This review contains spoilers
As always, Xenosaga is extremely fascinating to see in motion.
On a plot level I feel that it does lag behind Xenogears and Xenoblade. Shion is probably a more engaging protagonist than Rex or Shulk, but she doesn't catch me as much as Fei did, and with KOS-MOS I feel as though I'm enamoured more with her as the original Aegis concept than I am as a specific character. The way her character design and link to the Zohar are parroted by Mythra is cool, but beyond that I'm actually quite surprised at how much Xenosaga's first two games weren't centred on her. U-DO is a more generic evil force than the Wave Existence or Monado were, and Albedo is definitely the worst Xeno antagonist. He's so obnoxious. I don't like the URTV characters all that much, which did mean that the back half of XS2 would lose me for large swaths of screentime. So far it definitely lacks the same hook that the other Xeno games have. However in terms of its story mechanics, it's pure spectacle. Xenosaga is the answer to nearly all of the franchise's questions. Xenogears and Xenoblade are both fantasy settings (with mechs) which slowly peel away the surface-layer to reveal that they're set after the collapse of a hyper-technological civilisation, so Xenosaga being set at the height of that culture gives it such unique presence. The other games will offer the slightest glimpses of the Zohar's power as a meta-universe manifold/infinite energy engine in their finales, but Xenosaga lets it run totally rampant. Proto Omega cracking the entire planet was insane (I knew Xenosaga's setting and cutscene-heavy presentation inspired Star Ocean 4, but I wasn't expecting another giant planet dragon thing).
Noting down all the obligatory Xeno visual iteration is enjoyable as evers. I don't recall if KOS-MOS' sword-rifle looked that way in the first game too, but here I definitely took note of it matching Pneuma's Aegis Sword. I had forgotten how Margulis' disgust toward the human condition and manipulation of the church later inspires Marubeni too. There were a lot more things that I noted down but honestly it's so many little adaptational nods that I just can't be bothered trying to comprehensively present it, so the similar sword design and god-mech are some of the more visible memetic setpieces.
On a plot level I feel that it does lag behind Xenogears and Xenoblade. Shion is probably a more engaging protagonist than Rex or Shulk, but she doesn't catch me as much as Fei did, and with KOS-MOS I feel as though I'm enamoured more with her as the original Aegis concept than I am as a specific character. The way her character design and link to the Zohar are parroted by Mythra is cool, but beyond that I'm actually quite surprised at how much Xenosaga's first two games weren't centred on her. U-DO is a more generic evil force than the Wave Existence or Monado were, and Albedo is definitely the worst Xeno antagonist. He's so obnoxious. I don't like the URTV characters all that much, which did mean that the back half of XS2 would lose me for large swaths of screentime. So far it definitely lacks the same hook that the other Xeno games have. However in terms of its story mechanics, it's pure spectacle. Xenosaga is the answer to nearly all of the franchise's questions. Xenogears and Xenoblade are both fantasy settings (with mechs) which slowly peel away the surface-layer to reveal that they're set after the collapse of a hyper-technological civilisation, so Xenosaga being set at the height of that culture gives it such unique presence. The other games will offer the slightest glimpses of the Zohar's power as a meta-universe manifold/infinite energy engine in their finales, but Xenosaga lets it run totally rampant. Proto Omega cracking the entire planet was insane (I knew Xenosaga's setting and cutscene-heavy presentation inspired Star Ocean 4, but I wasn't expecting another giant planet dragon thing).
Noting down all the obligatory Xeno visual iteration is enjoyable as evers. I don't recall if KOS-MOS' sword-rifle looked that way in the first game too, but here I definitely took note of it matching Pneuma's Aegis Sword. I had forgotten how Margulis' disgust toward the human condition and manipulation of the church later inspires Marubeni too. There were a lot more things that I noted down but honestly it's so many little adaptational nods that I just can't be bothered trying to comprehensively present it, so the similar sword design and god-mech are some of the more visible memetic setpieces.