Anyway, let's get a good ol' fashioned Xeno thread going. I actually still have a few questions about XS3, chiefly any connections with Gears. I noticed a lot of small things like how Mia and Leupold are virtually identical to Maria and Seibzehn from Gears, but what about Abel and Nephilim looking just like Fei and Elly? Is it just a callback? Any other supplemental material I might have missed?
Are these games hard to find as physical ps2 copies?
Samuel King
Kinda
Connor Walker
I caved and bought the whole trilogy a few months back after giving up on a remaster, and I and II are pretty easy to find. Got them together case and all for $25. III, however, isn't. Paid $90 for a mint condition copy, and they tend to start at around $70. Japanese version is cheap but that's not too helpful. It's a shame though, as its by far the best in the series. From what I hear they emulator pretty well though. III in particular looks great upscaled.
Samuel King
Abel and Nephilim are Fei and Elly's real names.
Brody Hernandez
Remake when? Hell, rerelease of any kind when?
Ryan James
bumping for one of my favorite series.
Ethan Thomas
takahashi said that if he had enough funding he would reboot the whole series, or finish it rather probably starting with episode 2. i wait eagerly for the day.
Benjamin Kelly
Kajiura is earkino. Xenosaga III's soundtrack is one of the best ever. bring back Kajiura for a XCX-2, ditch that hack Sawano or make her keep him in check, keep ACE/Kiyota/Hiramatsu (and Mitsuda if he feels like it) for XC3
Source? Was that in Perfect Works, or is it headcanon? Obviously Takahashi couldn't use Fei and Elly for copyright reasons, but are they supposed to represent the same characters? Who the fuck even was Nephilim? It said Abel was the physical representation of U-DO, which is God, so who was she? Same for chaos. Also, the Gnosis were basically people who agreed with Wilhelm's ideals and wanted to ascend to a high plane for a shared existence right? How did Shion "summon" them then, and what happened to her sickness from the rest of the game, did it go away with the UMN? Why did eliminating the Gnosis destroy the UMN? And who exactly was Wilhelm? Fuck I have a lot of questions. Everything makes sense but I just don't wanna miss anything either.
I needs actual fucking music during gameplay and a faster battle system, while II needs a rewrite which I guess already exists in the DS version. Leave III the same and give them all that art style and it'd be golden.
My nigga. X2 with the gameplay systems from X intact but the art style and music of XSIII is my fucking dream game.
Jayden Perry
I'm like 20 hours in 3 right now. I have to say that after you get over the initial redesigns and awful new voice actors episode 2 wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting based on what I'd hear hear.
Josiah Flores
Takahashi also (laugh) after he answered to the question. Take that as you will. Besides, I doubt he really want to go back to XS with how much frustration he had to endure over it with Scamco fucking him in the ass. Probably bad memories. Plus, gamers have no attention span, sagas like that over multiple games with the same characters on an expanded story just don't work unless you're KH. Or doing low budget games for a specific niche.
Colton Anderson
I agree user. In fact, I enjoyed it more than 1 while I was playing due to the gameplay improvements. imo >Episode 1 8/10 >Episode 2 8/10 >Episode 3 9.5/10
Michael Cruz
II's combat is a good casual filter actually. Sure it wasn't the best for normal battles, but boss battles definitely were interesting. You can't play it like a braindead only pushing the Attack button during the whole combat
Jose Fisher
XS3 is clearly superior in gameplay, but its cutscene direction and script are absolute shit compared to XS1. I will never stop being salty about Scamco forcing Takahashi to quickly wrap it up in the most fanservice way possible.
Nathaniel Peterson
I never played Xenosaga III, but Fei and Elly being Abel and Nephilim is from Xenogears.
Owen Young
I'll replay them soon, on PCSX2 this time
Austin Anderson
XS3 is fine compared to 1, though I do agree it was a step down. Everything else is so much better though that it cancels out.
Jack Howard
I remember Abel being the "original" Fei or whatever but not the Nephilim thing. Huh.
Ian Taylor
Mitsuda worked on Xenoblade 2
Dominic Taylor
If I remember right, Abel is not a representation of U-Do per se, but U-DO's "eyes" in our plane of existence. Abel's Ark is also a tool to allow him to see what happens, although more abstract.
It's well presented, structured and it reads easily. I invite anyone having finished Xenosaga to read it, it's actually a quick read and you'll understand pretty much everything about wtf happened in Xenosaga. Takahashi is a loremaster.
>Yuki Kajira All her music sounds the same after you've listened to one or two OSTs. She basically just remixes Noir in every new work she does.
Caleb Clark
Xenogears and Xenosaga 3 are my favourite games of all time. Speaking of connections, I haven't played any of the Xenoblades because I haven't owned a Nintendo system in decades but I heard there's lore connections between Xenosaga and Xenoblade 2. Can I get a rundown?
Basically just the Conduit aka the not-Zohar exists and similar grants a supernatural power. 2 doesn't really go much into it but it opens the can of worms.
Caleb Thompson
There's a mysterious interdimensional god-like object in the Xenoblade 2 called the Conduit (named Zohar in the files) which resembles the Zohar visually and was found in a lake in Africa. That's about it.
Josiah Miller
No. If you don't know shit about composition, maybe. Xenosaga III for instance couldn't be more different from Noir. Or SAO. Or Mai HiME. Or El Cazador. Only SAO and F/Z where samey, especially since they aired back to back, and only for like two tracks. Using the same kind of instruments doesn't mean she always does the same compositions. I can also spot Yoko Shimomura from the very first piano note, even on tracks I know nothing of from games I barely played (ie. the Vega track in SSBU. I didn't even know beforehand she was actually the one behind Street Fighter's soundtrack back then, nor did I know she was doing the remix in SSBU, and yet I knew it was her 0:00:01 in). When you're recognizable like that just from the instruments you use, and the way you use them, it means you definitely did something right with your career.
Jordan Davis
I really need to start searching myself Still in college right now so cash is tight, I hope to build up a small collection of PS2 and PS1 titles though. These games are so scarce, I can't imagine how hard it's gonna be to find them in playable condition in the next decade. Emulation is fun but I'm a man that can't separate himself from the physical.
Brandon Collins
>No. If you don't know shit about composition, maybe. Oh boy, a Yea Forums post...
>I can also spot Yoko Shimomura from the very first piano note, even on tracks I know nothing of from games I barely played (ie. the Vega track in SSBU. I didn't even know beforehand she was actually the one behind Street Fighter's soundtrack back then, nor did I know she was doing the remix in SSBU, and yet I knew it was her 0:00:01 in). When you're recognizable like that just from the instruments you use, and the way you use them, it means you definitely did something right with your career. Having a style is one thing. You can spot John Williams or Joe Hisaishi or Yoko Kanno easily, yes. But Yuki Kajura does not own a monopoly on violins and choir chants. She's linked with those things because she uses it so fucking much. And the composers I just listed also use the same violins/choir arrangements, with more variety than her music. This is why her music sounds more of the same.
If I picked some random music from Noir, .Hack and Tsubasa and played it for someone, they wouldn't be able to tell any stylistic difference. The only people who see a difference are those who play the games and identify specific themes with specific characters/areas. They have essentially become blind from the similarities because of the context outside of the music.
Michael Brown
Don't forget KOS-MOS herself is implied to be more than just a cameo
William Thomas
Really? I never got her so I don't know anything about that.
Gavin Turner
>rerelease of any kind when? NOTHING CAME OUT OF THIS WHY?
I feel the same way, there's just something about physical.
Jacob Bennett
Not him, but the artbook outright confirms she was built by Shion Uzuki and Allen. Well, obviously we could deduce that by ourselves though, plus Vector. What's interesting is how she's KPX0000[...]1.2, while it was a 1.1 in Xenosaga
>No Xenosaga 1+2 DS translation after all these years Last I heard, someone was still working on it. It's a shame it's taking so long since the plot between 1 & 2 are apparently fixed for the better.
Because this news dropped two weeks before the Free DLC that came out, which happened to be T-Elos. Yet people somehow didn't make the connection,k even after she was revealed in XC2. It's obvious they renewed the trademark for her, as she only appeared in XSIII anyway, which would explain why only III got renewed
Xenoblade is now sorta the third attempt at Mr Takahashi's wild ride.
Carson Murphy
Did you play all 3, OP? I would say no, but I bought them in 2010, when 2 out of the 3 games were only a few dollars. Haven't checked recently. >remakes I don't get why people request that shit so much. There are other ways to replay older games.
Robert Gomez
>I don't get why people request that shit so much in this case these games were never finished so it's more like asking for a continuation or closure
Cameron Moore
Personally, I'd go with >EP1 6/10. >EP2 8/10. >EP3 6.5/10. >Sure it wasn't the best for normal battles Eh, I got through normal battles much faster in XSII than XS, and even XSIII in many cases. I still need to get around to playing Xenogears.
David Nelson
Does that version include the plot that was included in the side novels? >Downloaded AT1 and 2 the other week Imma slap these on my PS2 eventually and play them as well.
Robert Ward
>I would kill for a full remake of the whole story. Xenosaga was originally supposed to be a 5 to 6 episode series before things ended abruptly. If Takahashi reclaimed the rights to the series and decided to remake it though, it'd need a massive overhaul to the point where it might not even be the same. I imagine out of all the things that would change, the over world and exploration aspect would have to given focus since the original games truthfully didn't have much except empty corridors.
I think the Xenosaga 1+2 remake for DS did actually include plot from the side novels and drama discs. I'm not sure though, since the game has yet to be fully translated after all.
The normal battles were actually fantastic until the final dungeon were enemies had way too much health, like 4k per soldier or something like that (to compare, the final boss has 20k). The key is realizing that the boost bonus and 1 stock gives more than one bar of boost back, making it easy to set up small combos without draining your boost gauge.
Logan Baker
Kos-mos literally uses fucking Zohar guns. If that isn't badass, I don't know what it
>until the final dungeon were enemies had way too much health You're talking about the Ormus Knights, right? Yeah, those enemies are basically a boss fight. They were meant to be that tough. Like the infected URTVs from earlier but stronger.
Lincoln Allen
Do you think maybe the Zohar was created by the Supreme Kai of Time?
Jace Anderson
yeah that's the one. Fuck those guys.
Brandon Barnes
Anyone use a supermcboot or playstation classic to play through xenogears? Wondering if i the mcboot would stutter via usb, or if i can replace a game on the psc with xenogears and not need to have a usb connected all the time?
Evan Ward
I actually enjoyed fighting them. Now, getting ambushed by them? Well, that's not a good situation.
Leo Edwards
>Xenosaga was originally supposed to be a 5 to 6 episode series before things ended abruptly. It's a little more complicated than that. Yes originally it was supposed to be 6 eps. spanning through the whole original Xenogears concept. However they realized it was too ambitious and settled down for 5 eps. spanning through the first 2 chapters of the previous project. Then even that was too much, and butchered the plot here and there to shrink the series to just 3 chapters. >If Takahashi reclaimed the rights to the series and decided to remake it though, it'd need a massive overhaul to the point where it might not even be the same. Of course it needs, and that's why it should be a remake and not a simple remaster; as it is, the plot is severely incomplete; a simple remaster wouldn't address the problem in the slighest
I wonder if Xenosaga would even have what it takes to blow up, sales wise this time around. It's a really story driven, overly connected series that might not engage people after awhile. I'm not overly concerned though, since Xenoblade is doing well with the plot it has. I figure people wouldn't mind, so long as a Xenosaga remake would include a proper overworld experience like the Blade games. That's what Monolith Soft is known for, nowadays.
Hunter Nguyen
God Ep.3 MOMO was so hot. Shame she had nothing more to say, plot-wise.
It still hurts. But the Xeno series is way more known and recognized now thanks to Xenoblade. Even if they returned to the old Xeno it would still sell a lot for its name alone.
That reminds me: what the hell is Takahashi doing right now?
Asher Myers
>I wonder if Xenosaga would even have what it takes to blow up, sales wise this time around Nah, that ship has sailed. New JRPGs don't tend to become popular, and continuations of older series get panned by the general public. Look at .hack// and Star Ocean. I doubt riding on Xenoblade's coattails would even work, given how drastically different the series are.
Daniel Richardson
I played all the XS games last year and even at the end of the third one, I had almost no idea what the fuck was going on,
Xenogears is legit one of the best games ever made though, in spite of the shit second disk.
Joshua Murphy
>Shame she had nothing more to say, plot-wise. Yeah, her story mostly takes place in 2.
Lincoln Richardson
Prices are outrageous right now. I'm debating if I should sell now in case there's a remaster
>80 dollars Holy shit, I spent 25% of that on my copy. Just emulate that shit.
Isaiah Rogers
After 7 years with no update the site is now down. The dream is dead user. >aerie.wingdreams.net/
Nathaniel Nelson
What site is that data from? I wanna see what it says for .hack//Quarantine since I'm struggling to find a complete in box version (need that fucking OVA disc) at what I feel is a reasonable price.
Tyler Jones
the trick to the space pope was that his robot only turns on once he goes below half health, and a fully stocked combo only does ~75% of his health. So do a small combo to 60% or so, then do another one to kill him. Also remember to steal his book.
Aiden Johnson
The guys doing this need to scale back. The creator of Suikoden had the right idea. Make self contained games which lead into a bigger story if sequels get greenlit. And even his story got cut short. But Suikoden I-III are still a damn good trilogy that can stand on its own. Suikoden I isn't relying on five sequels to explain huge gaps in story.
If you guys can't handle the voices then you can download undubs for all three games. I think they even add subtitles for the movies. I'm not a native english speaker so I'm used to get original dubs for everything since i was little. I don't know how you guys can stomach game/movie dubs.
Jose Peterson
Interesting taste. To each their own I guess, but its weird to prefer the game with weakest story in a series that's all about the story. I enjoyed the gameplay a lot as well until I realized the best tactic for every boss is just >fully stock all characters >build boost >unload on enemy >rinse and repeat
He was easy, pic related was the REAL boss of the game.
>make the 14 year old the hottest girl >also the only character with visible panties What did based Takahashi mean by this?
I would hold on to those with my dear life. As far as I know Bandai still has the rights and I don't know their relation ship with nintendo or monolith because I haven't been in the loop recently. Do not sell unless they officially reveal an HD collection of some sort, because outside of emulation (which is still very spotty unless you have a top tier setup) there is no other way to play those titles.
Jordan Murphy
Chaos was a human named Yeshua and knew Jesus Christ. He may have actually been Joshua because those two names can mean the same thing but not always. Either way constructing Zarathustra with Mary Magdeline is likely what made him immortal but its possible he was that way even before Zarathustra activation. Some people also believe he is a human terminal or embodiment of the Compass of Order and Chaos relic with Willhelm representing order. The question is was he merely a human that became fused with the relic or did the relic spawn him and Willhelm? Either way be removing his physical existence serves the purpose of buying more time before the universe breaks down.
I recently replayed the series last year after finally finishing Xenoblade Chronicles X. The games held up pretty damn well graphically even after all these years. The story was a bit of a cluster fuck but quite enjoyable. When I first played Episode 2 I really disliked it because of the worse voice acting and the battle system. After taking the time to learn the battle system I have come to the conclusion that its pretty damn good, the problem with it is its explained poorly in game and reading a few pages on gamefaqs is required to master it. Once mastered the game becomes pretty easy.
It is an absolute travesty there is no HD collection of the games with the Japanese voices. (so they will be consistent) They need to put that shit on ps4 and PC ASAP. If they are worried about sales they can do digital only if needed. I heard they do not emulate that well but perhaps that has changed?
Jayden Hughes
>the best tactic for every boss I didn't have that experience at all, but that does sound like how XSIII went for me. >spam break attack >use special attacks >guard >heal >repeat While the game didn't have the climaxes and drama that XSIII did, it made for a much better ride in terms of actually playing through. I didn't enjoy the major streamlining III went through, even if it actually worked well for E.S. battles.
>Orgulla boss fight Literally one of my favorite boss battles in any JRPG. Fuck, I love that fight. It was a test as to whether or not you knew how to actually use the battle system, too.
Jason Cruz
At this point I would take the original concept just being made into an anime or even a couple of novels just to see it all to the end.
Christopher Phillips
They made a short Xenosaga anime. It sucked so bad fans refuse to acknowledge its existence.
Brandon Wright
>poorly explained in-game I disagree with that. The basics were laid out, and if you were coming off of I, then boost and the event slot are things you should already be familiar with(that were still covered in-game). It might not handhold, necessarily, but it explains things on a basic level well enough.
Aaron White
3 is expensive, 1 and 2 should be dirt cheap.
Dominic Torres
Especially 2.
Jordan Parker
The english dub is really good for a ps2 era game.
Julian Green
Jesus, I've got the series in pristine condition, in case, along with the bonus pre-order disc that came with the second game. Could probably get enough off them for an SKS.
>along with the bonus pre-order disc that came with the second game What was that?
Camden Edwards
The series is also full symbolism and philosophical concepts. The entire party and most the characters that actually matter are all broken in some way. >Shion suffers from the death of an important person in her past >Ziggy having suffered in the past threw away his humanity and is in the process of making himself less and less human >Momo is an artificial human who is more human that most real humans could ever hope to be but yet she still struggles wondering just how real her emotions and thoughts are >Jr was created as a living weapon to fight a godlike being, In many ways he is the most normal acting but he is clearly compensating a bit >Kos-mos is a battle android which is an antiquated concept but serves the true purpose of being a vessel for the soul of someone long dead >chaos is an immortal human being who knows exactly what is going on but has chosen to simply let things play out (until episode 3) >Jin Honestly can't remember much about him other than the fact he was in the Miltian conflict and failed to take down margulis an old partner of his. The main antagonist Willhelm is clearly doing what appears to be bad things but the reality is he fucking loves humanity and eternal recurrence was the only solution he could think of save human beings from the destruction of the universe. His actions may have killed many people during the time period the games take place in but its all to reset the universe to just after Zarathustra was first used, So it was all going to disappear anyway. Its also implied recurrence has been executed multiple times already we just don't know how many times.
What all this boils down to is its over the heads of the average normie and exactly why it didn't sell a ton. The plot isn't spoon fed and requires actually thinking at least a bit and that is too much for them.
Joseph Adams
xenoblade really wasn't a xeno game, they just named it that late into development. Until Xenoblade 2 that is when takahashi said fuck it
Tyler Carter
It's basically just all the cut scenes and cinematics from the first game made into a big movie. It's interesting I guess.
>she still struggles wondering just how real her emotions and thoughts are Not to mention the death of her father, her complete lack of a relationship with her mother for most of the series, and being used as a tool by both as well as every major faction in the series.
Aaron Martinez
I would be more than OK with a reboot, as everyone knows the series got siderailed after EP1 due to...stuff.
Asher Collins
the problem is given how the first game played people would assume certain things like they needed to level up to get by certain parts which lead to pointless time consuming grinding which frustrated the shit out of people. When in reality leveling doesn't mean much its all about those stats and how you fight in the battles themselves.
Brody Rodriguez
>That reminds me: what the hell is Takahashi doing right now? working on the next xenoblade, probably not X2 given he hinted at it not being like mainline or X
Justin Ward
>It's basically just all the cut scenes and cinematics from the first game made into a big movie. FUCK I WISH I HAD THAT. Replaying XSI is damn near painful for me at times. I'm going to look for that shit online. >people would assume certain things like they needed to level up to get by certain parts Why would they assume that when the best way to get stronger in XS was to dump T points into your stats? Grinding in either game was largely pointless. How you built your characters was most important.
Ryan Fisher
Being less than total shit doesn't make it good. It's like saying Melissa McCarthy is a good actress because she's not as bad as Amy Scheumer. In reality, both are horrible.
Aiden Martin
Fuck the Sawano haters, fuck you for even implying he isn't great. But I would be okay if Kajiura takes over if he does get replaced.
Jack Miller
Thank you for reminding me Konami killed this wonderful IP. They haven't even done HD releases of the ps2 games.
Robert Cox
And even with that, it wasn't necessary to spend that many points on increasing stats, given that the difficulty of the game was pretty steady throughout.
Lucas Collins
yeah I remember it sucked but just because those guys botched it doesn't mean it can't be done. Just isn't going to work as some 12 episode rush job.
Oliver Wood
Oh, I got something like that as a separate disc. I also found a DVD with a few episodes of the anime, but I decided to not buy it and instead see if I can find the complete series used and cheap.
That's it, yeah. It just happened to come as a pre-order bonus with the second game I guess. Funny thing is it saved me 10 bucks, as I didn't pre-order it but future shop must have had extras and so they put the pre-order edition on the shelf next to the regular edition for $10 less. Basically they paid me to take the movie disc.
Nice deal man. I think I paid about $5 for the DVD from a MovieTradingCo during a sale. Also where I got XS1 pretty cheap.
Jason Roberts
>heard they do not emulate that well but perhaps that has changed? They emulate perfectly. Heck, because my PS2 died right before it was out, I played XSIII on PCSX2 on my old ass C2D e4300 overclocked like there's no tomorrow back in 2008 or something. Only the first Xenosaga have random crashes when trying to save from a savepoint, but savestates exists so it's a moot point.
XS1 has certain save points that cause a crash (can be circumvented with save states) and sometimes the beach of nothingness scenes don't play (which ones that don't play arn't set, each one randomly plays or not). XS2 and 3 have no problems
Is there an explanation for those save point crashes? It always struck me as weird that it was only certain points that did it, while most were fine. The save point on the Elsa being one of the affected points was a bit of a piss off though.
Jaxson Cook
perhaps Ill try replaying on PC then. my ps2 slim still works but its CMOS battery type thing died so all my saves read as Zero hours when I last played the games. Plus possibly smoother graphics on PC.
Jonathan Ramirez
>playing XSIII on pcsx2 in 2008 on a a c2d e4300 Jesus fucking christ. That could not have been an optimal experience.
Cameron Martinez
if by some miracle they announce an HD remaster we should make a Yea Forums sings Maybe Tomorrow
Christopher Evans
It definitely wasn't, but I had no other choice, I wasn't willing to buy another PS2. It actually worked quite decently during the onfoot sections and regular battles. The only problems back then where the mechs battle (attack effects), I shit you not it sometimes went down from 30fps to 3fps slowmo.
It's hard for KOS-MOS to properly sit on her face while she has the glasses on
Jackson Butler
we've done tons of Yea Forums sings in the past, it varies what gets done and what doesn't
Jason Roberts
She didn't really get rid of them, she stopped wearing them. She used them to record the T-elos test.
Ethan Jackson
Dude, Xenosaga 3 was kind of a prequel to Gears. If you played Gears you should have realized that at some point. But there are some stuff that are just callbacks, like the Weltall boss fight.
Jackson Hughes
Don't forget the last boss having both Fei and Elly's Gears connected to it.
Caleb Lopez
>Don't forget the last boss having both Fei and Elly's Gears connected to it. Damn, I really gotta play Xenogears.
Elijah Lopez
Still waiting for the remaster to come out on Switch
Robert Davis
>tfw when you will never gather 108 descendants of Suiko 1-3 to go kick Hikusaak's in Harmonia. >tfw you will never see Pesmerga settle it with Yuber.
Nathan Brooks
>Jin Honestly can't remember much about him other than the fact he was in the Miltian conflict and failed to take down margulis an old partner of his. I believe that they had the same master and went their separate ways based on ideology? Still haven't played Suikoden yet. I need to get a complete copy of III. I have just the disc. Sadly, buying PS2 games isn't really worth the endeavor nowadays. Everything is marked up.
Oliver James
It hurts lads
Cooper Wright
>make self contained prequels instead of finishing the story with Harmonia Even if the creator left, you could at least TRY to finish the story. And failing that, you had two dozen unfinished character arcs you could have made spin offs from. Sierra and Neclord, Pesmerga and Yuber, Viki and Jeane, Thomas and Cecile, prequel with Fire bringer and Geddoe, expand on the Elves, etc. I have literally hundreds of ideas that would have been better than Suikoden IV and V.
Don't forget that sellsword in three that has that talking sword who's both names I completely cannot remember.
I recall he looked a little like the original wielder of said sword, but i cant remember his name either.
Brody Rivera
Viktor. Yeah, he's kind of part of the Sierra/Neclord/Kahn story. But he's one of the few characters I think that got a solid story conclusion. Since he's one of the most prominent in Suikoden I and II.
Lincoln Bell
>but I heard there's lore connections between Xenosaga and Xenoblade 2
Haha. No. People say that cuz they wanna pretend Xenoblade 2 is anywhere near as good as Gears/Saga was. What happened is that they came out with Xenoblade, a entirely new game that was its own thing, but for whatever reason they decided to put the "Xeno" in the name, might have been to try and ride in that Xenogears fame. In reality Blade had zero to do with Gears or Saga. Same for Chronicles X and Blades 2, BUT they put a lot of "references" in them, which is fucking annoying really. XenoSaga at first was the game that was supposed to "complete" Xenogears, but Square Enix yet again being the fucks they are scratched that and demanded it to be just a trilogy, so yet again they had to change everything to make Xenosaga more of its own thing. I can understand its all a mess but please just dont fucking compare Gears to Blade, they are nowhere near the same series.
>but Square Enix yet again being the fucks they are scratched that and demanded it to be just a trilogy, But it was published by Bandai-Namco?
Ryan Kelly
I just looked at what games Konami has released over the past few years and its mostly rhythm shit and some JP only shovel ware. Its hard to believe this is the same company that released the castlevania,metal gear and suikoden games. Its current line up looks like some shitty mobile company that is in truth a scam where they cut and run and not bother to pay their employees.
Jaxon Moore
>XenoSaga at first was the game that was supposed to "complete" Xenogears not really, it was a re-imagining of episode 1/2 alone (episode 1 alone with I-III)
Kayden Cooper
Hmm true. Well, different developers but the same happened. It was supposed to be more than a trilogy and it ended up not being, probably due to being too ambitious again.
Samuel Wood
Whats up with the Albedo scene in Xenosaga 1 where he decapitates himself? Apparently the iso I was playing was uncensored but not that scene. There was some darkness covering the screen.
Bentley Evans
Nephilim is Grimorie's daughter (the guy that fucked over earth) and was created (as we see her in the game) by experiments done to her through use of the zohar(which is what caused earth to get destroyed). The zohar experiments caused her body to "matter shift" causing her to lose her body in the real number domain and to exist solely in the imaginary number domain.
Jaxson Watson
>probably due to being too ambitious again. I think it was more due to the first 2 games not selling as well as Bandai-Namco wanted, so they cut the budget. It's a shame, but I am glad that Xenosaga I and II turned out to be separate games. The third game came out in 2006, and I doubt Bandi-Namco wanted much to do with the series at that point. Albedo's kind of nuts, m8.
Robert Ross
Albedo is immortal. It's his whole motivation for being crazy.
Joseph Nelson
I'm glad they nailed the artatyle with 3 but it's kind of a shame that they had to struggle through the first 2 games to get it right.
Konami drove away all their talent with the worst working conditions in the industry. All those scandals we keep hearing about recently with western studios? Konami was doing that 20+ years ago. And even worse.
Yeah, dead eyes and all.
Wyatt Phillips
I prefer the XS design. There are a number of XSII designs I prefer as well.
>But Yuki Kajura does not own a monopoly on violins and choir chants. She's linked with those things because she uses it so fucking much Strings (not violins, retard) are fucking universal. Almost every composer uses them. Most of Kajiura's vocal tracks aren't chants, and they're still a minority compared to instrumental tracks.
>If I picked some random music from Noir, .Hack and Tsubasa and played it for someone, they wouldn't be able to tell any stylistic difference. They would, unless they're retarded like you. Both Noir and .Hack focus on different styles. Noir is French, Spanish, Italian, with some other random styles inserted. Hack is Celtic and folk. Tsubasa is a mish mash of styles. Early Kajiura also used a lot more synth and samples compared to 2006 and up.
Justin Scott
I think the best part I liked the most of Xenosaga, was learning about Luis Virgil.
Brayden Anderson
Virgil was a highlight for sure. His last scene in the church was great.
Brody Stewart
This series is a great example of how not to tell stories in video games. Anyone who loves it and complains about games being "too cinematic" in any other context is a massive hypocrite.
Angel Stewart
jRPGs always where "cinematic" though. be it through dialogues in the past, or through talking cutscenes now that technology allows it. What's wrong is not jRPG being cinematic, they always where, it's regular action/adventure games that became moviegames with hours long cutscenes and scripted gameplay that are just interactive on-rails cutscenes
Mason Martin
t. brainlet
Justin Baker
>constructing Zarathustra with Mary Magdeline is likely what made him immortal but its possible he was that way even before Zarathustra activation.
I havent played the game in like 10 years but I remember something about Chaos and KOSMOS used to be Yeshua and Mary, normal people, and they both got the "Anima" powers from the Messiah they followed. At some point Mary died and she passed her share of the power to Chaos, and then they used her body to make T-Elos. Maybe memory is failing me but thats what I remember.
Bentley Rivera
>jRPGs always where "cinematic" though. be it through dialogues in the past, or through talking cutscenes now that technology allows it. Bullshit. Older JRPGs were more inspired by D&D scenarios and adventure game quests than movies. And even when the presentation budget did step up, most didn't go crazy with cutscene length and expository dialogue the way that games like the Xenosaga trilogy did.
Jeremiah Cook
Yuji Kajura has enough pieces focused on the violin that she has entire concerts that are just her playing piano with one violin player. Even in her early career, before 2006, this was the same. She had an hour long concert at Anime Expo 2005 where it was only piano, one violin and a drummer, playing most of her popular songs at that time. And as late as 2013, she had the exact same shit going on in Japan.
Face it dude, she's synonymous with violins because she limits herself to them so much. Sure, she has other songs where she uses more strings or other instruments. But she's known for violins specifically because her most popular songs focus on that instrument.
And she does far more vocal pieces than other artists as well. And many of them sound similar. I stand by my statement that you see differences because of the context of the shows/games. The styles used do not vary as much as other artists. For example, Noir had Celtic and folk influences as well as the Spanish and French. So when she went on to do other works, and used the same styles, it sounded similar. Just like how Yoko Kanno gets deemed "same shit" whenever she throws jazz into something. Yet clearly Turn A Gundam doesn't sound like Bebop. While Noir and Tsubasa sound a lot more similar.
Ryder Baker
To be fair xenogears is also extremely cinematic.
Ryder Russell
>jRPGs always where "cinematic" though. No. Final Fantasy and Phantasy Star started that trend. Dragon Quest and some others were more akin to Ultima or Zelda.
Jordan Wilson
>not the original classic design from the first game
XS1 Kosmos > XS3 Kosmos > XS2 Kosmos I mean they are all good in my book, but first design had the most charm, also best personality for a robotfu ever.
Xenogears is also not a very good JRPG, despite having an interesting concept for a story. Nobody praises it for its game design.
Cameron Peterson
It was at the time one of the best mechanically. It outshines FF7, but not nearly as many people played Gears as they did FF, so less people to give it props like the circle jerk FF7 is getting because of a remake
Lucas Foster
>It outshines FF7 If it were completed, maybe. As it is now? Nope.
Easton Nguyen
>It was at the time one of the best mechanically. What? The battle system is a mess. And that's not even mentioning the fact that this game came out after FF5 and FFT, after Chrono Trigger, after Grandia, and even a number of MegaTen titles, all of which had better battle mechanics and character progression systems.
>It outshines FF7 In what way exactly? FF7's Materia and Limit Breaks are way more sensible than Xenogears' Deathblow spamming and obtuse Gear builds. Not to mention you have way more stuff to do in FF7 and don't have to put up with falling off platforms thanks to random encounters disabling your jump button.
Grayson Morris
>Yuji Kajura has enough pieces focused on the violin that she has entire concerts that are just her playing piano with one violin player. She had an hour long concert at Anime Expo 2005 where it was only piano, one violin and a drummer, playing most of her popular songs at that time. You mean this one where the violin is clearly not the focus of the concert and there's also a guitar? youtube.com/watch?v=4XczkIgtr9U >And as late as 2013, she had the exact same shit going on in Japan. You mean this one where the violin is clearly not the focus of the concert and there's a full band? youtube.com/watch?v=d1QTex2Lk2M Or this one where once again the violin is not the focus, and the band now has a flutist? youtube.com/watch?v=zVd_Xt2rUJc Or the soundtrack specials where there an accordionist, percussionist, and uillean pipes player?
>Face it dude, she's synonymous with violins because she limits herself to them so much. Sure, she has other songs where she uses more strings or other instruments. But she's known for violins specifically because her most popular songs focus on that instrument. She's not synonymous with violins. She's synonymous with strings. The fact that you can't tell the difference says a lot about you. >And she does far more vocal pieces than other artists as well. As much as Kanno, Sawano, Iwasaki, Hamauzu, Go Shiina, Takahashi. She's not the only one that uses vocals. >For example, Noir had Celtic and folk influences as well as the Spanish and French. They're minimal, and not the main sound of the soundtrack, unlike .hack. >While Noir and Tsubasa sound a lot more similar. Are we doing this again? Noir uses a lot more synth, sampling, and quirky sounds, and the general sound is more down to earth. Tsubasa doesn't focus on one musical style. They use different singers. Tsubasa's vocal tracks have more harmonies. Tsubasa has a strings ensemble, Noir does not.
Colton Barnes
>the violin is not the focus It's only one of three instruments. And the Violin got two solos and is front and center for most of the concert. And she stood up before the concert began and singled out the person playing the violin above everyone else. Seriously, how is the violin not the focus?
>she added 1-2 more instruments in later concerts so it means the violin isn't a focus! Even though the violin is clearly still the most used instrument and in every single concert Fucking dumbass.
>She's not synonymous with violins. She's synonymous with strings. >every concert features just one violin, not a string section If you know anything about how music is composed, you can't substitute an entire string section with just one solo violin. So the guys point about how she has so many single violin songs you can make an entire concert out of it is blatantly true. Also, why is it so hard to admit this? Yuji Kajura doesn't need to be a huge orchestral master if she does better with an ensemble. Plus, she gets to do lots more concerts like this, not needing a 128 piece orchestra.
If you really want to tell that guy off, just say it's her style and she doesn't have to change it. Also, her music in the very concerts you linked is pretty similar. Again, that's just her style. Just like going to a Masayoshi Takanaka concert, people expect a synthesizer, drum, bass and guitar.
I really liked in the first game how you spend all that time aboard the woglinde just soaking how advanced human technology has become over the years with all the story happenings and flavor text conversions with NPC's and what not. Only to see it all absolutely fucking ruined by the gnosis with humans barely even doing any damage to them in the end.
Jose Baker
Weird how every game you mentioned is related to Final Fantasy and its battle systems of the era. Tactics being the lone difference. Weird how you compare FF7’s giant budget of “more things to do” when Gears got ifs budget cut halfway through development. I wonder why FF7 has more to do. Hmmm
Adrian Cox
about to embark on this journey. is it related in any way besides similar concepts to xenogears? because while i'd love to play that one too, and first, i swear that game refuses to let me emulate it in peace.
i can handle missing out on bonus lore or references but if it's more than that maybe i'll reconsider.
Ethan Scott
>And the Violin got two solos And the guitar had two solos too. >and is front and center for most of the concert. No, the singer is. The violinist isn't even there at the beginning of the concert. >And she stood up before the concert began and singled out the person playing the violin above everyone else. Except the first musician she introduced was Emily at 10:27, followed by Susumu, the guitarist. Seriously user, why are you lying so much?
>she added 1-2 more instruments in later concerts so it means the violin isn't a focus! Even though the violin is clearly still the most used instrument and in every single concert I think it's pretty cute that you think this comment is smart and snarky. You know which other instruments are also present in every concert? Keyboard and guitar. And in every Kajiura tour? The whole band. And you know that the violin isn't used in every song, right? Of course you don't. You haven even watched a concert. Oh and two extra things. The vocalists are the focus. The keyboard is the only instrument used in every live song.
Apply that facepalm reaction to yourself, retard. I'm also leaving, so whatever retarded thing you say next won't get a reply from me.
William Rogers
>Weird how you compare FF7’s giant budget of “more things to do” when Gears got ifs budget cut halfway through development. This myth got dispelled years ago, user. Xenogears didn't have its budget cut. It never had an FF-tier budget to begin with, and actually got more money to fund stuff like extra CGI and anime cutscenes by Production IG. Hell, there's even some unused ones like in pic related. Xenogears' development issues amounted to scope creep, scheduling problems, and the fact that it was largely staffed by newer developers at Square.
That's just Monolith Soft. People complain about the anime style in Xenoblade 2 when every other game they've made has struggled to find a decent art style that isn't disgusting. Anime was a completely acceptable middle ground. Although XSIII has my favourite designs.
>Why hasn't this composer worked on a single vidya since? Coz she's doing film and anime soundtracks.
Owen Allen
They should have just stuck to the style they used in Xenogears. While Square was being a prick about not giving them the IP, they aren't restricted on using the same character and scenario designers. Yet they kept changing the art every game. This seems more of a stylistic decision, as it continued on with Xenoblade and other Monolith games.
They just like having a new designer every game for some reason. While other teams prefer using the same designers over and over. Both have their advantages and disadvantages.
Luis King
For anyone thinking about emulating the trilogy make sure to get the uncensored and undubbed versions. Xenosaga Ep 1 actually has a great english dub but they replace half of the cast in 2 and then replace half again in 3, get some from 2 back and some from 1 back so it's all a huge clusterfuck. The western releases were also quite heavily censored for violence.
explain xenoblade chronicles X. they went straight back to XS2 design.
Michael Peterson
I just finished the trilogy a few days ago and loved it. 1 and 3 are great and the OST in 3 is amazing
Did not like 2 at all
Camden Perry
I got them off GGn
Daniel Fisher
you wanna break down that acronym for an idiot, friend? google's giving me snoop dogg's podcast and while i would love that to be true i suspect he's not a secret xenosaga fan.
Dominic Barnes
sekrit club invite only private tracker
John Harris
cdromance net only has episode III undub.
Robert Cruz
bleh i'll give it another shot when i have the motivation to spare, i guess. thanks for the tips.
Isaac Walker
Kajiura went down the shitter after Rakkyo but she's kinda picked it up again for PriPri. I still have to do Xenosaga 1-3 soon after doing Gears earlier in the year.
Jose Morales
What is that crotch zipper for, Takahashi? Explain yourself
Knowing nothing about the Xeno games and then playing Xenoblade after the Xenosaga trilogy was such a disappointment. It's an ok game but the movement was janky as fuck in a game about exploration and just when the story started to get interesting the game just ends, half the cast doesn't get any resolution or development of their stories and the generic shonenness at the start was really off putting. Even Takahashi has expressed he has no idea why the game got as popular as it did since he was just trying out something new.
>Even Takahashi has expressed he has no idea why the game got as popular as it did since he was just trying out something new. Sure puts the confidence in me to trust his other games when he doesn't care enough to give his all on every game. And from the sound of this thread, all his games seem to be like that.
Levi Campbell
>just when the story started to get interesting the game just ends, half the cast doesn't get any resolution or development of their stories and the generic shonenness at the start was really off putting Given that Xenoblade titles were actually given time to be completed, that's a shame, if true.
Aiden Garcia
That's like the opposite of his problem. He tries too hard to make a huge expanding millenia spanning world with hundreds of characters and intertwining plots that he overextends himself and has to scramble to finish the game within budget.
Andrew White
There are different ways of looking at giving your all. If you put 90% of your effort into a story, it seems like you're ignoring gameplay, pacing, flow and the rest. Which his games definitely feel this way. It happening on his first game could be understandable. But to keep happening over and over again over multiple series? The dude either is incompetent or he just doesn't care about finishing games, only story. In which case he should be working in anime or writing books.
Ryder Lopez
There's a dubbed uncensored version of Episode III, you know.
Because it wasn't an over-ambitious mess like Xenosaga was. It was a Soma Bringer successor.
Jeremiah Kelly
Found Xeno episode III for 80 bucks at a local store. Should I get it?
The main story of Xenoblade 2 is essentially a re-imagining of Xenogears (as in Xenogears Episode V) in yet another attempt to restart Perfect Works. The backstory of the world is similar to the one found in Xenogears, there's a lot of characters/places that parallel ones in Gears (such as Poppi, who is a loli android that has an optional lategame sidequest where she becomes an adult, sound familiar?), there was a war 500 years before the main game that was a big deal, and the Zohar makes an appearance at the end, among other things. KOS-MOS and T-elos appear as cameos but it's not canon to the main story. Also, the DLC expansion for XB2 is essentially Episode IV of Xenogears.
As for Xenoblade 1 and X, they're mostly their own thing.
More like a watered-down rehash than an imagining. Which is not to say Gears didn't have tons of its own issues.
Gavin Nguyen
Everyone has a different opinion on where the priorities should lie in a game. I don't think he's ever failed to give proper care to the gameplay even if the story is obviously his number one concern. He just gets blinded by ambition. I'm still waiting on XB2 emulation but that one seems to be a pretty complete package so maybe he's finally matured enough to reign in his Molyneux-ness.
Liam Gomez
I need to replay this series. I just finished downloading a torrent of the undubbed and uncensored ISOs, but I only got as far as past the first cutscene to make sure that it worked.
Adrian Martin
Is there an English patch for the DS remake of XS1+2?
I've heard so many bad things about XS2, but so many good things about XS3. Is it worth it to skip XS2 and just read a synopsis somewhere? I'm almost at the end of XS1 and am dreading having to slog through 2 to get to 3
I heard the english version were censored. is the series still worth getting into?
Dylan Bennett
...
Brandon Brooks
gotta link to that?
Michael Green
XSII isn't that long anyway, I'd play it, but I personally hate doing things like skipping an entry and read a wiki or something, but that may just be me
Just saying, if you play undubbed, episode 1's very first FMV cutscene uses English voices with Japanese subs. This is how it was in the Japanese version, but it threw me off when I first saw it because I thought it was the standard generic bad English voice acting of the time. Rest of the voices are in Japanese.
Dylan Ramirez
Oh, I forgot to mention. If someone can be a gent and request a torrent seeder or a person with a Mega account to host alternate versions of these files, please do so. The author of the thread kind of didn't want people directly linking to the uploads, so yeah.
Tyler Hughes
It's weird censoring because some of them make it worse than the original. Like in one scene a villain threatens a little girl with a knife and then cuts off his own head with the knife while laughing maniacally, a scene that's even censored in the japanese version with some strategic black blobs but in the western release they remove the knife but he still self-decapitates himself and they also remove the black blobs so it's kind of more brutal. Another changed scene is a kid shoots himself with a gun in the head but in the censored version the kid shoots himself in the head with an energy blast, which sort of makes more sense because where would he get a gun in a closed off high security testing facility? But there are also instances of re-editing scenes to not show blood and more standard censoring like that. Every game is censored in some way but it's not really something that changes the story or impact of the scenes.
Hudson Hall
Gears and Saga are my favourite games, it presented to me Friedrich Nietzsche which sparkled in me the love for literature.
I'm forever grateful to Tetsuya Takahashi. The Blades are only reason that i buy Nintendo consoles. Shame that they are not as good as the other games.
Joseph Ross
>The Blades are only reason that i buy Nintendo consoles. Talk about a narrow-minded interest in vidya.
Samuel Mitchell
Not shitting on Nintendo games or anything. They are great. But, with my limited time, i usually emulate old games on my PC.
Only now i'm playing FFXV, for instance. Good but flawed game. Better than 13 though.
Benjamin Brooks
Usually i play JRPGS
Christopher Sanders
Are there any hugely ambitious video games where the ambitions of the creators were actually executed?
Grayson Hill
Metroid Prime, Resident Evil 4, MGS3, System Shock 1, and Diablo II come to mind.
Noah Morris
I expect that the game that Capcom will present in this E3 is Breatj of Fire.
>Capcom will present in this E3 is Breath of Fire They definitely will on Mobile and on Pachinko
Tyler Peterson
Final Fantasy IX? Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix Marvel vs Capcom 2?
Adam Lopez
>KH2 >well-executed Hardly.
Oliver Myers
Reminder that Godsibb is one of the best tracks in the Xenosaga trilogy.
Luke Reed
Final Mix was what the game was going to be plus more
Adrian Sullivan
Suikoden I + II Symphony of the Night Valkyria Chronicles Ocarina of Time and Breath of the Wild Odin Sphere, Muramasa and Dragon's Crown Elite Dangerous Civilization Harvest Moon 64 Every Dragon Quest except VI
Oh right, this was the fight with Yuriev then. Thinking back, the last stretch of Xenosaga 3 was so damn good.
Nathan Gray
Can this be adapted in an epic Legend of the Galactic Heroes style?
Charles Ross
Takahashi was really damn ambitious with Xenosaga and I really felt bummed out when I found out the game had been axed from the 6 or so games intended down to a trilogy. Even if it did end up feeling rushed or sloppy at points I still love the series since I felt a lot of passion went into Saga.
I wouldn't, but I'm not you. Do whatever you want.
Cooper Anderson
>the last stretch of Xenosaga 3 was so damn good I don't think so. Way too much happened in successive order. It was completely rushed. The Margulis fight was great, though.
Wyatt Thompson
XS3's plot was bullshit, though.
Joshua Edwards
Made it to disc 2 of Episode 2 and quit because Episode 2 is so fucking awful.
