Line #12 Trivia/Xenosaga


1	!!General Trivia
2	* ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' series producer Katsuhiro Harada is apparently a fan of the series, partially because [[https://www.twitlonger.com/show/ng78i3 Monolithsoft was working at the same floor as his team during development]]. This is why he reached to the fans to ask them to show their support to the franchise, so he could convince the higher ups at Bandai Namco to release an HD remaster of the trilogy (albeit, unfortunately, the call wasn't successful).
3
4	!!Trivia Tropes
5	* BadExportForYou: The [[VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}} series]] had a god-awful treatment in Europe. For starters, [[NoExportForYou Episode I wasn't even released]] but, in one of the most baffling publishing decisions in a genre popular in Europe for its baffling publishing decisions, Episode II WAS released. And in a really neat, almost-collector edition-level packaging. Too bad it was only (badly) translated into French and German (in a time when Spanish and Italian translations were already common place) and with one of the worst 50Hz conversions in the entire 6th Console Generation, which is saying something. As for the plot, the game included a DVD with a few hours worth of cutscenes from Episode I to put European audiences up to speed... sort of, since it barely counted as a barebones version of the plot of the first game. The game obviously flopped hard, so Episode III wasn't even considered for an European release.
6	* ColbertBump: The series has gotten a lot more interest since it’s [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1 spiritual successor]] hit the big time.
7	* CreatorBacklash: Although "backlash" may be a bit too strong of a word, Tetsuya Takahashi and Soraya Saga have never expressed any fond memories from the development of this trilogy on interviews, always lamenting its TroubledProduction. Also, despite the fact that it got a pretty loyal and passionate fan base that endures to this day (and that has even ''grown'' a bit thanks to the success of ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'') the series relatively poor reception by mainstream audiences was, in Takahashi's own words, "mortifying" for studio members at the time. Takahashi has also gone out of his way multiple times to express how, after working in this series, now he thinks the use of cutscenes to as the main mean to deliver narrative is "outdated". The fact that ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'' took the most opposite approach to both gameplay and story telling one could think of also reinforces it.
8	* CreatorDrivenSuccessor: Was originally intended to be a full-blown ContinuityReboot of ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'', but due to being cut down from six games to three covering the first two intended chapters of the planned MythArc (the first chapter ended up being split into two games), it ends up being a spiritual prequel that covers the period of the interstellar chaos that preceded Deus's crash landing.
9	* CreatorKiller: ''Xenosaga'' was the game that ended Kaori Tanaka's (Soraya Saga) documented involvement in the gaming industry. The TroubledProduction of this game, combined with the failure to make ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' what she and Takahashi wanted, left her dejected enough that she left and stopped working on games for the most part. While she would help with a few games briefly, she never returned to the same control and writing involvement in an officially documented manner as before.
10	* CrossDressingVoices: Jr. is voiced by Bridanne Siddall. In a much more minor example, Creator/WendeeLee voiced kid Gaignun in ''Episode III''.
11	* DummiedOut: Lots of things have been left out of the main three games. Ep. I had some character models unused, as well as some data of Jin being a playable character. The player would also find powerful spells that would be available later in the story, but ended up being recycled for Ep. II. Ep. II has the entire shop system still in the data, but it got removed because they ran out of time. Ep. III has swimsuits for the three GuestStarPartyMember.
12	* FranchiseKiller: The series was meant to span six games (not counting spin offs)... ''Episode II'' sure fixed that. Luckily, at least Episode 3 was able to happen before the series was canceled.
13	* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: Xenosaga never got a digital release, and has never been remastered. So the only way to play the games would be to track down original Platform/PlayStation2 copies of the games and play them on a Platform/PlayStation2 console or an original model Platform/PlayStation3 console or use emulation software.
14	* NoBudget: ''Episode III'' seemed to suffer from this. Full CG cutscenes were used only for action scenes, many actors were reused in the dubbing, some cutscenes have extensive slowdown and there were more than a few questionably translated lines. This game was also made during the time that Namco was being bought by and merged with Bandai, so money was likely spread more thin than usual.
15	* NoExportForYou: ''Xenosaga I&II'', ''Pied Piper'', ''Xenosaga Freaks'', and ''A Missing Year''. None of these managed to be released out of Japan, leaving many overseas fans in the dark regarding lore and plot elements described in them.
16	* TheOtherDarrin:
17	** The dub of ''Xenosaga The Animation'' was done by Creator/ADVFilms in Texas, so no one kept the voices they had in-game. The Japanese dub of the entire collective franchise managed to keep pretty much everyone who was assigned to that character from the start. Creator/RichardEpcar, the voice of Ziggy through all three games, stated that he didn't even know there was an anime, or that it was being dubbed in Texas. Otherwise, he would have flown over there from California and auditioned for Ziggy.
18	** The Japanese track of ''Xenosaga the Animation'' also had several cast replacements.
19	*** Creator/MasakazuMorita replaces Creator/TomokazuSeki for Luis Virgil.
20	*** Creator/TaitenKusunoki replaces Creator/JojiNakata for Marguilis.
21	*** Hiroaki Miura replaces Creator/TakehitoKoyasu for Tony.
22	*** Creator/WakanaYamazaki replaces Creator/ErikoHara and Creator/YumiTakada for Pellegri and Shelley Godwin, respectively.
23	*** Kohei Fukuhara replaces Nobuhiko Kazama for Vanderkam.
24	*** Creator/YasuhiroTakato replaces Creator/TaikiMatsuno for Hammer.
25	*** Creator/KenjiNomura replaces Creator/UnshoIshizuka for Captain Matthews.
26	*** Creator/RyokoShiraishi replaces Creator/RieKugimiya for Mary Godwin.
27	*** Creator/HikaruMidorikawa replaces Creator/NobuyukiHiyama for Wilhelm.
28	*** Creator/TetsuInada replaces Masaru Ikeda for Helmer.
29	*** Miho Saiki replaces Eriko Fujimaki for Lapis Roman.
30	* PlayingAgainstType: Creator/BridgetHoffman as KOS-MOS. Throughout her career up until this, her roles have always been one that's delivered with emotion and compassion (several roles shared by Creator/KikukoInoue such as [[Manga/AhMyGoddess Belldandy]] or [[Anime/PleaseTeacher Mizuho Kazami]], or some younger girl roles like [[Manga/MagicKnightRayearth Fuu Hououji]] or [[Manga/FushigiYuugi Miaka Yuuki]]). She perfectly delivered KOS-MOS' robotic monotone voice like no other and when [[TheOriginalDarrin she came back for Episode 3 where KOS-MOS has gained some humane emotions]], she can still pull off her weight, balancing those humane voices and her signature monotone style.
31	* TroubledProduction: Production on the game suffered through a number of issues, some of it internal due to the lack of experience of many of their key staff members (for instance, main planner and later director Koh Arai had just graduated from University when he started working on Episode 1). Among the various issues, Takahashi has mentioned that the engine they used for the first game was extremely faulty and difficult to get up and running until the last year of development. Hence the game's notoriously long cutscenes, which he describes as a means to flesh the games out with content while the staff wrangled with getting the gameplay to work. A choice was made to then shake up the staff for Episode 2 to allow people to have the chance to show their skills, causing a bunch of people to be shifted around or put into new positions that many were not ready for, such as Koh Arai becoming the director when Takahashi stepped down. Between those shake ups and trying to repurpose the story into a trilogy instead of six games, the team became overly stressed trying to make the second game, which was not helped by the team deciding to basically not use several ideas from preexisting drafts, most notably none of Soraya Saga's material. Episode 3 was also negatively impacted by the new writing material from Episode 2, causing the team to have to try and address the issues from it, while also wrapping up the story. These factors made the trilogy so stressful and difficult, that it became an OldShame for the team.
32	* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The story had to cut massive amounts of corners during development, first due to Monolithsoft's then lack of experience as a company not being up to their ambitions, and then due to changes in the team made during Episode 2, which caused the scenario writer Soraya Saga leave. Among some of the things that were originally planned to happen for Episode II:
33	** Citrine would reunite with her URTV siblings. (Discarded)
34	** Shion's past history with Febronia. (Appears in Episode III)
35	** Junior rapidly growing to an adult with both options available during battle. (Discarded)
36	** The ghost of old Miltia. (Never confirmed, but likely this is [[spoiler:the party going into a simulation of Old Miltia (while believing it was time travel) in Episode III]])
37	** The death of Sakura. (Appears in ''Xenosaga I&II'')
38	** Gaignun vs the Zohar emulators. (Discarded, [[spoiler:although probably was part of the scene where Yuriev takes control of the emulators in Episode III]])
39	** Junior and Albedo vs U-DO vs KOS-MOS 3rd armament. (Discarded)
40	** Shion's spiritual seeking/witnessing/awakening. (Appears in Episode III)
41	** The truth about KOS-MOS. (Appears in Episode III)
42	** Conversation between chaos and the Red Testament. (Discarded)
43	** Conversation between Nephilim and Abel. (Discarded)
44	** An antimatter annihilation of Albedo. (Discarded, although likely by being modified from its original version)
45	** For a bit more detail, there is an old [[https://web.archive.org/web/20111121075025/http://forums.xgam.org/index.php?showtopic=9137 Xenogears fan forum (spoilers beware)]] that documents the previously mentioned points while adding a bit more of context.
46	** Several potentially awesome scenes were removed from the scripts of all three games, some being added in later, but not when they were originally supposed to be; and some were completely forgotten about. The most obvious example being the fight between Jin and Margulis, which was in the trailer for the original game but ended up being in Episode II. Another being a potential plot where KOS-MOS eventually got strong enough weapons to destroy a planet, which Shion was supposed to prevent. Also, chaos, the [[spoiler: guy with the ability to destroy the universe, sits around and hangs in the background doing...well, not much. Just shopping and having cryptic conversations most of the time.]]
47	** A remaster was planned, but, [[https://www.destructoid.com/stories/a-xenosaga-remaster-trilogy-was-talked-about-but-never-came-to-be-due-to-profit-concerns-576366.phtml according to Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada]], it failed the "market analysis" and was scrapped.
48	* The series makes its debut in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' but not as a crossover with other mechs but rather in the GaidenGame ''VideoGame/EndlessFrontier''.

Context Trivia / Xenosaga