Xenosaga Episode III: Thus Spake Zarathustra is a bittersweet ending to a franchise that, even fourteen years later, I’m clamoring for a reboot/sequel. It takes what the other games did, dismantles it; makes it simpler, but does everything it wants and needs to.
Before I get to the story, I’ll start with the new mechanics. Character battles have been “dumbed” down to being a more typical turn-based RPG. Gone are the near and far/physical and ether attacks which have been replaced by an archetypal choose your attack from a menu or two and they just act. It’s a good system that works in game-after-game and, while I’m sad to see the old guard go, I can’t complain. It just works. Growth and new skills are a fun new thing where each skill and additional stat points are on one of two skill lines. One offensive and another defensive. Those are vague terms that don’t really work, but it’s official. One skill line can have big single target attacks and ether skills while the other has break attacks and multi-hit physical attacks. It’s an effective way to keep characters different while giving players choice. The only thing that returns from prior games is a simplified brake system. It’s simplified in that it’s now another bar, like hp, which needs to be filled. Players also have one and it’s a good “fix”. It suffers from the same effects from the last game in boss fights, though.
ES fights are even more simple. Use your energy to attack and build up to special attacks. It’s simple, maybe too simple, really. Ubermech battles also suffer from boss battles that last too long and they quickly become tedious. It really is a shame. Second biggest negative of the game.
Now, the tutorial dungeon. The worst thing about the game is Shion’s suction cup footsteps. Everyone’s walk sounds are terrible, but Shion is the worst. Regardless, Shion does a dive into Vector’s database which, once again, goes well and unpunished. You’d think a galactic Microsoft which deals in various weaponry would care about being hacked but, nope. After the dungeon, we get the much-needed beach scene with Shion on vacation a year after game two. She gets a message from Allen, her creepy lover about the future of KOSMOS and she’s being discontinued. Shion goes to Second Miltia. I think there’s a sid month time skip here, too.
So Shion is on Miltia II and we learn she suffers from headaches which causes her to blackout and hear voices. Then she wakes up, goes to Vector HQ, legally this time, meets Fei from Xenogears and watches Kossy get beat up by the final boss from the last game, Super Ultra Giant Mech Omega Res Novae. Fortunately, half of the cast is there and they help Shion break into Vector HQ because a galactic Microsoft really sucks at security. Gets Kossy’s body from the trash and then we go into space.
I just want to take notice of HaKoxx which is a wired Lemmings-esq game where you have characters playing themselves in an arcade game to reach a portal while avoiding pitfalls. It’s really...uh...strange. But unique.
Next up is Space France, Rennes de Chateau which is a real place on Earth with a bunch of conspiracy theories about Jesus and a Mary, but that's beside the point. New conspiracy theory: why is a small landmass from Earth floating in space light years away 2700 years from now?
We’ll never know, but we will get on our ubermechs, don’t ask where Jin’s came from since we’re not in them long. We quickly walk through a graveyard that hides a gravity-defying puzzle with magical floating blocks. Was this here when it was still on Earth? We walk until we reach a stone cross behind twelve graves which looks like the cross Kossy was crucified on in game one. Probably reuse of recourse, right? There we fight a hotter, darker; Kossy named T-Elos. She kicks our asses so bad we go back in time to Miltia, just before it went to hell.
While here we see why Virgil has his face scar, learn about Shion's parents and their sketchy past, learn that Shion’s first boyfriend killed Shion’s mom - sorta, and discover that Shion is the reason the space amoebas are here. We also learn the voice Shion hears during her headaches is the voice of God. NBD, really. Then we learn the guy who Ziggy hates sent them back in time because his organization needed a double dose of Shion to summon a solar system sized space amoeba called Abel’s Arc, which appeared when Jesus died. Where's that conspiracy theory group? Kosmos also gets a new body which is cool.
After this, we go into the first game’s final dungeon and immediately leave because we need to infiltrate the Arc. There we fight several Omnigears from Xenogears and kill jr.’w dad who possessed jr.’s brother. Ya know, average Thanksgiving dinner.
From here we go to the final dungeon where we finally kill everyone in U-Tic while also finally giving my man, Ziggy, backstory. 100 years ago, on this planet, he was a cop chasing after a man who kills babies via the internet. The killer kills Ziggy’s family and Zig kills himself. That killer is the Black Testament, Voyager. We kill him. Eventually, we beat up Shion’s first boyfriend, Kevin, and his boss who was also Shion’s boss and Margulus’ boss. He’s also in charge of time. Real workaholic, this one. After the fight, we beat the game. I cry as a few characters don’t return and watch Shion, Jr., Allen, and the Elsa crew fly back to Earth, where ever that may be. Everyone else stays behind to reinvent the internet.
Xenosaga Ep 3 really is a fitting end to the wanna be sextuple saga (I almost went with sexsaga, but I feared that might lead to some confusion). It has, perhaps, the best graphics on the PS2, which hold up as good as they can. The music returns to being enjoyable, even though it was composed by one person from the last game. The characters get their needed arc even if some get more than others (stares at Jr. while crying at Ziggy, who should have had Pied Piper playable here). If game two was as good as game three, Takahashi-san might still be making Xenosaga games instead of the unrelated Xenoblade Chronicles. There's a reason people still want to play these games, and that's because they're good. Maybe one day Namco will try to port them to PC or switch and talk about a revival.
Written in an hour, good job me.
No comments:
Post a Comment