Xenosaga Episode I: Chikara he no ishi

I felt that Xenosaga I was a great doorway to the final story in III. It is most unfortunate that this series is as severely under-appreciated as it is, but it must be approached with an open mind. The story and the characters are well developed, and if the series had been able to span the originally proposed six episodes, we would further be enveloped in this well-written epic tale. However, it is possible that the in-depth plot could be daunting to those who shy away from reading fantasy novels; those who instead prefer first-person shooters over games that have a tendency to emotionally move the player through character development and plot revelations may encounter aggravation and impatience. However, if you are willing to delve into a believable world and have your life changed, this whole series is for you.

Yes this is my type of role-playing game, more story less action, less fighting to level up and so forth. If that is not your kind of game, then I would suggest you skip this series, however, I thought it was great...though not as good as Xenogears, the game this may or may not be a prequel to. The only reason I say may or may not is that it ends suddenly in part three and it does not all add up to what Xenogears picks up. This game basically stars a cute gal named Shion, get to know her well as she is the focus of this series. During this part of the story you are mainly introduced to the characters and the villains. You get your intrigue and you get your Gnosis, strange creatures seemingly unbeatable at first. The fighting is turned based and fairly fun, however, the inclusion of robots in this particular games seems rather underdeveloped. For the most part they are rather pointless. Still you get your good story and the ending is good too, though almost nothing big gets done and no real surprises in the first edition. All in all though a good game where the only real flaw is the lack of variety in the music during fights and such.

This is one of the best RPGs I have ever come to play. It beats out MORROWIND for the XBOX and the FINAL FANTASY series for the PLAYSTATION 2. The intense graphics, the outstanding soundtrack, the plot, and the mystery to the game makes it unique. It's a different type of RPG that makes it also unique. I'll be waiting for "XENOSAGA EPISODE 2". (10/10 on my account!)

I could go on about how this game's desire to be a movie bugged me, how the polygonal acting and animation bugged me since animators have yet to nail human expressive gestures and lip syncing. And I could criticize the voice acting, the unrealistic and poorly flowing dialogue, poorly paced cutscenes bugged me . . . but I won't. I will say that while this game wants to be a movie and though game cutscenes have come a long ways over the years it still is light years away from its cinematic parents.

Supposedly XenoSaga was this deep intricate RPG with a mature plot and scope, but I didn't see any of that when I played. It came across as an ensemble of goofy or cliché characters backdropped by a collection of typical plot gimmicks getting stuck in `clever' dungeon sequences.

I stopped playing because I found myself waiting for the damn cutscenes to end, and if not that I was playing just to get through the dungeon/towns as quickly as I could to advance the plot since nothing was grabbing my interesting and making me want to play. I wanted to get to the `deep wonderful RPG' I'd heard about. After getting a good 75% into the game, I flat out gave up wishing I had stopped much earlier but everyone kept telling me it gets better.

I didn't like nor could I buy into hardly any of the characters (supporting or playable). Everyone came across as childish avatars of what's supposed to be individual traits, like Namco's team talking down to its audience, `Allen is the nervous geek you're supposed to pity and sympathize with,' `Virgil is the pointless guy you're supposed to hate who rambles for 15 minutes in the middle of life-or-death situation,' `chaos is the character you're supposed to like because he's quirky and powerful.'

Namco, I can make decisions for myself. Give me non-hideous character designs, please. MOMO, Ziggy, 'Little Master' (aka Jr), the Elsa & Durandal's crew. No thanks.

I didn't mind KOS-MOS so much despite her being equally as cliché as the rest of the cast. She actually came across as believable with her mechanical, webster's dictionary-defining all key terms in her speech, actually fit (every character talked like that, but only KOS-MOS had reason to). And I don't now why, I just found her straight forward programming and resulting naivety providing desperately needed comic relief, and fortunately, Namco opted not to explore KOS-MOS too deeply. I have a feeling that would've ruined that character for me as well.

The plot was explicitly explained, leaving no room for individual exploration and interpretation; thus, no real room for intellectual stimulation. Nothing important implied for the gamer to figure out for themselves; if anything, they leave irrelevant details to the gamers. And not only do we get a giant glossary of used terms but in mid-conversation characters will stop and define things for us. People don't talk this way. If you're going to have a glossary let the gamer view it, and most terms the gamer already knows or can figure out what it is by the context of the conversation. Wake up, Namco. You have intelligent people playing your games.

Maybe it would've helped if XenoSaga I didn't come across as a children's book that looked at a Stephen King novel for a few buzzwords and a plot point or two to create the illusion of sophistication.

In the end, I didn't find the characters likeable, the plot did not intrigue me, and the gameplay bored me. And it just goes to further discourage me from playing RPGs anymore and wasting 20+ hours on an unimaginative plot with boring game play. And once the Suikoden series loses its shine, I have a feeling this RPGer will hang up his Role Playing controller for good.

Xenosaga, Episode I has to be one of the most ambitious RPGs that I have ever had the pleasure of playing. The story is truly epic. And the battle system is perhaps the best I have encountered since Xenogears. By the way, Xenogears, which came out in 1998, is actually the sequel to Xenosaga. Xenosaga, which was released two years ago, is actually a prequel. This method of story-telling is similar to the one used by George Lucas with his Star Wars.

Xenosaga starts off with the discover of a mysterious artifact in Lake Turkana, sometime during our century. The game then quickly moves forward in time, to approximately 4000 years in the future. In that distant future, man's technology has evolved to the point that would appear to us as nothing short of magic. However, even with man's technology, they have yet to unlock the secrets of the mysterious golden artifact that was discovered at the start of the game. To complicate matters, a very brutal and lethal species of ethereal beings called the Gnosis are eager to take the artifact away from man. Our weapons are useless against the Gnosis. The central character of the story, Chief Engineer Shion Uzuki, has been given the mandate to develop a humanoid Anti-Gnosis fighting system called Kos-Mos. As the story progresses, Kos-Mos goes through a development process that in the end, made her more than just a weapon of destruction into a totally unique and living being.

The battle system is fabulous. You, the player, will have option of engaging the enemy directly. Each of the main characters have a set of attacks, from the physical, martials arts type attacks to long range attacks involving the use of some very special abilities. Some of your main characters will have the ability to "pilot" giant, mechanical humanoid fighting systems called A.G.W.S. (Anti-Gnosis Weapons System). You have the option of outfitting your A.G.W.S. with a variety of weapons, such as Gatling Guns, Rifles, Grenade Launchers, Swords, Drill Claws, and Lancer Arms. Each of your main characters are also highly "customizable". You earn points during battle. It is your choice how to use those points to acquire skills, and to increase attributes for your players. Strategy plays a big role in battles. Also, unlike the typical RPG, in Xenosaga there are no random battles. So you are not subjected to fighting the same enemies over and over for the 99th time. The enemies are visible, and you have the ability to use "stealth" to avoid them in most cases.

The soundtrack is composed by Yasunori Mitsuda, who is the equivalent of John Williams in the world of RPGs. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performed the soundtrack.

By the way, do not expect all of the plot lines to be resolved at the end of the game. Most will not. This is only part I, of a six-part story. I highly recommend this game. Especially for those players who demand more from their RPG than the typical, mind-numbing, overly-repetitive random battles that you usually find in the Final Fantasy series. I have also played FFX. And while it is also good, the story simply does not even come close to the size and scope of that being told in Xenosaga. I believe that a well-made RPG can do a much better job of telling a story, compared to a movie. In an RPG, you do actually get to be the main character and interact with the story. An RPG can immerse in the story to th extent that a movie could never hope to do. If you like complicated plots, epic story, fun battle system, and lovable characters, then I highly recommend this game to you.