose to boost over my boost, lol), and visually it was just wonderful. Most of all I love the story - I have no clue where it’s going, but I can’t wait to see. Considering how much I liked from the first one, I almost can’t imagine how much I’ll like improved versions.

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I’m guessing I’ll just rent it. No sense in buying a game that promises 80 hours gameplay and only delivers 44 WITH cinematics.

8

I hate Namco, The fact that they Just do Beat ups like Tekken and Soul Calbour in the Uk, I haven’t seen any Tales of… .

I want Xenosaga 1 In the UK. I looks like my game type.

Big Nutter
I was told that when KH came out.

9

Yeah, I’m looking forward to XSII, though I won’t buy it the week it’ll come out like I did for XSI. It’s not worth the stupidly high cost. :stuck_out_tongue: I’m glad they worked on the loading times and various other gameplay issues.

10

I’m really got to get this game,just hearing about it makes me want to play Xenosaga 1 (Which i already got) and gamespot take on the japanese version makes it look very promising

11

I finished Xenogears again, and after the end credits it said, and i quote “Xenogears, Episode V” Unless the dude suddenly changed his mind… but i doubt it.

12

Yeah, that <i>was</i> originally the plan, to start doing Xenogears from Episode 1. However the team left Squaresoft, but Square still owns the rights to the Xenogears name and story.

Thus, that is likely why they never are going to remake Xenogears, and will keep doing their own thing with the Saga series. Chances are it’ll remain a series that is ‘not quite connected to Xenogears but sorta still is in a few ways’.

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If you want the whole shindig on Xenogears, get XG : Perfect Works, it’s the closest to a complete Xenogears story as you’re gonna get.

And Namco’s fighting games are, at worst, complete crap, and at best, good (TTT and SC2 enter that category). The only exception would be Soul Blade, which is single-handedly the second best 3-D Fighter ever.

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Of course, Igatona, that’s not saying much, since 3D fighters are just BAD (in my opinion :P).

As for XS2…If it’s a lot better than XS1, then sure. I didn’t like XS1, and thought it was just not worth the money I paid for it or even close. It really was nowhere near what I would call an improvement over Xenogears, either, which was a good game. The biggest thing, to me, is that the story is just toooooo much for the game, I’d say. Xenosaga was more like a movie with some game in it, or that’s how I felt like. :stuck_out_tongue: I suppose nothing can be done, since they’re trying to get it done in 6 or so games, but it’s really just obnoxious. Hopefully they’ll make the next 2 or so games REALLY story heavy so the next few can focus more on GAMEplay…you know, what you DO with GAMES. :stuck_out_tongue:

Either way. I will give XS2 a fair chance…but, I won’t rush out and buy it without trying it, like I did excitedly with XS1.

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I LOVED XS and I’m most definitely getting the sequel. DESPITE the fact I hate this new concept of “incomplete” RPGs- I much prefer for the story to be done by the time I finish a game. However, XS managed to make me CARE about the characters, so I want to see what happens to them next. I loved the graphics and I didn’t feel there were too many cut scenes. My only complaints were: Some of the Bosses were TOO hard, and the scene that supposedly resolved two of the main characters’ mental problems did NOT explain what they were.

As for the Xenogears controversy, yeah, due to copyrights, I don’t think Namco will remake the game as part of Xenosaga (Thought I think THAT would be great- XG deserved a much better presentation, especially the second disk) thought that doesn’t mean XS won’t be making references to XG (like mentioning that a certain spaceship with a certain computer has been lost in space.) ^_~

You know, if Xenosaga does become a big hit, maybe Square will remake XG on their own. That would be cool of them.

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Don’t forget Will,also mentioning that little boy who appeared in the ending of XS and was in the same spaceship you mention.

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I loved XS1, and will probably pick up episode 2 the day it comes out. I was planning on importing the second game, and playing through without understanding, but my enthusiasm has died out. I downloaded all the cutscenes using bittorrent (like 4 gigs worth), and will give them a watch to freshen up. Also, the save state bonuses are enticing. Maybe I’ll do the level 99 thing, haven’t done that since FFVI.

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But the team who did Xenogears the first time wouldnt be doing it. So I’d be pretty skeptical about that