Well, I have written some information about it already, now it is time to go into a little more detail.
First thing first: Before you play this game, it is IMPORTANT to play Xenogears on PSX first. There is A LOT in the third chapter of Xenosaga that links to Xenogears, and it makes the game much more interesting to have the foresight. The other two Xenosaga games are important too, but not so much for story links, but for characters, the reason being is that story from the previous XS games is all covered in this one. This game isn't just loosely hinted at like the previous two episodes, these are very solid and strong links to Xenogears.
The Encyclopedia makes a return: my largest dissapointment with the second game in the series is that it lacked an encyclopedia. It makes a return in this game and is MUCH better this time around, it is much easier to navigate as it tells you when updates are made, and where those updates are. It also has it spearated into categories: people, places, events, history, culture, etc... Or the traditional Xenosaga 1 method can be used.
Battle system: it is much simplified from the second game, though the gear battles remain the same, and is more complex than the non-gear battle system. Attacks are now just standard RPG style, attack, magic, and such, there are no longer tactics involved. Also, the battles are MUCH easier than they were in the second game. It is similar to the simplicity of the first game, only without the massively long animations and load times. The battle system rests between episode 1 and 2, it is not as simple as episode 1, but not as complex as episode 2. I should also note that it is a very solid system, more so than any of the games in the series to date (Xenogears and Xenosaga 1 and 2).
Gameplay: is much like the second one rather than the first. The first game had huge multi-hour long blocks of dungeon crawling, then story, and everything seemed to move very slowly. The second one ran much more smoothly, the third one continues in the style of the second one, but actually improves, it feels even smoother this time around. Dungeons are also not Quest 64 style, as the first game, but much more interactive like the second game.
Towns: Towns are FAR bigger in this game than the previous ones, there is certainly a lot more civilian related locations in this game, many more people to talk to. Space stations, etc.... I like it. The game is on a MUCH larger scale than the previous ones.
Music: I really enjoy the music style of this game, there is a lot of piano style tunes in the game, it gives it a very '1800's Europe in the distant future' feel to it. Which is what they were probably aiming for the whole time.
I will have more updates as I play a little longer. So far, I have very much enjoyed the game. I should mention, the price was right. You can be like Zeus and hope it drops to 30 bucks at the end of the year (which probably will not happen), or you can spend $44.99 and get it now. It is a very reasonably priced game as far as RPGs go. I highly recommend it, it is a very polished off game which takes everything that worked from the previous one. It is also very fun, anyone who enjoyed Xenogears will love this one, if only based for finding out the history of the world of Xenogears, and finding out what it all meant.
First thing first: Before you play this game, it is IMPORTANT to play Xenogears on PSX first. There is A LOT in the third chapter of Xenosaga that links to Xenogears, and it makes the game much more interesting to have the foresight. The other two Xenosaga games are important too, but not so much for story links, but for characters, the reason being is that story from the previous XS games is all covered in this one. This game isn't just loosely hinted at like the previous two episodes, these are very solid and strong links to Xenogears.
The Encyclopedia makes a return: my largest dissapointment with the second game in the series is that it lacked an encyclopedia. It makes a return in this game and is MUCH better this time around, it is much easier to navigate as it tells you when updates are made, and where those updates are. It also has it spearated into categories: people, places, events, history, culture, etc... Or the traditional Xenosaga 1 method can be used.
Battle system: it is much simplified from the second game, though the gear battles remain the same, and is more complex than the non-gear battle system. Attacks are now just standard RPG style, attack, magic, and such, there are no longer tactics involved. Also, the battles are MUCH easier than they were in the second game. It is similar to the simplicity of the first game, only without the massively long animations and load times. The battle system rests between episode 1 and 2, it is not as simple as episode 1, but not as complex as episode 2. I should also note that it is a very solid system, more so than any of the games in the series to date (Xenogears and Xenosaga 1 and 2).
Gameplay: is much like the second one rather than the first. The first game had huge multi-hour long blocks of dungeon crawling, then story, and everything seemed to move very slowly. The second one ran much more smoothly, the third one continues in the style of the second one, but actually improves, it feels even smoother this time around. Dungeons are also not Quest 64 style, as the first game, but much more interactive like the second game.
Towns: Towns are FAR bigger in this game than the previous ones, there is certainly a lot more civilian related locations in this game, many more people to talk to. Space stations, etc.... I like it. The game is on a MUCH larger scale than the previous ones.
Music: I really enjoy the music style of this game, there is a lot of piano style tunes in the game, it gives it a very '1800's Europe in the distant future' feel to it. Which is what they were probably aiming for the whole time.
I will have more updates as I play a little longer. So far, I have very much enjoyed the game. I should mention, the price was right. You can be like Zeus and hope it drops to 30 bucks at the end of the year (which probably will not happen), or you can spend $44.99 and get it now. It is a very reasonably priced game as far as RPGs go. I highly recommend it, it is a very polished off game which takes everything that worked from the previous one. It is also very fun, anyone who enjoyed Xenogears will love this one, if only based for finding out the history of the world of Xenogears, and finding out what it all meant.
Last edited by Julius Seeker on Tue Oct 03, 2006 10:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
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