I've actually been playing the game for a few days now, I'm a little over three hours in.
First things that come to mind are the improvements: I found the battle system to be improved over the last one, though I haven't had the opportunity to explore it further than just regular hits and cure magic (I save my skill points until I actually need them, I like a good challenge, I also don't want to spend them on something useless by accident only because I haven't put enough thought into the game mechanics yet. For example, giving Ziggy a lot of magic, not a good way to spend skill points since he has low magic capabilities).
The skill system so far seems to be quite large, characters can learn double moves, and it seems that I haven't really done much exploration of this system yet.
This game has THE BEST load feature I have ever seen. When you load the game there is a paragraph which summarizes what has happened over the past little while or so. It makes things much easier for if you leave the game for a while or so before picking it up again. I found Xenosaga episode 1 to be one of those games where you couldn't put it down for more than a few days without forgetting too many important details.
So far I am liking the music in this game quite a bit better than the first; the first one had one memorable track for me, and that was the one in the UMN (with the encyclopedia and everything). This one actually sounds a lot closer to Xenogears than the first one. I am not sure who the composer is for the game, but it isn't Mitsuda.
Speaking of the UMN, I miss the fact that it isn't in the menu option for this game. I have no idea why they took this feature out, it was one of my favouites in the other Xenosaga. However, this game's story seems to be written quite differently from the style of the first. The focus is very different, it seems to be on events and organizations, so far, rather than characters.
I really liked Xenosaga, I like the second one better than the first so far. I am only three hours in though, my opinion may change before I finish it. I think that fans of the first game who want this one to be very similar to that game will be dissapointed. Overall the second game feels a little more solid. -All this with the exception of the UMN feature, which is probably not required in this one since the story seems to flow much more smoothly, no encyclopedia is required to fill in the gaps. No research required with the load feature I mentioned above.-
Things do move much more smoothly, dungeon type areas are much more fun, and story sections are much better done. I am about to see what a town is like in the game.
Overall, placing Xenosaga episode 1 at 100%, I would place this game at about 130% at this point in time. A non-fan might be more likely to agree with me than a fan of the series, I am a fan of the series, I just don't mind change like this.
First things that come to mind are the improvements: I found the battle system to be improved over the last one, though I haven't had the opportunity to explore it further than just regular hits and cure magic (I save my skill points until I actually need them, I like a good challenge, I also don't want to spend them on something useless by accident only because I haven't put enough thought into the game mechanics yet. For example, giving Ziggy a lot of magic, not a good way to spend skill points since he has low magic capabilities).
The skill system so far seems to be quite large, characters can learn double moves, and it seems that I haven't really done much exploration of this system yet.
This game has THE BEST load feature I have ever seen. When you load the game there is a paragraph which summarizes what has happened over the past little while or so. It makes things much easier for if you leave the game for a while or so before picking it up again. I found Xenosaga episode 1 to be one of those games where you couldn't put it down for more than a few days without forgetting too many important details.
So far I am liking the music in this game quite a bit better than the first; the first one had one memorable track for me, and that was the one in the UMN (with the encyclopedia and everything). This one actually sounds a lot closer to Xenogears than the first one. I am not sure who the composer is for the game, but it isn't Mitsuda.
Speaking of the UMN, I miss the fact that it isn't in the menu option for this game. I have no idea why they took this feature out, it was one of my favouites in the other Xenosaga. However, this game's story seems to be written quite differently from the style of the first. The focus is very different, it seems to be on events and organizations, so far, rather than characters.
I really liked Xenosaga, I like the second one better than the first so far. I am only three hours in though, my opinion may change before I finish it. I think that fans of the first game who want this one to be very similar to that game will be dissapointed. Overall the second game feels a little more solid. -All this with the exception of the UMN feature, which is probably not required in this one since the story seems to flow much more smoothly, no encyclopedia is required to fill in the gaps. No research required with the load feature I mentioned above.-
Things do move much more smoothly, dungeon type areas are much more fun, and story sections are much better done. I am about to see what a town is like in the game.
Overall, placing Xenosaga episode 1 at 100%, I would place this game at about 130% at this point in time. A non-fan might be more likely to agree with me than a fan of the series, I am a fan of the series, I just don't mind change like this.
