I love the part where they said the narritives between the Xeno games haven't been bridged, yet. The inclusion of YET at the end made this video age like fine wine and I sincerely mean that.
Elly walks into Xenosaga within seconds of the game starting, Fei walks in later Pyra/Mithra wear a miniature zohar in Xenoblade 2 and the flame clocks from 3 are referenced by Margulis in Saga albeit in a very understated way. A battle android similar to Kos-Mos shows up as one of the primary party members of Xenoblade X.
There was a petition by fans and the creator of "Xenosaga" to make a case to Nintendo, but Nintendo was unconvinced that "Xenosaga" had enough fans to sell enough to break even. They underestimate the old "Xeno" fans tremendously. I have spent THOUSANDS seeking out "Xenosaga" content to own physically. Ironically...that does not include reobtaining the original physical games on PS2.
@@ScreechingTrashGoblin they're underestimating the residual effect of Xenoblades success. If you can put the characters in Smash brothers and recruit him to work on Zelda games, you can get his catalog sold
Our game protagonist being a college educated single woman in her 20s with a career was always so subversive and refreshing. Shion is a highly underappreciated RPG protagonist.
Xenosaga was my love. Lol. I loved the series. chaos was my favourite right from the get go. His back story was epic too. The characters are all pretty awesome and the storyline was awesome. Though I can see why some people wouldn’t like it because it’s got a lot of religious, philosophical and political stuff in it that not everyone understands. I like to research so I actually researched some of the topics in the game to learn more. It was fascinating. It’s more for highly educated gamers though or those who know how to research.
Most people seem to dislike Shion for her development in Episode III. She becomes way more selfish throughout the story, and although she had very good reasons, making the audience relate to her is a massive challenge, even for the most talented writers. For me, it worked and Shion is one of my favorite JRPG protagonists of all time, but I can't say I don't see where the haters (well, the reasonable ones) are coming from.
15 years later and I'm still happy to hear the word Xenosaga. I never could articulate the reason why it left such an impression on me but thanks to you, I have finally gotten closure on a series that imprinted strong emotions I never really understood. Thank you so much for pouring your time and energy into this project and Tetsuya Takahashi's work- or rather his failures. I haven't bought a switch yet to play Xenoblades but I hope it's everything he wanted it to be. Thank you so much for this video.
Holy moly! The positive feedback you all have left me has been super humbling and endlessly encouraging! Thank you to everyone who's taken the time to check out this trip down memory lane with this beloved but underrated gem of a series. My general pickiness, pursuit of that ever-elusive "perfection", and pesky career keep me from creating as frequently as I'd like, but for those interested, my next video will be on Final Fantasy. Currently in the writing & recording portion of production, and aiming to have it edited and released not too far into the new year. Happy New Year everyone! Hope it's your best one yet!
Is this really your first and only video? If so, I'd say its success is a testament (haha) to how much Xeno fans long for a true return of this vision. Nintendo and everyone should really take note!
This was a brilliant video! The development of the Xeno series really has been a rocky road. Xenogears, Xenosaga, and even Xenoblade too, with Xenoblade X having it's protagonist replaced with a customisable character halfway through development to only 40 staff working on XB2, outsourcing work and staff dropping out during development. Takahashi really can't catch a break haha. But after XS3 I think they're in such a better place after XC1's success, inclusions in Smash getting more eyes on the series, and now Xenoblade 2 being the best-selling entry in the Xeno series; I think Takahashi is in a really good spot. I do hope that the pandemic hasn't too badly impacted the development of Xenoblade 3, but since it's been in the works in 2018 I think they're taking their time and I reckon it could be the best so far. Especially since he says he wanted the next story to be more "heavy" ("violet and erotic and heavy" is the full quote but heavy is what I'm more interested in hah), a return to the complexity of the previous games would be something I'd love to see. Anyway, this was a fantastic video!
Thank you! While I think remasters/remakes of the older games are unlikely, I hope they happen if only so they spark new conversations surrounding them!
@@jerrrdan you would have to bring both Square Enix and Bandai Namco together for a Xeno series collection remaster cuz Square Enix owns Xenogears and Bandai Namco own Xenosaga
I mean practically the entirety of it's narrative and structure are a mishmash of classical novels so I imagine backporting it from video game to book would likely be a very simple task
When you first referred to Commander Cherenkov as "that guy," my heart admittedly sank a bit. Little did I know you'd go on to give him his own dedicated segment in the video, as he well deserves! Thanks for this - love seeing some others give this series the attention it deserves.
So disappointed that we’ll never ever to see the full of xenogears or xenosaga, but so glad we Monolith eventually got their recognition and financial success in xenoblade
I would also like to say that Xenosaga introduced me to how English dubbings can change (or even improve) the game. This was the first time where I really enjoyed listening to characters "interacting" in a sense. I remembered just playing this in my high school years. I think this series also introduced me to really great voice actors that I admire to this day. Great analysis on the game!
I wanted to add a little sidenote, a story that starts with an event that you briefly mentioned about halfway through the video I always thought it was odd that Soraya saga (this is a pen name, but I'll stick to it since she has stated multiple times she prefers to be referred as such) hadn't been directly involved with the development of the Xenoblade and after games, after all, Xenogears and Perfect Works seemed to be the foundation for every game in the Xeno series and it was the creation of both Takahashi and Soraya. Further digging info on the internet seems to heavily support this, in spite of other writers and devs lending a hand, the vast majority of the story was written and thought up by them both, Soraya seemingly being the one behind some of the most important and central elements of the story such as Deus and the whole new genesis of humanity. You mentioned that after Takahashi and Soraya were made to step down of their positions for Xenosaga 2 Soraya seemed spiteful of the decision, while Takahashi took a way more "political" stance, I doubt their feelings were too different, and assume Takahashi understandably took this stance as he stayed as the figurehead of the Xeno series. Soraya received a fuckton of harassment from fans of the series, blaming her for leaving and some undermining her work. This was an awful timing as she had recently suffered the loss of her brother, who had committed suicide at around this time. She blamed herself for not seeing the signs even though they were close and even worked together as he was apparently another game developer at square. She is still "alive" on social media but she very much prefers to not be interacted with at all, and to this day occasionally makes bitter remarks about her awful experiences with the gaming community. It broke my heart to find out, out of curiosity of what happened to the other half that made the amazing Perfect Works universe, that she went through such a devastating experience both in her personal and professional life during the Xenosaga 2 time period, to the point that it seems like she's still hurt about it and never officially came back to working on the Xenoblade series other than a guest design for a blade on XC2, whose reception gave her yet another, albeit minor, bad experience with gamers. From what I dug around, she seemed to be content in her personal life and her marriage, I also doubt that she hasn't had some degree of input on the series since Xenoblade seems to carry most of the main themes and ideas from Perfect Works, and she's married to Takahashi after all, it would be weird to not talk about his work which is deeply related to their passion project of their youth. I just wanted to share some light to this topic, that seems to be very unknown even to the most avid fans of the series, it's understandable though as there is very little info about this and it took me hours of digging to find sources, which were often obstructed by misinformation. She made massive contributions to the Xeno series and she didn't deserve to go through that, I wish she could be comfortable and work on Xenoblade, as it seems with XC3 that Monolith finally solidified their footing with Nintendo and achieved both economical and critical mainstream success. Although I can imagine a world where she believes "they finally found success now that I'm not there", which again, breaks my heart.
Damn, that was really saddening and interesting. You're right, I had no idea about a lot of this and I'm ashamed of it. In fact, I always wanted to learn more but the information just seemed to not exist. I've often thought something was up and worried about her based on her tweets and such. Can you link some of your sources? I'm trying to find out more myself but I'm getting hit with a lot of siliconera 404 error messages. I really hope she's doing well right now with Xenoblade 3's success.
The reason i haven't forgot about this game after all this time, is entirely due to Kos-Mos. Her design (First and Last) is some of the best character designs i've EVER seen.
always loved the Kos Mos character. The thing that stands out in my mind in regards to this series is how unimpressed I was with the drastic schange to Shion's character in the sequel. I much preferred her as the tech nerd.
I actually LOVED Xenosaga. It was one of my favorite games. Even 2 & 3 we're good imo. Kos Mis and Shion's connection and growth throughout the series kept me invested. Plus Momo + Jr was soooo cute in 1.
I understand that MAYBE telling the story as Takahashi was planing was a bit ambitious but... how about releasing the original story as a book? I don't know MAYBE a director's cut version or something like that. At least he already know the story he wanted to tell Maybe tomorrow...
Already sorta exists, look up Xenosaga I + II for the DS, Japanese exclusive, but the events of both games have changes, with II having the most differences and story changes. EDIT: My bad, I realized you're probably talking about the original 6 episode idea, thought you were talking about the trilogy as we got it.
@@MugenHeadNinja I’m pretty sure the first episodes of gears had its synopsis drafted which made it to the perfect works book. In regards to a fully detailed book, they probably never got there.
"It wasn't meaningless as long as you, yourself, believe it wasn't meaningless" feels like the most succinct way to summarize Nietzsche's own assessment of his writings into Nihilism (go figure, he's literally named Wilhelm), he put forth all these ideas, but also ultimately rejected them because meaning can be extracted from inherent meaningless, persistently so. In that sense, though it might be reading far into it makes me subscribe to the theory out there that, however many cycles it would take, Wilhelm would foster that same persistence in the collective subconscious until it swelled over, and step in to play his part as "villain" when it came to it.
@@jerrrdan you should do videos like these more often, the work that went into this is amazing. youve got a soothing voice and your vocabulary is nothing short of a perfect fit for covering topics of this fashion. EDIT: just saw your comment from 9 days ago. hope you get it finished to your liking, no matter how long it takes
Thanks for making this. There is not a lot of Xenosaga/gears content on RUclips with this level of production quality or writing that really tries to break down what makes the series good, rather than pointing out all of its flaws.
The one thing I love the most about Xenosaga is that even though it didn’t gain as much popularity as it deserved, the fan base is still so fiercely loyal to it - even after almost 15 years this game still holds so much weight to the people that got into it and I think that speaks volumes about the quality of its story. I’ve never played another game that offered *this* rich of a lore and had such a wide range of complex, compelling characters. Albedo is the ultimate antagonist in my eyes - he goes so far behind the typical light vs dark, good vs evil trope that most rpgs fall into. One of the highlights of the series for me was how much you got to empathize with him in the second episode. He became so much more than the crazed lunatic he was carved out to be in episode 1. I’ll always hold out hope for the HD remake. You did an amazing job w this video 🤍
More than a year later and I still think this is one of the best video essays on a videogame series I've ever seen. There's a inspiring message behind MonolithSoft's failure with the Xenosaga series and how it led to Xenoblade and you did an excellent job of exploring that while giving this strange, unique series space to be analyzed and stand on its own two feet. Well done.
Man, I don’t even know where to begin except your time and appreciation means the world to me. Thank you so much for taking the time to engage with this project-It’s the one that’s been most personal to me so I’m glad it resonated with you in some way!
Your video pretty much gathered many xenosaga fans (me included) I would love this game to come back. One of the few xeno games I personally favored! Also Shion Uzuki is underrated. Just glad that some people appreciated her because she's pretty complex.
The first game was the best it provided so much lore and side games to do like the card game. Episode 2 took a full 180 and killed it then episode 3 took a 270 turn but was in the right direction
I have to stop at 6mins for now but, Holy heck why is your content so good + high quality. This is an enigma for such low sub count, shows the amount of effort you put in and the passion you have for this series. I only played a bit of Xenosaga Ep 1 but I shall finish it bro, thanks to you! I'll probably be back in a WHILE to tell you I've finished them, since I'm extremely busy with life stuff but after a couple months I will be free to binge the series. (31/12/21 today)
Thank you for producing this video. Xenosaga is a series that is near and dear to me and I think on it from time to time. It really formulated a lot of my early years of storytelling and I would become sad when I thought about it's development and ending. Your video really put it in a different perspective that I can see that put some of my thoughts to rest and I can enjoy its meaning with new light. Thanks again 😊
This is a fantastic video essay especially for a first video, I subscribed within the first 10 mins and I hope you keep making content cause damn this was great!
I was very surprised when I've noticed how small this channel is and how this is the only video on it. The quality is amazing and well researched. Love the oldie music in the background as well. Looking forward for more!
This video was just incredible. I love the whole xeno series and i am replaying all games. I completed Gears and Blade several times… but Saga scaped my grasp till now. Just yesterday i got my hands on the trilogy. After watching Resonant Arc podcast about Xenogears…. I can’t wait to jump in the Xeno universe once again. Thx for such a great and well researched video. I would love to see more from you!
Now THIS is what I have come to love from the Xeno community. Quality and quantity! I have a bunch of stuff I want to say about the series, but time and life keep me from being able to share it. Perhaps someday. This series has been too much of an influence on my life for me to hide it, and I enjoy all the references to science, literature, and religion. I will definitely be keeping this video handy when people want to know why I love these games. I do own almost every game in the series! (Just missing Xenoblade 2 since I don't have a Switch.)
Great essay. Also, Xenoblade 3 tackles some of the themes from Xenosaga - Takahashi again delivers his usual and it's hard not to fall in love with it.
*slow clap* These games came out right during my high school years, and I remember following the development so closely and being apprehensive about what they were having to cut to fit their constraints. I remember falling in love with the characters and being upset by the change in art direction. But most of all, I remember the confusing but compelling, neck-deep ocean of story that had me pouring through entries on Jungian psychology and obscure Biblical references. It was the kind of game that I could not only sink my teeth into, but veritably swim in it, become immersed in ways that usually only happened with really good books. I went back and played Xenogears because I wanted more of that. I'm likely going to get into Xenoblade Chronicles for the same reason. There's something about this universe that keeps me coming back, even when I find it in a youtube video while searching for something else. Thanks for making this!
I'm impressed you got clips from Xplay with Adam Sessler in it. That show HATED Xenosaga especially ep 3. Back in the early days when most video game media representatives didn't know shit.
This will sound so silly, but I can give one reason why it failed in the West. The names of the games are in German and reference Jungian psychology. I was actually a big Xenogears fan as a kid, but I didn't have internet, even in the 2000's so I couldn't cross-check information and I was very poor, I'd work at Flea Markets and newspaper routes and after helping my parents with household bills I'd probably only get 1 game every quarter year.... So everytime I'd go into a store, I'd look for Xenosaga and I'd pick up Xenosaga Episode 1: Der Wille zur Macht. I'd go to the store clerk and ask why the language is different on the cover. They'd get confused too on why it had a foreign name, they're just cashiers and clerks >90% of them don't actually play the games (in my area it was mostly laid off employees in different industries working at GameStop), so they'd say "Sorry I guess it's in a different language, I don't know why this came in, don't buy it, sorry about that I'll tell my manager later." I'd go to another store weeks later, only for the same thing to happen. This kept happening, until I eventually had the guts to risk my money and buy the game (I know you can usually return games and get your money back, but people always seem to give me a hard time when I least expect it and my area doesn't have good consumer rights and I didn't have internet back then). I finally played it, and it was in English and it was amazing, and I waited for its sequels to come out and bought them too. But sadly I suppose if a game can't appeal to the masses it will struggle and I actually think people were scared of its foreign title. I'd always see the store lined up with Xenosaga games they couldn't sell. Ah well, I'm happy that Xenoblade is getting more recognition with every new entry, I'm looking forward to the next one!
Such a well produced, well researched vid! I'm shocked that this vid didn't receive the attention it deserved; I'll be sure to be sharing this with my friends today. That said, your thesis on how Saga reflects on the themes of failure, and how to approach it by overcoming pain and loss, will have me re-examining scenes and characters in a new light!
This movie has been in my watch later playlist for over 6 months. Thank you for giving me something to look forward to as I was completing the xenosaga saga.
So I never played Xenosaga but after playing every xenoblade game and having seen the design for kos mos growing up I ended up looking into and really desiring to want to play and understand the game. But I think that little message about expressing ideas and how failure defines us really does get me to think. And I think this video may have cleared up something I should have done so long ago. You did great and I think this game and this video should get more views.
Just beat it and just thinking about it makes me emotional. I love how deeply flawed it is. I hate the activity of constant nitpicking of stupid shit or placing value on how conventionally "good" media is. Consumption is consumption all the same, and it doesn't change if you're reading an amazing book or playing a videogame. Xenosaga is the most shockingly human videogame series ever put to disc. Writing in videogames can suffer often, especially jrpgs which are privy to overly cordial speech and mistranslations up the ass. But beneath the sci-fi and jungian psychology and religious references is a group of fucked up people during crisis that just want a shot to change. And thats all of us
Excellent video! I also appreciate what you said Re: Kevin. People tend to forget that Kevin is genuinely abusive when figuring The Shion Situation. We are shown a much older man who is *Her Boss* then entering a relationship with her with explicitly mentioned ulterior motives. She couldnt have been what?? 18 when they started dating if they were suddenly in possible marriage territory at ~20? Abuse really messes with your head, especially so when you are already hurting and they know that. So many people do indeed go back to their abusers because the highs of the honeymoon stage are so heady- especially when that person already has difficulty feeling alright due to past trauma. We are shown a girl with severe chronic trauma, who just wants things to stop hurting already. When you are constantly put into the horrors you hit survival mode and things that you would never do suddenly seem like good ideas because they help you survive. Chronic trauma gives you emotional disregulation too. The very real effects of trauma are a lot uglier in most people than many want to see. You make bad choices, you are angry and scared all the time, you drive people away and isolate yourself, you lash out. NOt everyone is a Perfect Survivor and I really appreciate Shion for being a dead ringer for complex ptsd with strong emotional abuse focus, because like... they really nailed it. I see so many behaviors Shion does, even in the first episode and wince because you can trace it back to a trauma thing. She alternates between being aggressive-angry and flinchy appeasement gestures a lot and yeah. Yeah thats right. I think an additional facet in the Shion going back to Kevin thing is that honestly, as someone with chronic trauma and a 'smooth things over with other people compulsively' reflex, the way she does it and tries to get the party to stand down reads like her trying to protect the party. She knows Kevin is bad news, but Kevin is also the source of so much of her joy that its hard to give him up. Its hard to see him as bad because of that. She sees the party is going to be hurt by Kevin and does the only thing she can do. She tries to play peacemaker between an abuser and the people she doesnt want him to hurt. No idea if it was intentional or not, but that is for sure also wildly realistic of a thing to do. I really think Shion is an incredibly realistically written character and yeah, maybe not relatable or palatable for the masses who get upset and scared when characters are realistically mentally ill, but I thought she was fantastic. I feel seen and heard in Shion and her struggles against the onslaught of horror she keeps having to go through and revisit, with the way her happy ending is 'the future will be better and there is still hope here at the end of this ordeal' rather than a traditional 'everything is better now' and yes, even in her negative character traits and maldaptive coping skills. Kevin's 'redemption' was piss though lol, super agree with that. No real remorse for how he hurt Shion. Ick.The whole thing feels rushed, and its likely he wasnt meant to have a redemption but didnt have another way to figure him into what they had left to do.
Like everyone else, I was shocked by Shion's betrayal. I was even upset. But then I remembered all of the *SHIT* she has had to deal with in her young life. There are many characters from across fiction that I like but very few do I hold up as an example of "this is how you do depth correctly." Thank you Silver, for getting it.
I think that he only saved the party at the end because Kevin was personally pissed off at Wilhelm and wanted to "protect" Shion out of his obssession with her but for no true altruism.
Looking this quick recap, i noticed how Xenosaga 3 is similar to Xenoblade 3. People says that Xenoblade 3 is Xenogears, but look how many similarities between XS and XB: - Moebius are a retelling of Testments: people who sold themselves post life for great power and immortality, even though being forever a servant of a kind of Devil. - Endless Now is another version of the Eternal Recurrence - The main cast fight against the perpetuous cycle, hoping for a better future - in that sense, then Z is Willhem - Both end without the actual conclusion: humanity prevents the eternal cycle, but we never know if they succeed in achieve the new future.
Great video! I recently replayed the the trilogy (after finishing Xenoblade 3 + future redeemed). Considering certain revelations it will be interesting to see what stories Takahashi decides to work on next.
Takahashi and Saga seem like the classic "starving artist" paradigm to me. They have a vision so much better, so much grander than what fits within a reality driven by commercial success, and they struggle within those confines. I have connected with their stories and characters on deep levels, and even though I know it's a fraction of what they meant, their heart still comes through. Anyway, thank you for this great video.
Here’s the problem mismanagement. You can have a grand vision but you don’t have the resources to make it. You need to bring it down. Because Vision means nothing when the product suffers due to it. The best use what they have to build great things. And it’s something that the blade games are proof of. Someone else already said this but it’s an important thing to learn “Respect your limitations”
@@rexthewolf3149 The change in management is actually the main reason why Xenoblade 1 came out as consistently great as it did, and why Monolith Soft became so efficient after the acquisition by Nintendo. Before that, Takahashi was just running wild with ideas and didn't know where to put his eggs, which is why both Gears and Saga came out as ambitiously flawed as they did. But when starting work on Xenoblade 1, late Satoru Iwata noticed that this kind of management is doomed to repeat the same mistakes so the team was given advice on how projects for the first-party titles are run (they didn't even begin the project with a working prototype) and that support allowed the team to better realise their ideas in a timelier fashion. Of course it's Monolith Soft so they still tend to get overambitious (especially now juggling between so many projects) but you can tell they are trying to keep the lessons of Gears and Saga in mind.
Always felt that Episode 3 was a kind of dialogue or counter against Nietzsches idea of not wanting things to be different. To be content. At the end Shion says we must try to change the things around us.
Love this video, big fan of the series love how you broke down everything I felt about it perfectly with new information to lull me to sleep. You gave me closure 😌
Watched just a few minutes and could already realize good things would come. Stopped because I haven't beat xenogears yet, but I'll sure comeback when I do, but good job beforehand, the coment section says it all
I'll come back to this once I've finished the third game finally. It's taken 15 or so years but finally beat the first game after I saw my brother play it when I was really young and remembering the opening on the woglinde and the fight against margulus in the first game. But I never knew the title and I did eventually get copies of all 3 games but they were not in great condition and and my PS2 was rather old. Xeno 1 cutscenes would crash every time. Which sucks cause I love the cutscenes in the game. And 2 it got really glitchy in the encephalon dive I tried to play 3 just to see if I could but the game would never go past the first dungeon. Finally got em all working through methods. And 1 is as good if not better then I remember. 2 is pretty wildly flawed in areas but the action choreography etc and the story telling is still as good if not a bit better as I did tear up and few times. I'm kind of scared to finally finish the franchise finally after 15 years. But I think it's finally time.
For me the Director and his wife's team suffered from Overeaching and trying to deliver too much. Its a sadly repeating pattern up until the Blade series. I mean the Xenogears and Xenasaga games practically rival if not surpass Evangelion in it's Biblical reference material. I've never played the Xenoblade series but i hope to one day try them
I highly recommend it! Xenoblade tries to be a more accessible and simplified version of the stories and Themes present in Xenogears and Xenosaga. That might make it feel a bit disappointing for long-time Fans of the Xeno series but for people like me who started with the Blade series it makes us understand appreciate the Themes a lot better. Not to mention that it makes each entry very different due to trying a different story approach
I just replayed Mass Effect (Legendary Ed Trilogy) and as I sat watching the credits, feeling that hollow feeling games used to give us when the credits rolled and we didnt know what to do with ourselves after 200 hours of immersion, I thought of Xenosaga. The two series' have a TON of the same themes and ideas. And I thought about how it was the first series that made me feel that. Sitting and watching the credits, just a teenager, sobbing in my bedroom because the endings of each game were so touching and mind bending, and when theyre over and theres no more installments to come, they just leave a void. Xenosaga was my obsession as a teen. I bought the first one on a whim because the Microplay store was out of Kingdom Hearts copies. I was only 12. These games shaped me, gave me early onset existential crisis, and I loved every minute of it and will never forget it. As an artist and also a perfectionist, the idea of failure and self criticism is more than familiar to me, but, its funny, as a consumer, I could never ever call Xenosaga a failure.
I'll admit, my biggest let down of this series was that it didn't live up to its rumored secret story: that of being the sequel/ prequel to my favorite game ever xenogears
Wait... Someone on RUclips that actually gets Shion's betrayal in Ep III? They understand it instead of hurling abuse at a young woman that carries _ALL_ the PTSD? May wonders never cease. Good video.
A bit late to the party but just finished Xenogears and the Xenosaga series. While Xenogears was probably my favorite it's clear how much effort and passion went into the story and world building. Recently I started Xenoblade Definitive Editon, and I'll be brutally honest, the story is great but doesn't quite scratch the same story itch as Xenogears and Xenosaga. However, the modernization of the systems and gameplay make it a bit easier to recommend and a bit less of a jagged experience as I am not going back and forth through wikis to figure out what I need to do and where I need to go to continue the game. In the end though I'm very happy I took the time to play all the Monolisoft games before reaching Xenoblade.
If your game is a flop the producers will put restrictions on you by cutting the budget and time for the sequels. If your game is successful the producers will put restrictions on you by demanding more of the same formula, nudging you towards the direction the fans liked about the first game instead of the direction you want to explore, and even though you're given all the time and money you need you're practically limited on creative control all the same. At least that's how it feels nowadays, 20+ years ago I'd probably agree that creative freedom was more valued and encouraged as long as game directors were able to satisfy their producers with good sales.
This is a fantastic video! Probably the best one I saw and not only about Xenosaga, but the Xeno series in general. I was soo disappointed to see that it's your only video. But I guess that means that there's just more to come in the future... like, "Maybe tomorrow" :) Please go on! +1 subscriber will be here to not miss it. Thank you!
I played Xenogears, all three Xenosaga games, and watched the Xenosaga anime, but it was only the Xenosaga Episode I game that I could ever bear to replay. Because the worldbuilding was so hard for me to follow by Episode III (and it's been over a decade), I watched this video and thought, "THAT'S what happened by the end...?"
God I wish Xenosaga could become more someway somehow I really like the characters and themes KOS-MOS in particular really struck me as a child and she stayed in my mind for a long time. I'll imagine I'll always be a Xeno fan at this rate.
Sorry also wanted to say about Kevin he did it out of immense guilt. Wilhelm is in a way the manifestation of not believing in humanity, it symbolizes that while Kevin made a deal with the devil he always believed in man. He says as much in a flashback in episode 2 and I think he means It as he loved his family he lost as a child. I'm sure this much is true. He had just as much trauma as Shion only he definitely did things that were out of line and I think he crossed many lines as well.
As non-native english speakers, me and my brother would compete saying fast without mistake "Who would've thought that Miyuki's invention will come in handy.". This to us is a tongue twister.
Love the video, im a new subscriber because of it, but you gotta figure the audio out a little man. It was ringing so much i was worries i was having tinnitus at some points.
Xenogears is one of my regrets in my life, i felt (and always feels) an ache everytime i remember that game such a great story and gameplay (back in the day) yet i was frustrated by the cd 2 condition. I always hope that there'll be Xenogears remake as intended (which kinda impossible) before the end of my life. Until then i would always felt an ache everytime i saw something reminded of that game lol.
Xenosaga II was rough in so many ways outside of the change in staff. They changed composers, they changed artstyle, they changed gameplay. An experienced producer should have shut down some of these ideas while they were still on the whiteboard. The localization drove this home, with half of the cast changing, and with a script that had basic English grammar errors left in. The fact that we even GOT a Xenosaga III was a miracle.
Interesting video. Some constructive criticism if your interested: I felt the point about failure could have been weaved more within the video. My takeaway was that it was most relevant to the production of the games and the trilogy's ending, but if failure was a more concurrent theme throughout the games it didn't quite come across, at least to me. Essentially a lot of time was spent reviewing characters and story that didn't seem to contribute to the thesis. As a result the video serves a bit better as a documentary style overview of the trilogy and its development, rather then a concise essay about its themes. Of course, I get the feeling you wanted to do a bit of both anyway, and you tie it together very nicely at the end. An enjoyable watch for someone who didn't know much about the series and left me curious to check it out myself some time.
Hey there-I appreciate the feedback! I’m always trying to improve on my craft, so I’ll be more mindful going forward of making sure my narrative is servicing the thesis, though I’m sure it’ll take plenty of trial and error haha. Either way, thanks for taking the time to leave your thoughts!
My main take away from Xeno as a creative endevour is respect your limitations. It's great to dream big, but if you are constantly over-reach and can't make effective use of your available resources, you're gonna fail.
That’s kind of what blade is. It started out limited in story and very gameplay focused but as it goes on its been bringing back more elements from saga and especially gears
Great video man. In my videos I could never reach the same level of depth that you did in this video. While I veiw the 3 games more though the lens of gameplay, i understand those who view it much more for the insanly deep story these 3 (5 if we included Pied Piper and Missing Year) games have to offer. Wish you the best in gorwing your channal.
this series was so deep and complex its a shame it wasn’t more successful. It is definitely one of my favorite jrpgs of thr PS2 era. I was in middle school when it was released but watching your videos made me realize how many good rpgs existed in the early 2000s vs now. The genre has really changed so much and not in the best direction.
I love the part where they said the narritives between the Xeno games haven't been bridged, yet. The inclusion of YET at the end made this video age like fine wine and I sincerely mean that.
Elly walks into Xenosaga within seconds of the game starting, Fei walks in later
Pyra/Mithra wear a miniature zohar in Xenoblade 2 and the flame clocks from 3 are referenced by Margulis in Saga albeit in a very understated way.
A battle android similar to Kos-Mos shows up as one of the primary party members of Xenoblade X.
They could port all 3 to Switch tomorrow and they'd be huge hits.
There was a petition by fans and the creator of "Xenosaga" to make a case to Nintendo, but Nintendo was unconvinced that "Xenosaga" had enough fans to sell enough to break even. They underestimate the old "Xeno" fans tremendously. I have spent THOUSANDS seeking out "Xenosaga" content to own physically. Ironically...that does not include reobtaining the original physical games on PS2.
@@ScreechingTrashGoblin they're underestimating the residual effect of Xenoblades success. If you can put the characters in Smash brothers and recruit him to work on Zelda games, you can get his catalog sold
@@ScreechingTrashGoblin LMAO the ones who said no are Namco themselves.
They'd have my money for sure.
Katsuhiru Harada said that the Xenosaga franchise is not profitable enough to get a proper remaster for newer systems. (based on a interview in 2019)
Our game protagonist being a college educated single woman in her 20s with a career was always so subversive and refreshing. Shion is a highly underappreciated RPG protagonist.
You don't play much games do you?
I mean to be fair Elma is basically the protagonist of Xenoblade X and Lora is for 2’s Torna expansion
lol what???
Xenosaga was my love. Lol. I loved the series. chaos was my favourite right from the get go. His back story was epic too. The characters are all pretty awesome and the storyline was awesome. Though I can see why some people wouldn’t like it because it’s got a lot of religious, philosophical and political stuff in it that not everyone understands. I like to research so I actually researched some of the topics in the game to learn more. It was fascinating. It’s more for highly educated gamers though or those who know how to research.
Most people seem to dislike Shion for her development in Episode III. She becomes way more selfish throughout the story, and although she had very good reasons, making the audience relate to her is a massive challenge, even for the most talented writers. For me, it worked and Shion is one of my favorite JRPG protagonists of all time, but I can't say I don't see where the haters (well, the reasonable ones) are coming from.
15 years later and I'm still happy to hear the word Xenosaga. I never could articulate the reason why it left such an impression on me but thanks to you, I have finally gotten closure on a series that imprinted strong emotions I never really understood. Thank you so much for pouring your time and energy into this project and Tetsuya Takahashi's work- or rather his failures. I haven't bought a switch yet to play Xenoblades but I hope it's everything he wanted it to be. Thank you so much for this video.
Holy moly! The positive feedback you all have left me has been super humbling and endlessly encouraging! Thank you to everyone who's taken the time to check out this trip down memory lane with this beloved but underrated gem of a series. My general pickiness, pursuit of that ever-elusive "perfection", and pesky career keep me from creating as frequently as I'd like, but for those interested, my next video will be on Final Fantasy. Currently in the writing & recording portion of production, and aiming to have it edited and released not too far into the new year.
Happy New Year everyone! Hope it's your best one yet!
Is this really your first and only video? If so, I'd say its success is a testament (haha) to how much Xeno fans long for a true return of this vision. Nintendo and everyone should really take note!
Xenosaga made a huge mark on my life and is the reason I have any best friend. We met because of Xenosaga.
You are a good writer with a very keen insight of what the devs were trying to achieve.
This was a brilliant video! The development of the Xeno series really has been a rocky road. Xenogears, Xenosaga, and even Xenoblade too, with Xenoblade X having it's protagonist replaced with a customisable character halfway through development to only 40 staff working on XB2, outsourcing work and staff dropping out during development. Takahashi really can't catch a break haha. But after XS3 I think they're in such a better place after XC1's success, inclusions in Smash getting more eyes on the series, and now Xenoblade 2 being the best-selling entry in the Xeno series; I think Takahashi is in a really good spot. I do hope that the pandemic hasn't too badly impacted the development of Xenoblade 3, but since it's been in the works in 2018 I think they're taking their time and I reckon it could be the best so far. Especially since he says he wanted the next story to be more "heavy" ("violet and erotic and heavy" is the full quote but heavy is what I'm more interested in hah), a return to the complexity of the previous games would be something I'd love to see. Anyway, this was a fantastic video!
Damn good video. I'm always looking for new Xenogears/Xenosaga/Xenoblade content like this.
Thank you! While I think remasters/remakes of the older games are unlikely, I hope they happen if only so they spark new conversations surrounding them!
@@jerrrdan you would have to bring both Square Enix and Bandai Namco together for a Xeno series collection remaster cuz Square Enix owns Xenogears and Bandai Namco own Xenosaga
@@Wingedlight-nn4hl on top of that it would have to be Nintendo exclusive since they own Monolith and thus Xenoblade
I think Xenogears and the whole franchise could be a series of novels.
It worked for Digital Devil Saga
Xenogears alone would make a solid, solid book. And yeah I already have Perfect Works.
I wonder how you could make blade a novel when the series is so exploration focused lol
I mean practically the entirety of it's narrative and structure are a mishmash of classical novels so I imagine backporting it from video game to book would likely be a very simple task
When you first referred to Commander Cherenkov as "that guy," my heart admittedly sank a bit. Little did I know you'd go on to give him his own dedicated segment in the video, as he well deserves! Thanks for this - love seeing some others give this series the attention it deserves.
So disappointed that we’ll never ever to see the full of xenogears or xenosaga, but so glad we Monolith eventually got their recognition and financial success in xenoblade
"It wasn't meaningless if you yourself believed it wasn't meaningless." Bravo, wonderful video. I love your take on things!
I would also like to say that Xenosaga introduced me to how English dubbings can change (or even improve) the game. This was the first time where I really enjoyed listening to characters "interacting" in a sense. I remembered just playing this in my high school years. I think this series also introduced me to really great voice actors that I admire to this day. Great analysis on the game!
I wanted to add a little sidenote, a story that starts with an event that you briefly mentioned about halfway through the video
I always thought it was odd that Soraya saga (this is a pen name, but I'll stick to it since she has stated multiple times she prefers to be referred as such) hadn't been directly involved with the development of the Xenoblade and after games, after all, Xenogears and Perfect Works seemed to be the foundation for every game in the Xeno series and it was the creation of both Takahashi and Soraya. Further digging info on the internet seems to heavily support this, in spite of other writers and devs lending a hand, the vast majority of the story was written and thought up by them both, Soraya seemingly being the one behind some of the most important and central elements of the story such as Deus and the whole new genesis of humanity.
You mentioned that after Takahashi and Soraya were made to step down of their positions for Xenosaga 2 Soraya seemed spiteful of the decision, while Takahashi took a way more "political" stance, I doubt their feelings were too different, and assume Takahashi understandably took this stance as he stayed as the figurehead of the Xeno series. Soraya received a fuckton of harassment from fans of the series, blaming her for leaving and some undermining her work. This was an awful timing as she had recently suffered the loss of her brother, who had committed suicide at around this time. She blamed herself for not seeing the signs even though they were close and even worked together as he was apparently another game developer at square.
She is still "alive" on social media but she very much prefers to not be interacted with at all, and to this day occasionally makes bitter remarks about her awful experiences with the gaming community.
It broke my heart to find out, out of curiosity of what happened to the other half that made the amazing Perfect Works universe, that she went through such a devastating experience both in her personal and professional life during the Xenosaga 2 time period, to the point that it seems like she's still hurt about it and never officially came back to working on the Xenoblade series other than a guest design for a blade on XC2, whose reception gave her yet another, albeit minor, bad experience with gamers.
From what I dug around, she seemed to be content in her personal life and her marriage, I also doubt that she hasn't had some degree of input on the series since Xenoblade seems to carry most of the main themes and ideas from Perfect Works, and she's married to Takahashi after all, it would be weird to not talk about his work which is deeply related to their passion project of their youth.
I just wanted to share some light to this topic, that seems to be very unknown even to the most avid fans of the series, it's understandable though as there is very little info about this and it took me hours of digging to find sources, which were often obstructed by misinformation.
She made massive contributions to the Xeno series and she didn't deserve to go through that, I wish she could be comfortable and work on Xenoblade, as it seems with XC3 that Monolith finally solidified their footing with Nintendo and achieved both economical and critical mainstream success. Although I can imagine a world where she believes "they finally found success now that I'm not there", which again, breaks my heart.
Damn, that was really saddening and interesting. You're right, I had no idea about a lot of this and I'm ashamed of it. In fact, I always wanted to learn more but the information just seemed to not exist. I've often thought something was up and worried about her based on her tweets and such. Can you link some of your sources? I'm trying to find out more myself but I'm getting hit with a lot of siliconera 404 error messages. I really hope she's doing well right now with Xenoblade 3's success.
The reason i haven't forgot about this game after all this time, is entirely due to Kos-Mos. Her design (First and Last) is some of the best character designs i've EVER seen.
always loved the Kos Mos character. The thing that stands out in my mind in regards to this series is how unimpressed I was with the drastic schange to Shion's character in the sequel. I much preferred her as the tech nerd.
I actually LOVED Xenosaga. It was one of my favorite games. Even 2 & 3 we're good imo. Kos Mis and Shion's connection and growth throughout the series kept me invested. Plus Momo + Jr was soooo cute in 1.
I got weirded out by the art style change. Stuff like that always bothers me.
@@glair By the 3rd game they managed to get the new style down but 2 was really jarring at times.
@@chelseaoates610 3 is propably the best jrpg on PS2 next to Persona 4, Dragon Quest VIII and Final Fantasy XII.
I understand that MAYBE telling the story as Takahashi was planing was a bit ambitious but... how about releasing the original story as a book? I don't know MAYBE a director's cut version or something like that. At least he already know the story he wanted to tell
Maybe tomorrow...
Already sorta exists, look up Xenosaga I + II for the DS, Japanese exclusive, but the events of both games have changes, with II having the most differences and story changes.
EDIT: My bad, I realized you're probably talking about the original 6 episode idea, thought you were talking about the trilogy as we got it.
He did that with Xenogears which is basically the same story so...
@@MugenHeadNinja I’m pretty sure the first episodes of gears had its synopsis drafted which made it to the perfect works book. In regards to a fully detailed book, they probably never got there.
"It wasn't meaningless as long as you, yourself, believe it wasn't meaningless" feels like the most succinct way to summarize Nietzsche's own assessment of his writings into Nihilism (go figure, he's literally named Wilhelm), he put forth all these ideas, but also ultimately rejected them because meaning can be extracted from inherent meaningless, persistently so. In that sense, though it might be reading far into it makes me subscribe to the theory out there that, however many cycles it would take, Wilhelm would foster that same persistence in the collective subconscious until it swelled over, and step in to play his part as "villain" when it came to it.
You got a sub, sir. Didn’t realize an analysis of Cherenkov’s plot is exactly what I was looking for.
Thank you!
@@jerrrdan you should do videos like these more often, the work that went into this is amazing. youve got a soothing voice and your vocabulary is nothing short of a perfect fit for covering topics of this fashion.
EDIT: just saw your comment from 9 days ago. hope you get it finished to your liking, no matter how long it takes
@@shotsfiredman As someone who never liked the sound of my own voice, your comment just made my day, if not my week hahaha. Thank you so much!
Thanks for making this. There is not a lot of Xenosaga/gears content on RUclips with this level of production quality or writing that really tries to break down what makes the series good, rather than pointing out all of its flaws.
The one thing I love the most about Xenosaga is that even though it didn’t gain as much popularity as it deserved, the fan base is still so fiercely loyal to it - even after almost 15 years this game still holds so much weight to the people that got into it and I think that speaks volumes about the quality of its story. I’ve never played another game that offered *this* rich of a lore and had such a wide range of complex, compelling characters.
Albedo is the ultimate antagonist in my eyes - he goes so far behind the typical light vs dark, good vs evil trope that most rpgs fall into. One of the highlights of the series for me was how much you got to empathize with him in the second episode. He became so much more than the crazed lunatic he was carved out to be in episode 1.
I’ll always hold out hope for the HD remake. You did an amazing job w this video 🤍
More than a year later and I still think this is one of the best video essays on a videogame series I've ever seen. There's a inspiring message behind MonolithSoft's failure with the Xenosaga series and how it led to Xenoblade and you did an excellent job of exploring that while giving this strange, unique series space to be analyzed and stand on its own two feet. Well done.
Man, I don’t even know where to begin except your time and appreciation means the world to me. Thank you so much for taking the time to engage with this project-It’s the one that’s been most personal to me so I’m glad it resonated with you in some way!
Just finished Xenosaga III, and I can finally watch this with no spoilers.
It's kinda crazy just how much depth Cherenkov has for only being in the game for like 3 hours of cutscenes.
Your video pretty much gathered many xenosaga fans (me included)
I would love this game to come back. One of the few xeno games I personally favored! Also Shion Uzuki is underrated. Just glad that some people appreciated her because she's pretty complex.
100% Shion was a really solid protagonist. It'd be great if she got more recognition!
Dimitri Yuriev supported Saviorite rights. That’s all
That radio, man. Blew my mind.
The first game was the best it provided so much lore and side games to do like the card game. Episode 2 took a full 180 and killed it then episode 3 took a 270 turn but was in the right direction
Xenosaga 2 killed the series or almost killed the series as a whole.
@@therealjaystone2344it fucking goes tho the combat system is very engaging once you figure it out
I have to stop at 6mins for now but, Holy heck why is your content so good + high quality. This is an enigma for such low sub count, shows the amount of effort you put in and the passion you have for this series. I only played a bit of Xenosaga Ep 1 but I shall finish it bro, thanks to you! I'll probably be back in a WHILE to tell you I've finished them, since I'm extremely busy with life stuff but after a couple months I will be free to binge the series. (31/12/21 today)
This was a fantastic look through the series and the editing choices reflect your passion for the series. Good work!
Your video essay is a banger you did such a good job
The soundtrack and the heavy amount of cutscenes to this day are amazing to me though, top notch. The problem was the grinding and slow battle system.
Thank you for producing this video. Xenosaga is a series that is near and dear to me and I think on it from time to time. It really formulated a lot of my early years of storytelling and I would become sad when I thought about it's development and ending. Your video really put it in a different perspective that I can see that put some of my thoughts to rest and I can enjoy its meaning with new light.
Thanks again 😊
This is a fantastic video essay especially for a first video, I subscribed within the first 10 mins and I hope you keep making content cause damn this was great!
I was very surprised when I've noticed how small this channel is and how this is the only video on it. The quality is amazing and well researched.
Love the oldie music in the background as well. Looking forward for more!
This video was just incredible. I love the whole xeno series and i am replaying all games. I completed Gears and Blade several times… but Saga scaped my grasp till now. Just yesterday i got my hands on the trilogy. After watching Resonant Arc podcast about Xenogears…. I can’t wait to jump in the Xeno universe once again. Thx for such a great and well researched video. I would love to see more from you!
I would 100% play this without any upgrade other than better load times today.
Now THIS is what I have come to love from the Xeno community. Quality and quantity!
I have a bunch of stuff I want to say about the series, but time and life keep me from being able to share it. Perhaps someday. This series has been too much of an influence on my life for me to hide it, and I enjoy all the references to science, literature, and religion. I will definitely be keeping this video handy when people want to know why I love these games. I do own almost every game in the series! (Just missing Xenoblade 2 since I don't have a Switch.)
After Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed, I'm convinced that Takahashi and his team have regained their hopes for the future of the Xeno series.
the production quality is crazy good holy moly
Great essay. Also, Xenoblade 3 tackles some of the themes from Xenosaga - Takahashi again delivers his usual and it's hard not to fall in love with it.
chaos looking back at the end to see Jin slumped over clutching his sword still hits hard.
*slow clap*
These games came out right during my high school years, and I remember following the development so closely and being apprehensive about what they were having to cut to fit their constraints. I remember falling in love with the characters and being upset by the change in art direction. But most of all, I remember the confusing but compelling, neck-deep ocean of story that had me pouring through entries on Jungian psychology and obscure Biblical references. It was the kind of game that I could not only sink my teeth into, but veritably swim in it, become immersed in ways that usually only happened with really good books. I went back and played Xenogears because I wanted more of that. I'm likely going to get into Xenoblade Chronicles for the same reason. There's something about this universe that keeps me coming back, even when I find it in a youtube video while searching for something else.
Thanks for making this!
This is so good! I’ve been waiting for this exact video for a long time. Thank you for making this!
This game series was way ahead of it’s time
I'm impressed you got clips from Xplay with Adam Sessler in it. That show HATED Xenosaga especially ep 3. Back in the early days when most video game media representatives didn't know shit.
Adam is just a straight up racist, and was even back then.
Is this the closure I have been wishing for after all these years? 15 years and I'm still thinking about it, and that is no failure.
This will sound so silly, but I can give one reason why it failed in the West. The names of the games are in German and reference Jungian psychology.
I was actually a big Xenogears fan as a kid, but I didn't have internet, even in the 2000's so I couldn't cross-check information and I was very poor, I'd work at Flea Markets and newspaper routes and after helping my parents with household bills I'd probably only get 1 game every quarter year....
So everytime I'd go into a store, I'd look for Xenosaga and I'd pick up Xenosaga Episode 1: Der Wille zur Macht. I'd go to the store clerk and ask why the language is different on the cover. They'd get confused too on why it had a foreign name, they're just cashiers and clerks >90% of them don't actually play the games (in my area it was mostly laid off employees in different industries working at GameStop), so they'd say "Sorry I guess it's in a different language, I don't know why this came in, don't buy it, sorry about that I'll tell my manager later."
I'd go to another store weeks later, only for the same thing to happen. This kept happening, until I eventually had the guts to risk my money and buy the game (I know you can usually return games and get your money back, but people always seem to give me a hard time when I least expect it and my area doesn't have good consumer rights and I didn't have internet back then).
I finally played it, and it was in English and it was amazing, and I waited for its sequels to come out and bought them too. But sadly I suppose if a game can't appeal to the masses it will struggle and I actually think people were scared of its foreign title. I'd always see the store lined up with Xenosaga games they couldn't sell.
Ah well, I'm happy that Xenoblade is getting more recognition with every new entry, I'm looking forward to the next one!
Such a well produced, well researched vid! I'm shocked that this vid didn't receive the attention it deserved; I'll be sure to be sharing this with my friends today.
That said, your thesis on how Saga reflects on the themes of failure, and how to approach it by overcoming pain and loss, will have me re-examining scenes and characters in a new light!
This movie has been in my watch later playlist for over 6 months. Thank you for giving me something to look forward to as I was completing the xenosaga saga.
So I never played Xenosaga but after playing every xenoblade game and having seen the design for kos mos growing up I ended up looking into and really desiring to want to play and understand the game. But I think that little message about expressing ideas and how failure defines us really does get me to think. And I think this video may have cleared up something I should have done so long ago. You did great and I think this game and this video should get more views.
Xenosaga is one of a kind, it would be lovely to see another adventure of the characters
Just beat it and just thinking about it makes me emotional. I love how deeply flawed it is. I hate the activity of constant nitpicking of stupid shit or placing value on how conventionally "good" media is. Consumption is consumption all the same, and it doesn't change if you're reading an amazing book or playing a videogame. Xenosaga is the most shockingly human videogame series ever put to disc. Writing in videogames can suffer often, especially jrpgs which are privy to overly cordial speech and mistranslations up the ass. But beneath the sci-fi and jungian psychology and religious references is a group of fucked up people during crisis that just want a shot to change. And thats all of us
Excellent video!
I also appreciate what you said Re: Kevin.
People tend to forget that Kevin is genuinely abusive when figuring The Shion Situation. We are shown a much older man who is *Her Boss* then entering a relationship with her with explicitly mentioned ulterior motives. She couldnt have been what?? 18 when they started dating if they were suddenly in possible marriage territory at ~20? Abuse really messes with your head, especially so when you are already hurting and they know that. So many people do indeed go back to their abusers because the highs of the honeymoon stage are so heady- especially when that person already has difficulty feeling alright due to past trauma.
We are shown a girl with severe chronic trauma, who just wants things to stop hurting already. When you are constantly put into the horrors you hit survival mode and things that you would never do suddenly seem like good ideas because they help you survive.
Chronic trauma gives you emotional disregulation too. The very real effects of trauma are a lot uglier in most people than many want to see. You make bad choices, you are angry and scared all the time, you drive people away and isolate yourself, you lash out. NOt everyone is a Perfect Survivor and I really appreciate Shion for being a dead ringer for complex ptsd with strong emotional abuse focus, because like... they really nailed it. I see so many behaviors Shion does, even in the first episode and wince because you can trace it back to a trauma thing.
She alternates between being aggressive-angry and flinchy appeasement gestures a lot and yeah. Yeah thats right.
I think an additional facet in the Shion going back to Kevin thing is that honestly, as someone with chronic trauma and a 'smooth things over with other people compulsively' reflex, the way she does it and tries to get the party to stand down reads like her trying to protect the party. She knows Kevin is bad news, but Kevin is also the source of so much of her joy that its hard to give him up. Its hard to see him as bad because of that. She sees the party is going to be hurt by Kevin and does the only thing she can do. She tries to play peacemaker between an abuser and the people she doesnt want him to hurt.
No idea if it was intentional or not, but that is for sure also wildly realistic of a thing to do.
I really think Shion is an incredibly realistically written character and yeah, maybe not relatable or palatable for the masses who get upset and scared when characters are realistically mentally ill, but I thought she was fantastic. I feel seen and heard in Shion and her struggles against the onslaught of horror she keeps having to go through and revisit, with the way her happy ending is 'the future will be better and there is still hope here at the end of this ordeal' rather than a traditional 'everything is better now' and yes, even in her negative character traits and maldaptive coping skills.
Kevin's 'redemption' was piss though lol, super agree with that. No real remorse for how he hurt Shion. Ick.The whole thing feels rushed, and its likely he wasnt meant to have a redemption but didnt have another way to figure him into what they had left to do.
#Kevinwasright
Like everyone else, I was shocked by Shion's betrayal. I was even upset. But then I remembered all of the *SHIT* she has had to deal with in her young life. There are many characters from across fiction that I like but very few do I hold up as an example of "this is how you do depth correctly."
Thank you Silver, for getting it.
I think that he only saved the party at the end because Kevin was personally pissed off at Wilhelm and wanted to "protect" Shion out of his obssession with her but for no true altruism.
Looking this quick recap, i noticed how Xenosaga 3 is similar to Xenoblade 3.
People says that Xenoblade 3 is Xenogears, but look how many similarities between XS and XB:
- Moebius are a retelling of Testments: people who sold themselves post life for great power and immortality, even though being forever a servant of a kind of Devil.
- Endless Now is another version of the Eternal Recurrence
- The main cast fight against the perpetuous cycle, hoping for a better future
- in that sense, then Z is Willhem
- Both end without the actual conclusion: humanity prevents the eternal cycle, but we never know if they succeed in achieve the new future.
It's been almost 12 years since I played through the trilogy and after watching this, I want to go back and revisit them. Awesome video!
Great video! I recently replayed the the trilogy (after finishing Xenoblade 3 + future redeemed). Considering certain revelations it will be interesting to see what stories Takahashi decides to work on next.
The kiseki saga has enjoyed the patience this project needed but couldnt have.
My goodness what a compelling documentary!
Xenosaga 3 : Eternal occurrence...
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 : Endless Now..
Takahashi and Saga seem like the classic "starving artist" paradigm to me. They have a vision so much better, so much grander than what fits within a reality driven by commercial success, and they struggle within those confines. I have connected with their stories and characters on deep levels, and even though I know it's a fraction of what they meant, their heart still comes through. Anyway, thank you for this great video.
Here’s the problem mismanagement. You can have a grand vision but you don’t have the resources to make it. You need to bring it down. Because Vision means nothing when the product suffers due to it. The best use what they have to build great things. And it’s something that the blade games are proof of.
Someone else already said this but it’s an important thing to learn
“Respect your limitations”
@@rexthewolf3149
The change in management is actually the main reason why Xenoblade 1 came out as consistently great as it did, and why Monolith Soft became so efficient after the acquisition by Nintendo. Before that, Takahashi was just running wild with ideas and didn't know where to put his eggs, which is why both Gears and Saga came out as ambitiously flawed as they did. But when starting work on Xenoblade 1, late Satoru Iwata noticed that this kind of management is doomed to repeat the same mistakes so the team was given advice on how projects for the first-party titles are run (they didn't even begin the project with a working prototype) and that support allowed the team to better realise their ideas in a timelier fashion.
Of course it's Monolith Soft so they still tend to get overambitious (especially now juggling between so many projects) but you can tell they are trying to keep the lessons of Gears and Saga in mind.
Funny how i start with vol 2, thinking that its one of the best rpg i've played. Then saw peoples review decade later. But my though still the same
Always felt that Episode 3 was a kind of dialogue or counter against Nietzsches idea of not wanting things to be different. To be content. At the end Shion says we must try to change the things around us.
Anyone here after Future Redeemed?
Damn that Future really was redeemed
My first thought was that I need to rewatch this video
Love this video, big fan of the series love how you broke down everything I felt about it perfectly with new information to lull me to sleep. You gave me closure 😌
Watched just a few minutes and could already realize good things would come. Stopped because I haven't beat xenogears yet, but I'll sure comeback when I do, but good job beforehand, the coment section says it all
Watching this bit by bit and I love it. Thank you ❤️
Merry Christmas and Happy New year everyone 😁
Really deep thoughts and a nice video. So happy that we still remember that masterpiece))
I really enjoyed your analysis of the series and I hope to see more stuff like this from you in the future.
I'll come back to this once I've finished the third game finally. It's taken 15 or so years but finally beat the first game after I saw my brother play it when I was really young and remembering the opening on the woglinde and the fight against margulus in the first game. But I never knew the title and I did eventually get copies of all 3 games but they were not in great condition and and my PS2 was rather old. Xeno 1 cutscenes would crash every time. Which sucks cause I love the cutscenes in the game. And 2 it got really glitchy in the encephalon dive I tried to play 3 just to see if I could but the game would never go past the first dungeon.
Finally got em all working through methods. And 1 is as good if not better then I remember. 2 is pretty wildly flawed in areas but the action choreography etc and the story telling is still as good if not a bit better as I did tear up and few times.
I'm kind of scared to finally finish the franchise finally after 15 years. But I think it's finally time.
great vid! rare to see Saga content these days
Thank you! The time felt right to dive into the series again. I definitely wish there was more conversation around this series!
For me the Director and his wife's team suffered from Overeaching and trying to deliver too much. Its a sadly repeating pattern up until the Blade series. I mean the Xenogears and Xenasaga games practically rival if not surpass Evangelion in it's Biblical reference material. I've never played the Xenoblade series but i hope to one day try them
I highly recommend it!
Xenoblade tries to be a more accessible and simplified version of the stories and Themes present in Xenogears and Xenosaga. That might make it feel a bit disappointing for long-time Fans of the Xeno series but for people like me who started with the Blade series it makes us understand appreciate the Themes a lot better. Not to mention that it makes each entry very different due to trying a different story approach
Xenosaga fans, unite! Stoked to see the next piece you do. Thanks for your work bringing this to life.
I just replayed Mass Effect (Legendary Ed Trilogy) and as I sat watching the credits, feeling that hollow feeling games used to give us when the credits rolled and we didnt know what to do with ourselves after 200 hours of immersion, I thought of Xenosaga. The two series' have a TON of the same themes and ideas. And I thought about how it was the first series that made me feel that. Sitting and watching the credits, just a teenager, sobbing in my bedroom because the endings of each game were so touching and mind bending, and when theyre over and theres no more installments to come, they just leave a void.
Xenosaga was my obsession as a teen. I bought the first one on a whim because the Microplay store was out of Kingdom Hearts copies. I was only 12. These games shaped me, gave me early onset existential crisis, and I loved every minute of it and will never forget it.
As an artist and also a perfectionist, the idea of failure and self criticism is more than familiar to me, but, its funny, as a consumer, I could never ever call Xenosaga a failure.
I'll admit, my biggest let down of this series was that it didn't live up to its rumored secret story: that of being the sequel/ prequel to my favorite game ever xenogears
My first experience was with Xenogears, and then fast forward to that god tier Xenosaga 2 intro, I got mesmerized ever since
Wait... Someone on RUclips that actually gets Shion's betrayal in Ep III? They understand it instead of hurling abuse at a young woman that carries _ALL_ the PTSD? May wonders never cease. Good video.
A bit late to the party but just finished Xenogears and the Xenosaga series. While Xenogears was probably my favorite it's clear how much effort and passion went into the story and world building. Recently I started Xenoblade Definitive Editon, and I'll be brutally honest, the story is great but doesn't quite scratch the same story itch as Xenogears and Xenosaga. However, the modernization of the systems and gameplay make it a bit easier to recommend and a bit less of a jagged experience as I am not going back and forth through wikis to figure out what I need to do and where I need to go to continue the game. In the end though I'm very happy I took the time to play all the Monolisoft games before reaching Xenoblade.
If your game is a flop the producers will put restrictions on you by cutting the budget and time for the sequels. If your game is successful the producers will put restrictions on you by demanding more of the same formula, nudging you towards the direction the fans liked about the first game instead of the direction you want to explore, and even though you're given all the time and money you need you're practically limited on creative control all the same. At least that's how it feels nowadays, 20+ years ago I'd probably agree that creative freedom was more valued and encouraged as long as game directors were able to satisfy their producers with good sales.
This is a fantastic video! Probably the best one I saw and not only about Xenosaga, but the Xeno series in general.
I was soo disappointed to see that it's your only video. But I guess that means that there's just more to come in the future... like, "Maybe tomorrow" :)
Please go on! +1 subscriber will be here to not miss it.
Thank you!
An hourlong video essay on Xenosaga? I didn't even know much I needed this tonight. Take my like and subscribe!
I played Xenogears, all three Xenosaga games, and watched the Xenosaga anime, but it was only the Xenosaga Episode I game that I could ever bear to replay. Because the worldbuilding was so hard for me to follow by Episode III (and it's been over a decade), I watched this video and thought, "THAT'S what happened by the end...?"
God I wish Xenosaga could become more someway somehow I really like the characters and themes KOS-MOS in particular really struck me as a child and she stayed in my mind for a long time. I'll imagine I'll always be a Xeno fan at this rate.
Another thing about Cherenkov, he acts as a foil to Shion in the beach of nothingness hinting at her illness. Way before it gets revealed in episode 3
Ey, this video is pwetty gwud
Sorry also wanted to say about Kevin he did it out of immense guilt. Wilhelm is in a way the manifestation of not believing in humanity, it symbolizes that while Kevin made a deal with the devil he always believed in man. He says as much in a flashback in episode 2 and I think he means It as he loved his family he lost as a child. I'm sure this much is true. He had just as much trauma as Shion only he definitely did things that were out of line and I think he crossed many lines as well.
I never picked any of these titles up because I was upset that they canned any hope of future Xeno(gear) entries in favor of the FF franchise.
I love this video 😢 And Wilhelm really did say some great stuff.
As non-native english speakers, me and my brother would compete saying fast without mistake "Who would've thought that Miyuki's invention will come in handy.". This to us is a tongue twister.
Meanwhile we never got these games in EU except for Episode 2 (????)
I don’t know why this video didn’t get more views-it’s very well written and put together!
This video was really awesome! It brought back so many memories and a new angle on a series I love and think about often. Really well done!
Love the video, im a new subscriber because of it, but you gotta figure the audio out a little man. It was ringing so much i was worries i was having tinnitus at some points.
Thanks for the sub and the feedback! Audio's an area I've been attempting to improve on, so hopefully you'll stick with me!
Xenogears is one of my regrets in my life, i felt (and always feels) an ache everytime i remember that game such a great story and gameplay (back in the day) yet i was frustrated by the cd 2 condition.
I always hope that there'll be Xenogears remake as intended (which kinda impossible) before the end of my life. Until then i would always felt an ache everytime i saw something reminded of that game lol.
Xenosaga II was rough in so many ways outside of the change in staff. They changed composers, they changed artstyle, they changed gameplay. An experienced producer should have shut down some of these ideas while they were still on the whiteboard. The localization drove this home, with half of the cast changing, and with a script that had basic English grammar errors left in. The fact that we even GOT a Xenosaga III was a miracle.
Interesting video. Some constructive criticism if your interested: I felt the point about failure could have been weaved more within the video. My takeaway was that it was most relevant to the production of the games and the trilogy's ending, but if failure was a more concurrent theme throughout the games it didn't quite come across, at least to me. Essentially a lot of time was spent reviewing characters and story that didn't seem to contribute to the thesis. As a result the video serves a bit better as a documentary style overview of the trilogy and its development, rather then a concise essay about its themes. Of course, I get the feeling you wanted to do a bit of both anyway, and you tie it together very nicely at the end. An enjoyable watch for someone who didn't know much about the series and left me curious to check it out myself some time.
Hey there-I appreciate the feedback! I’m always trying to improve on my craft, so I’ll be more mindful going forward of making sure my narrative is servicing the thesis, though I’m sure it’ll take plenty of trial and error haha. Either way, thanks for taking the time to leave your thoughts!
My main take away from Xeno as a creative endevour is respect your limitations. It's great to dream big, but if you are constantly over-reach and can't make effective use of your available resources, you're gonna fail.
That’s kind of what blade is. It started out limited in story and very gameplay focused but as it goes on its been bringing back more elements from saga and especially gears
Great video man. In my videos I could never reach the same level of depth that you did in this video. While I veiw the 3 games more though the lens of gameplay, i understand those who view it much more for the insanly deep story these 3 (5 if we included Pied Piper and Missing Year) games have to offer. Wish you the best in gorwing your channal.
Tbh i don't like shion looks from ep1. So don't play any of em.
Xeanogears was a masterpiece
I remember playing this game and being blown away by it lol
this series was so deep and complex its a shame it wasn’t more successful. It is definitely one of my favorite jrpgs of thr PS2 era. I was in middle school when it was released but watching your videos made me realize how many good rpgs existed in the early 2000s vs now. The genre has really changed so much and not in the best direction.
This was far more in-depth look into the series than most of the videos i've seen on this series. Well done!