This review contains spoilers
My friends, my inner circles, the people who I've talked about Xeno with (whether Gears, Blade, or Saga) has told me that this is the one. This was the game that did it for Xenosaga. And I believed them, so I played through 1 and 2. I think they're not that bad of games, but they certainly existed as a way to set up the world and the characters. I was especially frustrated with 2's combat, enemy design and dungeons. They weren't really that much of my jam, but they still had great character moments and an interesting story premise. This might come off as a negative start to the review perhaps, but let me tell you. My friends, everyone who told me this was the one? They were right.
This game is full of payoff. Almost everything is improved. The visuals and art style are a massive step up, the character designs are amazing (my favorites being Shion, Jr. and chaos), the dungeons and enemies are so much better designed (it may be easier, but it's not designed in a bullshit volatile way)... but most importantly, the combat. By god, everything works here. Even the worst party members have a use, whether it's chaos and Jr. for utility or MOMO who dies by getting a lovetap from an enemy. I ran Shion, KOS-MOS, Ziggy and Jin for all of the game and I played it in a more aggressive way to break the enemy as soon as possible and cash in on damage. It's so fun the way it is designed, it's extremely addicting in a way neither of the other two were and even some of the Blade games or Xenogears did not feel this fun. I had such a blast with this combat system, I actively wanted to find every enemy and beat them to gain more SP and gain new skills to play with. God, it makes me miss it the more I type it out. One last thing I want to mention is that Yuki Kajiura does an incredible job for the soundtrack. Basically every song fit the mood, it has emotional tracks, it has foreboding tracks, it has tense tracks for the bosses, it has awesome sick guitar riff tracks when two cool anime women fight each other. It's such a massive step up from the previous two, it is actual insanity.
Then... the story and characters. First off, I truly appreciate the Xenogears references. If you played Xenogears, you'll know what I'm referring to. Second, the story has so much pay off and while it is probably backloaded with having to speedrun all the villains at once, but there were so many satisfying conclusions that I don't think it's that big a deal. Another thing I want to mention is that I love that Shion is a clear, defined protagonist. The first one is honestly slightly more of an ensemble cast and the second focuses slightly more on Jr./MOMO which is good for them, but Shion was the one that lured me in the most. This story is genuinely incredibly and the ending made me fucking sob in the end, once the title screen came up and the soft piano hit. Which now leads to the final point, the characters. I wasn't sure how I felt in the previous two, but now it's clear. I love Shion Uzuki. She's now one of my definitive favorite protagonists. She went through so much in her life, she feels like a person I can relate to, she's badass, she's strong, she's emotional, she's awesome. I always liked Ziggy and MOMO and none of that changed here, they're both still great here and got their good conclusions here. Jr. took quite a bit to warm up, I was not immediately sold on him first, but eventually I grew to love him in this game. The URTV/Dmitri Yuriev story was always interesting, but it ended on a massive bang. Jin started off as a cool addition to the cast from 2 and ended off an incredible character, his end was one of the ones that made me cry in the end. KOS-MOS has always been awesome and she's just always been this consistent and great and I hope to see more of her in the future. chaos has so much going on that it's hard to really know how I am feeling about him, but I do think he is really neat and I grew an appreciation for him more overtime. What a fantastic cast in the end. I'm happy. I can easily tell this game was made with love and care and I love all of it, even if I was not that much sold in the start.
The last thing I want to mention is... spoilers for Xenoblade 3: Future Redeemed, but I really hope the falling light that orbits near the Earth or Lost Jerusalem is either KOS-MOS or Shion's crew. It's already a perfect ending, but the idea of Xenoblade and Xenosaga being this connected fills me with glee, excitement and hope.
This game is full of payoff. Almost everything is improved. The visuals and art style are a massive step up, the character designs are amazing (my favorites being Shion, Jr. and chaos), the dungeons and enemies are so much better designed (it may be easier, but it's not designed in a bullshit volatile way)... but most importantly, the combat. By god, everything works here. Even the worst party members have a use, whether it's chaos and Jr. for utility or MOMO who dies by getting a lovetap from an enemy. I ran Shion, KOS-MOS, Ziggy and Jin for all of the game and I played it in a more aggressive way to break the enemy as soon as possible and cash in on damage. It's so fun the way it is designed, it's extremely addicting in a way neither of the other two were and even some of the Blade games or Xenogears did not feel this fun. I had such a blast with this combat system, I actively wanted to find every enemy and beat them to gain more SP and gain new skills to play with. God, it makes me miss it the more I type it out. One last thing I want to mention is that Yuki Kajiura does an incredible job for the soundtrack. Basically every song fit the mood, it has emotional tracks, it has foreboding tracks, it has tense tracks for the bosses, it has awesome sick guitar riff tracks when two cool anime women fight each other. It's such a massive step up from the previous two, it is actual insanity.
Then... the story and characters. First off, I truly appreciate the Xenogears references. If you played Xenogears, you'll know what I'm referring to. Second, the story has so much pay off and while it is probably backloaded with having to speedrun all the villains at once, but there were so many satisfying conclusions that I don't think it's that big a deal. Another thing I want to mention is that I love that Shion is a clear, defined protagonist. The first one is honestly slightly more of an ensemble cast and the second focuses slightly more on Jr./MOMO which is good for them, but Shion was the one that lured me in the most. This story is genuinely incredibly and the ending made me fucking sob in the end, once the title screen came up and the soft piano hit. Which now leads to the final point, the characters. I wasn't sure how I felt in the previous two, but now it's clear. I love Shion Uzuki. She's now one of my definitive favorite protagonists. She went through so much in her life, she feels like a person I can relate to, she's badass, she's strong, she's emotional, she's awesome. I always liked Ziggy and MOMO and none of that changed here, they're both still great here and got their good conclusions here. Jr. took quite a bit to warm up, I was not immediately sold on him first, but eventually I grew to love him in this game. The URTV/Dmitri Yuriev story was always interesting, but it ended on a massive bang. Jin started off as a cool addition to the cast from 2 and ended off an incredible character, his end was one of the ones that made me cry in the end. KOS-MOS has always been awesome and she's just always been this consistent and great and I hope to see more of her in the future. chaos has so much going on that it's hard to really know how I am feeling about him, but I do think he is really neat and I grew an appreciation for him more overtime. What a fantastic cast in the end. I'm happy. I can easily tell this game was made with love and care and I love all of it, even if I was not that much sold in the start.
The last thing I want to mention is... spoilers for Xenoblade 3: Future Redeemed, but I really hope the falling light that orbits near the Earth or Lost Jerusalem is either KOS-MOS or Shion's crew. It's already a perfect ending, but the idea of Xenoblade and Xenosaga being this connected fills me with glee, excitement and hope.