Just like with Xenogears, this game is an unfinished masterpiece, story-wise. I had such a good time with the game I binged it in under a week, a 50 hour game! But I don't know how to rank it.
First of all, I think the story is amazing. It answers what I believe all the questions the series asked, very action-packed and very impactful. Like the other xeno games, it impacted me on a personal level and I can say that Tetsuya Takahashi is an amazing storyteller, and It's severely unfortunate he has never been able to tell a 3 part, six-episode storyline until Xenoblade. I now consider Xenogears Perfect Works on a conceptual level my favorite story of all time, and I very "normally" want him to tell it one day. Looking into the development of the Xenosaga series, I also learned that Xenosaga shared the same structure, but because of how Episode 1 turned out, the 3-part 6-episode storyline was cut into a 1-part 3-episode storyline (debatably 5 episode). This means the full Xenosaga storyline only covered 1/3 of the storyline, only Shion's story. I would love to see how the other 2/3 of the story would've been like, and I'd like to redirect people to the Xenogears and Xenosaga Study Guide Blogger website if you want to learn more about Xenogears and Xenosaga's history and development. Anyways, the story is amazing and I love a lot of it's ideas, and I wish the full thing could've been told, the after-credits scene in particular almost makes me tear up (a high accomplishment, btw).
Onto gameplay, this is definitely the best a Xenosaga has played. Some people may call it generic/traditional, but there's a reason it's tradition. The turn-based battles just flow a lot better than 1 and 2's ever did and I definitely had the most fun battling in this game than the previous games. The bosses also didn't drag on for as long! Although, I feel as though the final E.S boss battles in the final chapter weren't that fun, I think my weapons just had bad accuracy but damn they kept missing all the fucking time. This is still the most fun I had playing a Xenosaga game, though.
Lastly, the music is fantastic. I love the regular boss theme, Promised Pain, and other Xenosaga fans know I don't even need to mention Godsibb. Amazing tracks, maybe even the best ost in the trilogy.
Overall, this has been the hardest game for me to rate on this site so far. I wasn't able to decide between a 4.5 or a full 5/5, because I do believe this to believe one of my favorite experiences I've had in a video game, with what I believe to be great gameplay, amazing story, and some godlike music, I can't help but feel melancholic over thinking about how different things could've turned out if we got to see the full Xenosaga. I think this is personally the opposite of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 for me. as I feel it was one of the best games of all time, but not one of my favorites as the gameplay still isn't much my cup of tea even though I do find enjoyment in it (everything else is still a 10/10, for real that game is peak fiction). This game, to me, is not one of the best games of all time, but probably one of my favorites now.
After I finished this game, I started thinking about how much stories mean to me and how much they can impact me. I know stories in video games aren't for everyone, but for me a good story just elevates the experience tenfold in a video game. That's what I love about the pre-blade Xeno games. It truly felt as though Takahashi wanted to tell this super ambitious epic story, and I feel like he succeeded where he could. And because the games are more my style (turn based), I think this is why I prefer these games over Xenoblade (at least gameplay-wise). I could feel the passion, the love that the stories had, and the sadness at the end of it knowing he wasn't able to see it all the way through, and had to sit down and make something else that could appeal to a wider audience; Xenoblade. I will always love these early Xeno games for what they tried to do, and I think I can say this is now one of my favorite games of all time.
First of all, I think the story is amazing. It answers what I believe all the questions the series asked, very action-packed and very impactful. Like the other xeno games, it impacted me on a personal level and I can say that Tetsuya Takahashi is an amazing storyteller, and It's severely unfortunate he has never been able to tell a 3 part, six-episode storyline until Xenoblade. I now consider Xenogears Perfect Works on a conceptual level my favorite story of all time, and I very "normally" want him to tell it one day. Looking into the development of the Xenosaga series, I also learned that Xenosaga shared the same structure, but because of how Episode 1 turned out, the 3-part 6-episode storyline was cut into a 1-part 3-episode storyline (debatably 5 episode). This means the full Xenosaga storyline only covered 1/3 of the storyline, only Shion's story. I would love to see how the other 2/3 of the story would've been like, and I'd like to redirect people to the Xenogears and Xenosaga Study Guide Blogger website if you want to learn more about Xenogears and Xenosaga's history and development. Anyways, the story is amazing and I love a lot of it's ideas, and I wish the full thing could've been told, the after-credits scene in particular almost makes me tear up (a high accomplishment, btw).
Onto gameplay, this is definitely the best a Xenosaga has played. Some people may call it generic/traditional, but there's a reason it's tradition. The turn-based battles just flow a lot better than 1 and 2's ever did and I definitely had the most fun battling in this game than the previous games. The bosses also didn't drag on for as long! Although, I feel as though the final E.S boss battles in the final chapter weren't that fun, I think my weapons just had bad accuracy but damn they kept missing all the fucking time. This is still the most fun I had playing a Xenosaga game, though.
Lastly, the music is fantastic. I love the regular boss theme, Promised Pain, and other Xenosaga fans know I don't even need to mention Godsibb. Amazing tracks, maybe even the best ost in the trilogy.
Overall, this has been the hardest game for me to rate on this site so far. I wasn't able to decide between a 4.5 or a full 5/5, because I do believe this to believe one of my favorite experiences I've had in a video game, with what I believe to be great gameplay, amazing story, and some godlike music, I can't help but feel melancholic over thinking about how different things could've turned out if we got to see the full Xenosaga. I think this is personally the opposite of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 for me. as I feel it was one of the best games of all time, but not one of my favorites as the gameplay still isn't much my cup of tea even though I do find enjoyment in it (everything else is still a 10/10, for real that game is peak fiction). This game, to me, is not one of the best games of all time, but probably one of my favorites now.
After I finished this game, I started thinking about how much stories mean to me and how much they can impact me. I know stories in video games aren't for everyone, but for me a good story just elevates the experience tenfold in a video game. That's what I love about the pre-blade Xeno games. It truly felt as though Takahashi wanted to tell this super ambitious epic story, and I feel like he succeeded where he could. And because the games are more my style (turn based), I think this is why I prefer these games over Xenoblade (at least gameplay-wise). I could feel the passion, the love that the stories had, and the sadness at the end of it knowing he wasn't able to see it all the way through, and had to sit down and make something else that could appeal to a wider audience; Xenoblade. I will always love these early Xeno games for what they tried to do, and I think I can say this is now one of my favorite games of all time.