I really want to love this game, but god, is this a hard game to love.
I adore Xenosaga’s futuristic sci-fi space opera aesthetics. The slick, clean, artificial look of the game's environments, highlighting how far into the future this game takes place - which is reflected in an interesting way in the game’s treasure hunting system, where constructional nanomachines bugged out and accidentally created a bunch of closed rooms throughout levels with treasures in them. Mechs, ranging from a little bulky and awkward-looking mass produced military mechs to slender and sophisticated mechs of a private developer. Array of space ships with imaginative designs - one of them functioning both as a space battlecruiser and as a governmental skyscraper amid a lake on a space stanchion looking a little like a lotus flower.
Story in Xenosaga is very slow burn in nature, but that allows it to present a world lush with detail and focus on worldbuilding, slowly immersing the player into it. Characters are pretty cool and represent various aspects of the sci-fi setting - there’s cyborg made with old technologies, secret top of the line android, artificially created humans, and nature of their existence is relevant to their stories.
However, that slow burn nature is a double-edged sword - a lived-in feel to the world comes together with an incredibly slow pace. This game feels like a short prologue to an epic RPG story, except it runs for the whole duration of an average RPG - around 45 hours. Yes, this game is a first part in a franchise which also got cut short, but regardless of any circumstances, any story that spans such a long time just HAS to have a proper substance to it, and this game unfortunately doesn't. There’s no proper narrative arc, most characters get very little development, and it feels like nothing of importance happens. This game is all setup with no payoff. The way this game tried to up the stakes and epicness in the final dungeon also felt very unearned because of that. It was unnecessary and left a bad taste. The story that is being set up seems intriguing and interesting, and the payoff in the latter games is interesting enough, but in this game there is little satisfaction from it to be found.
Gameplay is somewhat okay. It’s a colossal improvement coming from Xenogears, but overall kind of mediocre. Base mechanics are alright, but the game feels like it’s lacking focus and a concrete vision on what experience its mechanics mean to convey to the player. It has tons of them, but interacting with them is a little confusing and not very fulfilling. The UI is also exceedingly cumbersome. If I have to manage equippable skills which are extracted from armor and accesories with a UI this bad once more in my life I’m gonna fucking gnosify.
Decision to leave exploration gameplay without music wasn't good. I get and like the idea of using silence and sound effects instead to highlight the cold and distant nature of Saga’s setting, but this idea wasn’t executed with a necessary quality. It just comes off as unfinished, and not as a stylistic choice. Combat music was also a bit lackluster considering it’s just ONE track for the whole game. Music was a letdown coming from Gears.
But everything being said, I do love this game despite its many imperfections. Also, KOS-MOS is hot. Seriously, she’s now one of my favorite female characters in animanga sphere, even though writing in this game really lets her down.
I adore Xenosaga’s futuristic sci-fi space opera aesthetics. The slick, clean, artificial look of the game's environments, highlighting how far into the future this game takes place - which is reflected in an interesting way in the game’s treasure hunting system, where constructional nanomachines bugged out and accidentally created a bunch of closed rooms throughout levels with treasures in them. Mechs, ranging from a little bulky and awkward-looking mass produced military mechs to slender and sophisticated mechs of a private developer. Array of space ships with imaginative designs - one of them functioning both as a space battlecruiser and as a governmental skyscraper amid a lake on a space stanchion looking a little like a lotus flower.
Story in Xenosaga is very slow burn in nature, but that allows it to present a world lush with detail and focus on worldbuilding, slowly immersing the player into it. Characters are pretty cool and represent various aspects of the sci-fi setting - there’s cyborg made with old technologies, secret top of the line android, artificially created humans, and nature of their existence is relevant to their stories.
However, that slow burn nature is a double-edged sword - a lived-in feel to the world comes together with an incredibly slow pace. This game feels like a short prologue to an epic RPG story, except it runs for the whole duration of an average RPG - around 45 hours. Yes, this game is a first part in a franchise which also got cut short, but regardless of any circumstances, any story that spans such a long time just HAS to have a proper substance to it, and this game unfortunately doesn't. There’s no proper narrative arc, most characters get very little development, and it feels like nothing of importance happens. This game is all setup with no payoff. The way this game tried to up the stakes and epicness in the final dungeon also felt very unearned because of that. It was unnecessary and left a bad taste. The story that is being set up seems intriguing and interesting, and the payoff in the latter games is interesting enough, but in this game there is little satisfaction from it to be found.
Gameplay is somewhat okay. It’s a colossal improvement coming from Xenogears, but overall kind of mediocre. Base mechanics are alright, but the game feels like it’s lacking focus and a concrete vision on what experience its mechanics mean to convey to the player. It has tons of them, but interacting with them is a little confusing and not very fulfilling. The UI is also exceedingly cumbersome. If I have to manage equippable skills which are extracted from armor and accesories with a UI this bad once more in my life I’m gonna fucking gnosify.
Decision to leave exploration gameplay without music wasn't good. I get and like the idea of using silence and sound effects instead to highlight the cold and distant nature of Saga’s setting, but this idea wasn’t executed with a necessary quality. It just comes off as unfinished, and not as a stylistic choice. Combat music was also a bit lackluster considering it’s just ONE track for the whole game. Music was a letdown coming from Gears.
But everything being said, I do love this game despite its many imperfections. Also, KOS-MOS is hot. Seriously, she’s now one of my favorite female characters in animanga sphere, even though writing in this game really lets her down.