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Cassie The armored raven from Malaysia, but where? Since: Feb, 2011
The armored raven
#101: Jun 2nd 2012 at 2:46:08 AM

You know we are talking about something that's at the near beginning years of PS 2 right? Except for 2 and 3 of course. To me the trilogy is very Nietsche / niche

What profit is it to a man, when he gains his money, but loses his internet? Anonymous 16:26 I believe...
Nikkolas from Texas Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#102: Jun 2nd 2012 at 4:18:10 AM

Xenosaga Episode 1 had a completely different art style to FFX. Plus it's not like FFX was oh so gorgeous all the time. The Suddenly Asian Syndrome is just the tip of the iceberg. Behold the terror of low-res models.

And I really don't see why graphics matter anyway. When you compare Episode 1 to FFX in every important category, the winner is obvious. Okay, maybe not that obvious but at least in terms of voice-acting one game is clearly in the upper-echelons of quality while the other is FFX.

It's scenes like this that make me love Episode 1 the most.

TheyCallMeTomu Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#103: Jun 2nd 2012 at 10:19:36 AM

Xenosaga 1 was very hammy. The cutscenes all looked not like they were cinematic, but rather that they were taken from a broadway play.

I looked at Virgil about to make his big old speech about Realians and I was like "Holy shit, that's blocking" (as in deliberate movements on the stage).

It's a different style to be sure.

lu127 Paper Master from 異界 Since: Sep, 2011 Relationship Status: Crazy Cat Lady
#104: Jun 2nd 2012 at 10:34:57 AM

I like this video.

"If you aren't him, then you apparently got your brain from the same discount retailer, so..." - Fighteer
Nikkolas from Texas Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#105: Jun 2nd 2012 at 2:37:42 PM

[up][up] Meh, I would say all three games have a huge helping of overly-dramatic scenes.

Hell, Xenogears did too.

I love Grahf about as much as most people love Albedo so I guess hamminess is something people appreciate about the Xeno games.

edited 2nd Jun '12 2:38:04 PM by Nikkolas

TheyCallMeTomu Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#106: Jun 2nd 2012 at 3:28:58 PM

I love the haminess, I just think the blocking elements of it are a little bit much-and that part was totally phased out of XS 3.

Nikkolas from Texas Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#107: Jun 2nd 2012 at 11:54:30 PM

Well I do like Episode III. I just wish its fans could support it while not putting the other games down. III was still a very flawed game. These days, I can't even really play it anymore. It's just an absolute chore to get through and I only do it because I like some boss fights such as the ones with Yuriev and Kevin.

There is one thing apart from the mech battles where I will give Episode 3 the nod over Episode 1 and that is the music. Episode 1 had a phenomenal soundtrack but so does 3 and when two things have overall equal quality, quantity does matter. There are just so many great songs in 3 while Episode 1's music was much more limited due to one battle theme and almost no dungeon music. Even still, "Pain" from Episode 1 is my favorite song in the whole trilogy.

lrrose Since: Jul, 2009
#108: Jun 3rd 2012 at 6:55:54 AM

IIRC, Episode I actually had four battle themes: regular fight, miniboss, end of level / plot important boss and final boss. It's just that the first three sound almost completely identical.

TheyCallMeTomu Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#109: Jun 3rd 2012 at 10:03:48 AM

I liked Episode 1, and I'm not putting it down, but I can't see episode 3 and say "you know, this is a deeply flawed game" by any measurement.

I mean, it doesn't appeal to the "Hard core-I want my games to be assrapingly hard" type gamers obviously, but I'm of the opinion that RP Gs generally shouldn't require grinding (I'm looking at YOU, Dragon Quest).

I honestly can't think of a single thing about XS 3 to complain about. Not true with either of the other two games.

Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#110: Jun 3rd 2012 at 11:20:16 AM

I think 3 is the best of them, with 1 second. However, when it comes to the soundtrack the quality goes from 3-1 in order. Mitsuda's score is fine, but it doesn't hold a candle to Yuki Kajiura's score. Xenosaga II's music is knocked down by the awful techno for the exploration bits.

TheyCallMeTomu Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#111: Jun 3rd 2012 at 11:25:16 AM

XS 1 has my favorite songs, but XS 3 has the better overall soundtrack.

The Proto Merkahba and Albedo themes from XS 1 are classic.

lu127 Paper Master from 異界 Since: Sep, 2011 Relationship Status: Crazy Cat Lady
#112: Jun 3rd 2012 at 11:45:20 AM

2 had this gem:

"If you aren't him, then you apparently got your brain from the same discount retailer, so..." - Fighteer
RichReeders Official Muffin Watcher from Watching this muffin. Since: Feb, 2011
Official Muffin Watcher
#113: Jun 3rd 2012 at 12:06:17 PM

I wish the characters in three had more than one after-battle quote.

Don't you try anything, you baked good you.
Nikkolas from Texas Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#114: Jun 3rd 2012 at 1:51:24 PM

"IIRC, Episode I actually had four battle themes: regular fight, miniboss, end of level / plot important boss and final boss. It's just that the first three sound almost completely identical. "

Nope, Episode 1 had the same track for all normal battles and boss battles. Only the final boss got its own theme. Not even Albedo right before it got a unique battle theme.

[up] I wish there was an actual victory fanfare as well. Hearing Shion say 'alright good job!" was so fucking tedious and made the battles feel even more bland.

And Episode 1 did have the best villain themes in the series. Albedo gets a lot of love but you can't forget the amazing Gnosis theme.

The Flood and Zerg got nothing on you, giant alien wang monster.

Then there's also the U-TIC theme.

RichReeders Official Muffin Watcher from Watching this muffin. Since: Feb, 2011
Official Muffin Watcher
#115: Jun 3rd 2012 at 2:18:59 PM

Okay; lemme see if I have this straight: the Gnosis are essentially atheist human ghost who are so terrified of us they want us dead just so we can't scare them anymore?

Don't you try anything, you baked good you.
TheyCallMeTomu Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#116: Jun 3rd 2012 at 3:14:40 PM

I don't know if they're atheist per say, but at least in XS 3, they're rejecting the collective unconscious.

It's like in End of Evangelion, methinks.

Nikkolas from Texas Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#117: Jun 4th 2012 at 1:23:34 AM

Yeah theism doesn't play into it at all. People are inherently willful and the idea of being "swallowed up" and losing yourself is terrifying. As such, upon death, these spirits lash out and refuse to join with the Collective Subconscious. And so Gnosis are created.

From what I remember of the Perfect Guide, a lot of this is U-DO's fault. However unknowingly, its interference in our universe has caused a lot of bad shit to happen.

I still wonder what would have happened if Yuriev had succeeded. He was going to try and ascend to be an U-DO like being after all. Unfortunately it looks like they wised up after the Krelian debacle and they didn't let the homicidal jerkass win this time.

edited 4th Jun '12 1:24:37 AM by Nikkolas

ccoa Ravenous Sophovore from the Sleeping Giant Since: Jan, 2001
Ravenous Sophovore
#118: Jun 4th 2012 at 8:55:30 AM

Nikkolas, you're taking it a tad too personally. Just because people think III is the best game in the series does not mean that they're automatically denigrating I and II. I is still in my top 10 best RPGs ever made. It did a hell of a lot of things right, and some things better than III. But overall, I feel that III was a better quality product.

Nephilim: He [U-DO] feeds upon the consciousness of those who intend to awaken him, as well as those who wish to seek him…

I'd forgotten about this line, but do we know for sure that Nephilim knows what U-DO is? And if she does, if this is an indication of malevolence?

Shion: No. No, it doesn't feel like that. This is more like...like some sort of consciousness is at work here.

Jr.: It's U-DO. Its presence has spread this far out.

...Not seeing it. U-DO makes the nanomachines act weird. So?

You say it isn't his work, but he has more credits on III than on II and I.

Also in all my years in the Xenosaga fandom no one has ever been able to address why KOS-MOS would potentially fight U-DO either. The obvious answer, from Episode 1 anyway, was that U-DO needs to be stopped. Yet from what the story became in 3, there really is no justification for it or that whole potential future thing Nephilim shows the party.

Apparently, the Xenosaga fandom lacks imagination.

Even if U-DO himself is not evil, he's clearly of Blue-and-Orange Morality. He could easily have an adverse effect on the real number domain that had to be stopped. Or it could be a result of a mistake - everyone is convinced that U-DO is malevolent, after all.

On the subject of music, Jr's Theme from II is my favorite score in the entire series. It was my ringtone for a long time.

edited 4th Jun '12 8:55:44 AM by ccoa

Waiting on a TRS slot? Finishing off one of these cleaning efforts will usually open one up.
MasterInferno It's Like Arguing on the Internet from Tomb of Malevolence Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
It's Like Arguing on the Internet
#119: Jun 4th 2012 at 9:09:38 AM

Didn't episode 1 have basically no music outside of battles and cutscenes?

Somehow you know that the time is right.
Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#120: Jun 4th 2012 at 1:09:19 PM

Yeah, there wasn't that much music in Episode 1.

ccoa Ravenous Sophovore from the Sleeping Giant Since: Jan, 2001
Ravenous Sophovore
#121: Jun 4th 2012 at 1:13:29 PM

I actually liked that a lot about I. But then again, I'm the type that mutes my games whenever possible because I'm extremely picky about music and 99% of video game music drives me up the wall even before it starts looping over and over and over and over...

Waiting on a TRS slot? Finishing off one of these cleaning efforts will usually open one up.
Nikkolas from Texas Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#122: Jun 4th 2012 at 6:09:41 PM

[up]x4 A lot of it has to do with -how- things are said.

For instance, the bit with Nephilm talking about U-DO....

Skip to 2:00

I think the dialogue and music, plus the vision of the galaxy going boom, is pretty damning. This scene was supposed to make U-DO appear to be evil.

Also Nephilim was the first person to vanish upon making contact with U-DO. She's actually a girl from Canada back when they first found the Zohar. And unlike most of the others who made contact, she didn't go crazy. As such I'd say she "knows" U-DO more than most anyone else short of Wilhelm.

Also damn I love Nephilim's original voice. And her theme.

I suppose you are right and I am too defensive... Sorry to anyone if it sounded like I was being rude.

edited 4th Jun '12 6:10:05 PM by Nikkolas

Nikkolas from Texas Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#123: Jun 9th 2012 at 10:04:53 PM

It was a very unexpected and pleasant surprise to see this topic active again and I really don't want it to die.

So how about some generic favorite talk?

Favorite Voice(S)?

Favorite Music?

Favorite Dungeon?

Etc..

TheyCallMeTomu Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#124: Jun 9th 2012 at 10:19:32 PM

Hikaru Midorikawa as U-do is my favorite. Rie Kugiyama as Mary is runner up, just because it was so totally unexpected.

Favorite Music? Hmmm... there's so many good songs to choose from, but I'd have to say ERUDAA KAIZAAA SHIGUMAAAAAA!

Favorite Dungeon? Hmmmm... gotta say the Blatant Ripoff from Xenogears one.

Nikkolas from Texas Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#125: Jun 9th 2012 at 10:56:17 PM

Eh? Which one ripped off Xenogears? Xengoears didn't have many memorable (or good) dungeons.


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