BATTLE SYSTEM
Well, I must say I was quite impressed with this version of the game. It was a giant leap over the first episode. The gameplay was improved significantly, it had a much smoother feel to it, and there was no ULTRA flashy attacks for everything, which really helped to speed things up significantly. As far as battles go, there weren't a lot of them in the game in comparisson to the first one, but each battle was fairly difficult, normal battles were almost as tough as some of the bosses.
PLOT
As far as plot goes, this is where I believe Episode II really shines over the first one. The first one is more of an introductory section, it has the encyclopedia, and all that stuff. Many character introductions and such. Though things do move forward in the first episode, it doesn't compare to the way things do in the second part. There is an incredible amount of progress made on many of the factions; things become A HELL of a lot more clear. This game does sort of have the feeling though that 60% of the major plot points of the story is in the last 20% of the game. The game has an extremely long ending, but the ending is well worth it, and I will certainly watch it again a few times.
LOCATIONS
I found the towns to also be more interesting, but still not on the level of some of Namco's other RPG's (such as Baten Kaitos). I did find the locations to be much more fun though, it didn't take forever to move around them as it did in the first one. The Kukai Foundation is the exact same as it was in the first one, the ship though has been improved significantly. There are a few ships though, none of them are as big and frustrating to get around as the first game (in fact, the ships were not bad at all in this game, they were actually fairly enjoyable locations). For the record, Episode I had giant spaceships which had too many locations, and a TON of people who really didn't say much of value. Also the dungeons in this game were much more fun in my opinion, the first one had a lot of really long and wide places to navigate through, it became more of a chore than an exploration. The second is the opposite, the dungeons are all quite fun and have stuff to do in them. The puzzles within the dungeons are quite fun in comparisson to the boring ones in the first game, and the puzzles are more numerous as well (similar to Vagrant Story and Lufia 2, though not on that level).
Characters and factions
The characters and factions see a lot of development. I think the clear central character of the second episode is Albedo; his character sees an enormous amount of development in this game. Also, the Zohar/wave existance sees a lot of development as well. Then there are the factions, the religious faction of Ormus was much more developed in this one, MUCH more developed. There are tons of conspiracies in this game, everyone has their own goals, and they are allowed to accomplish them only so far as some hidden faction or force require them to; since that hidden force has a major goal of its own. In fact, the whole game seems to be heading into a single direction; and the hidden force, the members are hinted at in the game, but they don't quite say directly who they are, who is leading it, and what their primary goal is. Though I will say that someones goal in Xenosaga is the same as Krelian's was in Xenogears.
The ENDING
This is perhaps the best ending to a game of this entire generation of consoles. It is certainly my favourite.
Parts leading into Xenogears:
Yes, those parts do exist; there is something very major at the end of Episode 2. Events which happen in the end also occur within Perfect Works.
Xenosaga Episode 3 will be the final chapter of the first part of the series; and I believe that by the looks of it, that the game will probably include both the conclusion of Perfect Works Episode I and Perfect Works Episode II. Though it can't really be said for sure; Perfect Works Episode II might be included as a flashback segment for Xenosaga Episode 4, the reason being that Episode II (Perfect Works) takes place in a time period where not a lot of people exist, it is the beginning of civilization.
KOSMOS is the character which will be most important in Xenosaga Episode III. I believe that the story in that game will center around her due to the developments which occured toward the end of Episode II, and some things that happened in Episode I.
Overall: I would say that this game is the best RPG released in a while.
Well, I must say I was quite impressed with this version of the game. It was a giant leap over the first episode. The gameplay was improved significantly, it had a much smoother feel to it, and there was no ULTRA flashy attacks for everything, which really helped to speed things up significantly. As far as battles go, there weren't a lot of them in the game in comparisson to the first one, but each battle was fairly difficult, normal battles were almost as tough as some of the bosses.
PLOT
As far as plot goes, this is where I believe Episode II really shines over the first one. The first one is more of an introductory section, it has the encyclopedia, and all that stuff. Many character introductions and such. Though things do move forward in the first episode, it doesn't compare to the way things do in the second part. There is an incredible amount of progress made on many of the factions; things become A HELL of a lot more clear. This game does sort of have the feeling though that 60% of the major plot points of the story is in the last 20% of the game. The game has an extremely long ending, but the ending is well worth it, and I will certainly watch it again a few times.
LOCATIONS
I found the towns to also be more interesting, but still not on the level of some of Namco's other RPG's (such as Baten Kaitos). I did find the locations to be much more fun though, it didn't take forever to move around them as it did in the first one. The Kukai Foundation is the exact same as it was in the first one, the ship though has been improved significantly. There are a few ships though, none of them are as big and frustrating to get around as the first game (in fact, the ships were not bad at all in this game, they were actually fairly enjoyable locations). For the record, Episode I had giant spaceships which had too many locations, and a TON of people who really didn't say much of value. Also the dungeons in this game were much more fun in my opinion, the first one had a lot of really long and wide places to navigate through, it became more of a chore than an exploration. The second is the opposite, the dungeons are all quite fun and have stuff to do in them. The puzzles within the dungeons are quite fun in comparisson to the boring ones in the first game, and the puzzles are more numerous as well (similar to Vagrant Story and Lufia 2, though not on that level).
Characters and factions
The characters and factions see a lot of development. I think the clear central character of the second episode is Albedo; his character sees an enormous amount of development in this game. Also, the Zohar/wave existance sees a lot of development as well. Then there are the factions, the religious faction of Ormus was much more developed in this one, MUCH more developed. There are tons of conspiracies in this game, everyone has their own goals, and they are allowed to accomplish them only so far as some hidden faction or force require them to; since that hidden force has a major goal of its own. In fact, the whole game seems to be heading into a single direction; and the hidden force, the members are hinted at in the game, but they don't quite say directly who they are, who is leading it, and what their primary goal is. Though I will say that someones goal in Xenosaga is the same as Krelian's was in Xenogears.
The ENDING
This is perhaps the best ending to a game of this entire generation of consoles. It is certainly my favourite.
Parts leading into Xenogears:
Yes, those parts do exist; there is something very major at the end of Episode 2. Events which happen in the end also occur within Perfect Works.
Xenosaga Episode 3 will be the final chapter of the first part of the series; and I believe that by the looks of it, that the game will probably include both the conclusion of Perfect Works Episode I and Perfect Works Episode II. Though it can't really be said for sure; Perfect Works Episode II might be included as a flashback segment for Xenosaga Episode 4, the reason being that Episode II (Perfect Works) takes place in a time period where not a lot of people exist, it is the beginning of civilization.
KOSMOS is the character which will be most important in Xenosaga Episode III. I believe that the story in that game will center around her due to the developments which occured toward the end of Episode II, and some things that happened in Episode I.
Overall: I would say that this game is the best RPG released in a while.
