Have you ever wonder what it's like to have an rpg played out like a movie? We've seen a bit of this in Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy X. Now Xenosaga takes the next step and actually makes an rpg story into a full blown rpg movie. Good or bad? That's for you to decide. Xenosaga Episode I is exactly that. The first episode in a long running saga. Let's review this much hype rpg game.
STORY
A past discovery.
The Mysterious Zohar.
Thousands of years into the future. Mankind has reach the space age where spaceships, robotic humans, and robotic ships are standard things in life. Despite the advancement of mankind, things are not going well. Here we find that mankind is at war with an alien race called Gnosis. Alien monsters that has attacked the human race for the past decade. Even with the best effort from Federation Fleets to fight against the Gnosis, things don't look good long term. Our story began on a Federation Fleet that has just discovered an important rare artifact called the Zohar out in deep space. Upon this discovery, the Federation Council has ordered the Fleet to secured the Zohar and deliver the Zohar back to them. During the trip back we are introduced to the female head researcher of the fleet name Shion. Shion and her right hand assistant, Allen, are working on project KOS-MOS. KOS-MOS is a project to create the perfect fighting female robot to help defeat the Gnosis. During the testing of KOS-MOS, the Fleet was attacked by Gnosis. Things looked bad as the Fleet was getting wiped out, including the ship that Shion and Allen are station at. KOS-MOS activated herself and enter the battle to save her creators, Shion and Allen. They were then able to make it into an escape pod. During the attack, the Gnosis took the Zohar artifact. After drifting in space in their escape pod, a ship named Elsa rescued them. After the rescue, KOS-MOS insisted on going to Miltia. A planet that was once Shion home. On the journey to Miltia, the Elsa rescued another ship carry two people. A cyborg by the name of Ziggy and a 100 series robot name MOMO. Ziggy was sent on a mission for the Federation Council to rescue MOMO from a terrorist group called the U-TIC organization and deliver MOMO to Miltia. With a common goal at hand, the entire group heads off for Miltia. On the way there, they learn more about Gnosis, the Zohar, and the conflict ahead at Miltia. It is a journey that is told through an epic story. And an epic story is it. The story plays out like a movie with excellent voice acting and display of graphics. The sheer size of the movie is about 20+ hours long. The drawback is that some of the movie sequence maybe too long. There are times when you have to sit for almost 30 minutes of movie sequence alone before you get to a gameplay sequence. That's how much story is put into this game. What is amazing about this story is that is has everything for everyone. Suspense, action, a little bit of romance, and comedy. I had a very good time with this story. There were times when I was laughing out loud and times when I was intrigued by the suspense on what's going to happened next. This is a good episode to kick things off for the whole Saga. It's not a complete story since it's only Episode I. The ending wasn't much of a closure that I wanted but it's a good one that left you hanging to find out what happens next. Overall I enjoy this story very much. What makes this story work is the good characters, music, and voice acting blending into one. If I didn't have to play this game, I would just sit back and eat popcorn and watch the story unfold. Can't wait for Episode II.
Score 10/10
CHARACTERS
An A.G.W.S war coming up.
Xenosaga present to us an exceptional first rate cast of characters from the main characters to the secondary characters. Even the villains are top notch in this game. The main characters are Shion, Kos-Mos, Momo, Ziggy, Jr, and Chaos. What makes this cast of characters stand out is the voice actors playing them. Each one of these characters are unique from one another and seem to come alive with the excellent voice acting. Whether it's MOMO's innocence to Chaos's compassionate ways. In fact all the characters seem to come alive in this game. It also helps that these main characters background are slowly develope as the story progress further. Ziggy and Chaos are the only two that's a little big less developed when compare to the other characters. I don't know about Ziggy but I fully expect more revelation on Chaos to be revealed in Episode II base on certain hints about him in the game. But overall the presentation of the main characters are superb. Secondary supporting characters are also top notch as well. Each of these characters have a unique personalities that make them just as good as the main characters but without the major background developement. Again the main contributing factor is the exceptional voice acting and the realism of the way these characters are portrayed and act in the game. For example, my favorite character in the game is a secondary character name Allen. Here's a guy that basically is a good honest decent guy but for some reason, no one really notice him at all or his importance due to the fact that he lack self-esteem and he's not a super hero type of guy (loser). Again characters that gamers can relate to. Even the villains in this game are top notch. Case in point of the villain called Albedo. Excellently portray by the voice actor playing this character. You can actually sense the evilness and psychoticness in him. I haven't seen a villain that had this kind of impact in a game since Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII. In a game like this, there's always someone here that gamers can relate to or have a favorite out of the bunch. I give top notch score to the voice actors playing these characters. They done an exceptional job in bringing them to life as real as possible. I had a great time watching these characters interact with one another during the story.
Score: 10/10
GRAPHICS
The Gnosis are here!
Awesome. Wow. Unbelieveable. Incredible. You name it. It's there. This is one of the best graphical display that I've seen since Final Fantasy X. You're looking at a 3-D rich background environment. The scenary and character designs are made from a smooth rendering of polygons. The character designs are base on the japanese anime look. What is amazing about the graphics is the attention to details on the characters faces to the background scenaries. You can see the shadows on their faces and the expression that they make when they talk to the movement of their hair as they walk. Unbelievable. The graphics on the gameplay and some of the story cut scenes are so impressive that you have a very hard time trying to separate the gameplay graphics and the FMV. You would have to look very closely to see the difference. It's not perfect but it's close to it. If you look very carefully, you can see the anti-aliasing that plague the gameplay graphics and the fact that the gameplay graphic texture is alot softer than the FMV. But again you can only notice something like this by sitting in front of a computer monitor like I do. On a TV set, you won't be able to pick up the little flaws at all. The colors in the game are also breathtaking. A good balance between the bright colors and the dark colors. The overall designs of Xenosaga is imaginative as well. This game really tap into the power of the Playstation 2. If there's a game that can surpass Final Fantasy X in graphics then this game would be it. The closest thing to an rpg game made with full FMV likeness graphics so far.
Score: 10/10
MUSIC
Gameplay graphics?
There are video game soundtracks and there are movie soundtracks. Without a doubt, this is a movie soundtrack. The effort on how much Namco put into providing an outstanding soundtrack is very obvious here. I haven't been this moved by a video game music since Final Fantasy VIII soundtrack. The similarity between Final Fantasy VIII soundtrack and this one is pretty clear. One of the strongest reason for the outstanding music is that most of the key musical score is done by the London Philharmonic Orcestra. The music is so outstanding that it's not even funny. Final Fantasy VIII comes to mind here. Remember Liberi Fatali from Final Fantasy VIII? The Beehoven like musical score sung by a choir. Well, Xenosaga has something exactly like it called The Miracle. It sound just spectacular with the choir singing in the background. Anything that's Beehoven like is just amazing. Or what about Eyes on Me from Final Fantasy VIII? Have no fear cause Xenosaga has something just as good called The Spirit. It is sung beautifully in english by a singer that I have no idea about. Another song called Pain which is song by the same singer also feature in the ending of the game is great. But a game with an excellent villain in Albedo can't be complete unless that villain has his own musical choir theme. And it's a killer tune that shows the evilness of Albedo beautifully rendered in Opera. Of course if you're not a big fan of Opera Music then you may not like it. Even the last boss fight tune is exceptionally done by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Right now it's probably the best musical soundtrack for a video game.
Score: 10/10
GAMEPLAY
I'm more badder than Sephiroth!
Two sides of the same coin.
Game Information
Genre: Traditional Rpg
Publisher: Namco
Disc:1 DVD Disc
Memory:165 KB
Players: 1 Player
Mode
Vibration:Yes
Dual Analog:Yes
Digital Control:Yes
Rating: Teen
Release:February 2003
If there's a weak point in this game, it would probably be the gameplay. The gameplay isn't as impressive as it can be or should be. It's pretty clear that for the most part, Xenosaga is about the epic story and not the gameplay. The gameplay isn't bad but it's not very unique or awe inspiring. Since the game is base in space, most of your exploration and fighting is done through spaceships. This isn't the usual world travel quest but base more on a story driven rpg game. Towns are pretty much non-existent. That's not to say you can't explore and talk to various people. Just that it will be done inside of a spaceship most of the time. Weapon and armors you can buy from shops. But for the most part the weapon and armors are kept to a limited number. The accessories is where you see the different varieties. The game is very straight forward. Here are key features in this game. Skills: For the most part, all your accessories and armors comes with a particular type of skill. Basically there are three type of skills. Offense, defense, and stat boosting skills. Of course once you unequip the accessory or armor, you lose that skill. But there's a way around this. Each time you fight in battle, you gain skill points. Once you are able to accumulate enough skill points, you can then extract that skill and equip that skill to your member without having to equip the equipment inorder to use it. Ether: Basically ether is your magic. Each character have their own unique ether magic that they can unlock. Each character will start off with about 2 ether magic. How do you unlock ether magic? Well you can unlock and evolve your ether magic into another magic type by using Ether points. After each battle, you gain ether points. You can then use these ether points to unlock new ether magic. Now each character have their own unique ether magic but that doesn't mean that they can't use other character's ether magic. You can transfer one character's ether magic to another character. Transferring ether magic will require ether points as well. Tech: Your fighting special attack is known as a Tech Attack. Each character has a unique set of Tech Attacks. As they gain new levels, they will unlock more Tech attacks.
You are require to have at least 6AP inorder to use a Tech attack. But you can improve that to only 4AP by improving a Tech stats. Tech stats are made up of three categories. Wait (the time you recover from after using a tech attack), Speed (lower AP usage from 6AP to 4AP, and Level (power of the tech). You distribute tech points to whichever stats of the Tech you want to improve. And of course you gain tech points after each battle. A.G.W.S: This is the giant robot that some of your characters can use during battles. For some of your characters, they will come with a default A.G.W.S while others you will need to buy a A.G.W.S. Your A.G.W.S don't gain level but inorder to improve their attack power and armor, you can purchase upgrades at A.G.W.S shop. The basic use of A.G.W.S is pretty simple. The main purpose of A.G.W.S is for some boss fight. U.M.N: Unus Mundus Network is basically your network where you can access e-mails, database, and simulation. Database contains info on all the monsters that you have faced in the game. Simulation is where you can re-access areas that you previously visited. But the most important part is the e-mail feature. Here is where you can gain extra money, get discount on items in store, and cool tech and weapons for KOS-MOS.
Now that we've gotten to all the key features in the game. Let's review the battle system quickly. Monsters will be roaming about as you explore the world of Xenosaga. You get into battle once you touch a monster. Note that you cannot run away from battles. However you can escape from battle with an escape item. Once battle begin you will have three fighters against whatever monsters. Most of the options in the battle is your usual flare. You can call your A.G.W.S and fight in your robotic ship if you want to if things look bad. However there are a couple of key features to take note. Regular attack is base on a 1-2 combo attack. Each attack burn off 2 AP. Inorder to get off a special Tech Attack, you need at least 6 AP. Whatever AP you don't use in your round of turn will be carry over to your next turn. Boosting, also known as Boost, is a very important feature. Each time you attack, your Boost gauge goes up. Once a Boost gauge of a character is full, he/she can Boost. Basically boosting is allowing a character to get his/her turn immediately. It's an extra turn where they can perform another action right after finishing their first action instead of waiting till the next round of fight to get their turn. Mastering boost will the key to defeating your enemies quickly. The last key unique feature in the battle mode is the Event Slot which appears at the bottom of your battle screen. A different event icon will be display at each character and monster turn. These event slot effect the conditions of the batte field during that character turn. There are 4 conditions. No Effect. This means no condition is place on the turn. Critical Rate Up. This means there's a greater chance of doing critical damage. BG increase. This means that your boost gauge will go up faster than normal. Point Bonus. Which means that if you finish a monster with this battle conditional, you get more points totalled to your Tech, Ether, and Skill points. So understanding the event slot is very important. Especially when you are trying to get more points toward your characters. That should wrap everything up. Overall the gameplay is good but not perfect. I find the little combo thing to be annoying at times. But the thing that really hurt the gameplay is the overall game length itself. It takes an average of maybe 40 hours to finish this game. Now half of that is due to the story cut scenes. Which leave us with only 20+ hours of actual gameplay time. So if you're looking for a game that provide long hours of gameplay then you won't find it here. 25 hours of gameplay isn't really enough time to develope all your characters to what you want them to be. There are 6 fighters. Normally 6 fighters would be okay for a game that's 40 hours of gameplay but with just about 25 hours of gameplay, you won't be able to get enough points for all your fighters to develope an all around good party. You might just have to go with your 3 favorite fighters. You can finish the game with your party being an average of just 28 levels. But then again maybe you're not suppose to develope an all around good party in this just one game. Lets not forget that you need to make a clear save file after finishing the game. So maybe you need to import your fighters stats and experience onto Episode II. Who knows? If that's the case then it's not too bad. You can continue to develope an all around good party on then next Xenosaga game. One that I would be looking forward to.
Score: 8/10
EXTRAS/REPLAY
To be continued in Episode II.
In terms of extras and mini games, there's quite alot to do here. The actual sidequests are limited though and replay value is non existent. Let's look at the mini games. There's a Drill Game that you can play to win rare items. It's pretty fun. Then you have a Poker Game where you can win items as well. But the main bulk of the mini games comes from the Xenogear Card game. This is the most advance and in-depth card game around. Surpassing the FFVIII and FFIX card game. You're be spending most of your free time on the card game and trying to acquire every card. There are about 3 or 4 sidequests to do. For the most part, the sidequests are fairly small. The main feature of the sidequest is the Segment Address and Decorder. Basically there are doors labelled with a Segment Address. Behind these doors are rare items. You need to find Decorders to be open these doors and gain access to these rare items. Well what about optional bosses? Not to worry. There are optional bosses that you can fight throughout the game. There are also optional A.G.W.S battles as well. So in terms of sidequests and extras. The value is there. The only thing disappointing is no real replay value. Other than that. Not bad at all.
Score: 8/10
Xenosaga came out in February 2003. If there was a reward for the best rpgs for 2003 then Xenosaga is definetly a nominee in that category. I had a great time playing this game, watching the epic story unfold and relating to the characters in this game. If Xenosaga Episode I is a sign of things to come from this Saga then I can't wait for Xenosaga Episode II. A very high recommendation. Probably the best rpg for 2003. If you're a big Final Fantasy VIII fan then you need to pick this game up quickly.
