This review contains spoilers
Shion is the best Xeno protagonist and it's not even close. I think it's interesting in the move from the first game to the second where you start to see her responsible scientist persona peel away and she shows off more of her bad habits, and then the climax of the third game with her getting so close to abandoning everything for Kevin had so many powerful character moments. Jin was super great here as well. I didn't think too much of him in the previous game, but Xenosaga III gives him such a delicate emotional performance. Pulled somewhere between a martyr, hero, judge and deceiver. Self-loathing, self-righteous and wholly broken. It was such an interesting dynamic, especially in how it synergises with Margulis own languor.
One thing I do quite appreciate in Xenosaga is how actively the storytelling makes use of its various concepts. Compared to say, Artifice Aion in Xenoblade 2, Omega was permitted to remain a constant presence. Its plot made full use of the lore it had worked to establish, the graphics were gorgeous (doubly so after the weird art direction in the second game) and the music was easily the best in the trilogy. Until this point I felt like Xenosaga's music was lacking in identity and oddly unmemorable when placed against Xenogears and Xenoblade. The combat, well, I hacked my way through the entire trilogy, but from a design standpoint the systems in the third game seemed the best. Interaction with the level design felt a lot snappier than it previously did too, though obviously stunted when compared to all the jumping and vertical level design in the other two Xeno branches. The interlinking design elements are always one of my favourite parts to fixate on in any given Xeno playthrough, so this entry gets additional bonus points for how plainly it engages with Xenogears, as well as stylistically setting the scene for Xenoblade.
This won't necessarily be upsetting my franchise rankings, but I do understand the fanbase's obsession with this particular game. Out of any entry in the Xeno series, the characters were simply performing at their best here, with nuance to every interaction and the morality of their motivations constantly in flux.
One thing I do quite appreciate in Xenosaga is how actively the storytelling makes use of its various concepts. Compared to say, Artifice Aion in Xenoblade 2, Omega was permitted to remain a constant presence. Its plot made full use of the lore it had worked to establish, the graphics were gorgeous (doubly so after the weird art direction in the second game) and the music was easily the best in the trilogy. Until this point I felt like Xenosaga's music was lacking in identity and oddly unmemorable when placed against Xenogears and Xenoblade. The combat, well, I hacked my way through the entire trilogy, but from a design standpoint the systems in the third game seemed the best. Interaction with the level design felt a lot snappier than it previously did too, though obviously stunted when compared to all the jumping and vertical level design in the other two Xeno branches. The interlinking design elements are always one of my favourite parts to fixate on in any given Xeno playthrough, so this entry gets additional bonus points for how plainly it engages with Xenogears, as well as stylistically setting the scene for Xenoblade.
This won't necessarily be upsetting my franchise rankings, but I do understand the fanbase's obsession with this particular game. Out of any entry in the Xeno series, the characters were simply performing at their best here, with nuance to every interaction and the morality of their motivations constantly in flux.