Xenosaga II Review

Here's a review of another game I finished this week, I'm going to try and write a review for every game I complete from now on. I'm on the last CD of Legend of Dragoon, so I should have a review of that game shortly as well. I've had this game for quite a while, but didn't get around to finishing it until recently, so with that said, here's my review of Xenosaga II.

This game picks up right after the original Xenosaga, starting with a small chapter introducing a new character (Jin) and showing the events of what happened in old millitia some years before. After that you're thrown back with the returning characters of the first game as you approach Second Miltia. I won't say more than this on the story, except that it focuses more on Jr. and his past for this chapter. Expect a lot of cutscenes and a lot of development like the first one. The pace for this game is a bit faster, but you'll reach the end still wanting to see the rest of the series. For fans of Xenogears, this game is even more packed with references to it, even if Namco and Monolith still says there are no ties between the two games. For those who doesn't know, Xenogears was supposed to be the 5th chapter of a 5 game saga, but they never did the other games.

The graphics engine has been upgraded since the first Xenosaga. The environment are even more detailed and even bigger. The characters did receive a bit of a change in character design, making them look a bit more mature. This change was a good move from the designers as this chapter is a bit more serious and the series will be taking a much more serious path in the later chapters. The cutscenes in this game still are in real time (except for 1 or two exceptions), complete with voice acting and the ability to pause. Pausing during the cutscenes in this series is vital as some cutscenes can be as long as 30 minutes to about an hour. The voice acting in the game isn't the best ever, but it will get you throught the game. The Music in the game is also great, never bothering what's happening on the screen and well suited for the scene being played out.

The game plays a bit differently in this chapter of the series. You still walk around the map and are able to destroy obstacles and see the enemies, but the fighting has been a bit redesigned. The skills you learn are now "bought" for each character using Skill points. As the character finish fights, he accumulates these skill points and can then use them to buy the skill they want from the skill tree. The tree is composed of levels and classes. You need class point to unlock the classes and you need a complete class of a level to unlock the next level. You gain class points as you complete classes and there are also some items that gives you class points. Some skill are used in battle as ether skills, while some are always on and others are to be equipped.

There have been a few changes to the actual flow of battle as well. The boost system is still present, as well as the special attributes of the turn. You can now achieve Arial and Ground combos to deal some extra damage. Each enemy has a break sequence where if you hit him with the right combination of A, B and C attacks his guard will break and then you can send him flying, or send him to the ground. This is achieved by using two characters and boosting to finish the break and then boosting while the enemy is in the air/on the ground to deal the extra attacks. This is an important strategy of the game and will save your life in some really hard boss battles. You can't switch to the AWGs during battle in this game. The AWGs have been replaced by the E.S. which are more like the gears in Xenogears. You will only fight in gears when you are walking around on the map using the gears. The gears also have their own levels, so they need to be leveled seperately as you play with them.

This is a game that I would easily recommend to any RPG fans. There are still other chapters to come, I've heard of there being 5 to 7 chapters in total once it's all done. If you haven't picked up the first chapter yet, go ahead and do so. If you like it, you will undoubtedly pick up the second chapter immediately afterwards as this game has a pretty good storyline and will keep you wanting more. As a little bonus, there is an endgame part in the second game. Once you finish it, you still have like 2 extra dungeons and some added quests to keep you playing the game, as well as some extra items and skills.