Grab the popcorn and enjoy the show.....
Xenosaga, Namco's latest offering into the RPG arena, is an interesting game in which the balancingact of story verses gameplay is not always as even-sided as it should be. One follows the exploits of Shion, Chief Engineer in the development of Kos-Mos, a battle android developed to fight the Gnosis, a hostile alien life-form. Throughout Shion's and Kos-Mos' exploits alliances are made and broken, all the while looking to unlock the mysterious ancient artifact, known as the Zohar. While the story can be at times conviluted there is no questioning its appeal.
An interesting story is not the weakness of Xenosaga, unfortunately Xenosaga is weak where it counts the most, and that is in the gameplay department. Honestly, it wouldn't be fair to say that. Xenosaga's gameplay is great for a turn based RPG. Attacks are based on a structured grid-like system. One starts the game with six various attacks and depending on the amount of AP you have at the begining of your turn, (you receive four AP per turn and can hold as many as six at one time) you may link various attacks together releasing other attacks (called techs). These techs can be interchanged within the grid depending on the speed of said tech. The speed can also be modified through the acquisition of tech points in battle. So as one can see there is a fairly large amount of customization you can do to your characters.
Characters also have the ability to boost during battle. As a battle rages on your boost bar builds and for every time the bar fills, which it can do repeatedly during the battle, you are allowed to boost. This means you can jump your character in front of all others making you next in line to take your turn. This has tremendous strategic implications as you can plan attacks, healing and effects in accordance with the boost. Be warned though, your characters are not the only ones who can boost, as enemies will bust out the boost option every chance they get.
Another strong point in Xenosaga is graphics. With character design, colors and graphics that rival any Final Fantasy title, Namco has gone all out in an effort to distinguish themselves in the RPG realm. Enemies are an original allotment of creatures, mechs and various other robotic beings, even though the limited variety of them makes one think that there are only about 50 living species in the universe. Make no mistake though, these enemies do go along greatly with the backdrop Monolith Soft is trying to create. The space setting that Xenosaga has established is beautifully crafted through
great locations and detailed ships. But if all these aspects are so good, what are the problems?
Xenosaga doesn't give you enough playtime pure and simple. While the story is spectacular and absorbing, all too many times one feels as though they are watching as opposed to playing this title. When one has to repeatedly sit through 45 minutes if dialogue to get to the next opportunity to play only to have that playing time to be extremely limited, there is a problem. To be fair, Xenosaga does give one the opportunity to skip these scenes but since the story is so vital, you would be missing out on a big part of what this game has to offer.
If Xenosaga were to provide one with about five times the amount of playtime as it does now I would have no qualms with rating it amongst some of the best RPGs ever, but unfortunately there is just too much watching. While I recommend this game to anyone who likes RPGs, especially in the RPG drought during this generation of consoles, be prepared to make some popcorn, grab a soda and maybe some Twizzlers, sit back and watch a great story.