<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>First I will begin with a mini-review of Xenosaga: it's a game I've played twice so far and if nothing comes up in the next year, then I'll probably play it through a third time. I highly recommend it, it's not a game that you'll have to worry about taking forever to finish, it is shorter than most Square-Enix RPG's, and of a much higher quality. I can honestly say that I liked this game, at the very least, about twice as much as Final Fantasy 10; it beats it in every single category. It's currently my favourite game on PS2 for the following reasons: KOS-MOS, Shion, Zigurat, and all of the other characters are incredibly interesting. The game for beginners might seem very overwhelming for the first few hours, but once you get past that point it becomes an addiction, kind of like the first 10-12 hours of Xenogears. The gameplay does feel a lot more engaging than many other RPG's, it does not have a traditional random battle encounter system, rather it is similar to Grandia, Earthbound, and Lunar where enemies are all on the screen. You can use variour tricks to avoid enemies, such as turning on a hologram machine which will draw the attention of the enemy and allow you to slip by unnoticed. The game does not have as many battles in it than a typical RPG due to the system. Like Xenogears, the game is highlighted by long story sequences and long gameplay sequences; and like Xenogears (speaking from my own perspective) both phases of the game are of top quality. One thing that I can say about the game is that it is certainly very fun. If you do not want to watch a story section because you have already seen it (in my re-playthrough I watched everything except some of the opening phases of the game and still found them interesting) you can skip them; speaking of story sequences, unlike other RPG's, in Xenosaga you can pause the game during these section; story sections all include voice acting, and I found it to be much better done than FF10's voice acting sequences. The game does not cost very much money, it is definately worth it and I recommend it to everyone here.
Now onto my topic, Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Bose
First of all, Episode 2 will include an option similar to Final Fantasy 10 where you can switch characters into battle without any turn cost. Xenosaga will likely utilize this system better, as I recall with Final Fantasy 10, they blew it, 98% of the time I switched guys into battle was so that I could gain experience for the whole party, in order for a character to gain experience in FF10, they must make an action of some sort in battle. In Xenosaga episode I it is different, every character gains experience points as long as they are alive at the end of the battle, regardless if they are in the actual battle or not. For example, you could go the entire game without using Zigurat (with the exception of his sub-sections).
Secondly, characters can now use dual techs similar to what was seen in Chrono Trigger. This is something I hope is well utilized, Chrono Trigger utilized it amazingly well, I felt that in a "New Game" mode (as in not New Game +) it felt as an integral part of the gameplay, and one that certainly was easy and fun to use.
There is also a feature which allows characters to target weak points of enemies, the best example I can think of here is in Vagrant Story, a game which in a way invented this system (though it had been used in previous Epic Adventure games, I felt that Vagrant Story was the first menu-based style game in which it didn't feel as just a sort of gimmick).
Probably the most immediate improvement seen is in the graphics, they took the already beautiful graphics of Xenosaga and improved the quality of them. Also, if you have completed game data from the first game you get some additional costumees for the characters; From the screens so far it seems that Zigurat gets a black suit that looks almost like a wet suit, while KOS-MOS wears body paint instead of her regular armour.
Lastly, Gear battles have been changed back towards the Xenogears style, now they can't be switched in and out of battle, you either fight the battle in a gear or fight it out of the gear. This will make for some more balanced gameplay than could be found in the previous game. Speaking of Gears, there are some Screenshots which show KOS-MOS's Gear, and it appears that her Gear is none other than the God Gear (Also called "Xenogears") from the game Xenogears.</div>
Now onto my topic, Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Bose
First of all, Episode 2 will include an option similar to Final Fantasy 10 where you can switch characters into battle without any turn cost. Xenosaga will likely utilize this system better, as I recall with Final Fantasy 10, they blew it, 98% of the time I switched guys into battle was so that I could gain experience for the whole party, in order for a character to gain experience in FF10, they must make an action of some sort in battle. In Xenosaga episode I it is different, every character gains experience points as long as they are alive at the end of the battle, regardless if they are in the actual battle or not. For example, you could go the entire game without using Zigurat (with the exception of his sub-sections).
Secondly, characters can now use dual techs similar to what was seen in Chrono Trigger. This is something I hope is well utilized, Chrono Trigger utilized it amazingly well, I felt that in a "New Game" mode (as in not New Game +) it felt as an integral part of the gameplay, and one that certainly was easy and fun to use.
There is also a feature which allows characters to target weak points of enemies, the best example I can think of here is in Vagrant Story, a game which in a way invented this system (though it had been used in previous Epic Adventure games, I felt that Vagrant Story was the first menu-based style game in which it didn't feel as just a sort of gimmick).
Probably the most immediate improvement seen is in the graphics, they took the already beautiful graphics of Xenosaga and improved the quality of them. Also, if you have completed game data from the first game you get some additional costumees for the characters; From the screens so far it seems that Zigurat gets a black suit that looks almost like a wet suit, while KOS-MOS wears body paint instead of her regular armour.
Lastly, Gear battles have been changed back towards the Xenogears style, now they can't be switched in and out of battle, you either fight the battle in a gear or fight it out of the gear. This will make for some more balanced gameplay than could be found in the previous game. Speaking of Gears, there are some Screenshots which show KOS-MOS's Gear, and it appears that her Gear is none other than the God Gear (Also called "Xenogears") from the game Xenogears.</div>
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