Worthy successor of Xenogears and beautiful jRPG...
And that's the moment I was trying to reach. I mentioned it already in Xenogears review but I want to do it again because it a the greatest mistake in humanity's culture since David Hasselhoff believed he can be a pop star. Xenogears: the best, most epic and mature jRPG that damn, sad, and full of /b/tards world ever seen was slaughtered to dead because new FF was need to be created. OK, maybe I'm exaggerating it but you in such moment I believe world is run by a devil with Hillary Clinton's face who with of voice of Laurence Olivier sings Foreigner hits (you might not consider it creepy however I do).
Anyway, after Square and Enix decided to fuse together and by that mutated into some unspecified being that eats money and gives f*ck instead (well very nicely packed and perfumed sh*t however still it's the same thing that your mum told you not to play with when you were a kid). But for most of the people that doesn't matter because they practice video gaming caprophagy and they happy about SE's policy. Well, I'm not, but at some point I just stopped giving damn about what they do. It's just pity they still keep rights to some very noble franchises that sooner or later might degenerate just like FF series did.
OK, let's forget that sad part of our reality and look a bit on the bright side of it (which is not so bright due to fact what Namco did (and I really hope they will burn in hell for that tortured by a fat ugly guy in a S/M leather suit named Fluffy). But lets return to more nice stuff. So after finishing Chrono Cross that was one of the last diamond of RPG in PSX era all team decided to pack up, said "f*ck off" to Square and sail on their own on the dangerous and misleading sea named "game industry" as Monolith Soft. They were quickly picked by Namco and give chance to create something that this small group of RPG fans who knew Xenogears was waiting for.
Xenosaga hit japan stores February 2002 and year later American (again due to old jRPG tradition Europe saw "f*ck you" gesture) was previously planed as a 6 episodes series. However Namco's idiotic decisions, changes in the team and specificity of series forced Monolith to cut down number of episodes to 3 and after that they were sold to Nintendo where they prepare some not so magnificent looking action game. Will they Saga rise again? Time will tell, but still it's better to wait for Xenosaga than Shenmue (lol on you Shenmue fans).
So Xenosaga 3 made a long way to finally reach consoles two years ago, and despite fact that lot of masterminds of the series (who created Xenogears and first Saga) abandoned project. That fact affected Xenosaga 2 in quite brutal way being considered as the weakest of all franchise. Luckily for development of third instalment everyone did their job perfectly (well almost but about that later) and brought us the best Xenosaga game and in my opinion best jRPG on past generation of consoles. Despite many changes in mechanic and design game story is straight continuation of previous instalments so if you played them you might have an idea what to expect and if you didn't that I rather recommend playing previous two first.
However, it is possible to understand third part not knowing previous two or knowing very little about them (because I played it in such way) but be prepared to need read huge and I really mean HUGE amount of text in Debates. Debates are kind of encyclopedia of Xenosaga that gets updates during gameplay. It contains all data that screenplay writes could think of and it goes even beyond all there parts and sums up Pied Piper - text adventure game for cell phones released only (as usual) in japan. I won't tell anything precises about story because as I said it's a middle (well sort of) game and it's better to played it from the beginning and I think no one who is really interested cares about knowing, it's better to check it yourself. What I want to say only is that story in this episode is a masterpiece, and doesn't have any equal to it on ps2 (even MGS must gave up). It's everything I love Xenogers for and even if I find Xenogears a bit better even on that point it just one point down from perfect.
As I mentioned before fighting system meet some changes. Developer gave up on pressing button to attack (what it's a pity a bit because I liked that part in Xenogears) instead gave conventional turn base system with few extras. Those extras are Boosts and Breaks. Boosts can give you additional turn or if you gather 2 or more - special attack. Breaks occurs when enemy or your character is over-damaged. After that he is out of fight for two turns with his defence completely down. That two elements combined with changes of characters during fight give bit more strategy and fun to the fight (use boost now to lower break meeter or later for special attack? or maybe save my butt and run the hell out of here?). However normal fight can be sometimes a bit dull due to a bit too low attack power and one thing I will mention in that moment.
To end up with characters I will just add you can customize them with special two-line route with defensive or offensive skills (and choosing one route won't block you possibility to other one). Latter you will be able to add other skills to skill-grid making it quite complex (not like in FFX but still) and allowing to more freedom and universalism in developing characters . Rest is typical with equipping weapons/armor/and lot of other stuff to support your attack and defence so I will just leave it to you to discover (I'm lazy, I know)
Anyway, as I said normal combat can be sometimes a bit dull. It's not fault of fact that it's badly designed or something. It just don't stand the comparison. With what? With E.S. fights. I swear for god i don't believe in that those fights are the best robot fights in whole RPG genres. With all due respect to Front Mission series but it can go and cry in the corner. It's like Z.O.E in rpg version. At first I saw like wtf? I wasn't used to such battle presentation in Xenosaga 3 because normal battles are far more static. Yeah, you still have E.S.es and enemies standing in a row but camera movement during attacks and far more enjoyable battle system is pumping fun to the top. System is simple you have a energy bar that you can use per turn and divide it between attacks (missiles, swords, lasers, guns) also you have powerful Anima Attacks that can be used after special gauge is load. It might be a bit confusing at the beginning but believe me, shooting missiles into enemy never gets boring. Also your E.S.es can't level up so you need to upgrade them as often as possible. Despite classic armor/engine/weapon stuff toy have also disks that allow you to insert additional abilities. Also You can't revive E.S during fight (or maybe I missed something?) so you must be careful during some battles because it can be quite a pain (f*ck you Margilus, f*ck you!)
Designe and graphic are what this part brought to the top. In case of graphics is quite obvious (it can't look worst than previous part? can it?) and maybe it's not top of the tops of ps2 abilities but it high enough to please your eyes and to be called "beautiful". Especially in cinematic cut-scenes that are run on engine of the game and are really greatly directed. Maybe some surroundings are bit too monotone in all those laboratories and military bases but that's rather a design issue and there will be enough places to stun you with their atmosphere and looks.
Speaking of design there was again twist in chara-designer chair. I like very much Kunihiko Tanaka work in Xenogears but I have to admit that what looked on Xenosaga artworks nice didn't look so great in game itself and I wasn't fully pleased with design of first Xenosaga. Second one was a catastrophe. I know some of you might liked this realistic style but I personally though it looks creepy and lame. Third part for instance is a perfect balance between realism and anime supported by very well created 3d models that is just pleasure to watch. Also all mechanical designer is steal pleasing and similar to what could be saw in previous games. Especially E.S. design is magnificent and it's after mentioned Z.O.E second best one I saw.
Music just like design also received a switch in composer person. Well sort of. Case with music wasn't so dramatic as with chara-designer. Mitsuda's score was amazing and Kijura's tracks were also great (however different in style) Now Kijura is back again but alone (in second Xenosaga there was also Shinji Hosoe with his hated by some people synthesizer) and with new style. No techno like tracks more similar to Mitsuda's style and still ass kicking. Also voice acting (after recast) is on very high level. Maybe still MGS is better however only slightly. And because there is a loads of text than there is load of hours of VA that will stop you from skipping too much.
From mistakes I would point fix camera that don't allow to see everything you might want to see (like enemies) and that makes whole game a bit claustrophobic. If you add fact that game is totally linear and there is only a few moments can you really walk on map (not world map but on city map) you might feel a need of a breath of freedom. Also there are not too many side quest that could break that one line way that games goes. But thats something I can forgive, and don't care so much. What I cannot forgive is Namco retarded idea to censorship the game. Like that would change anything. So there are fragments that are quite bloody but to see that you need to have either Japanese version or go on you tube and watch what a sinfully and blasphemy thing Namco did to this game. I'm not a gore fan that is thirsty for blood. It's not the point. But it can be really confusing to see characters reacting on blood that is not there. And it makes some moments less thrilling and shocking.
Despite that really lame Namco's decision that didn't help Xenosaga in USA (because Europe as usual saw middle finger) and series (at least for now) is dead and in the ground (hope it will resurrect one day again in true uncensored version) I need to say Monolith Soft did a great job giving the best they could give and providing us beautiful, deep, and greatly made RPG that should not be ever forgotten by genre's history. So if you are not a 11 years old kid that believe Kingdom Hearts is the best game on earth and you want something less ordinary that kid-without-memory-and-girl-from-other-world-saves-the-world-from-evil-EVIL you will be pleased. But remember that games expects from you a lot but if you will stand the expectations you will be rewarded greatly. Also sprach Zarathustra!