Xeno Series
Nothing here!
9 Games
My favorite game of all time alongside MOTHER 3.
1
Objectively better than 1, but considering how special 1 is to me it gets the edge.
2
A phenomenal wrap-up of the Blade series up to this point, including references to every other piece of the "Xeno-verse." Best combat and gameplay progression in the series. Made the Community system good, a miracle unheard of previously.
3
If this game's second disc was finished it would be damn near perfect. Oh, and the Deathblows becoming obsolete once you get better ones. That too.
4
While still flawed, easily the greatest and most polished of the Xenosaga trilogy. Amazing story and presentation, refined combat, and a particularly memorable OST.
5
While still a fantastic game, I take issue with some of the gameplay mechanics. The gacha system for blades got old very quickly for me, the removal of the Affinity Chart for individual NPCs, Field Skills ended up being more of a nuisance than a fun exploration mechanic, etc. The inconsistency in the artstyle also bothers me; the "more anime" aesthetic doesn't bother me, but the fact that the game combines dozens of different artists' styles with the Blade character designs comes off as odd and inconsistent to me. The story, however, is up to snuff with the franchise, and is still fantastic.
6
This low only due to the Community aspect, which ruins the experience for me near the end of the game despite the incredible story. There were a lot of great gameplay improvements as well, but the Community system made me lose interest fast, and discourages replays to this day.
7
Great story, characters, and presentation. Repetitive combat. Barely any music during exploration, only two battle themes, leads to a repetitive OST outside of the cutscenes. The long cutscenes might be a turnoff to some, though I liked them. Story ends on a very anticlimactic note, which you can tell is due to the plot being split in two for Episode II due to time constraints.
8
Story is good, but the rest of the game suffers. Combat is sped up from the previous game, but gets repetitive infinitely faster. Music is half better and half worse, with the cutscene audio being fantastic and most of the gameplay music being repetitive. Bizarre art style change that is uncanny at best. Terrible voice direction. Baffling pacing.
9