VGMdb
Go Back   VGMdb Forums > Discussion > Miscellaneous Discussion
Register FAQ Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1  
Old Sep 14, 2016, 01:58 AM
yvk2000's Avatar
yvk2000 yvk2000 is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 20
Default Xenosaga worth playing?

Fellow vgm fans,

Just recently I acquired the Xenosaga OST. To this day I refrained myself from listening to it, waiting for the moment that I would sit down and play the game. This decision was made 11 years ago after I played Xenogears (one of my favorite games and OST's of all time). Xenogears blew my mind back then and opened me to gnosticism and other mystic streams (making me realize Xenogears wasn't thát sci-fi).

I don't game anymore but I still have love for fleshed out gaming worlds with ambitious stories and great soundtracks. So now is the moment, either I just pop in the CD and start enjoying or I wait till I become a grandpa to try out Xenosaga and hear the music.

Anybody wanna chime on whether Xenosaga is up to the same standards as Xenogears?

Edit: I'm not planning on playing ep. 2 and 3

Last edited by yvk2000; Sep 14, 2016 at 02:00 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old Sep 14, 2016, 04:01 PM
Jormungand's Avatar
Jormungand Jormungand is offline
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Wisconsin, USA
Posts: 1,062
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by yvk2000 View Post
Xenogears blew my mind back then
You and many others. It's really the RPG of RPGs. It (along with BSG) completely changed my entertainment preference from fantasy to sci-fi--and yet so few works of fiction measure up.

Quote:
fleshed out gaming worlds with ambitious stories
That's definitely Xenosaga, despite its troubled production (Namco Bandai's fault).

Quote:
Anybody wanna chime on whether Xenosaga is up to the same standards as Xenogears?
No, but that's an unfair standard to try and measure up to. Xenosaga, as a completely trilogy, is written in the same tenor and scope as Xenogears, even if it's not as thoroughly evocative.

Quote:
Edit: I'm not planning on playing ep. 2 and 3
You really should.

I feel the series isn't worth investing in unless you experience it as a complete trilogy. It's true that Episode 2 is garbage, that key staff were not invited back after Episode 1, that half the music in Ep.2 and most of the music in Ep.3 is a joking afterthought following Mitsuda's Ep.1 score (which itself isn't close to his best work), and that the trilogy was not completed as intended.

That said, Ep.3 is wonderful, and is a satisfactory conclusion to the overall story. You'll feel deeply endeared to the characters once the Ep.1 credits roll. Power through Ep.2, and enjoy the ridiculous but entertaining cutscenes (the opening is still one of the best of any RPG). Prepare a drink (or three) for boss battles. Slide into the smooth, perfectly-paced gameplay of Ep.3, finish the trilogy, and be left in awe at how a product this ambitious even got greenlit in the first place.

The story is what makes it worth it. And when you're done, you get yourself a Wii U and a copy of Xenoblade and XBX too, because they're also worth your time. Tetsuya Takahashi is perhaps the most consistently excellent RPG director there has ever been, alongside Yasumi Matsuno. He does not sacrifice his vision (though others have sacrificed it for him).

One point of interest for you: Katsuhiro Harada of Namco has stated he will "explore other avenues" to getting a Xenosaga HD collection greenlit. This, of course, is no guarantee. Just something to keep in mind.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old Sep 15, 2016, 02:27 PM
yvk2000's Avatar
yvk2000 yvk2000 is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 20
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jormungand View Post
One point of interest for you: Katsuhiro Harada of Namco has stated he will "explore other avenues" to getting a Xenosaga HD collection greenlit. This, of course, is no guarantee. Just something to keep in mind.
Aah, I forgot I signed this petition just a few years back.

Would be great if they took a competent crew of arrangers to re-arrange whatever needs to be arranged (like how FFX HD got a very nice OST update). Then again, I can enjoy Kajiura once in a while (ehm..I remember actually liking that vocal of ep.II back then).

So... either I scrounge up a NTSC ps2 with the whole trilogy or I go for plan B (grow a few more gray hairs). In other words: your reply nearly helped me solve my dilemma, but then you wrote this last paragraph
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old Sep 16, 2016, 03:40 AM
LiquidAcid LiquidAcid is offline
Trusted Editor
 
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 1,644
Default

I finished Episode I this week and while I don't know how Episode II and III are going to unfold, I very much agree with Jormungand here. If you've already decided that you don't want to play the other episodes, then it probably makes little sense to even start the trilogy.

My impression currently is that Episode I functions mostly as a exposition, i.e. introducing all the characters (playable, antagonists, etc.), the game world and parts of its history. It also sets some plot elements in motion, which I still don't have the foggiest where they're all going to end up.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
How much is worth DKC 2 Soundtrack? pbsk8 Video Game Music Discussion 5 Dec 12, 2017 04:15 AM
No way this album is worth THIS much... Is it? Ghaleon64 Video Game Music Discussion 1 Mar 12, 2012 11:27 PM
Whats it worth? Neo Geo PULSTAR soundtrack PTL Video Game Music Discussion 3 Jun 7, 2009 12:13 PM
PSCX-1003: All Sounds of Rune Worth niki Album Discussions 0 Jun 5, 2009 08:46 AM