Xenosaga Episode I Analysis (Ep.2): The Zohar Rises (ft. TJTheEmperor) | State Of The Arc Podcast
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- In this episode of our Xenosaga podcast, we go over the foreshadowing and symbolism of the first hour or two of the game. There is a lot of depth here, and even though Mike and I haven't played this game yet, we can see some possibilities of where this might be headed, and we're all for it.
• Xenosaga Episode I: A ...
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"my external appearance is down 5%, Shion, I need to be cleaned" is one of the best victory phrases to ever exist
Astounding how much Casen picks up on
Reminds me of in the Xenogears analysis where Casen identified immediately that the space ship from the intro was basically the tower of babel within the first couple episodes lol. Dude's sharp and notices things that my monkey brain is too smooth for.
He’s so smart and handsome ☺️
I'm rewatching them all again as I prep for episode 3, I missed the password thing every time and him connecting the UMN (no pun intended) with Jung was pretty impressive, too.
What Casen says at 1:01:54 is really significant to me because people will literally spoil stuff in the comments, yet neither Casen nor Mike have ever played this game. They are simply pulling from their own knowledge to dissect the story telling. If they are right about predictions, it's not like they're telling the future and spoiling it. It's a shame they have to worry about people getting salty over them literally doing what the whole point of the podcast is as a story analysis. From myself and I'm sure many other fans, thank you for your insight.
Timestamps:
1. *Intro* (0:00:00)
2. *Opening cutscene* (0:02:07)
> Lake Turkana (0:02:31)
> The man with the turquoise beanie (0:07:33)
> Activating the Zohar (0:10:37)
> Similarities to the story of the ‘Garden of Eden’ (0:13:08)
> The two Zohar obelisks are not the same (0:17:31)
> Discussing the title ‘Der Wille zur Macht’ (0:20:00)
3. *Tutorial: KOS-MOS start-up tests* (0:21:35)
> Terminology in boot-up sequence (0:21:42)
> The meaning of ‘Nataraja’ and KOS-MOS being an ‘Anti-Gnosis’ weapon (0:25:38)
> The clothing of the crew mimics the shape of the Zohar (0:28:25)
> The English voicecast and localization team (0:34:11)
> Retrieving the Zohar (0:40:10)
> Substituting the word Gnosis with mystical knowledge (0:42:27)
> Introduction to KOS-MOS (0:47:00)
> Tutorials, battle system and speed of battles (0:49:02)
> Function of temporal lobe (0:56:40)
> The meaning of 'Shion' and ‘Ye shall be as gods’ as a password (0:58:09)
> The appearance of the young girl in white (1:07:33)
> The Hilbert Effect (1:09:43)
4. *The Commander and crew discuss KOS-MOS and the Zohar incident* (1:11:32)
> The Zohar and the vanished planet (1:14:08)
> Shion wants to keep KOS-MOS in a dreamworld; Demiurge analogy (1:17:12)
> The Unus Mundus Network (1:21:13)
> Emails and Bunnie the virtual rabbit (1:22:44)
> Disussing hooks and the slow pacing (1:23:43)
5. *Outro* (1:32:59)
Thank you 😊
Best podcast on the internet. Great analysis on writing, themes, character development and I love the deep dives into symbols and their potential meanings and the subtext of the dialogue. You guys are amazing and I really look forward to every episode. Great guest too, he really knows Xenosaga in and out.
yo that irl lake turkana lore casen just dropped had me shook :00
that is sooo cool and gives me an entirely new perspective on the lore.
Since it is never properly explained in the game to my knowledge. Unus Mundus network UMN is an internet sort of thing using the realm of archetypes as its basis. The Encephalon dive at the start takes place inside the UMN. It's like the Matrix but with several miniature servers that are shaped by the subconscious of those currently diving together. It just works, don't think about it too hard.
The Xenogoat hides in plain sight
Weeb
It's like the internet but also hyperspace but also the collective unconscious but also a map and-
Casen is having a field day with this one. And that is good!
I loved your Xenogears episodes can't wait for Xenosaga. As much as I love 'gears, 'saga was my first Xeno and really shaped how I approach and combine philosophy and science
I figured the bunny thing was simply an digital avatar in whatever app Shion was using while checking her email. Not an actual robot lol.
It is. It is a custom AI avatar and is explained in the database.
Just want to point out that there's a mathematical significance to the aleph symbol on the Zohar emulator. Aleph is used to represent infinite sets of numbers.
One other thing I know of, relating to the stuff that sounds like techno-babble, is in relation to KOS-MOS's name itself.
I don't know if you've messed around with computers, but on the motherboard, there is that big watch battery looking thing. If you pull that battery out, it will reset your BIOS settings to their defaults. And those settings themselves are known as the CMOS, and the battery is referred to as the CMOS battery.
Well, originally in the 60s the CMOS was known as the COS-MOS until it eventually was shortened. So I highly suspect that Takahashi picked her name specifically as a double entendre of meanings, relating not only to the universe but her existence as a machine as well.
Adding to that my own thoughts on it, BIOS is the first thing that runs before a machine boots, the Basic Input/Output System. And that input/output is required for things like monitors, keyboards, & mice to function. Or in other words, for the machine to be able to interface with humans. Whether there is THAT MUCH intent put into her name, I dunno. But I find it fascinating either way.
There's another meaning behind KOS-MOS' name: all three playable female characters are named after flowers (on top of their other meanings): Shion is the Aster flower, KOS-MOS' is...well, the cosmos flower, and MOMO refers the peach, which flower is also popular in Japan.
The Eng Dubbing of Xenosaga is Grade A quality. These people have no idea what they are taking about. Your going to hear Jhony Yung Bosch, Brianne Siddall, William Frederick Knight
Crispin Freeman, Christopher Corey Smith, Lex Lang and even steve blum. The game would not have near the quality in Cinimetic presentation that people remember so fondly if it were not for the solid voice acting. This is not Legend Of Dragoon or Arc Rise Fantasia guys don't worry.
Some people who prefer Japanese voice acting over English dubs have a tendency to be hyperbolic and call the English VA's "awful" regardless of their quality. It still happens with games/anime coming out today. In their defense, they do have a point that the Japanese VA is usually better, especially for games/anime made back in the 90's and early 2000s. But English dubs have come a long way since then.
I don't really understand the mentality of "The Japanese is better therefore the English is "bad" by comparison". It's very possible for one to be better than the other, but both still be good overall.
Don’t forget Lia Sargent as Shion, Bridget Hoffman as KOSMOS and Richard Epcot as Ziggy! This game is voice acting perfection!
@@dudemcguy1227 I think I was very anti voice acting in JRPGs at the time (still am a little bit!) but even I thought it was alright IIRC.
" The Penfield Homunculus: a visual representation of the mapping of body space in the somatosensory cortex of the brain, with the size of the body representing the size of the area of cortex devoted to it, and hence the sensitivity of that region as well. From Penfield and Rasmussen (1950). THE CEREBRAL CORTEX OF MAN "
I’m only 30 minutes into this episode, but it is wildly interesting and fascinating listening to Mike and Caden analyze and speculate on a game they both haven’t played!
This is going to be such an great series! Loving it so much already!
Great breakdown as always. Just a heads up - Shiva is a male in Hindu mythology, so not a goddess (Final Fantasy got that wrong). Also the Dance is not static, it's in constant motion, however limitations of technology show it as such. The same thing with the Taoist taiji yin/yang, it is not a static symbol but dynamic in nature. In addition, the calmness is not what we think, but is ecstatic bliss which is the foundation of reality in the Hindu perspective (and the realization of which is achieved through Yoga). The drama, the dance, is the reality that we all experience that we all get caught up in - including the ring of fire. But Brahman, of which Shiva is one aspect, is eternally calm and blissful.
Great explanation 👍
Allen is definitely the MVP of XenoSaga and keep an eye out for every time Shion says “it’s nothing” it’s her catchphrase.
*immediately injecting into my veins*
Hey maaaaaaaaaan dont hog all of the podcast.
Mike: I HAVE QUESTIONS
Normal Xenosaga question
I played waaaay past the stopping point and I have no idea what’s going on so I have been eagerly awaiting this episode.
Seems like it only makes sense after 3 games and 2 external media 😅
you have two more games to go until you fully have no idea what's going on.
@@radicalantitheist yes I am not looking forward to episode 2.
@@GamesofFuturesPast unfortunately episode 2 is kind of a mess
i definitely recommend it playing once, but game play is pretty bad, and the story is kind of a mess.
episode 3 is the master piece that saves the series and lives up to the standard of ep1
Just started playing alongside the podcast. In this episode, around the 1h4m mark in the audio version, Mike asked about how the AGWS is carried around, and TJ said it wasn't really addressed. In my second visit to the hangar, after visiting the bridge, I spoke with a dude next to the dude that gives you the package containing the MWS. He says this exactly once before changing to entirely different dialogue that he always uses in subsequent conversation, so it's very easy to miss.
Oh, this? It's an AGWS capsule. You can carry an AGWS inside and deploy it as necessary. It uses the same space compression technology used in transportation to create a totally self-contained, portable AGWS hangar.
I really love the way the opening here is presented, very much like a film w/ the opening credits interspersed w/ the action. And the music was great, really setting that mysterious and epic mood.
Kinda unrelated, but the xenosaga dev history episode convinced me to play xenogears in prep for this podcast. I’m only like 1/3 of the way in but that game could seriously end up one of my top 10 jrpgs. Thanks for doing these analyses and introducing me to really cool games I may not have checked out otherwise. I’m very excited to finish playing xenogears and then hopefully jump into playing along with the xenosaga podcast!
EDIT: Beat Xenogears, now I’m onto Xenosaga!
You should go back and watch both resonant arc’s and retrograde amnesia’s podcasts on Xenogears. So fun and funny and enlightening.
@@joepeezy4sheezy I've been watching the resonant arc podcast series and I've really enjoyed it so far. If I have time, I might listen to the retrograde amnesia podcast too as like a second playthrough.
@@pokestar9994 yeah, the retro guys are a lot funnier but are audio only. Enjoy!
@@joepeezy4sheezy Facts.
I can stress enough how much I'm happy to watch this show every week. I never thought xenogasa would receive this spotlight and it's a delight to hear your thoughts about it's many themes
Personally, the reason I recommend the undub is not necessarily because the English dub is _bad_ but rather it's mainly because the VAs change constantly in English. Some characters have the same VA in 1 and 3 but not 2, others in 2 and 3 but not 1, and some even have a different VA for each individual game. Whereas in Japanese the cast is consistent from start to finish. Couple that with the Japanese version's lack of censoring (which in English really ruins some scenes, especially in Episode 3) and the undub is the definitive way to play the game IMO. But to each their own, of course.
And I get where Mike is coming from when talking about pacing at the end there. In the first two hours or so, the scene with Virgil and the Realians is really the only one with real tension and intrigue. Xenosaga Episode 1 definitely requires some patience and investment since it consists largely of setup and worldbuilding. In that sense it kind of is the least captivating of the three games IMO, since even Episode 2, despite all its problems, already offers far more payoff than 1.
I may have missed it during commute but perhaps you didn't end up going back to the Penfield stuff. So I will mention it just in case. As you mentioned it is a reference to a persona Nd related to the mind to a degree. This is fun cuz when I studied Psychology he was a part of it due to a street in my City at the time (Montreal) being Named after him.
It is Named after Dr Wilder Penfield. He was a Neurosurgeon who was fairly influential in mapping out the brain and advancing certain aspects of surgery. Of note, he was really interested in exploring the concept of a Soul, and some of the stuff he focused on were things such as Hallucinations, illusiom, the phenomenon of Deja Vu, and he is related to a particular thing that may just catch an eye based on the name: The Cortical Homunculus (focused on sensory and motor homonculi). Mainly his studies were based around Epilepsy and through said studies and thought experiments he developed various concepts and an understanding of various fields. (As well as doing open brain surgery and electric brain surgery)
But yeah, I imagine the aspect is just using his name relating to KOS-MOS' brain functions and maybe a small allusion to the idea that she may have a soul.
Now if only I could actually play this series. I loved Xenogears, and played and adored the Xenoblade trilogy (not X). I’ve always wanted to play the Saga games but I missed out on them when they came out and there’s no way to reasonably play these games without breaking the bank. I just wish Bamco would throw me a bone and remaster the trilogy already. I’d imagine a lot of people are in the same boat.
I have a decent gaming pc with a 2060 ITX and was able to find an ISO of the game and emulate it pretty easily. I reckon you could get away with emulating the game on hardware even older like say a GTX 970 at native res. It runs pretty well on PCSX2.
@@FranklinGervacio I really don’t like emulation if I don’t have to because I just find it annoying but at this point it seems to be the only option. I bought extremely expensive games for my GameCube like Skies of Arcadia and Fire Emblem Path of radiance, but especially the third game in this series has to be one of the rarest and most expensive out there. Can’t do it.
I never thought about how others couldn't play this game since I still have my copied from launch. Its such a shame too because Xenosaga is my favorite of the Xeno series and I wish there were ways others could play it easily.
@@joeyisabsb1 I mean I found an iso of it pretty easily lol. I don't even have a beastly PC and I'm playing it at 4x reso. 🤷♂️
I can listen to you guys all day.
My mom happened to be in the room when you were talking about Kosmos and the nataraja, she commented that 'cosmos' is also a type of flower. Not sure how relevant that is, but might also have some symbolic meaning.
This is the first time I've watched one of these series, but I am a little sad they don't show the game as they're discussing it. They have so much great commentary that I wish I could see what they're commenting on.
Really looking forward to listening to this episode on my drive home tonight. I thought a lot of the ideas in XS1 were very fascinating. Most of all, I think this game does a good job of setting a "mood", especially at the start of the game.
The Aleph symbol on the emulator zohar is used in math. Aleph null is the smallest infinity. It is the infinite list of countable numbers.
This might be its intended purpuse rather than the hebrew letter.
Could imply the infinite knowledge/power/divine involved in the zohar
Continued masters of this format of videogame analysis. Pumped to have another Xeno game on the docket. Perfect middle of the work week podcast to get excited about!
I started playing this game when it came out when I was a little lad, I had absolutely no idea about the lake beginning and it’s meaning! incredible! y’alls breakdowns are so fun and informative.
Also on the pacing story wise, for me it’s more of the pauses between lines more than the lines themselves. I remember feeling like I was waiting minutes between certain characters speaking. It’s not as bad as Star Ocean Till the End of Time or anything. 😅
Casen calling KosMos “cosmos” is too on the nose! You’re not supposed to notice! lol Although I definitely never connected the “knowledge = gnosis” thing, so replaying is going to be incredibly interesting
I'm glad I stumbled upon this, one of the times i'm grateful for procrastinating
A bit of a note on Nataraja. There’s believe that all the act, play and dance are all originated from Shiva when he does this Nataraja pose. At least in south east asia where I’m from.
Could mean that from this OS, KOS-MOS is able to “act” in many different form of human function. All of her action and thought and apparent show of emotion is merely a “play” or an “act”. Thoughts?
Ps. I think the undub version is not all about the voice acting. Some of them use the FMV from Japanese version. And there’s quite a lot of cut contents or censored as well. That’s one thing to consider.
Ps.2 Shiva is a male god with a wife Parvati. They are kind of like a representation of duality between man and woman. There’s also a god name Adanarisuvara who’s the combine form of these two that represent a perfect unity as well.
Ooo. I like this. I like your interpretation of the Natarjah connection. I'm keeping that one.
Hearing you guys talk about the Gnosis, KOS-MOS, and the cultural and religious concepts is so interesting. Makes for a super satisfying watch for someone who played the whole series back in December/January, been wanting this since I finished the games!
Thanks for keeping the series going even through all the changes y'all are experiencing.
Decided to finally get around to playing this a few days ago for the first time and see now this channel is doing the same. Very cool! I’ll actually be able to follow these discussions as I’m playing vs having already played like the previous podcasts.
Late to the game but glad I'm finally getting around to this. Specifically the comment about the battle music: Kajiura nailed this in the third game, but the thing that you're trying to describe here for it feeling "noisy" is definitely better described as "metallic." Maybe there's a better phrasing, but here's the one thing that Episode 1 does better than anything else in the series: atmosphere. For any other faults in the game (and there are plenty) this game is pure atmosphere. It nails cinematography and oppressive scene to scene tension, music inclusive, more than the others in the series. I'm in no way suggesting that it's better executed for that, but Episode 1 is a piece of art for better or worse.
Love the analysis, as usual :)
I would say the scene with the Realians and Virgil is meant to be the deal-breaker. The game has thrown quite a lot at the player so far, but gameplay is frustrating to the point that Shion has barely proceeded down a hallway. Then, you have a rather odd disagreement in which the main character seems to lose to a rather distasteful antagonist. First time players will be astounded to discover how little information has actually been provided up until this point: the game is banking entirely on mystery
Thank you.
Watching you guys put these ideas and things together has me so giddy. Knowing a lot about a game series while getting new insights and info, then seeing and sharing others getting into it (you started this right while I was introducing to friends to it) has me looking forward to the next few months in a way I haven't experienced since I went trough my Dark Souls lore run 2 years ago.
Thanks you so much for giving me and my friends a lot to look forward to, and I hope you enjoy to your heart, mind and soul's content. And also thank you for giving me new insights I did not have before.
The problem with the emails is that there is a lot of filler crap, like the game advertisement and stuff, but it's interspersed with important story stuff too so you feel like you always need to check it. Also The bunny is kinda like Siri or Clippy (if anyone remembers that abomination). It's basically like a virtual assistant on Shion's phone.
So psyched you guys are covering this game!
Wow, I can't believe how much details you guys got from the intro..... this is amazing
WOW you guys are going REALLY in depth! awesome! i love this!!
Just started it last week, excited to follow along with my playthrough!
I'm appreciating how much more speculation and debating on what things could actually mean is going on due to this being both mike and casen's first time playing the game. It's cool to try to see them both work something out rather than enjoying one watch the other work it out etc. great stuff so far!
The protocol in the Kos-mos tests may be named after a dance of supreme calmness as a deliberate reaction to what happened the first time she woke up
AGWS (mechs) and weapons are transported via UMN and "materialized" in place. UMN is a network, like a futuristic internet that can be used not only to transfer data, but also to transport objects, space travel and is more than just that but it would be spoiler to explain. You could say it works kinda like warp travel and comunications in Star Trek with more features, and doesn't need a ship to be used.
I started Xenosaga Episode I yesterday because of you guys! I love Xenogears (played it last year and only have the final episode of your podcast left to watch) and expect to love this trilogy even more. I will play the game along watching your podcast, hopefully you guys will start doing episode 2 by the end I'm done with episode 1. Excited!!!
I thought the rain that falls down represents knowledge and uplifting the species to the next level
Funny little thought I had while you guys were talking about the opening cutscene: you talk about the rain when the Zohar first appears and the symbolism of a flood and either the end or prosperity of humanity. According to another channel I watch from time to time called Esoterica, the Judeo-Christian god that we all know as "God," or "Yahweh" as is actually named, was the god of storms in a larger pantheon before he eventually became "The One True God." I know this video is pretty old and no one will likely see this, but I thought it was an interesting note worth sharing
Love hearing all of this with your discussions on religeous and cultural inputs. I don't have much of a knowledge base on the symbolism so it was actually pretty eye opening to hear what gnosis meant and the context of being an "anti-gnosis" weapon. Really can't wait to go through this as its been well over a decade since I played it and I'm sure theres so much I've probably forgotten and probably even more I just didn't quite get. I forsee this being a pretty thick series just for ep1so wondering if you plan on actually going through all 3 in a row.
With regards to the mechs the game explains that vector has subspace storage technology. It's why shion and kos mos materialize their weapons seemingly from thin air. As for shions name being Zion in Japanese. Probally a reference to Zionism.
The keyword glossary really helped me out here, though I was shocked that they didn't expand on DME addiction in the initial Cutscene with Luis. That was shocking 😅
One of the NPCs on the ship talks about the hyper compression technology they have to make the AGWS portable. I think he was in the agws hangar. They are essentially the hoi poi capsules that bulma in dragonball uses
About the voice acting of these games. As you might know, in 2006 the company 8-4 studios was formed by Americans and Europeans who live in Japan specifically to improve the quality of western localizations of Japanese games. Since the introduction of the CD on PS1 and especially in the PS2-era from 2001 onward, there have been more and more Japanese games with voice acting in them. So in other words there was this awkward age from 2001 to 2006 where we almost exclusively had bad voice acting in western releases of Japanese video-games, plus the occasional voiced bits of PS1 games from the mid to end of the '90s. But the hot pool of important bad voice acting is from 2001 to 2006. After that, not least because of studio 8-4, voice acting has dramatically increased in quality.
So Xenosaga episodes I and II fall right into that period of time. And it shows more or less in both games. The English dub of Xenosaga episode I is great. It might not be as good as the Japanese one. But that's mostly because of some awkward translations, not because of the quality of the voice acting itself. Almost all of the voice actors in episode I are doing their job great and most of them you will even recognize from most famous dubs of today.
Episode II is an entirely different beast. They did the cardinal sin of replacing lots of the main-characters voices. The voice direction was really bad. There are some realian characters (artificial people), which talk in a cool attitude in Japense, but thanks to the bad direction, they sound bored or sleepy in English. Then the translations are constantly too short compared to the original text, making it so that the voice actors needed to talk really slow and the overall quality is just all over the place. For example, Allen still has his old actor from episode I, who does a phenomenal job in every scene still and somehow manages to still sound natural despite the pool direction job. But side-characters just sound really bad. They also increased the already drastic censorship to reach a lower PEGI-rating, by removing almost all blood (this is something which will repeat in episode III). And on top of that all, the localization team was of the opinion, that some of the BGMs do not fit the mood for a western audience. So they replaced a lot of the tracks, which were remixes of musical themes. Which means that in the English version, you will have the same track repeat a lot more often. And you don't get to hear the most out of the ordinary tracks at all.
Episode III was one of the very first works of Studio 8-4. It was the third release from them, and considering the size of the script it wouldn't surprise me if it was actually their first project. To this day, episode III is still one of my favorite localization jobs of all time. It is just as good as the Japanese original. The only downside is, again the censorship for the lower PEGI-rating. But that's it. They got back two of the four main actors from episode I, which were replaced for episode II. The direction is ingenious. One of the bored sounding realian from episode II, for example, now sounds cool and edgy. No music was removed, you get pretty much the same product as in Japanese. And overall it's just a joy to watch and listen to.
Edit: it's so much fun to talk about episode III. Because it really made everything better that wasn't as great or bad in episode II:
Localization? - Better
Graphics? - Better
Loading times? - Which loading times? Battles are instant.
Performance? - Better
Art style? - Much better, the perfect mix of episode I and II
Story? - Not only better, but also the best conclusion any trilogy every had.
Music? Is there still a split between BGMs and cutscene music? - No! Everything is now done by Yuki Karjiura and it's great!
Just 2 episodes, and I'm already in love with these series of podcasts. As many have already said, it's so cool to hear your thoughts on a game both of you have never played before. The reactions are so genuine. Looking forward to the rest of the series.
By the way, I have never played this game. I don't mind the spoilers because, unless they do an HD remaster/collection of this trilogy (which as of now it seems that very unlikely to happen ever), I'll never play these games. As a Xenoblade fan, that is a shame.
Steve Blum does voice a couple characters in Xenosaga 3
Mike's anegdote about battle music in Chrono Cross almost killed my cat. I was laughing so hard when he told the running joke about it🤣🤣🤣
One of the NPCs on the Woglinde talks about the AGWS capsules and spatial compression. One thing about this game: Talk to every NPC. Multiple times, until they start repeating themselves. The worldbuilding in this game is immense.
Another relevant tip is to read the Data Base as it gets updated with more details about most terms in-game and even breaks the fourth wall sometimes.
For people who are complaining about the pacing, it's a old game, it came out in 2003. I personally think they did a great job with what they were given, regarding animation, texture, voice acting, music and the overall story. I love the game, personally the 1st, then 3rd, 2nd last. But compared to games that are released today in 2023, it is slower in some areas. For people who are not paitant, and want a quick, fast game, with battle combat, story plot, Xenosaga series may not be for you. I can't wait to listen to the rest of the podcast, you guys are doing an amazing job analizing the game, keep up the great work!
Amazing podcast guys! Xenosaga is an extremely underrated JRPG series that more people need to know. And all your analysis and theories are very interesting. Keep it up!
Watching them talk about this opening 1 hour or so, really makes me want to watch them dissect Evangelion. That anime is definitely comparable to this game in terms of symbolism and theme. Please make it happen!
the difference between evangelion and xenosaga, is that evangelion symbolism is almost entirely facade, there is no real deeper meaning aside for what fans want to project on to those symbols, in xenosaga the symbolism is deeply intertwined with the plot.
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Wow. Mike figured out the end of the series from the very beginning.
Also, I'm not at all familiar with Gnosticism, but the more I find out, the more I understand character's symbology. KOS-MOS being 'anti-gnosis' paves the way for Wilhelm to be the demiurge: KOS-MOS is the tool of Wilhelm to bring about eternal recurrence (27:16). It all kind of falls together.
Following the podcast and playing through my first time too bit by bit!
I love that I can not play the game you guys are going over but still really enjoy the podcast. I think I played the first 15 mins of this game when I was like 11 and it went way over my head and I quit. Need to get me a ps2 and a copy and go back and play this trilogy sounds really interesting already.
1:00:00 - 1:04:00 Basically, a pocket dimension of sorts. The technology in any far future sci-fi with warp technology should be able to create portable pockets in spacetime, which is a sci-fi way of explaining the often infinite and weightless inventory space in RPG's
56:35 they did a pretty good job with the tutorials in XB3
Game has not even started really and you guys went down 5 rabbidholes at once :D, loving it.
51:45 listening to the chrono cross battle theme again this statement it absolutely true
I'm looking forward to future episodes! Xenosaga is one of my favourite game series 😄
Great podcast guys. Looking forward to hearing the rest
Just one super small nitpick. The Hebrew letter א is pronounced AH-lef, not ahLEEF.
It’s funny that Mike thought that was an x. I used to make that joke growing up.
It’s super strange to see your culture utilized for symbolism in a JRPG. When this game first came out I was so jazzed to see some Jewish content in a video game.
Thinking back now, I wonder if the Xenosaga developers were familiar with gematria, the numerical value for Hebrew letters. There is some mysticism associated with this where if you do math with the alphabet you can discover hidden messages from god.
The battle music is GREAT and nothing needs to change!!!!! FIGHT ME >:O
Uzuki was Citan's name he took when he married Yui, it was her last name.
It's weird the things I remember about this game (Shion's password etc.) versus the things I'd completely forgotten (the little girl). I do remember liking the battle theme but it has to be said that my more recent memories are of hearing it once as part of the soundtrack and not over and over again!
Xenoblade 2 absolutely does not have "tutorials every 10 seconds for the entire game," sir
I screamed like a little girl in the car when I saw the notification for this. You're welcome to anyone witnessing that on the road. Seriously - thank you both!
Kevin Seymour was a great ADR director who did some of the best english dub anime like Code Geass and Ghost in the Shell SAC. He even voice acted like a lot of minor characters like one of the old guys that showed up constantly in Bebop.
offtopic but i always assumed Mike did the description for these lol, cool to know its actually Casen!
loving this btw. this was always easily my most anticpated game for you guys to do so im stoked lol
Casen and I take turns editing these. Sometimes it's me and so.etimes it's him.
Here’s to hoping you do the other two saga games
1:04:00
On the question of where the mechs are coming from, wthout going into the details too much because I'm not 100 percent sure on when this is explained, the mechs are essentially stored in a hanger on their ship and then summoned through hyperspace when needed. It's the same with Shion and kos-mos's weapons as well.
As far as the pacing goes, it is a little slow but there are still some "mysteries" before you visit the Realians. Touching the Zohar and seeing the little girl being one of them. But the walk from the Vector lab to the bridge does take awhile.
That "... by clowns in hell" comment you mentioned might have been mine :D It's probably been deleted as I can't find it anymore, but I can't take the credit anyway as I originally heard it from Pat Boivin of PatStaresAt and Castle Superbeast (formerly Best Friends Play). Maybe he also got it from somewhere else, idk.
I'm just happy that you would concur XD
By the end of the game, the battle system feels like you’re summoning knights of the round every move.
Holy cow. I've said it before, but this podcast is truly a treasure. This is the first game I'm playing along with the lads, and my brain is blown every ten minutes of this thing. Incredible content!
"der Wille zur Macht" was also very importend field of study to Alfred Adler (second viennese school of psychology, Freud is the first and Frankls logotherapy the third).
I’m surprised Casen was so confused by the bunny. It’s just another version of clippy
Gives me a nightrider vibe when it cuts to TJ talking. Love it.
Every time TJ says "like" have a shoot...
30:50 its more like your mind gets destroyed, not your "soul"
40:00 thats like the Space marines in Warhammer 40k, if they appear i don´t think it would be a good thing
01:03:00 yeah that was strange!
Fun fact: If anyone is interested in seeing the Miltia incident. Episode II starts with a prologue that takes part during that incident.
Xenosaga's battle theme is one of my favorites( Legend of Legaia my all-time fav), but I've always felt that it's a bit too grandiose for a normal battle piece and sadly does get repetitive rather quickly. I could be miss-recalling but I do think there are 2 maybe 3 different battle themes but used in only very specific fights, again I could be wrong tho.
Also, Kosmos has the best post-battle dialogue of all time lol
Boys, your German isn't bad at all. Another great podcast, thanks for all your work, greetings from Germany.
48:06 "Robots can't feel emotions... you know all that stuff." Play Casen Nier: Automata and say this again to my face...!
play any jrpg where a robot party member goes through the being human arc.
I am eating Vector cereal as I am watching!!
If you speak to the NPC's in the AGWS hanger they do explain that they have little capsules to carry the mechs around in. From the way it is explain it seems like the capsule is teleporting a mech from a hanger to your position using the UMD, as they do this with other object in the game. But its hard to tell because the guy also states that the Mechs are IN the capsules so... shrug.
1:03:00 i swear they say the A.G.W.S come in capsules in the hangar could be wrong though
1:04:00 Capsule's from Dragon Ball :)
Edit: ok so I made this joke and then ran into an NPC that confirms it. They might find him in episode 3(of the podcast). Looks like an AWGS hanger on the Woglinde. I can't stop internally laughing. Speculation is the best.
Is it life creating or life ending? I personally think it's both, but that'd require theories that'd go into details not presented in Episode I :).
Also, it's pretty noteworthy that the Official Design Materials go into more detail over what's happening in this scene. The Zohar was not hidden, but literally materializing, because it's not a mere physical object but a phenomenon that's dependent on the perception of the onlooker. Pretty significant.
The name "Zohar" is also not chosen as a random cool reference to Jewish theology. I think it was this way too in Xenogears, but why the Zohar's named that will become clear during the series I think.
Hi Mike, love the video. When a guest is talking like that without a camera, why not just overlay a small audio box on the same screen as you two?
I'd had that thought at first but I guess the reason they didn't is because we'd just be looking at them listening to him.