Your "Best Game Ever" Award

[Zylo]

Xenosaga was longggggggg and every single move took about 20 seconds to show... that's one of the main reasons I hated it. (But story was decent.)

in 2, the battle system is more about connecting and chaining and stuff like that, so it's a lot more complicated and can be very frustarting at some bosses if you don't know what you're doing... (They did add mech fights in 2 though, so it was a little better..)

in 3 the battle system was perfect, moves went by smoothly and pretty quickly, and the whole thing just seemed to be going at a very good pace (mech fights made a return and were even better than in 2 IMO)... 3 was perfect all around in terms of everything from storyline to connecting the dots to the amazing battle systems for both normal fights and mech fights.

I would still suggest playing through all three because the story is really good, and skipping either 1 or 2 (even though you can just read all about them in 3's database in the menu), isn't the same as experiencing the story firsthand... that's just me though.




Oh and I just beat the first vol. of .Hack//GU, and I love it heh... too bad there's still no release date for the NA version of vol.2.

Thanks man =)

[IDontNothing]

my fav...Secret of Mana


...Legend of Dragoon a close 2nd

[Insanecyclone]

I miss playing Red Faction...Geo-Mod so much fun..need to find the damn key so I can play it again ; ;

[Epyslon]

Half-Life 1 and 2

[Kinto]

Half-Life 1 and 2

<3 I can't wait for episode 2

[Kaelan]

Xenogears
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Final Fantasy Tactics

[Kaylia]

The mech system sucks balls compared to the Xenogears, and frankly the storyline is made of fail IMO.

Made of fail? Story is Xenogears on crack with even more religious/philosophy reference and the world is much more detailed if you read the database.

Well, I played the first one, I wasn't impressed with the whole cast, and the long boring CS that made no fucking sense even after reading through the glossary, and just the whole bullshit "oh we gonna make you waste more money by not concluding anything and answering nothing, BUT YOU GOTTA BUY OUR NEXT GAME!"

Seriously, it says over 50 hours or so playtime on the back, I beat the damn thing in 20, and a good amount of it is playing that card game.

No, not Xenocard, that poker/high low game is more interesting than the entire game.

50h is obviously a lie. They say that about almost every rpg, and it's rarely true unless there is a retarded amount of optional grinding.

What cutscene didn't make sense? They all did to some extent, and you could guess accurately by reading mythology/religious reference the meaning of many stuff. Most people didnt even try beating the game twice, which is almost a requirement for a game like XS or XG.

Also a small search on google or gamefaqs give you stuff like
Ep1's official artbook+lot of info
http://www.labyrinthos.org/odm/

Ep2's official artbook/database
http://nihon.kaisho.org/Abel/Terminology.html

Ziggy's game translation (learn a lot about many characters)
http://zarathustra.kaisho.org/

Ep3's official artbook + lot of info about stuff never explained
http://www.xenotensei.com/translations/truth_of_xs.html

All of those link help understanding the story and all its ramification much better


I've trouble to believe you beat the game in 20hours, unless you rushed everything, didnt talk to any npc, didnt read the database.

[Exoduso]

Yeah it's pretty much impossible...

And you really think one and two are that annoying... FIGHT THROUGH THE PAIN and just get through them so you know the story... because Ep.3 really is that damn good.

[Zilong]

Yeah it's pretty much impossible...

And you really think one and two are that annoying... FIGHT THROUGH THE PAIN and just get through them so you know the story... because Ep.3 really is that damn good.

Would I miss a lot by just buying 3? Don't feel like replaying 1, and 2 doesn't sound too hot either.

I just feel a good series should have games that can stand on its own.

And Kaylia, it's not that I don't bother researching/replaying, it's just that playing through the game the first time just left me so damn pissed/frustrated that I didn't bother playing it again. Believe me, if I was interested in the lore, I'd know it in and out by now.

Well, didn't help that I snagged a copy of Disgaea 1 shortly afterward.

[Exoduso]

Well, as soon as you can control your character in 3 you can view the database which will have a detailed explanation of what went on in the first two episodes... but it will usually mention names and tell you what happened, instead of explaining who they actually are... which might result in even more confusion.

2 is decent, you just have to actually read the manual to know how to fight before you start it before you play or you will get frustrated very easily with the battle system... I actually enjoyed it though, once I knew how to do it.

And you don't need to replay through 1, just buy 2 and read its database about the first episode (its the terminal on your right as soon as you can move your characters in episode 2) to refresh your memory of what was going on.

[Zilong]

Well, as soon as you can control your character in 3 you can view the database which will have a detailed explanation of what went on in the first two episodes... but it will usually mention names and tell you what happened, instead of explaining who they actually are... which might result in even more confusion.

2 is decent, you just have to actually read the manual to know how to fight before you start it before you play or you will get frustrated very easily with the battle system... I actually enjoyed it though, once I knew how to do it.

And you don't need to replay through 1, just buy 2 and read its database about the first episode (its the terminal on your right as soon as you can move your characters in episode 2) to refresh your memory of what was going on.

My point still stands on a good game shouldn't force me to put up with 2 inferior game to justify its greatness ; ;

[Exoduso]

Do what you want... you're missing out on a truely great RPG storyline.

[Doombard]

Rank

1. Xenosaga ep 3
2. Ep 1
3. Ep2 ( I didn't really like episode 2 too much)

Didn't the series originally going to be 5 or 6 games long... that would have rocked. The series as a whole I would rate as the best storyline ever.

[Exoduso]

It was supposed to, but they used 3 to end the series instead (and I think they did a pretty damn good job with it story-wise), and the fact the game came out a few years after 1 and 2 gave it a huge adventage graphically because it looked a hellova lot better than the previous installments.

All in all, 3 is worth playing by itself, but story wouldn't make much sense (even with reading the database in and out) if you didn't play the first 2 and got to know and experience the storylines firsthand.

[Deejay]

http://images.hugi.is/leikjatolvur/53635.jpg

[Insanecyclone]

http://images.hugi.is/leikjatolvur/53635.jpg

Already pre-ordered #2 for tuesday!

[Kaylia]

I just feel a good series should have games that can stand on its own.

And Kaylia, it's not that I don't bother researching/replaying, it's just that playing through the game the first time just left me so damn pissed/frustrated that I didn't bother playing it again. Believe me, if I was interested in the lore, I'd know it in and out by now.

Well, didn't help that I snagged a copy of Disgaea 1 shortly afterward.

It sound more like gameplay issue annoyed you and not the story. Every XS are complete enough to stand on their own as a game, and all 3 games are unique in their own way, it's not a cheap sequel.

You could say story is incomplete, but I don't see what's the problem with that. It's not different than waiting 3 years to see the sequel of StarWars or any other trilogy. Game itself still had 25h-30h of gameplay and 8h of cutscene, which is on par with most RPG out there.

[Bloodanaki]

I know they did an anime of the entire Xenosaga 1, but did they ever get around to make a installment for the 2nd and 3rd games? Could be a possible option for those that only want to get to the 3rd game.

As for my opinion on xeno 1 I remeber not "hating" it per say, pretty sure I was super psyched about starting an epic 6 part space opera rpg, which i'm sure made me neglect alot of the bad in the game. I still have flashes of that one move JR does, angelic strike or something, where he jumps into the air and starts shoting like mad. Must have spammed that move more than i've spammed Rampage in ff11 XD. Oi and that ending song "Pain", had me tearing.
Than I waited god knows how long for 2 to come out and much of the hype wore off, after i read up on how badly 1 was recieved. Picked up 2, kinda forgot the story after so long and felt a lil lost. Struggled my way through fights. Got to a boss battle with the White haired Psycho, and I kept throwing everything i had at him time and time again only to get smashed. Got frustrated and turned to Game faq, and relized how the combo system worked, but after all that I lost intrest and haven't picked it up since. After reading Exo, i'm seriously thinking about picking up where I left off.

[Kaylia]

Anime was basically episode 1, but butchered so much it wasn't good. If you want to play the 3rd game only, just read Ep2 script on gamefaqs.com. You will miss some awesome part, ¸and certain character wont be delovepped/introduced, but it's doable . I would just finish it tho if you have it, can be done in 25 hours if you dont waste time on sidequest and use Momo's cheapshot attack.

In other news, from EGM rumor section: "Namco Bandai making a PS3 action game starring KOS-MOS". I wonder how it will turn out. Could be awesome, but I don't want it to be a stupid fanservice spinoff like Dirge of cerberus

[Exoduso]

Why the fuck... they should just make XS4, the ending in 3 pretty much laid out the groundwork for a potential sequel.

And as far as forgetting the story is concerned I feel you there, 1 2 AND 3 were all like a year and a half apart from each other, which made it pretty annoying to keep up.

But I suggest you just start playing from #1, and work your way towards 3.... like I said, #2 is really hard to understand in terms of the battle system if you don't read the manual and don't understand how the Break system works, but once you do you can break any mob apart and just rape it with combo chains.

#3 has an amazing battle system, and the cutscenes in the game were just stunning because it was developed years after XS1 and 2 (and you see a vast improvement in graphics in #2 already, but I think they butchered up Shion and Kos-Mos in that game, so i'm glad they fixed both of them in #3 and made them look like their original selves again), so it had an advantage graphically, which added a lot to the final product.

Push yourself through 1 and 2, get the story down even if you don't understand any of it at all, because #3 will explain everything (and in great detail)...just remember names of places/people, and then if you're still lost as to what/who they are, #3 has a really good database that you keep filling as you go through the game, and there's a page for just about everything in the Xenosaga universe, from detailed area descriptions to practically a biography for every single character mentioned in any of the three installments.