Xenosaga is somehow one of my favorite series of all time, and at the same time, the most egregious example of missed potential I've ever seen. Third one is actually my favorite of the trilogy, Shion really steps up and I love it.
By the way Kbash after a long journey with the lengthy XenoSaga how about taking a break and enjoying a little series of short simple rpgs in the definitely not 300h combination of 10 interconnected games that is The legend of heroes Trails series
Despite the setbacks of 2, I enjoyed 2 the most for the combat. I did enjoy 3 more because of polish tho, and the story was somehow more digestible than 1 and 2 (even tho it was the end of the trilogy) I think because there was a iirc a recap menu where you could read everything that happened thus far
Xenosaga feels like a sci fi tv show that got cancelled before it got to truly say what it’s all about. But i feel this was an important learning experience for Takahashi. His biggest weakness as a game dev was his lack of planning and understanding the scope of his ambitions. Every game will have cut content, there’s no avoiding that but the early Xeno games have huge, revelatory story content cut from the final products that it will always leave us wondering what could have been. The Xenoblade games mostly avoid those issues and can tell long complex narratives with all it’s intentions. Xenosaga’s ending is very meta when you look at it as a mouth piece of the development team to always keep trying no matter how hopeless things can feel at times.
Seeing Xenosaga 3‘s ending after Future Redeemed hits even harder. chaos was correct. As long as people believe in it, they will return. I really hope Takahashi can finally finish what he wanted so many years ago
@@therealjaystone2344 I mean, Namco is credited in Xenoblade 3 and they allowed Monolith Soft to use KOS-MOS and other Xenosaga related content multiple times trough out the years. Heck, KOS-MOS literally appeared on official Monolith Soft artworks years after they were bought by Nintendo
I loved the video, but I do have one small nit to pick. Spoilers for those who haven't played the games: Your analysis of Xenosaga 3's themes fell a bit short, in my opinion. Yes, Kosmos, Shion, and chaos are meant to be these super important people who enact change, and they do a lot of the work. But they still would have failed...if not for Allen. He is the most insignificant, ordinary, and lowly character in the series, but he saves Shion from making a mistake she'll regret. He saved her soul by speaking up and refusing to budge in his selfless love for Shion, and that is what gave her the will to act against Eternal Recurrence, convincing Kosmos to do the same. The smallest ripple turned into a wave to affect the universe.
@XanderVJ I mean... yes, but even upon first experiencing it, Allen's last stand was instantly one of my favorite moments in the series. It gives him a long-awaited purpose, it gives KOS-MOS something to emotionally react to for practically the first time ever, it throws Kevin's nihilism right back in his face, and it shows Shion that people do genuinely care for her soul and want to help her out of pure altruism and not just pity. It is satisfying on so many levels that I rewatched the moment on RUclips like half a dozen times.
I love this video and I’m glad you enjoyed Xenosaga but every lore misunderstand makes me feel so autistic lmao, anyways for clarifications sake, Cherenkov is not a cyborg who was resurrected, he was a designer child (humans genetically altered before birth) made for war, but he never got to fight in the war he was raised for and couldn’t live normally and harmed people as such he was put through personality reconditioning multiple times which were the procedures you were talking about, other notes so far is Jr is not a realian but a special type of designer child called a URTV made to fight U-DO, KOS-MOS is also not a realian she is an android, again wanna reiterate I’m really enjoying the video just wanted to point stuff out because I have a really stupid amount of knowledge in regards to Xenosaga lore, really did my homework and read the database and all that.
Yeah but that together with the little attention to the themes, developments, etc. especially in three make this video seem jaded and not engaged enough in the games, just playing them to check them off your list. It's a shame cause if anything, 3 especially wrapped things up nicer than it could haven been and in a powerful thematic way. Maybe playing 3 semi-long RPGs with dense story that requires certain commitment from the player back to back wasn't the best idea to avoid burnout and it affecting your experience.
I love this guys videos, but damn some of these points did feel like a patreon requirement. I similarly care and know way too much about this series, so some of the takes just confused me more than anything. Like the nepo baby argument with kosmos and shion reincarnating together. to me that was always just meant to show two souls clinging together throughout an uncertain future. same goes with the eternal recurrence stuff, yeah the plot point itself is brought up an hour or two before the finale, but the idea of facing and coming to terms with your past to move on from your trauma and live regardless of how terrifying that uncertainty can be is literally present throughout the entire game. so much of 3 is rushed due to development constraints, but glossing over what is there character wise, the most important part of this series in my opinion, just felt wrong
@@Chrono_X7I definitely don’t agree with a lot of the video (especially the saga 3 section) but the point of my comment wasn’t to patronize his opinion it was to correct just genuine mistakes, I think as much as he IMO misunderstood the themes, he also grasped some things I don’t see people talk about such as Saga 1’s aesthetic tying into saga’s message about corporatism and technology being used to stagnate the world, I radically disagree with a lot of his assessments of the themes and characters (especially the albedo and virgil not deserving sympathy thing) but I don’t think it was a lack of engagement but rather the game just not really fitting his tastes.
@@eribrin650I don’t agree with most of his takes either but at the end of the day it’s an opinion piece and I’m happy to see more Xenosaga discussion generally, I was more focused on correcting the misinfo, tbf as well my comment was written during the saga 1 section which is mostly positive.
I was looking in the comments to check if someone corrected him. I love the video but this is my favorite JRPG series of all time so I get a bit pedantic about the details.
So, it's mentioned a couple times that six games would've been easier as far as telling the full story... but this arc was going to be two games. The next four were planned to be other stories involving KOS-MOS, one of them being a retelling of Xenogears, and the six games overall were roughly meant to match Xenogears's six episode story outline as detailed in Perfect Works. It's reasonable to assume at least a few of the denser elements would've been spread out a bit more, but even then, maybe a little ambitious for the first project of a new studio.
Nah that's not right. It was supposed to be pairs of 2 episodes, each pair focused on a different protagonist, but still following the same characters just sitting focus. Episode 1 and 2 of xenosaga were meant to be one episode, and episode 3 tried to tell most of everything else they had planned. But it was never going to be following perfect works outline or retelling xenogears. Perfect works episodes all take place on a single planet besides the first one, and possibly the 6th one. Perfect works and the xenogears story all revolves around Fei and Elly and their reincarnations. Nothing to do with gnosis or eternal recurrence. Xenosaga is a completely new story all its own.
@@chrislennon460I think the assumption is that the problem with the gnosis causing the collapse of the universe was essentially supposed to be the equivalent of Xenogears's Day of the Gospel (the unexplained time limit Miang and the Gazel have to resurrect Deus). It's obviously not a one to one, but Xenosaga can certainly be thought of as an AU retelling of Perfect Works Episode 1
the way i see the cutscenes in each entry is this : 1. Xenosaga Eps 1 : it's as if they are starting to use the 3D graphics for cutscenes 2. Xenosaga Eps 2 : Now that they have experience and knowledge, they overused it to the point of making John Woo-esque gunfight and Wuxia-esque sword fight 3. Xenosaga Eps 3 : they found a balance between narrative and coolness
Genuinely, this overview of the Xeno series has been a joy to watch and it's a great feeling to see new blood in the community. That being said, it feels like you didn't engage with III's backhalf faithfully or with elements like Virgil's bigotry and what it's supposed to reflect on Shion's character. It isn't in your face to be edgy or offensive for the sake of being offensive. He is pointing to the main character, pointing to you, and saying that you are just as much a part of the system of oppression and dehumanization as he is. You're just not saying it out loud. You can't detract Shion from her negative qualities and her own liabilities when it comes to being an employee of Vector, a company that markets and sells living, conscious beings as merchandise, strapping bombs to them as a means of a failsafe. The scene of the church isn't supposed to be a redeeming moment for Virgil, it's supposed to be an eye opener for Shion. When the moment came down to it, she gave into the pressure and she weaponized humanoid lives. The Old Miltia events, outside of the Maria sequences, are some of the best flawed main character writing in the game and it's a bit sad to see your burnout color your view of III.
Everytime you kept saying Jr. and his brothers are realians it actually hurt. They aren't synthetic forms of life like realians, (SPOILERS) U.R.T.V.s are human clones genetically modified.
@@tisisprivate7575 SPOILERS: The XSIII database confirms they're clones of Dmitri Yuriev himself. He planned to gather data on U-DO in order to ascend to godhood, and employed biological clones of himself in combat against it to do so. This also gave him the opportunity to create a new host and survive beyond his death (Gaignun).
The Protag is Xenogears at home too. They split Citan Uzuki into two characters. CItan Uzuki's scientific mind is Shion Uzuki, while his battle prowess and swordplay are Jin Uzuki, who even looks like him.
It's hilarious to me that after all this time people are still not understanding the combat in Episode II. You don't need to stock every turn. You can aim for the enemies weakness and you have a chance to build stocks that way. You can invest in a skill that makes break bonus give you stock practically every time. I do agree that normal enemies do have a bit too much HP though.
@Watercrown86 Yeah it's all about understanding the systems. Last year I played Xenosaga 2 with a fan-made hard patch where the enemies have EVEN MORE health, and the battles still took less time than Final Fantasy 9
iirc, Xenosaga II's storyline was fully written by Takahashi and his wife, Soraya Saga, but the script was largely or completely ignored by the development team, much to both of their despair. Saga was fully ejected from story writing the trilogy during II's development.
So XB3 future connected directly references things from the saga series. It goes so far as to name drop Dimitri Yuriyev, and it's final cut scene is a direct call back to the last scene of saga with an unknown object drifting toward earth's orbit ( theorized as Kos-mos). So I can't say for sure, but it looks like one might be getting worked on.
@@EpicSteve23 What if Xenoblade and Xenosaga are set in the same universe? After all Earth disappeared following an unspecified event in the Xenosaga series, an event that could be the experiment that led to the events of Xenoblade...
As a nerd, you should appreciate this little nitpick. KOS-MOS isn't a realian. They actually mock her tech because androids are apparently old tech(after Ep I don't know what she is, but we know who she is). Junior in't a realian. he's a URTV described as a designer human. Realians are biological in part but created. Ziggy = Cyborg.
@@smashbrandiscootch719 I didn't know at the time how to get the other games, and I'm not usually one to stress about playing games out of order. First Metal Gear Solid I played was 2.
SPOILERS!: The smallest of waves did change things, we have no idea how many times they repeated the timeline, Alan changed this iteration of this consistently recurring timeline, and the person who was made fun of, and rejected without even trying multiple times changes it all
Great deep dive, very amusing! It's daunting to summarize the story in this 3 game spanning epic, I know. I did miss the info on the origin of the gnosis though, it's key to understand why Wilhelm orchestrated the entire plot. The gnosis are like unresolved souls that linger in this plane of existence instead of ascending to the higher plane. Eventually this clogs the universe and it needs a reset, hence the eternal recurrance.
I started xenosaga from the xenosaga 3 and love it really much, still love it's ending albeit knowing almost nothing about the other 2 games at the time. Chaos was one of my favorites characters to use, along side best girl Kos-mos, but the entire party is really cool to mess around to see their moves and combos.
Xenosaga 1 is a masterpiece. When the main two writers whose life work it is are replaced after the first game, there's nothing left to see. The new director Koh Arai even outright said he doesn't understand Xenosaga and will never reach Takahashi's level. It's one of the biggest production tragedies in the medium.
Played trough the entire series and thought the first one was an absolute masterpiece... Then the rest.... Happened, having 300+ jrpg under my belt now, both 2-3 was just another generic jrpg that sis nothing new.
Honestly, I never liked Xenosaga games as much as I like Xenogears and Xenoblade. As standalone games, I don't think they were near as good as a xenoblade tittle.
You've done it all! You completed all the Xeno games! All but future redeemed although it was nice to hear your thoughts, now I must hope that one day Namco will remember this series especially after Baten Kaitos is getting a remaster
There is one misconception among the fanbase, a thing everyone keeps bringing up whenever a new player picks up Xenosaga for the first time and even haters use to bash at Xenosaga for how "uncomplete" it is. And it's not true. At least not to the extend how people keep bringing it up. And that's the six episode thing. Yes, when the first pitch for Xenosaga was brought up, it was planned to be six episodes. But in this draft, the story we got around Shion and KOS-MOS and life in space was only two games. Not three games what we actually got, not six games what all these people keep claiming the story was originally meant to be told in. Only two. Only the first two games of THAT Xenosaga were meant to take place in that story arc 5000 years in the future with men in space. Episodes 3 and 4 would have been a retelling of Xenogears, in other words another couple thousand years later. But instead of an alien planet, that version would have taken place on Lost Jerusalem, which doesn't sound as appealing to me, but who knows? And the final two episodes would have been something entirely different. Maybe a really early draft of what became the overarching story of Xenoblade later? I dunno. I like to think of it that way. These plans first changed when Xenosaga episode I actually went into production. It was there that Takahashi and team noticed that their plans were far too ambitious and there was actually much more story to tell in that first arc alone that two games won't be enough for it. At that point, arc two and three were dropped for now and instead Xenosaga would only concentrate on the first arc, which is the story around Shion and party. In that draft, the new length of the series would have been 5 games. And that is probably what most fans refer to when they mix it up with the original six episodes draft. But that doesn't mean that the story was cut short with three episodes either. But Ziggy's arc and Nephilim's arc were instead outsources into Pied Piper and A Missing Year. The rest of the story was squeezed into episode III, which created a perfect pacing and story experience, imo. But the end of episode III is actually the end of that story arc. There is no lost story behind that that would somehow continue that story further after it. It doesn't make any sense, because all the main threads threads were solved, the enemies defeated, the UMN gone and the mastermind behind Vector defeated. All that's left is an open end and trust into the future. I think that was the perfect ending to such an ambitious project and it can lead into anything that came after. So it's just perfect.
@LunaP1 oh I'm sure. I played about 10 hours into Xenosaga as a teen/pre-teen. But never finished it unfortunately. Still holding out for a remaster or port, but I'll emulate it eventually
About the biblical stuff. Xenosaga takes inspiration mostly from Gnostic Christianity. Which is actually more in line with what saga does with its biblical references. It's actually a rather interesting prototype for Xenoblade Chronicles 1's ending. Just instead of Zanza, you have Wilhelm. Tho in some ways, i find Wilhelm more interesting, because he's basically the universe's creation in response to Yeshua and Mary being manifested in the lower reality.
Maybe playing the games back to back so fast is why he missed the mark while analyzing the story, specially Episode 3. Don't get me wrong, the analysis is still pretty good, but not as good as it could have been if he had paced himself better.
It should be mentioned that MOMO and chaos (kinda chaos) have the Hilbert Effect too. But I agree, the Hilbert Effect should have been an element of the gameplay
I rented the first Xenosaga game when I went on a Christmas trip with my brother, my dad, his wife and her kids to see her family in Carmel. All the kids were stuffed into this little bunk house. I hated those trips because my brother and I were always treated like we were outsiders and no one made any real effort to incorporate us into their family. One day my dad took me to a local rental store during one of these visits. My dad had gotten me a PS2 for Christmas the prior year so of course I brought it because I expected a new game or two that year. Xenosaga was on the top shelf of the game section and I was just immediately captured by it. I spent so much of my time during that Christmas visit, sitting on a little camping chair in the bunkhouse, camped in front of a 10" tube TV, just being totally ensconced into this world that I didn't understand because I was too young to comprehend it fully, but old enough to be enraptured by the visuals, the incredible music, the tone, the focus on storytelling and the combat which focused on spamming everyone's fancy special attacks as much as possible. 13 year old me, who was still in love with Digimon, Sailor Moon and Power Rangers, media that loves their canned, fancy special attacks, found the spectacle of the game extremely appealing. All the ridiculous things KBash pointed out as cringe were all the things I definitely loved at 13 and Junior was absolutely my favorite ch😂aracter because he dual wielded pistols and looked 12 (I'm pretty sure I had a crush on him? I'm still not 100% sure on that). And he was my _first_ 'old child' character so that shit hit me where it hurt. It was the only real tragedy the game portrayed that I could actually comprehend because of the visual difference between him and his brothers. My own older brother is 4 years older than me and the difference between us at the time was pretty vast so I could relate to it. Anyway, I don't have a ton of great memories from my childhood, but I have a fondness for the first game that I've carried since. I was really disappointed by 2 and kind of 'eh' on 3, but the Xenoblade games seemed to take what I loved about the first Xenosaga and made that the focus of that series, which I'm grateful for because that same fondness for the first Xenosaga I have lives on in Xenoblade. Edit: Oh boy, I didn't mean to turn this into an essay, I have posted cringe.
Nah I get it. These old games are kind of like snapshots in time. I remember I bought this when I was in college new for like 12 bucks from a sears bargain bin. I got really into the game and eventually played the entire series. Junior was my favorite character and honestly he felt more like the main character than Shion did once the first game was finished.
i love this game so much. it means so much to me. at the same time, i basically cant recommend it to most people. for so many reasons. but it is everything
I feel the same way about Drakengard and Dot Hack for similar reasons - profoundly influential to me, but so old and janky nobody would enjoy them today
@FSVR54 if you can either afford the massive fees to buy them on Disc or somehow emulate them, they're definitely worth a try. The first two hours of the first game are so slow and it doesn't really "open up" until the Ziggy session imo. But the story is clunky, the voice acting is awkward, the combat is weird, exploration is very video gamey and requires tons of backtracking and grinding. It's definitely the first game of a new series from a long-time overambitious director. It could have used two more passes in the script and another year of testing the combat / leveling system to make it more fun. But if you can overcome these problems and others Kbash's video talked about, I think they're legitimately novel experiences
Jr's adult form was planned for II episode, but was scrapped when Takahashi and his wife got the boot. He was basically meant as an expanded Emeralda it seems
I've always adored and admired the Xenosaga series so to see you get to do a video on it now is absolutely awesome! The more that this series is talked about the better! And I've also always thought you deserved so many more subs given your efforts of making these videos and the quality of the content.
I like your commentary on how the ties to religious figures interferes with a characters importance. If you make it so that they’re a reincarnation to someone like Mary or connected to Mary, then your development of the present character is going to come off as half baked. Of course, this could’ve been mitigated if all the characters properly carried their own weight and equal importance across the story as a whole without that religious aspect within their genes.
It was Allen that saved the universe. Not Shions status. His ability to understand Shion after what was many, many cycles. And Shions eventual desire to want to impove her serious mental disorders. That is EXACTLY what the series has been talking about this whole time.
Dude!!! Im really liking your channel. A lot. Im 36 and Ive seen trends on RUclips from small guys becoming huge and viral and more. Youve got it. Keep going. Amd thank you for scratching my Xenosaga itch! I actually own the original NA Ps2 discs. Think its time to enjoy the story again. Keep it up!!!
Feel like ignoring Allen's moment in the finale is a huge disservice to the character and in a way the resolution of the story. If he didn't have that level of love for Shion that nearly killed him, she would've ended up siding with Kevin despite all his toxic and blatant manipulation. It took his selflessness in front of a bootleg Sith despite being the most useless character in the whole story to make her understand how it feels to be actually loved, not just manipulated. Yeah it's super sappy and cheesy but it's part of the necessary development of Shion as a character, not to mention this newfound resolve is what made her refuse the whole "universal reset" plan, as if Shion were manipulated by Kevin this reset would've happened.
Read up on Gnosticism. Trust me, it will completely change your perception and understanding of this story. The entire story is steeped in its symbolism, and effectively acts as a gnostic allegory. Thus context key to understanding it. For instance Wilhelm is the Demiurge… God of the material world. Due to the imperfect limited nature of the material world, he is a limited and imperfect god… and thus evil. Meanwhile U-Do is his unlimited & perfect spiritual counterpart who is good. Wilhelm has been manipulating everything in the universe for Eon to oppose and destroy U-Do. I think you can understand where I’m going with this
I'm afraid I'm late to the party on this video but thank you for making this. It took me years and questionable amounts of cash to get these 3 games together but they were a big part of my teenage years. Seeing people not having forgotten about this series makes me happy.
Hilariously enough ya struck up all the prime xenosaga series memories: collecting erde kaiser in xs1, junior and albedo hijacking the game at the last 3rd, and goddamn weltall in xs3. Such good times
The conclusion to their rivalry in Episode II was emotional. Just when you think you’re free from emotional roller coaster, BAM, your heart gets ripped out!
I've been a major fan of Xenosaga, glad to see a video on it. Eventually I hope to write a novelization of the series including obscure content like Outer File and the DS-exclusive port.
Can we all please appreciate that KBash created a metaphor using a fan favorite Chrono Trigger location?! Seriously, a classic video game IS now a metaphor for other games!! I don't know what this means for reality as we know it, but I'm just so happy and proud!
When I saw this video pop up I was ecstatic because it's not often to see somebody talk about the Xenosaga games, especially not in depth now a days since it has been so long since they came out. However, I'm not sure I quite agree with all the conclusions of the video. First up, some minor nitpicks. As a lot of other commenters brought up, you call a lot of characters Realians that are not realians. For instance, Kos-Mos is a classic android. She's entirely mechanical. Rubedo Nigredo and Albedo are genetically modified human children. They're basically test tube clones of Dimitri Yuriev, but they do technically have a biological mother. Another nitpick is that the pope that is defeated in Xenosaga 2 isn't Heinlein, he's Sergius. Heinlein is Wilhelm. Now imo, I think these games (especially the first) are definitely a product of their time, a time when a game was allowed to have an audience and not necessarily appeal to the broadest group possible. As such, some of it definitely can come across as weebish, but I would say it adds to the charm. Sure, the artstyle change in 2 kind of went against this mindset, to the game's detriment of course, but everything else still oozed that 2000's JRPG soul that many games at the time had. There are times where I miss the mindset those older kind of games had. One thing I disagree with gameplay wise is the complaint about non-battle gameplay. Back then, the idea of being able to interact with the environment so much was not very common in JRPGs. Similarly, the puzzles were not a problem even back then when I played it, or at least for 1 and 3 it wasn't bad. Gameplay wise, in the first game I liked that the game offered you a large amount of customizability in how you trained your characters. You could focus entirely on stats by spending their TP on syncing a stat up to the highest value that is in the party, or you could upgrade your tech abilities to be stronger, especially letting you use them in one turn instead of 2. And the characters could learn abilities from each other as well as from equipment. If you wanted, you could try to completely min-max your playthrough to make it so the characters stats were the highest they could get, though this was in no way required. Similarly to you, I basically never used the A..G.W.S. With Xenosaga 2, it was actually my introduction to the series. I was a kid at the time and at a rental store and saw it and thought it looked interesting so I rented it and ended up actually getting into it even though I didn't really get the combat at the time. So I got Xenosaga I and after playing through and beating that some time later I did go back and could tell that Xenosaga II was an immediate step down in a lot of ways. A lot of the customization was gone, and one thing I really missed was the datalog that the first game had. Still, some things I will always enjoy about Xenosaga II. 1.) The game has some great fight scenes, both in the E.S. mechs as well as sword fights between Jin and Margulis. 2. While the background music for the areas aren't particularly, the music done by Yuki Kajiura for the cutscenes was fantastic. 3. A lot of the story moments were great. Also, in Xenosaga 2 I remember MOMO was absolutely broken for some reason. Get her stocks maxed out, break the enemy with them preferrably being in the air, and boost to her turn and have her just shoot them over and over until she runs out of stocks. Of course not every enemy is weak to this but a good portion of them are. On the flip side I remember Shion being nearly useless for most of the game, very few enemies seemed to be weak to her attacks. To be fair to the combat system in 2, a lot of people even now often don't really grasp how it works, but while even playing optimally does still mean it has slower battles than 1 and 3, taking advantage of the battle system's multipliers can help get through your average random battle much quicker. The main tip is learn analyze to find out what breaks an enemy as well as their weakness, swap out characters accordinggly and use sword element ethers to match the weakness (or use characters that have a natural element for certain weaknesses), break, then launch or knock down, and finally go to town unloading stocks,, especially with characters such as MOMO. Personally I preferred Xenosaga III the most out of the three games. Gameplay wise, it might not have been the most different but I found it's combat system simple to learn but addictive. Unlike 2's combat, the combat in 3 is actually really fun and I generally never ran from battles or cheesed them to get it over with. I also liked how pretty much all of the characters could be powerhouses. I tended to lean toward Jin or Ziggy, Chaos, and Rubedo for my party, with Shion Momo and Kosmos also seeing a lot of use depending on where I was. And for some reason, some of the things that always made me chuckle were Ziggy doing the move where he seems to snap the enemy's neck, and they slump to the ground, only to be fine the next second. Also, Momo learning Swordfish (a move that Ziggy also learns in the game) and punching enemies for a lot of physical and break damage. Some of the comments you made about the games seem a bit uncharitable. Now I'm not saying that the Xenosaga is some unrivaled masterpiece, but you make it sound like a lot of the references to religion and philosophy are just attempts to be 5deep6u. Maybe I misunderstood what your conclusion, but if I was correct, then I would say the mindset is kind of pretentious. The world building in these games are great imo. Funny enough I spent a lot of time reading the in-game encyclopedia because the history and makeup of the world in Xenosaga was just that interesting. It also helps that most of that was there for those that wanted to deep dive into the lore and backstory of the characters without it actually being required to know what is happening at any particular moment *cough* FFXIII *cough*. However, it isn't free of contradictions however. There is a great resource on the internet called ordo ab chao that compiles information from the all of the games, the X3 in-game database, and the Xenosaga Episode III Perfect guide and it lays things out things chronologically which can help those new to the series better understand the world of Xenosaga. It's not a long read either.
That first Xenosaga game was something special at the time, selling extremely well in the US and I remember getting super involved in online discussions at the time. Then we had a multi year wait for the second title and it's very mixed reception, it definitely had it's great parts but also some very low ones. And by the time the third title came out I picked it up and just kind of left in on the self where it still sits awaiting the day when I do finally set up my PS2 chill space and play all my collection in glorious CRT.
Oh? You used to visit the monolithsoft forums or whatever I take it? I miss those times. Shame you let XS3 sit, it's better than this video makes it seem. He highlights the good qualities of the entire series, and then kinda digs on the cons individually, so by the time XS3 comes along it's mostly negative sounding. Anyway I did find it weird how he complained about the boss rush at the end of xs3. I thought it was fine, I don't remember the battles taking THAT long, and well... Using momo in the 3rd game for healing, and using chaos for support, probably the 2 'slowest dps' characters, so yeah, battles will take longer I guess. Momo in the 2nd game is an absolute beast with her physical attacks of all things. Sure she can't launch or down an enemy, but get someone else to do it, and momo's burst attack spams are wild. I agree about the xs2's combat though. It's actually pretty satisfying for bosses, but for trash it reminds me of ar tonelico qoga (bad game), where you just waste time to set up so you can omgwtfbbq the enemies. Omega Quintet also has a similar style of combat too. But it's actually good in that game since it rewards you well the more you overkill enemies, so that you can get like 1200% more experience, gold, and drop rates, etc. XS3's combat is NOT like that IMO, the pacing of the combat is actually pretty perfect, if a bit on the simple side where you rarely use more than 2 or 3 best moves, but that goes for most jrpgs, especially ones of that time. X
You read too much into the bible stuff. It just meant that Chaos is eternal and like Wilhelm, he's been influencing things from behind the scene, and has done for many cycles of the universe already.
Honestly, this game probably had one of the best early examples of 3D anime-style models that feel very true to 2D anime art. I personally love the graphics in this game. Apart from that, I'd recommend playing games like this with the Japanese dub. The English just never sounds quite right
Thank you for this video, xenosaga is probably my favorite game from childhood even tho I didn't most of the story at the time. The shion fainting edits were to good, i forgot how much that actually happened
I legit couldn't tell it was the same Shion from the first game in the second game for the longest time due to how different they looked and sounded. I just figured it was a Final Fantasy Cid situation where it's a name shared by completely different characters.
Great breakdown. You broke down a lot of what I went through with this series; brilliant but falling flat simultaneously. You keep proving why you're the best boy.
I personally like Virgil. Flaws make good characters and bigotry is a big flaw. Makes you wonder what caused their point of view, what will be the arc for them, and so on. If done well, it's a great story but on the other hand when done poorly, it either defeats its own point or comes off like PSA. Either way. Thanks for checking out the xeno series. It was nice going down memory lane with my favorite series again. Hope we get more incredible titles in the future.
By the way Kbash after a long journey with the lengthy XenoSaga how about taking a break and enjoying a little series of short simple rpgs in the definitely not 300h combination of 10 interconnected games that is The legend of heroes Trails series
They were all good games for their time, but they never struck me as hard as Xenogears. Also, I was surprised that you didn't mention the optional boss fight against Id in Xenosaga 3!
Depends on where your looking, the xenoblade games are basically spiritual successors to both gears and saga, and after the DLC in blade, might even just be a flat out sequel to saga...
Gotta say... Xeno as a _universe_ was supposed to be six parts, with Xenogears as part five, and part six being Bart's rule of Aveh as humanity rebuilds. Pretty sure the problem was similar to .Hack's... that game was a half-baked mess that had no reason to be 4 games other than greed. I haven't looked into what went wrong behind the scenes with Takahashi, but it may have been the ambition of doing a 3d trilogy of RPGs with reasonable budget... I remember being kinda let down when i saw Xenosaga Episode 2. I wanted the overall Xeno plot to advance, given the timeline seen in Perfect Works.
Well originally it WAS supposed to be a 5 parter that would "explain events" leading to Xenogears on the PS1 but, Saga got reduced to a trilogy instead. At the very least, I was pleased to see references & rememberances made to Xeno's "Saga" series in Blade Chronicles 2 by making Kos-Mos a blade.
I've only played the first game so far and did I miss something or is KOS-MOS most definitely not a Realian? I also saw from comments that he called URTVs Realians? Is he just taking the word "realian" to mean anything that's not 100% normal biological human? I can't see anyone eating KOS-MOS, she's a little too cyborg-y. Don't think she has any silicon Realian flesh that'll give you DME addiction, but who knows, I havent played all of the games
You're right. I don't know why, but KBash missreads A LOT of these games world building and themes. The only explanation I can think of is that him playing all three games back to back, coming from "Xenogears" on top of that, wasn't the right approach.
Man i had Xenosaga 3 I quit it because I couldn’t beat this one boss, finally beat em just to get a boss immediately after, i got one shot n quit again indefinitely. 😂😢 it was ES LEVI!
Oof. At least it was that boss. I got my ass handed to me by the final boss thanks to its aoe that left any still alive characters vulnerable to get back hand. It took me several years to get back into playing it and I searched gamefaq for a solution. Didn't find it for the final boss but found something else that could win: The Erde Kaiser mech series. Collecting them was crazy.
Realians, Androids and Cyborgs are different things in Xenosaga. Kosmos is not a realian. Realians are fake humans, androids are robots like Kosmos and cyborgs are half human and half machine like Ziggy.
Actually in Episode 1 the swimsuit item can be equipped by almost anyone, and they get their swimsuit from that beach cutscene, minus Ziggy/KOSMOS. It wasn't a Shion exclusive, the only things really exclusive are MOMO's two secret forms, one found in the Catherdral ship on a bookshelf (only sparkles on the shelf when you have her on the field.) and beating Mintia i believe it was for the second. Or KOSMOS's F scythe from a long chain quest. It's a shame that there wasn't really any Ziggy only weapons other than his beam gun he starts with, granted he's just too slow at like 3 agi to ever want to use him over Shion, Jr, Chaos. As enjoyable as KOSMOS is in the first game she's taken from the party several times which makes investing in her not all that worthwhile. MOMO might be fast but i never really found a need for her, Shion's ethers are just so much better at healing/reviving. Transfer Medica all to JR and Chaos and you never really need any other healing spell. I will say despite long cutscenes it does have an enjoyable pace for challenge runs, on my 4th or 5th playthrough i decided to beat Great Joe at lvl 16 or 17 despite the guide saying to fight him when your around 36ish since he's lvl 65 and mintia is lvl 75. All in all I was really saddened when the 6 or 7 episode saga was cut short to only 3 episodes due to funding and rpg's not being as popular during episode 2 and 3's release.
this game is one of the rare one that used christian mythology which i find fascinating , a bit of spoiler chaos is literal jesus, im not kidding he is the immortal jesus who now work as a mechanic after he zeal his power in the zohar zion is the reincarnation of virgin marry and cosmos is robot used to host the soul of mary magdalene jesus wife , thats how cosmos was able to hold zohar full power because she is jesus wife , so the fallen angel build cosmos to fight yahwe in one of the possible future using jesus battery , what an amazing story, bravo japan bravo
1:37:15 Yeshua is also the Hebrew name (ie his proper birth name) for Jesus. Christians only refer to him as Jesus as this is the Greek version of that name, and using it would set him apart of other Yeshua’s in the Biblical text. Fun times.
I will say this theres a mechanic in the first game where u can level up your characters stats past there normal limit it makes trying to get the t points on the on the slot machine more worth it but its not necessary but its fun to make shit insanely powerful and makes u able to max any stat u want even past the limit on any character
As a Xeno-series fan that did enjoy saga a bit and as a Christian myself, i do think that Xenosaga 1-3 are the overall weakest entries in the Xeno-series. The main reason being, that gears/blade simply do a better job on the the majority of the same topics saga tries to do, as stated in this series retrospective and cutting the narrative down from 6-3 games did not help. ;\ Not to mention that most of the Christian terms/references in Sagas are no more than surface level, that do not match the Bible in usage or context. One example being that the red dragon is Satan himself (Revelation 20:2), which does not really match Rubedo too well, save for having a 666 mark on him, Although that is something not even exclusive to Satan himself , based on the mark the Bible states that will be given to everyone inside their hand or forehead, needed in order to buy or sell in the future (Revelation 13:16-18). Another is that Mary Magdalene (a poor saved former harlot, not the being the same as Mary the Mother of Jesus, who is the other Mary mentioned in Matthew 27:61), has no mention of having any sort handmaiden/servant/help of any sort in the Bible (nor does Mary the mother of Jesus for that matter). Making the whole plot twist of Kos-Mos being Mary Madelene and Shion being her handmaid she always had as major deal, was a bit of a baffling to me when i was playing through Saga 3 at the very least. The misuse also defeats the point of adding in Christian names/terms, seeing as it only leads to devaluing any overall Christian message that would make it a better experience for Christians (seeing as it does not matching up Biblically), that can already be found in the rest of the Xeno-series (anti demiurge/the folly of man or machines trying to become as god, as a few examples). Than in it being shown as (non) Biblical-jargon terms thrown for any non Christians, and expecting anyone to know any of these terms/references at all, ultimately sours the overall narrative a bit for everyone. Of course i still think Xenosaga 1-3 is a good series with some great moments, albeit i was left a bit disappointed overall with the games myself. Even more so compared to time with playing blade 1-3 and gears (pre blade 3 dlc, which sagas slightly better in retrospect) before it. ;\ Lastly, if anyone is actually curious on what the Bible actually says (on how to get right with God, once and for all as one example, as it cant hurt to know x[) ) or on any of the verses mentioned i have mentioned here i will leave it down below. In any case, i hope everyone has a great rest of their day! ^_^ 1-All have sinned before God, in one way or another, so everyone of us is a sinner in the sight of God. Romans 3: 10+23 (KJB) 10. "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:" 23. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” 2-Thankfully God still loved us all, even as wicked sinners in his sight, enough to allow his only begotten Son Jesus Christ, to shed his own precious blood on the cross, in order to pay the full price for all the sins we have done. Romans 5:8-9+12 (KJB) 8. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." 9."Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." 12. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for all that have sinned:” Romans 6:23 (KJB) “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” 3-To be saved, you just need to confess unto God (inwardly or outwardly) genuinely, to ask for your sins to be forgiven, by accepting this freely given gift of forgiveness out of God's love for us. That gift is again, that Jesus Christ shed his blood on the cross, to pay the price for all of your sins (that is it). Romans 10:9-10+13 (KJB) 9. “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” 10."For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." 13."For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Ephesians 2:8-9 (KJB) 8."For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" 9."Not of works, lest any man should boast." John 3:15-17+36 (KJB) 15."That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." 16."For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." 17."For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” 36."He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." (Other verses mentioned) Revelation 20:2 (KJB) "And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years," Revelation 13:16-18 (KJB) 16."And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:" 17."And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." 18."Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six." Matthew 27:61 (KJB) "And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre."
Thank you for this really informative paragraph, and as a christian, thank you for putting the reference, and being one who can enjoy games (because it's kinda rare😅)
@@Kokolunaa Truthfully i do not play a lot of video games anymore since becoming a Christian. That is more so due to them being a overall time sink (Ephesians 5:15-16), and since i have found better things to do with my time (2 Timothy 2:15). A lot of the video games i did play in the past were also jrpgs, which tend to be very long to play and follow a very similar overall structure that you start to notice after a wile. Making them a bit predictable/ a bit boring to play at times (Ecclesiastes 1:9-10). Plus the quality/state of modern games as of late, leaves a lot to be desired, insofar as not having good/ interesting storytelling or even being a overall enjoyable experience worth sinking time into (microtransactions / battle passes galore in most cases). Which leads me to go back to play old gamecube/ps2 era games or series from that era on modern systems that i enjoyed in the past, when i do play them. So unless something like a new Xeno-series game comes out (likely within the next 5 years most, thankfully) or a something like Metroid prime 4 ( most likely coming out after the heat death of the universe, sadly x[) ), i think i am good on video games for a wile. (Verses cited for context) Ephesians 5:15-16 (KJB) 15."See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise," 16."Redeeming the time, because the days are evil." 2 Timothy 2:15 (KJB) "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Ecclesiastes 1:9-10 (KJB) 9."The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun." 10."Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us."
@@crossvinburn831 oh ok, I can understand it, tho I have a lot of time to play games because well I'm still at school so yeah also I have the chance to regularly read the bible with my family. So I have a somewhat understanding of it. Also for modern gaming, it's true that most companies now try to market their games as live services with all the problem that come with it (microtransation, lack of content, basically online casinos), or release the game way too early to make a quick profit out of it. But their are still some games decent out there to enjoy (my only hope is nintendo :') ). So yeah thank you for responding to me and have a great day, God bless you
@@Kokolunaa Fair enough, i was like that too when i was still going to school and i do agree that Nintendo is one of the only good gaming companies left (sadly). On the topic of the Bible, it is the only book that the author (God) is always present with you when reading it (Hebrews 13:5). From my own experience reading it after getting saved, the more you read the Bible, the more the author will show you from it and no one knows everything from it, as we only know what God chooses to reveal to us through it (1 Corinthians 2:9-11 ). Having a general grasp on the doctrine through reading it, is also profitable to us (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Especially when not reading the Bible, tends to lead away from us knowing the great comfort from God's own promises towards us (Titus 1:2-3), that can be seen throughout his wonderful word (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, Hebrews 13:5-6, 1 John 5:10-13). In any case i hope you have a wonderful day yourself and God bless you as well! :) (Again, all scripture mentioned is listed below for context) 1 Corinthians 2:9-11 (KJB) 9."But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." 10."But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." 11."For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (KJB) 16."All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:" 17."That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." Titus 1:2-3 (KJB) 2."In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;" 3."But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;" 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 (KJB) 13."But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." 14."For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." 15."For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep." 16."For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:" 17."Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Hebrews 13:5 -6 (KJB) 5."Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." 6."So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me." 1 John 5:10-13 (KJB) 10."He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son." 11."And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." 12."He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." 13."These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."
That third game is really a looker. High quality PS2 aesthetic.
The original hardware is better than most people remember, too. 480p with component or RGB cables is nice.
so gorgeous!
Xenosaga is somehow one of my favorite series of all time, and at the same time, the most egregious example of missed potential I've ever seen. Third one is actually my favorite of the trilogy, Shion really steps up and I love it.
By the way Kbash after a long journey with the lengthy XenoSaga how about taking a break and enjoying a little series of short simple rpgs in the definitely not 300h combination of 10 interconnected games that is The legend of heroes Trails series
Oh my God, remember having a breakdown when during the T-Elos fight instead of hype battle final meeting music motherfucking Hepatica plays? 😢😢😢😢😢
Blame managerial decisions. It was originally intended to be 6 games long, but the publishers said no, so the director had to cut it down.
Despite the setbacks of 2, I enjoyed 2 the most for the combat. I did enjoy 3 more because of polish tho, and the story was somehow more digestible than 1 and 2 (even tho it was the end of the trilogy) I think because there was a iirc a recap menu where you could read everything that happened thus far
Xenosaga feels like a sci fi tv show that got cancelled before it got to truly say what it’s all about. But i feel this was an important learning experience for Takahashi. His biggest weakness as a game dev was his lack of planning and understanding the scope of his ambitions. Every game will have cut content, there’s no avoiding that but the early Xeno games have huge, revelatory story content cut from the final products that it will always leave us wondering what could have been. The Xenoblade games mostly avoid those issues and can tell long complex narratives with all it’s intentions. Xenosaga’s ending is very meta when you look at it as a mouth piece of the development team to always keep trying no matter how hopeless things can feel at times.
Seeing Xenosaga 3‘s ending after Future Redeemed hits even harder. chaos was correct. As long as people believe in it, they will return.
I really hope Takahashi can finally finish what he wanted so many years ago
@@boredgoddesstori6635Bandai owns the property of saga so I doubt monolith will remake the games again
@@therealjaystone2344 I mean, Namco is credited in Xenoblade 3 and they allowed Monolith Soft to use KOS-MOS and other Xenosaga related content multiple times trough out the years. Heck, KOS-MOS literally appeared on official Monolith Soft artworks years after they were bought by Nintendo
I loved the video, but I do have one small nit to pick. Spoilers for those who haven't played the games:
Your analysis of Xenosaga 3's themes fell a bit short, in my opinion. Yes, Kosmos, Shion, and chaos are meant to be these super important people who enact change, and they do a lot of the work. But they still would have failed...if not for Allen. He is the most insignificant, ordinary, and lowly character in the series, but he saves Shion from making a mistake she'll regret. He saved her soul by speaking up and refusing to budge in his selfless love for Shion, and that is what gave her the will to act against Eternal Recurrence, convincing Kosmos to do the same. The smallest ripple turned into a wave to affect the universe.
Well, someone has seen TJTheEmperor's analysis.
Hey, I'm not complaining, that's a very good analysis, but still.
@XanderVJ I mean... yes, but even upon first experiencing it, Allen's last stand was instantly one of my favorite moments in the series. It gives him a long-awaited purpose, it gives KOS-MOS something to emotionally react to for practically the first time ever, it throws Kevin's nihilism right back in his face, and it shows Shion that people do genuinely care for her soul and want to help her out of pure altruism and not just pity. It is satisfying on so many levels that I rewatched the moment on RUclips like half a dozen times.
@@XanderVJThanks friend
LETS GO ALLEN THE KEVIN SHREDDER, LOVED THAT SHIT I WAS HYPED THE FUCK OUT WHEN HE GOT HIS MOMENT
Can't wait to listen to the latest Kbash breakdown while on my shift later
I've been listening to hour long playlists of music and you're telling me I could just be binging kbash squawks?! Yes
Great for those lonely slow mornings at the job.
It gets me through life lbs
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who feels this way kbash feels like an older bother you wanna kick it with all the time.
My work day just got a lot better. At least for the next two hours
I love this video and I’m glad you enjoyed Xenosaga but every lore misunderstand makes me feel so autistic lmao, anyways for clarifications sake, Cherenkov is not a cyborg who was resurrected, he was a designer child (humans genetically altered before birth) made for war, but he never got to fight in the war he was raised for and couldn’t live normally and harmed people as such he was put through personality reconditioning multiple times which were the procedures you were talking about, other notes so far is Jr is not a realian but a special type of designer child called a URTV made to fight U-DO, KOS-MOS is also not a realian she is an android, again wanna reiterate I’m really enjoying the video just wanted to point stuff out because I have a really stupid amount of knowledge in regards to Xenosaga lore, really did my homework and read the database and all that.
Yeah but that together with the little attention to the themes, developments, etc. especially in three make this video seem jaded and not engaged enough in the games, just playing them to check them off your list. It's a shame cause if anything, 3 especially wrapped things up nicer than it could haven been and in a powerful thematic way. Maybe playing 3 semi-long RPGs with dense story that requires certain commitment from the player back to back wasn't the best idea to avoid burnout and it affecting your experience.
I love this guys videos, but damn some of these points did feel like a patreon requirement. I similarly care and know way too much about this series, so some of the takes just confused me more than anything. Like the nepo baby argument with kosmos and shion reincarnating together. to me that was always just meant to show two souls clinging together throughout an uncertain future. same goes with the eternal recurrence stuff, yeah the plot point itself is brought up an hour or two before the finale, but the idea of facing and coming to terms with your past to move on from your trauma and live regardless of how terrifying that uncertainty can be is literally present throughout the entire game. so much of 3 is rushed due to development constraints, but glossing over what is there character wise, the most important part of this series in my opinion, just felt wrong
@@Chrono_X7I definitely don’t agree with a lot of the video (especially the saga 3 section) but the point of my comment wasn’t to patronize his opinion it was to correct just genuine mistakes, I think as much as he IMO misunderstood the themes, he also grasped some things I don’t see people talk about such as Saga 1’s aesthetic tying into saga’s message about corporatism and technology being used to stagnate the world, I radically disagree with a lot of his assessments of the themes and characters (especially the albedo and virgil not deserving sympathy thing) but I don’t think it was a lack of engagement but rather the game just not really fitting his tastes.
@@eribrin650I don’t agree with most of his takes either but at the end of the day it’s an opinion piece and I’m happy to see more Xenosaga discussion generally, I was more focused on correcting the misinfo, tbf as well my comment was written during the saga 1 section which is mostly positive.
I was looking in the comments to check if someone corrected him. I love the video but this is my favorite JRPG series of all time so I get a bit pedantic about the details.
So, it's mentioned a couple times that six games would've been easier as far as telling the full story... but this arc was going to be two games. The next four were planned to be other stories involving KOS-MOS, one of them being a retelling of Xenogears, and the six games overall were roughly meant to match Xenogears's six episode story outline as detailed in Perfect Works. It's reasonable to assume at least a few of the denser elements would've been spread out a bit more, but even then, maybe a little ambitious for the first project of a new studio.
Nah that's not right. It was supposed to be pairs of 2 episodes, each pair focused on a different protagonist, but still following the same characters just sitting focus. Episode 1 and 2 of xenosaga were meant to be one episode, and episode 3 tried to tell most of everything else they had planned. But it was never going to be following perfect works outline or retelling xenogears. Perfect works episodes all take place on a single planet besides the first one, and possibly the 6th one. Perfect works and the xenogears story all revolves around Fei and Elly and their reincarnations. Nothing to do with gnosis or eternal recurrence. Xenosaga is a completely new story all its own.
@@chrislennon460I think the assumption is that the problem with the gnosis causing the collapse of the universe was essentially supposed to be the equivalent of Xenogears's Day of the Gospel (the unexplained time limit Miang and the Gazel have to resurrect Deus). It's obviously not a one to one, but Xenosaga can certainly be thought of as an AU retelling of Perfect Works Episode 1
"OH God....Please don't crush my pelvis, PLEASE DON'T CRUSH MY PELVIS"
Already starting off strong, I see 😆
the way i see the cutscenes in each entry is this :
1. Xenosaga Eps 1 : it's as if they are starting to use the 3D graphics for cutscenes
2. Xenosaga Eps 2 : Now that they have experience and knowledge, they overused it to the point of making John Woo-esque gunfight and Wuxia-esque sword fight
3. Xenosaga Eps 3 : they found a balance between narrative and coolness
You dont have to imagine Jin in the first game, they actually show him in an early cutscene when Shion is talking to him via hologram screen
And you see him during the credits sequence
You had me at "wealthy realians commit more crimes than poor humans"
Genuinely, this overview of the Xeno series has been a joy to watch and it's a great feeling to see new blood in the community. That being said, it feels like you didn't engage with III's backhalf faithfully or with elements like Virgil's bigotry and what it's supposed to reflect on Shion's character. It isn't in your face to be edgy or offensive for the sake of being offensive. He is pointing to the main character, pointing to you, and saying that you are just as much a part of the system of oppression and dehumanization as he is.
You're just not saying it out loud. You can't detract Shion from her negative qualities and her own liabilities when it comes to being an employee of Vector, a company that markets and sells living, conscious beings as merchandise, strapping bombs to them as a means of a failsafe.
The scene of the church isn't supposed to be a redeeming moment for Virgil, it's supposed to be an eye opener for Shion. When the moment came down to it, she gave into the pressure and she weaponized humanoid lives.
The Old Miltia events, outside of the Maria sequences, are some of the best flawed main character writing in the game and it's a bit sad to see your burnout color your view of III.
Him also saying albedo was “redeemed” is something i just find absolutely laughable.
Everytime you kept saying Jr. and his brothers are realians it actually hurt. They aren't synthetic forms of life like realians, (SPOILERS) U.R.T.V.s are human clones genetically modified.
Yeah I thought that was pretty obvious
THIS
I forgot
It's been so long...
@@tisisprivate7575 THEY ARE?!
@@tisisprivate7575 SPOILERS:
The XSIII database confirms they're clones of Dmitri Yuriev himself. He planned to gather data on U-DO in order to ascend to godhood, and employed biological clones of himself in combat against it to do so. This also gave him the opportunity to create a new host and survive beyond his death (Gaignun).
The Protag is Xenogears at home too. They split Citan Uzuki into two characters. CItan Uzuki's scientific mind is Shion Uzuki, while his battle prowess and swordplay are Jin Uzuki, who even looks like him.
Ah, you got to it 20 mins in. Good show.
It's hilarious to me that after all this time people are still not understanding the combat in Episode II. You don't need to stock every turn. You can aim for the enemies weakness and you have a chance to build stocks that way. You can invest in a skill that makes break bonus give you stock practically every time. I do agree that normal enemies do have a bit too much HP though.
I mean, this isn’t Megaten
Games still boring as fuck and has some of the worst dungeons in any jrpg ever
@Watercrown86 Yeah it's all about understanding the systems. Last year I played Xenosaga 2 with a fan-made hard patch where the enemies have EVEN MORE health, and the battles still took less time than Final Fantasy 9
iirc, Xenosaga II's storyline was fully written by Takahashi and his wife, Soraya Saga, but the script was largely or completely ignored by the development team, much to both of their despair. Saga was fully ejected from story writing the trilogy during II's development.
I wish they'd make a rerelease of this series. An HD trilogy type of thing.
There was going to be one back during the PS3 era. It was canned by Namco for a presumed lack of interest of the public.
So XB3 future connected directly references things from the saga series. It goes so far as to name drop Dimitri Yuriyev, and it's final cut scene is a direct call back to the last scene of saga with an unknown object drifting toward earth's orbit ( theorized as Kos-mos). So I can't say for sure, but it looks like one might be getting worked on.
With the success of Xenoblade, and the hype surrounding the potential future of the series, if it's ever going to happen now seems like the time.
@@EpicSteve23 What if Xenoblade and Xenosaga are set in the same universe? After all Earth disappeared following an unspecified event in the Xenosaga series, an event that could be the experiment that led to the events of Xenoblade...
@@emanuelepolloni4002 that is actually one of the working theory going the fan base right now. It could absolutely be true
As a nerd, you should appreciate this little nitpick. KOS-MOS isn't a realian. They actually mock her tech because androids are apparently old tech(after Ep I don't know what she is, but we know who she is). Junior in't a realian. he's a URTV described as a designer human. Realians are biological in part but created. Ziggy = Cyborg.
Playing Xenosaga 3 with no context of any of the previous games was a near religious experience for me tbh
...why would you start with the third one o.O
@@smashbrandiscootch719 I didn't know at the time how to get the other games, and I'm not usually one to stress about playing games out of order. First Metal Gear Solid I played was 2.
@@DaviddeBergerac That makes sense. Sorry for sounding rude; I was a little mindblown and wasn't paying attention to how I said things.
@@smashbrandiscootch719you're good, homie
SPOILERS!:
The smallest of waves did change things, we have no idea how many times they repeated the timeline, Alan changed this iteration of this consistently recurring timeline, and the person who was made fun of, and rejected without even trying multiple times changes it all
Great deep dive, very amusing! It's daunting to summarize the story in this 3 game spanning epic, I know. I did miss the info on the origin of the gnosis though, it's key to understand why Wilhelm orchestrated the entire plot. The gnosis are like unresolved souls that linger in this plane of existence instead of ascending to the higher plane. Eventually this clogs the universe and it needs a reset, hence the eternal recurrance.
They are big weird ghosts!
I started xenosaga from the xenosaga 3 and love it really much, still love it's ending albeit knowing almost nothing about the other 2 games at the time. Chaos was one of my favorites characters to use, along side best girl Kos-mos, but the entire party is really cool to mess around to see their moves and combos.
I hate to break this too you KBash, but solving puzzles *_is_* playing the game. A part I personally love about _all_ the Xenosaga games.
Xenosaga 1 is a masterpiece. When the main two writers whose life work it is are replaced after the first game, there's nothing left to see. The new director Koh Arai even outright said he doesn't understand Xenosaga and will never reach Takahashi's level. It's one of the biggest production tragedies in the medium.
We will see a remake, one day
Absolutely agree. Xenogears is my favorite RPG of ALL TIME! The Xenosaga was and extremely hard slap in the face of fans of the first one.
Played trough the entire series and thought the first one was an absolute masterpiece... Then the rest.... Happened, having 300+ jrpg under my belt now, both 2-3 was just another generic jrpg that sis nothing new.
Honestly, I never liked Xenosaga games as much as I like Xenogears and Xenoblade. As standalone games, I don't think they were near as good as a xenoblade tittle.
You've done it all! You completed all the Xeno games! All but future redeemed although it was nice to hear your thoughts, now I must hope that one day Namco will remember this series especially after Baten Kaitos is getting a remaster
They already trademarked the IP years ago but Bandai is very careful on remaking games by the industry
There is one misconception among the fanbase, a thing everyone keeps bringing up whenever a new player picks up Xenosaga for the first time and even haters use to bash at Xenosaga for how "uncomplete" it is. And it's not true. At least not to the extend how people keep bringing it up. And that's the six episode thing.
Yes, when the first pitch for Xenosaga was brought up, it was planned to be six episodes. But in this draft, the story we got around Shion and KOS-MOS and life in space was only two games. Not three games what we actually got, not six games what all these people keep claiming the story was originally meant to be told in. Only two. Only the first two games of THAT Xenosaga were meant to take place in that story arc 5000 years in the future with men in space. Episodes 3 and 4 would have been a retelling of Xenogears, in other words another couple thousand years later. But instead of an alien planet, that version would have taken place on Lost Jerusalem, which doesn't sound as appealing to me, but who knows? And the final two episodes would have been something entirely different. Maybe a really early draft of what became the overarching story of Xenoblade later? I dunno. I like to think of it that way.
These plans first changed when Xenosaga episode I actually went into production. It was there that Takahashi and team noticed that their plans were far too ambitious and there was actually much more story to tell in that first arc alone that two games won't be enough for it. At that point, arc two and three were dropped for now and instead Xenosaga would only concentrate on the first arc, which is the story around Shion and party. In that draft, the new length of the series would have been 5 games. And that is probably what most fans refer to when they mix it up with the original six episodes draft. But that doesn't mean that the story was cut short with three episodes either. But Ziggy's arc and Nephilim's arc were instead outsources into Pied Piper and A Missing Year. The rest of the story was squeezed into episode III, which created a perfect pacing and story experience, imo. But the end of episode III is actually the end of that story arc. There is no lost story behind that that would somehow continue that story further after it. It doesn't make any sense, because all the main threads threads were solved, the enemies defeated, the UMN gone and the mastermind behind Vector defeated. All that's left is an open end and trust into the future. I think that was the perfect ending to such an ambitious project and it can lead into anything that came after. So it's just perfect.
God damn it, just as I finish Xenogears and thought I was XenoFree you're gonna make me want to play through Xenosaga.
Great game, great story, sends you on an emotional roller-coaster.
@LunaP1 oh I'm sure. I played about 10 hours into Xenosaga as a teen/pre-teen. But never finished it unfortunately. Still holding out for a remaster or port, but I'll emulate it eventually
wait until you get to Xenoblade Chronicles
@@Vanity0666ehh theyve probably played it. It's way more popular
@@thelightspeeddash6329 could be worse, they could be doing Megaten like me
About the biblical stuff. Xenosaga takes inspiration mostly from Gnostic Christianity. Which is actually more in line with what saga does with its biblical references. It's actually a rather interesting prototype for Xenoblade Chronicles 1's ending. Just instead of Zanza, you have Wilhelm. Tho in some ways, i find Wilhelm more interesting, because he's basically the universe's creation in response to Yeshua and Mary being manifested in the lower reality.
Just like xenoblade 3 with malos and pnuema being controlled by z because of the energy annihilation events destroying the universe
Wilhelm is literally the best antagonist in Xeno series lmao
How do you play these so fast?
I only played XS1. I recall it being so silent. Lots of ambient air noise.
Maybe playing the games back to back so fast is why he missed the mark while analyzing the story, specially Episode 3. Don't get me wrong, the analysis is still pretty good, but not as good as it could have been if he had paced himself better.
It should be mentioned that MOMO and chaos (kinda chaos) have the Hilbert Effect too. But I agree, the Hilbert Effect should have been an element of the gameplay
I rented the first Xenosaga game when I went on a Christmas trip with my brother, my dad, his wife and her kids to see her family in Carmel. All the kids were stuffed into this little bunk house.
I hated those trips because my brother and I were always treated like we were outsiders and no one made any real effort to incorporate us into their family.
One day my dad took me to a local rental store during one of these visits. My dad had gotten me a PS2 for Christmas the prior year so of course I brought it because I expected a new game or two that year. Xenosaga was on the top shelf of the game section and I was just immediately captured by it. I spent so much of my time during that Christmas visit, sitting on a little camping chair in the bunkhouse, camped in front of a 10" tube TV, just being totally ensconced into this world that I didn't understand because I was too young to comprehend it fully, but old enough to be enraptured by the visuals, the incredible music, the tone, the focus on storytelling and the combat which focused on spamming everyone's fancy special attacks as much as possible.
13 year old me, who was still in love with Digimon, Sailor Moon and Power Rangers, media that loves their canned, fancy special attacks, found the spectacle of the game extremely appealing. All the ridiculous things KBash pointed out as cringe were all the things I definitely loved at 13 and Junior was absolutely my favorite ch😂aracter because he dual wielded pistols and looked 12 (I'm pretty sure I had a crush on him? I'm still not 100% sure on that). And he was my _first_ 'old child' character so that shit hit me where it hurt. It was the only real tragedy the game portrayed that I could actually comprehend because of the visual difference between him and his brothers. My own older brother is 4 years older than me and the difference between us at the time was pretty vast so I could relate to it.
Anyway, I don't have a ton of great memories from my childhood, but I have a fondness for the first game that I've carried since. I was really disappointed by 2 and kind of 'eh' on 3, but the Xenoblade games seemed to take what I loved about the first Xenosaga and made that the focus of that series, which I'm grateful for because that same fondness for the first Xenosaga I have lives on in Xenoblade.
Edit: Oh boy, I didn't mean to turn this into an essay, I have posted cringe.
Nah I get it. These old games are kind of like snapshots in time. I remember I bought this when I was in college new for like 12 bucks from a sears bargain bin. I got really into the game and eventually played the entire series.
Junior was my favorite character and honestly he felt more like the main character than Shion did once the first game was finished.
If xenosaga ever gets a remake, will you be playing it?
@@therealjaystone2344 I'd buy two copies. A physical for my collection and I'd get it digitally to actually play.
The cinematic experience I've been waiting for!
i love this game so much. it means so much to me. at the same time, i basically cant recommend it to most people. for so many reasons. but it is everything
I feel the same way about Drakengard and Dot Hack for similar reasons - profoundly influential to me, but so old and janky nobody would enjoy them today
i'd like to know why because i'm curious to play it
@FSVR54 if you can either afford the massive fees to buy them on Disc or somehow emulate them, they're definitely worth a try. The first two hours of the first game are so slow and it doesn't really "open up" until the Ziggy session imo. But the story is clunky, the voice acting is awkward, the combat is weird, exploration is very video gamey and requires tons of backtracking and grinding. It's definitely the first game of a new series from a long-time overambitious director. It could have used two more passes in the script and another year of testing the combat / leveling system to make it more fun. But if you can overcome these problems and others Kbash's video talked about, I think they're legitimately novel experiences
Jr's adult form was planned for II episode, but was scrapped when Takahashi and his wife got the boot. He was basically meant as an expanded Emeralda it seems
I've always adored and admired the Xenosaga series so to see you get to do a video on it now is absolutely awesome! The more that this series is talked about the better! And I've also always thought you deserved so many more subs given your efforts of making these videos and the quality of the content.
I like your commentary on how the ties to religious figures interferes with a characters importance.
If you make it so that they’re a reincarnation to someone like Mary or connected to Mary, then your development of the present character is going to come off as half baked.
Of course, this could’ve been mitigated if all the characters properly carried their own weight and equal importance across the story as a whole without that religious aspect within their genes.
It was Allen that saved the universe. Not Shions status. His ability to understand Shion after what was many, many cycles. And Shions eventual desire to want to impove her serious mental disorders. That is EXACTLY what the series has been talking about this whole time.
The whole part about Kos-Mos being Mary still makes me feel like i'm gonna go insane and i have gone thru this whole game series like thrice
Time for a useless fact, I guess.
666 x 3 = 1998 as you can see at 1:17:38...
1998 was the year Xenogears was released in.
Dude!!! Im really liking your channel. A lot. Im 36 and Ive seen trends on RUclips from small guys becoming huge and viral and more. Youve got it. Keep going.
Amd thank you for scratching my Xenosaga itch! I actually own the original NA Ps2 discs. Think its time to enjoy the story again.
Keep it up!!!
Feel like ignoring Allen's moment in the finale is a huge disservice to the character and in a way the resolution of the story. If he didn't have that level of love for Shion that nearly killed him, she would've ended up siding with Kevin despite all his toxic and blatant manipulation. It took his selflessness in front of a bootleg Sith despite being the most useless character in the whole story to make her understand how it feels to be actually loved, not just manipulated. Yeah it's super sappy and cheesy but it's part of the necessary development of Shion as a character, not to mention this newfound resolve is what made her refuse the whole "universal reset" plan, as if Shion were manipulated by Kevin this reset would've happened.
Read up on Gnosticism. Trust me, it will completely change your perception and understanding of this story. The entire story is steeped in its symbolism, and effectively acts as a gnostic allegory. Thus context key to understanding it.
For instance Wilhelm is the Demiurge… God of the material world. Due to the imperfect limited nature of the material world, he is a limited and imperfect god… and thus evil. Meanwhile U-Do is his unlimited & perfect spiritual counterpart who is good. Wilhelm has been manipulating everything in the universe for Eon to oppose and destroy U-Do. I think you can understand where I’m going with this
I'm afraid I'm late to the party on this video but thank you for making this. It took me years and questionable amounts of cash to get these 3 games together but they were a big part of my teenage years. Seeing people not having forgotten about this series makes me happy.
JR isn’t a realian he’s a metal gear esque test tube clone baby. I found the urtvs WAY more interesting then shion and kosmos
Hilariously enough ya struck up all the prime xenosaga series memories: collecting erde kaiser in xs1, junior and albedo hijacking the game at the last 3rd, and goddamn weltall in xs3. Such good times
The conclusion to their rivalry in Episode II was emotional. Just when you think you’re free from emotional roller coaster, BAM, your heart gets ripped out!
I remember being blown away by the music and visuals of Xenosaga. I thought graphics could not get better than this. lol
I've been a major fan of Xenosaga, glad to see a video on it. Eventually I hope to write a novelization of the series including obscure content like Outer File and the DS-exclusive port.
I would love to read that when you do. I love this series but only played the games.
Should play through this series again. Really good game, so much potential.
Nice video but it’s gotta be said: Jr. isn’t a realian. He and his siblings are human clones.
I was going to comment this as well. It’s the reason Jr.’s siblings were able to grow up.
This is my first time seeing Xenosaga, I gotta say for a ps2 game it really good facial animations for some of the character models.
Xenosaga is a great series and KOS-MOS is my favorite because she's iconic!
48:35 When you know this trilogy so well that you can tell the shift from Episode 2 to Episode 3 immediately.
Can we all please appreciate that KBash created a metaphor using a fan favorite Chrono Trigger location?! Seriously, a classic video game IS now a metaphor for other games!! I don't know what this means for reality as we know it, but I'm just so happy and proud!
vro you need to chill
10:23 I didn't know they had Argonians in Xenosaga 🤔🤔🤔
>least racist Dunmer
When I saw this video pop up I was ecstatic because it's not often to see somebody talk about the Xenosaga games, especially not in depth now a days since it has been so long since they came out.
However, I'm not sure I quite agree with all the conclusions of the video.
First up, some minor nitpicks. As a lot of other commenters brought up, you call a lot of characters Realians that are not realians. For instance, Kos-Mos is a classic android. She's entirely mechanical. Rubedo Nigredo and Albedo are genetically modified human children. They're basically test tube clones of Dimitri Yuriev, but they do technically have a biological mother. Another nitpick is that the pope that is defeated in Xenosaga 2 isn't Heinlein, he's Sergius. Heinlein is Wilhelm.
Now imo, I think these games (especially the first) are definitely a product of their time, a time when a game was allowed to have an audience and not necessarily appeal to the broadest group possible. As such, some of it definitely can come across as weebish, but I would say it adds to the charm. Sure, the artstyle change in 2 kind of went against this mindset, to the game's detriment of course, but everything else still oozed that 2000's JRPG soul that many games at the time had. There are times where I miss the mindset those older kind of games had.
One thing I disagree with gameplay wise is the complaint about non-battle gameplay. Back then, the idea of being able to interact with the environment so much was not very common in JRPGs. Similarly, the puzzles were not a problem even back then when I played it, or at least for 1 and 3 it wasn't bad.
Gameplay wise, in the first game I liked that the game offered you a large amount of customizability in how you trained your characters. You could focus entirely on stats by spending their TP on syncing a stat up to the highest value that is in the party, or you could upgrade your tech abilities to be stronger, especially letting you use them in one turn instead of 2. And the characters could learn abilities from each other as well as from equipment. If you wanted, you could try to completely min-max your playthrough to make it so the characters stats were the highest they could get, though this was in no way required. Similarly to you, I basically never used the A..G.W.S.
With Xenosaga 2, it was actually my introduction to the series. I was a kid at the time and at a rental store and saw it and thought it looked interesting so I rented it and ended up actually getting into it even though I didn't really get the combat at the time. So I got Xenosaga I and after playing through and beating that some time later I did go back and could tell that Xenosaga II was an immediate step down in a lot of ways. A lot of the customization was gone, and one thing I really missed was the datalog that the first game had. Still, some things I will always enjoy about Xenosaga II. 1.) The game has some great fight scenes, both in the E.S. mechs as well as sword fights between Jin and Margulis. 2. While the background music for the areas aren't particularly, the music done by Yuki Kajiura for the cutscenes was fantastic. 3. A lot of the story moments were great. Also, in Xenosaga 2 I remember MOMO was absolutely broken for some reason. Get her stocks maxed out, break the enemy with them preferrably being in the air, and boost to her turn and have her just shoot them over and over until she runs out of stocks. Of course not every enemy is weak to this but a good portion of them are. On the flip side I remember Shion being nearly useless for most of the game, very few enemies seemed to be weak to her attacks.
To be fair to the combat system in 2, a lot of people even now often don't really grasp how it works, but while even playing optimally does still mean it has slower battles than 1 and 3, taking advantage of the battle system's multipliers can help get through your average random battle much quicker. The main tip is learn analyze to find out what breaks an enemy as well as their weakness, swap out characters accordinggly and use sword element ethers to match the weakness (or use characters that have a natural element for certain weaknesses), break, then launch or knock down, and finally go to town unloading stocks,, especially with characters such as MOMO.
Personally I preferred Xenosaga III the most out of the three games. Gameplay wise, it might not have been the most different but I found it's combat system simple to learn but addictive. Unlike 2's combat, the combat in 3 is actually really fun and I generally never ran from battles or cheesed them to get it over with. I also liked how pretty much all of the characters could be powerhouses. I tended to lean toward Jin or Ziggy, Chaos, and Rubedo for my party, with Shion Momo and Kosmos also seeing a lot of use depending on where I was. And for some reason, some of the things that always made me chuckle were Ziggy doing the move where he seems to snap the enemy's neck, and they slump to the ground, only to be fine the next second. Also, Momo learning Swordfish (a move that Ziggy also learns in the game) and punching enemies for a lot of physical and break damage.
Some of the comments you made about the games seem a bit uncharitable. Now I'm not saying that the Xenosaga is some unrivaled masterpiece, but you make it sound like a lot of the references to religion and philosophy are just attempts to be 5deep6u. Maybe I misunderstood what your conclusion, but if I was correct, then I would say the mindset is kind of pretentious.
The world building in these games are great imo. Funny enough I spent a lot of time reading the in-game encyclopedia because the history and makeup of the world in Xenosaga was just that interesting. It also helps that most of that was there for those that wanted to deep dive into the lore and backstory of the characters without it actually being required to know what is happening at any particular moment *cough* FFXIII *cough*. However, it isn't free of contradictions however. There is a great resource on the internet called ordo ab chao that compiles information from the all of the games, the X3 in-game database, and the Xenosaga Episode III Perfect guide and it lays things out things chronologically which can help those new to the series better understand the world of Xenosaga. It's not a long read either.
That first Xenosaga game was something special at the time, selling extremely well in the US and I remember getting super involved in online discussions at the time. Then we had a multi year wait for the second title and it's very mixed reception, it definitely had it's great parts but also some very low ones. And by the time the third title came out I picked it up and just kind of left in on the self where it still sits awaiting the day when I do finally set up my PS2 chill space and play all my collection in glorious CRT.
Oh? You used to visit the monolithsoft forums or whatever I take it? I miss those times. Shame you let XS3 sit, it's better than this video makes it seem. He highlights the good qualities of the entire series, and then kinda digs on the cons individually, so by the time XS3 comes along it's mostly negative sounding.
Anyway I did find it weird how he complained about the boss rush at the end of xs3. I thought it was fine, I don't remember the battles taking THAT long, and well... Using momo in the 3rd game for healing, and using chaos for support, probably the 2 'slowest dps' characters, so yeah, battles will take longer I guess.
Momo in the 2nd game is an absolute beast with her physical attacks of all things. Sure she can't launch or down an enemy, but get someone else to do it, and momo's burst attack spams are wild. I agree about the xs2's combat though. It's actually pretty satisfying for bosses, but for trash it reminds me of ar tonelico qoga (bad game), where you just waste time to set up so you can omgwtfbbq the enemies. Omega Quintet also has a similar style of combat too. But it's actually good in that game since it rewards you well the more you overkill enemies, so that you can get like 1200% more experience, gold, and drop rates, etc.
XS3's combat is NOT like that IMO, the pacing of the combat is actually pretty perfect, if a bit on the simple side where you rarely use more than 2 or 3 best moves, but that goes for most jrpgs, especially ones of that time.
X
You read too much into the bible stuff. It just meant that Chaos is eternal and like Wilhelm, he's been influencing things from behind the scene, and has done for many cycles of the universe already.
Shion gets a lot of shit from the RUclips scene in the sequel and while I get it I still think she’s one of the most underrated jrpg protags ever
She did act like a dumb bitch for most of episode 2 though.
She's too complex for typical JRPG fanboys, unfortunately
You didn't cover future redeemed.
So Xenoblade’s after this right?
Honestly, this game probably had one of the best early examples of 3D anime-style models that feel very true to 2D anime art. I personally love the graphics in this game. Apart from that, I'd recommend playing games like this with the Japanese dub. The English just never sounds quite right
Thank you for this video, xenosaga is probably my favorite game from childhood even tho I didn't most of the story at the time. The shion fainting edits were to good, i forgot how much that actually happened
I legit couldn't tell it was the same Shion from the first game in the second game for the longest time due to how different they looked and sounded. I just figured it was a Final Fantasy Cid situation where it's a name shared by completely different characters.
You’re the only one who thought that.
After finishing Future Redeemed, all I have to say is this. Nintendo and Bandai-Namco better pump out a port of these games.
Great breakdown. You broke down a lot of what I went through with this series; brilliant but falling flat simultaneously. You keep proving why you're the best boy.
"Heckin Chonker OwO megawork" at least hit me with a heads up, chucklenuts before you flashbang me with some shit like that
I personally like Virgil. Flaws make good characters and bigotry is a big flaw. Makes you wonder what caused their point of view, what will be the arc for them, and so on. If done well, it's a great story but on the other hand when done poorly, it either defeats its own point or comes off like PSA.
Either way. Thanks for checking out the xeno series. It was nice going down memory lane with my favorite series again. Hope we get more incredible titles in the future.
This still stands as some of my top favorite games, all these years later. Some of the best storytelling I've ever encountered.
By the way Kbash after a long journey with the lengthy XenoSaga how about taking a break and enjoying a little series of short simple rpgs in the definitely not 300h combination of 10 interconnected games that is The legend of heroes Trails series
This is the one I’ve been waiting for. I don’t really care about xenogears or xenoblade chronicles. Xenosaga is where my heart lies.
They were all good games for their time, but they never struck me as hard as Xenogears. Also, I was surprised that you didn't mention the optional boss fight against Id in Xenosaga 3!
Now that I've learned this was written to be a 6 part saga, I NEED a current/next gen remake.
Depends on where your looking, the xenoblade games are basically spiritual successors to both gears and saga, and after the DLC in blade, might even just be a flat out sequel to saga...
Hey Kbash, do a Okami video :)
Gotta say... Xeno as a _universe_ was supposed to be six parts, with Xenogears as part five, and part six being Bart's rule of Aveh as humanity rebuilds.
Pretty sure the problem was similar to .Hack's... that game was a half-baked mess that had no reason to be 4 games other than greed. I haven't looked into what went wrong behind the scenes with Takahashi, but it may have been the ambition of doing a 3d trilogy of RPGs with reasonable budget...
I remember being kinda let down when i saw Xenosaga Episode 2. I wanted the overall Xeno plot to advance, given the timeline seen in Perfect Works.
I literally just finished the series last night.
„It must be Fate… how ironic!“
These games remind me of Growlanser in that the character designs look like they're out of a 90s hentai.
I actually enjoyed the combat from xenosaga 2. It had a nice level difficulty curve to it. was it perfect. Heck no. Was it fun. Heck yes.
Well originally it WAS supposed to be a 5 parter that would "explain events" leading to Xenogears on the PS1 but, Saga got reduced to a trilogy instead. At the very least, I was pleased to see references & rememberances made to Xeno's "Saga" series in Blade Chronicles 2 by making Kos-Mos a blade.
I wouldn't exactly really put the words "campy" and "Xenosaga" in the same sentence.. at least not purposely.
I've only played the first game so far and did I miss something or is KOS-MOS most definitely not a Realian?
I also saw from comments that he called URTVs Realians? Is he just taking the word "realian" to mean anything that's not 100% normal biological human?
I can't see anyone eating KOS-MOS, she's a little too cyborg-y. Don't think she has any silicon Realian flesh that'll give you DME addiction, but who knows, I havent played all of the games
You're right. I don't know why, but KBash missreads A LOT of these games world building and themes.
The only explanation I can think of is that him playing all three games back to back, coming from "Xenogears" on top of that, wasn't the right approach.
Kbash Don't Say "Writ Large" Challenge - Difficulty: Impossible
Man i had Xenosaga 3 I quit it because I couldn’t beat this one boss, finally beat em just to get a boss immediately after, i got one shot n quit again indefinitely. 😂😢 it was ES LEVI!
Oof. At least it was that boss. I got my ass handed to me by the final boss thanks to its aoe that left any still alive characters vulnerable to get back hand. It took me several years to get back into playing it and I searched gamefaq for a solution. Didn't find it for the final boss but found something else that could win: The Erde Kaiser mech series. Collecting them was crazy.
Thanks goodness much younger me bought episodes 1-3 back in the day.
Realians, Androids and Cyborgs are different things in Xenosaga. Kosmos is not a realian.
Realians are fake humans, androids are robots like Kosmos and cyborgs are half human and half machine like Ziggy.
Cool. Please do an in depth review including elaborate story analysis like this for Secret of Mana. I may just kiss you repeatedly IRL if you do.
Actually in Episode 1 the swimsuit item can be equipped by almost anyone, and they get their swimsuit from that beach cutscene, minus Ziggy/KOSMOS. It wasn't a Shion exclusive, the only things really exclusive are MOMO's two secret forms, one found in the Catherdral ship on a bookshelf (only sparkles on the shelf when you have her on the field.) and beating Mintia i believe it was for the second. Or KOSMOS's F scythe from a long chain quest.
It's a shame that there wasn't really any Ziggy only weapons other than his beam gun he starts with, granted he's just too slow at like 3 agi to ever want to use him over Shion, Jr, Chaos. As enjoyable as KOSMOS is in the first game she's taken from the party several times which makes investing in her not all that worthwhile. MOMO might be fast but i never really found a need for her, Shion's ethers are just so much better at healing/reviving. Transfer Medica all to JR and Chaos and you never really need any other healing spell.
I will say despite long cutscenes it does have an enjoyable pace for challenge runs, on my 4th or 5th playthrough i decided to beat Great Joe at lvl 16 or 17 despite the guide saying to fight him when your around 36ish since he's lvl 65 and mintia is lvl 75. All in all I was really saddened when the 6 or 7 episode saga was cut short to only 3 episodes due to funding and rpg's not being as popular during episode 2 and 3's release.
You could have played other games. It's time to move on, grandpa. :D
jeez you didn't get erde kaiser?
soooo, I'm guessing you did NOT beat great joe or Mintia ;)
or catch the hacker?
It always takes me several days to see your full video. But i never lose the chance to do that. Thank you for the analysis. I enjoy it a lot.
Also what’s your issue with fanservice? A lot of people like that stuff.
this game is one of the rare one that used christian mythology which i find fascinating ,
a bit of spoiler
chaos is literal jesus, im not kidding he is the immortal jesus who now work as a mechanic after he zeal his power in the zohar
zion is the reincarnation of virgin marry and cosmos is robot used to host the soul of mary magdalene jesus wife , thats how cosmos was able to hold zohar full power because she is jesus wife , so the fallen angel build cosmos to fight yahwe in one of the possible future using jesus battery , what an amazing story, bravo japan bravo
1:37:15 Yeshua is also the Hebrew name (ie his proper birth name) for Jesus. Christians only refer to him as Jesus as this is the Greek version of that name, and using it would set him apart of other Yeshua’s in the Biblical text. Fun times.
I wonder why I watch this instead of a full movie. Not regretting it, just wondering.
KOS-MOS should've been a shoe-in for Smash Bros.
Don’t mess with the Zohar.
Sorry. Couldn’t help myself.
Have you played the DS port of the first two games?
Japan only
"Some characters can knock foes up"
Didn't look like that kinda game...
I will say this theres a mechanic in the first game where u can level up your characters stats past there normal limit it makes trying to get the t points on the on the slot machine more worth it but its not necessary but its fun to make shit insanely powerful and makes u able to max any stat u want even past the limit on any character
I just beat xenosaga 1 for the second time about 2 weeks ago. It works pretty damn good on my phone. I can't get xenosaga 2 to run.
As a Xeno-series fan that did enjoy saga a bit and as a Christian myself, i do think that Xenosaga 1-3 are the overall weakest entries in the Xeno-series.
The main reason being, that gears/blade simply do a better job on the the majority of the same topics saga tries to do, as stated in this series retrospective and cutting the narrative down from 6-3 games did not help. ;\
Not to mention that most of the Christian terms/references in Sagas are no more than surface level, that do not match the Bible in usage or context.
One example being that the red dragon is Satan himself (Revelation 20:2), which does not really match Rubedo too well, save for having a 666 mark on him,
Although that is something not even exclusive to Satan himself , based on the mark the Bible states that will be given to everyone inside their hand or forehead, needed in order to buy or sell in the future (Revelation 13:16-18).
Another is that Mary Magdalene (a poor saved former harlot, not the being the same as Mary the Mother of Jesus, who is the other Mary mentioned in Matthew 27:61), has no mention of having any sort handmaiden/servant/help of any sort in the Bible (nor does Mary the mother of Jesus for that matter).
Making the whole plot twist of Kos-Mos being Mary Madelene and Shion being her handmaid she always had as major deal, was a bit of a baffling to me when i was playing through Saga 3 at the very least.
The misuse also defeats the point of adding in Christian names/terms, seeing as it only leads to devaluing any overall Christian message that would make it a better experience for Christians (seeing as it does not matching up Biblically), that can already be found in the rest of the Xeno-series (anti demiurge/the folly of man or machines trying to become as god, as a few examples).
Than in it being shown as (non) Biblical-jargon terms thrown for any non Christians, and expecting anyone to know any of these terms/references at all, ultimately sours the overall narrative a bit for everyone.
Of course i still think Xenosaga 1-3 is a good series with some great moments, albeit i was left a bit disappointed overall with the games myself.
Even more so compared to time with playing blade 1-3 and gears (pre blade 3 dlc, which sagas slightly better in retrospect) before it. ;\
Lastly, if anyone is actually curious on what the Bible actually says (on how to get right with God, once and for all as one example, as it cant hurt to know x[) ) or on any of the verses mentioned i have mentioned here i will leave it down below.
In any case, i hope everyone has a great rest of their day! ^_^
1-All have sinned before God, in one way or another, so everyone of us is a sinner in the sight of God.
Romans 3: 10+23 (KJB)
10. "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:"
23. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”
2-Thankfully God still loved us all, even as wicked sinners in his sight, enough to allow his only begotten Son Jesus Christ, to shed his own precious blood on the cross, in order to pay the full price for all the sins we have done.
Romans 5:8-9+12 (KJB)
8. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
9."Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."
12. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for all that have sinned:”
Romans 6:23 (KJB)
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
3-To be saved, you just need to confess unto God (inwardly or outwardly) genuinely, to ask for your sins to be forgiven, by accepting this freely given gift of forgiveness out of God's love for us.
That gift is again, that Jesus Christ shed his blood on the cross, to pay the price for all of your sins (that is it).
Romans 10:9-10+13 (KJB)
9. “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
10."For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
13."For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 (KJB)
8."For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:"
9."Not of works, lest any man should boast."
John 3:15-17+36 (KJB)
15."That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."
16."For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
17."For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
36."He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."
(Other verses mentioned)
Revelation 20:2 (KJB)
"And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,"
Revelation 13:16-18 (KJB)
16."And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:"
17."And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."
18."Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six."
Matthew 27:61 (KJB)
"And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre."
Thank you for this really informative paragraph, and as a christian, thank you for putting the reference, and being one who can enjoy games (because it's kinda rare😅)
@@Kokolunaa Truthfully i do not play a lot of video games anymore since becoming a Christian.
That is more so due to them being a overall time sink (Ephesians 5:15-16), and since i have found better things to do with my time (2 Timothy 2:15).
A lot of the video games i did play in the past were also jrpgs, which tend to be very long to play and follow a very similar overall structure that you start to notice after a wile.
Making them a bit predictable/ a bit boring to play at times (Ecclesiastes 1:9-10).
Plus the quality/state of modern games as of late, leaves a lot to be desired, insofar as not having good/ interesting storytelling or even being a overall enjoyable experience worth sinking time into (microtransactions / battle passes galore in most cases).
Which leads me to go back to play old gamecube/ps2 era games or series from that era on modern systems that i enjoyed in the past, when i do play them.
So unless something like a new Xeno-series game comes out (likely within the next 5 years most, thankfully) or a something like Metroid prime 4
( most likely coming out after the heat death of the universe, sadly x[) ), i think i am good on video games for a wile.
(Verses cited for context)
Ephesians 5:15-16 (KJB)
15."See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,"
16."Redeeming the time, because the days are evil."
2 Timothy 2:15 (KJB)
"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
Ecclesiastes 1:9-10 (KJB)
9."The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun."
10."Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us."
@@crossvinburn831 oh ok, I can understand it, tho I have a lot of time to play games because well I'm still at school so yeah also I have the chance to regularly read the bible with my family. So I have a somewhat understanding of it. Also for modern gaming, it's true that most companies now try to market their games as live services with all the problem that come with it (microtransation, lack of content, basically online casinos), or release the game way too early to make a quick profit out of it. But their are still some games decent out there to enjoy (my only hope is nintendo :') ). So yeah thank you for responding to me and have a great day, God bless you
@@Kokolunaa Fair enough, i was like that too when i was still going to school and i do agree that Nintendo is one of the only good gaming companies left (sadly).
On the topic of the Bible, it is the only book that the author (God) is always present with you when reading it (Hebrews 13:5).
From my own experience reading it after getting saved, the more you read the Bible, the more the author will show you from it and no one knows everything from it, as we only know what God chooses to reveal to us through it (1 Corinthians 2:9-11 ).
Having a general grasp on the doctrine through reading it, is also profitable to us (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Especially when not reading the Bible, tends to lead away from us knowing the great comfort from God's own promises towards us (Titus 1:2-3), that can be seen throughout his wonderful word (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, Hebrews 13:5-6, 1 John 5:10-13).
In any case i hope you have a wonderful day yourself and God bless you as well! :)
(Again, all scripture mentioned is listed below for context)
1 Corinthians 2:9-11 (KJB)
9."But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."
10."But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God."
11."For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God."
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (KJB)
16."All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:"
17."That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."
Titus 1:2-3 (KJB)
2."In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;"
3."But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;"
1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 (KJB)
13."But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope."
14."For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."
15."For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep."
16."For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:"
17."Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."
Hebrews 13:5 -6 (KJB)
5."Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."
6."So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me."
1 John 5:10-13 (KJB)
10."He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son."
11."And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son."
12."He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."
13."These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."