awoolcott's Full Review: Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Bose for...
Xenosaga II: Jenseits von Gut und Bose finds itself in a position very different from the original. Xenosaga Episode I was a heavily hyped role-player, with the legions of Xenogears fans eagerly awaiting the 'prequel' to that PlayStation RPG classic. In the case of XSII, that hype has been subdued, with just the Xenofanatics really excited and a relatively low buzz otherwise. Why? A variety of reasons, to be sure - lengthy cutscenes that bother those with ADD, a complex battle system, and a storyline that's far more space opera than Xenogears was. Xenosaga II continues this trend though; some long cutscenes, a revamped yet still complex battle system, and an epic story that's so sci-fi, it could be on the Sci-Fi Channel. It is superior to the original? Yes and no - but on the whole Xenosaga Episode II is a fine RPG that does exactly what it needed to do - forward the 6-part story in grand fashion.
Aside from a small flashback bit that introduces the characters of Canaan (a special realian) and Jin Uzuki, brother of main character Shion, Xenosaga II picks up exactly where the last game did, with the crew of the Elsa landing on Second Miltia to deliver MOMO to the UMN center to unearth the 'Y-Data' her creator planted in her memory. And aside from a very brief synopsis from Shion, you're expected to know what went on on XSI when you boot this for the first time. Which is why, of course, Namco gave away a free DVD of the Xenosaga I cutscenes with a pre-order. Like the original game, Xenosaga II answers some questions and opens new ones; some things are left very open-ended for the sake of Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra; whenever that comes around. The cast remains the exact same with the lone addition being Jin, so get used to getting reacquainted with Shion, KOS-MOS, Ziggy, MOMO, Rubedo (Jr.), and chaos for this adventure. A word of warning though; while Xenosaga I spent a lot of time fleshing out every character except chaos, Xenosaga II is squarely focused most of the time on Jr. and his past with Albedo and Gaignun (Nigredo) as URTV's designed to fight U-DO (yes, this game has more acronyms than you can shake a Zohar at). Don't worry though, the story is extremely well-told and answers many questions left by the original game, and is not *all* about Jr. as a good chunk is dedicated to the actual main character, Shion.
Those with a clear save of Episode I will be treated to some special items and a ton of points to better equip themselves with the new skills system. Instead of the character-specific skills from the first game, you have a generic list of skills to work with, and as you fight and adventure around, you'll acquire class and skill points that let you learn more and more abilities, with a small amount of character exclusive abilities. In one way, this lets everyone learn the vital spells like Medica/2/All, status effect recovery, and revivals. Considering how challenging the game can be at times, having more people able to use these vital skills, the better. Those skills come in handy since there's no money in the game, nor shops to buy healing items. There's not even a need for Bio Spheres this time (they just restore everyone to full HP/MP), as walking into a save point restores you a la Final Fantasy X/X-2. Thus keeping MP high is essential since chances are your item inventory will be fairly small since you only find them off enemies and in hidden places. They do balance this pretty well, since if you use people not in battle in the camp screen, they can use their healing skills between encounters and actually recover MP.
The battle system is revamped almost entirely from the original, and in many ways for the better. Xenosaga II's battles revolve around break zones and combos; each enemy has a zone that you can break by using different buttons during attack. It kinda stinks since nobody has any crazy tech attacks this time around, but the break zones work well. If an enemy has a BC break zone, you press square, then triangle to break the zone. If you boost another character (which too is revamped to where you share boost instead of individual boost counters), you can do even more damage, especially if you stock attacks and manage an air/down status. It's complicated at first, but once you get it down, battles are a lot more fun. Bosses tend to have 4-hit breaks, meaning you have to begin the break with one character and then boost another to finish the combo, and then from there you can really do some damage if you've stocked attacks. A nice new addition is the ability to swap out characters mid-battle, in case you've got the wrong party for a certain boss or enemy set.
As mentioned, tech attacks are gone, but instead replaced by Double Attacks, which is a double-edged sword. Double Techs are character-specific, meaning only certain characters can do particular doubleteam moves. They're easy to execute; just stock with both characters (in other words, skip a turn to build up strength, i.e. attack chains) until you've reached the amount of stock needed, and then boost a corresponding character to begin the attack. They're devastating, cool to watch, and all that, but a pain in the behind to actually get. You have to either steal 'awakenings' or complete sidequests with the GSC to get many of them, which sometimes makes them useless. You can beat the game without them, however. Finally, mech combat is different. You can't just leap into your A.W.G.S at will, instead mech combat with the new ES's is a separate entity required in certain situations. The mech combat is pretty mundane, as most battles are won merely by hitting buttons. Only MOMO's mech has healing ability, which makes her vital to restore busted up mechs. Otherwise, the same concept of battles remains from the first game, with no random encounters and a turn-based system. However, the battles are much, much faster this time around, with less histrionics between turns.
Like the first game, the progression is linear almost the entire time, with little leeway until certain points. You go from place to place and forward the story, with the Global Samaritan Campaign being the only real sidequest system, though its very robust with about 30 different adventures to embark on – some lengthy, others pretty short. The game itself, despite being spread out onto two discs, is a bit shorter than the original, as it can be beaten in about 20 hours roughly, with disc 1’s 7 hour length being alarmingly brief – thankfully disc 2 is longer. There’s a lot of emphasis on block puzzles within the dungeons now, some are pretty simple while others are head-scratching. Though not as bad as the annoying ones in the great Tales of Symphonia. However, thanks to a fun battle system despite the boring mech combat, lack of flashy skills, and hard to get Double Techs, and a meaty storyline that puts many films to shame with some great characters, Xenosaga II’s quality makes up for its lack of quantity. In many ways, the game feels like it was made to be brief as to not give too much away for Episode III, which is supposedly the final installment of this particular series of characters and era, before the game moves closer to Xenogears’ timeline.
Unlike the anime-influenced character designs and environments, Xenosaga II goes for a more ‘realistic’ art style. Characters have normal proportions, such as more normalized eyes and height, etc. A few things are weird, such as funky fingers, but otherwise the characters look pretty good. Though seemingly canned and forced, the characters have good body language and eyes that move around to focus on what they’re supposed to be looking at. Xenosaga II is about the little things really. Though heavy on cutscenes at times, they’re all great looking with intense action in many of them, using many cool special effects. Environments range from broken down old cities from XSII’s timeframe, to unique enemy strongholds, to a more ‘modern’ setting that you traverse through in the first bit of the game. The major city in the game, Second Miltia, is a bustling town full of NPCs and businesses, many of which you can enter since they tend to tie in with the GSC quests.
Many changes have been instituted in the audio department compared to its predecessor, and not really for the best. Many voices have changed, with only a select few remaining, such as Jr., Ziggy, Margulis, Albedo, and Gaignun. Otherwise, almost everyone has a different voice actor, and its painfully obvious with many. Shion is pretty much the same, but KOS-MOS sounds less like an android and more like a normal human, and chaos has lost his more ‘quiet’ voice in exchange for a more generic one. KOS-MOS really doesn’t matter much since she has very little to say or do in this game compared to the original, but since chaos’ role is ever-expanding, the change can be a big deal. That is of course not saying it’s a poor job by anyone, when on the contrary, the voice acting is solid all around (though Helmer picked up a bit of a twang between I and II).
On the other hand, the music is a mix of the expected epic craziness…and funky j-pop. No, I’m not joking. The first game was infamous for having no background music during most dungeons (the exceptions were the Song of Nephilim and Proto Merkaba, really), instead using ambient sounds to make up for it. Now, the sounds are drowned by happy j-pop music that actually doesn’t even fit a very dramatic storyline. But the cutscenes contain some great epic tunes that fit, and much more like the stuff you’ve heard in Xenogears and Xenosaga. It’s no wonder why the original soundtrack is titled the Movie Scene Soundtrack, since none of the field music is on it – Namco seems interested in forgetting about the bizarre placement of such synth-centric music.
The Last Paragraph
Xenosaga Episode II is effectively a game for the fans. This isn’t a game someone with no experience with the franchise should be touching, because they’ll be more lost than a blind man in Toys R Us. Many changes though have been implemented to streamline the gameplay to keep fans around, and that’s actually not a bad thing, mixing up the battle system keeps things fresh and doesn’t grow old like Final Fantasy’s reliance on ATB for so many years. Xenosaga II continues the story very well, leaving just enough to get fans excited about the next episode, whether its on PS2 or PS3. It’s perhaps not as good as the original, but few RPGs still capture the importance of a fun battle system and deep story like the Xenosaga franchise.
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