Xenosaga Episode 1

Okay, I'm going to try to explain this as simply as possible. Squaresoft, the people who make the Final Fantasy series, made a pet-project game, Xenogears, right around the time Final Fantasy 7 came out. Needless to say, everyone ignored Xenogears and played FF7. However, most hardcore RPG gamers who have played the game do agree that Xenogears was revolutionary and interesting, if you could understand the complex and somewhat strange plot.

Enter later, when Namco has seemed to take over the whole thing. Yes, Namco as in Soul Calubur, Tekken, and Ridge Racer. Strangely enough, they seem to have gotten rights to the franchise. This was a bad move, world. Namco has NEVER been known for making good RPGs. In fact, Namco was (and still is) a d***ed arcade game maker, not a stupid RPG company. But I digress.



Xenosaga isnt bad. Xenosaga isnt good, either. It seems like Namco first completely ignored what made the first Xenogears good and decided to faggot around with their own idea of what constitutes a good RPG. Gone is the interesting battle system, hand-drawn sequences, and adult-feeling story. Instead, you're running around with 3D Anime characters straight out of little anime fan Bobby's 3D Generator program and pretending to be the Xenogears it isnt.

I don't know what it is with japan and huge eyes. But for some reason, Namco decided to make the first Xenosaga a childish looking game. I really can't take someone in a life or death situation seriously if they look like they belong in a preschool. I have NO clue where Namco got this idea, being Xenogears had such a mature style that it wouldn't probably fit into the catagory of "Mainstream Anime". But, thank god, Namco's second Xenosaga is going to have mature looking characters. So all of our obsessions with KOS-MOS don't feel like pedophilia anymore.



The game itself is pretty sad. There is no real interesting engine components to it, except for the overly complex battle system. Instead of mixing a fighting game-ish feel with the RPG feel like Xenogears did, Xenosaga mixes some unholy mixture of RPG, Strategy Games, and some other strange components. Strange from a company that specializes in fighting games, isnt it?

As for the story, it failed (and still fails) to interest me. Granted all RPGs tend to need a little leeway to present a decent story, but this story is just plain-ass long and boring. Not to mention the (Literal) 10 minute cutscenes, this is like reading Dune without the interesting story. Definately a dissapointment to those of us who were so d***ed impressed with the Xenogears presentation.




Then comes the blatant use of the series. The main character, Shion Uzuki, uses the same last name as one of the main characters of Xenogears (Citan). Of course, you're not going to see any blatant use of the title beyond a few references here and there, but nothing to constitute a full-out sequel. I suppose this is supposed to be a different universe or something.

Oh, and another thing that gets me about this game. Searching for any pictures of this is a BAD IDEA. For some reason, the pornographic drawing (Hentai) community has dug their little claws into this, and it ends up being one of the things not to search for on the internet, at least on a public computer. Just a heads-up.



Overall, I keep having to compare this to Xenogears because frankly, this game is not worth the Xeno prefix. It failed to amuse me in the least bit as a decent sequel to Xenogears. However, if you're looking for a long game to say, take on a trip or the like, this might be your match. This game in its cutscenes has to clock at least a few hours, unlike some RPGs on the PS2 that like to clock in at "One hour of s***ty gameplay".

2 star(s) out of 5

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