The Shrine

I KNOW you want this

http://ds.ign.com/articles/869/869031p1.html

Mitsuda's on it, but I wish that the DS did his work justice.

Hmmmm, on the DS....and Xenosaga was a massive disappointment (haven't played 3, but 1 and 2 annoyed the shit out of me.)

Color me not excited...

Looks like a sick premise. We've been hungry for an JRPG where you don't save the world, you destroy it, for far too long. It has a solid team behind it, and the DS kicks all sorts of ass, so we'll see.

Unfortunately with Xenosaga is that the first game wasn't much of a hook. I want to replay it but the anticipation of travelling through the Encephalon again gives me nightmares. Xenosaga Episode 1 was too big, too much repetition. Part 2 I liked due to the fact that it required careful thinking when fighting, most of the best parts are at the end. Xenosaga part III, in terms of story, totally eclipses any other game on the PS2; the gameplay is much more typical than part 1 and 2, and it is the easiest of the trilogy I find.

If I were to recommend any of the Xenosaga titles, I would recommend three, but a background on the characters and organizations from the first two is quite valuable.

That said, I stumbled upon this game a little late and Kupek directed me to this thread. Essentially all I said is YES I DO find this game interesting, Magicbox's blog post on it: http://www.the-magicbox.com/0804/game080427a2.shtml

I find that the art style reminds me of Xenogears, although better quality (Xenogears is quite pixelly, but I actually still like the style)

I liked Xenogears' quasi-3D effects they had. Also, a lot of the music was excellent. I'm a huge fan of Mitsuda. Again, I just hope that the bad DS sound system will do his work justice.

SineSwiper wrote:I liked Xenogears' quasi-3D effects they had. Also, a lot of the music was excellent. I'm a huge fan of Mitsuda. Again, I just hope that the bad DS sound system will do his work justice.

Use headphones/earbuds if you aren't satisfied with the speakers. They work quite well, but I actually find the DS Lite's sound system to be quite good on its own, it just doesn't get the volume that I'd like, and as a result some of the sounds can get drowned out by outside interference.

I am a fan of Mitsuda as well, but Mitsuda from a decade ago (Xenogears is easily one of my favourite soundtracks of all time). Still, you never know what he might pull out...

Dutch wrote:I am a fan of Mitsuda as well, but Mitsuda from a decade ago (Xenogears is easily one of my favourite soundtracks of all time). Still, you never know what he might pull out...

He still pulls out these really cool songs in his modern works. Though his Xenosaga I OST was kinda average, the last boss music from it really cool and stood out when I played it. (I liked the UMN Mode theme, too.) Shadow Hearts II had some good music of his, like Old Smudged Map. (However, I think he only did 5 songs from that ST.) Hadn't played Shadow Hearts I or Luminous Arc, or some of his other works, though.

Of course, his work from Chrono Cross is fucking outstanding. Probably his best OST to date.

SineSwiper wrote:

Dutch wrote:I am a fan of Mitsuda as well, but Mitsuda from a decade ago (Xenogears is easily one of my favourite soundtracks of all time). Still, you never know what he might pull out...

He still pulls out these really cool songs in his modern works. Though his Xenosaga I OST was kinda average, the last boss music from it really cool and stood out when I played it. (I liked the UMN Mode theme, too.) Shadow Hearts II had some good music of his, like Old Smudged Map. (However, I think he only did 5 songs from that ST.) Hadn't played Shadow Hearts I or Luminous Arc, or some of his other works, though.

Of course, his work from Chrono Cross is fucking outstanding. Probably his best OST to date.

I didn't really like Chrono Cross's soundtrack myself. There were a few songs I REALLY liked at first, but I found them irritating after only listening to them a few times.

I agree 100% on Xenosaga. On the UMN theme, I found that one to be the most memorable tune from the game and I think you're about the only other person in the world who has noted that one =P

Dutch wrote:I didn't really like Chrono Cross's soundtrack myself. There were a few songs I REALLY liked at first, but I found them irritating after only listening to them a few times.

Really? WTF? We have: Time's Scar, Dancing the Tokage, Another Termina, Forest of Cutting Shadows, Ancient Dragon's Fort, People Seized with Life, Earth Dragon's Island, Gaia's Navel, Gale, Chronopolis. Excellent intro to the game, and excellent fight music. (Getting really good standard fight music is a rarity, and CC had one of the best intros of any game.)

Maybe it's just the style of music we conflict with, though I would have thought XG had a similar style.

Dutch wrote:I didn't really like Chrono Cross's soundtrack myself.

Fail.

I put chrono cross just slightly behind Xenogears in terms of great soundtracks. It's fantastic. Mitsuda is far and away my fav game composer.

SineSwiper wrote: Time's Scar.

Is a perfect example of one I really liked at first but I find the second part of the song ungodly irritating now.

But I can understand the difference of tastes, I don't expect many people to enjoy themes likeThe One Who is Torn Apart which is Id's theme

Dutch wrote:But I can understand the difference of tastes, I don't expect many people to enjoy themes like The One Who is Torn Apart which is Id's theme

Kinda like that one, but I put songs like Omen above it. Excellent way to reintroduce the intro music while exploring the very ship that it was based around. (And what an outstanding treatment of the song on the first track of CREID!) He's truly a man that understand how to compose a good set of minor strings and understands music theory very well.