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[Brandon F]

Ok, I'm curious to try out X3, but my damned completist attitude forces me to play X2 beforehand to get the gist of the story.

So far it sucks...

The plot is convoluted and mired in acronym hell. Y-data, URTV's, U-DO, ERWS??? It's as if Monolith is over-complicating the narrative for the sake of complication. Too much crap tossed in at once with little hook other than a hope that somehow this ball of yarn may unravel...but I'm starting to just not care.

Chaos is still a fruit, the dialogue remains eerily uncomfortable with massive pauses between exchanges, a total pet peeve of mine with all JRPG's. Are they going for endless dramatic pause, or is the director that incompetent? The Momo/Dr. Mizrahi cutscene arc was just painful to sit and watch for an hour.

This overstuffing bleeds into the combat too. Hit zones, stocking, dual attacks, ether, etc... Seems that in order to do any real damage to even the most minor of enemies, the gamer is forced to spend a few rounds stocking up to unleash a combo attack. In battles with enemies surrounding the player, this means either ticking away slowly each round, or getting stabbed in the back with mass criticals during stock stages. Yuck.

I do still enjoy boosting and working the roullette wheel for big Skill bonuses at least. Pulling off a mass boost combo for insane air/down damage feels good too, but the buildup stinks.

Music is kinda lame so far too. Graphics and loading as well. Comments on this being a budgeted production are not far off. And the sound mixing is just AWFUL. Music is dampened, and effects are unclear.

So yea, I'm displeased to say the least, does XS3 actually get better?

 

[Avalon]

Yup, it has a lot of flaws. Though...

Seems that in order to do any real damage to even the most minor of enemies, the gamer is forced to spend a few rounds stocking up to unleash a combo attack.

If that's the way you want to do it, fine. But going for a proper attribute/elemental damage and break bonus is a far more effective way to fight. You can't use your "dream team" for that strategy though.

~ Episode 3 like the rest of the series is convoluted and acronym hell. The cutscenes feel more natural since the VA quality is MUCH higher then Episode II. Battle system has been simplified to the point were every battle is a joke.

 

[CrichtonKicks]

To be fair, XS2 isn't any more of an acronym hell than the first game was. It's just that XS1 had the database so you actually decipher all of those acronyms which isn't the case with XS2.

 

[Brandon F]

Yea, I played XS1 so long ago that I can't recall all of the stuff. I did read a primer before starting to refresh my memory, but it's still all too confusing, not to mention that the cutscenes are SO.....BLOODY.......S....L......O.....W....and.....B.....O....R.....I....N....G..... The Jin/Shion meeting, Momo/Mommy debacle, eben the weird U-TIC plotting...all so damned dull.

I reached the dungeon inside Momo's mind about 6 hours in, and those enemies are just brutal, half the fights immediately put you at a disadvantage being surrounded, and without stocking up, it just seems impossible to handle the critical back hits for a few rounds, even knowing the break zones with standard attacks. Too much HP on these Gnosis thugs. I died about 30 minutes through and with no savepoint other than the first screen, I don't think I'm gonna return. I wanted to break the disc.

I do like the sidequests though. Some great rewards from them, each being pretty unique too.

 

[jj984jj]

To sum up Episode 2 in 3 words - IT'S ****ING BORING!

 

[DarknessTear]

I loved XS2's battle system though. Genius IMO. But the puzzles were ****ing terribly designed as was most of the environments.

Anyway, XS3 is superior to 1 and 2.

 

[Joe Molotov]

The G2 campaign? I think they suck ****ing balls.

Yeah, I just ignored the side-quests and blazed through the game as quick as possible. It only took about 25 hours.

 

[cleveridea]

I liked xenosaga 1, got bored near the end so was cool getting the bonus DVD to see the ending.

xenosaga 2 was a huge letdown, got bored half way. plot was confusing (mainly thanks to names that arent appropriately descriptive) and core gameplay was boring and tedious to me.

decied hey why not finish it, some cool ideas. So bought the Xeno 2 DVD (2 Discs) from ebay, and made a LOT more sense, seeing everything without the gameplay 'filler' in between (and being able to rewind and rewatch key scenes). these videos I think also are easily found on the internet, in a prior thread.

anyway, bought xenosaga 3 for the artbook (otherwise would have waited), put the game in the system to check it out. LOVED IT. what a comeback, loved the graphics, less pretentious battle system but more importantly, the story isnt filled with the kind of bullshit filler it actually feels like an epic, with locations that fit the story (rather than the seemingly arbitrary story elements that just set up random monster locations in 2). graphics are really impressive for the PS2, and for what I expected to be a 'budget' game. Great sense of scale and detail, for example in the capital city (eg view from the park), love the plot direction (wont spoil). the game just feels a lot more polished.

Oh and the 'database' that is in xeno 3 will confuse the hell out of you, you really got to see the story through beforehand IMO for the full effect (ie watch the xeno 1 and 2 videos). Its ridiculously detailed, which is great for fans.