Xenosaga's topics - tribe.net

I got it!

2007-05-02T08:19:45Z

Nuff said. ^^ I've been waiting for sooooo looooong!

posted in Xenosaga - 3 replies

Xenosaga Shop

2006-09-01T22:39:33Z

just for fun :)

http://xenosagaiii.com

I tried to make the color scheme of the site match the color scheme of the box art. I think it worked out well

posted in Xenosaga - 0 replies

Xenosaga III swag

2006-08-29T21:03:56Z

Got my art book today from Gamestop. VERY sexy. I've called two local Best Buys, checked their website, and called both their sales and customer support lines. NOBODY knows anything about special packaging for pre-orders, but xenosaga3.namco.com says it'll happen, so I'm optimistic. Best Buy also says the game doesn't come out until Thursday. If I don't get fancy packaging, I will throw a stink.

posted in Xenosaga - 0 replies

Xenosaga II: First Impressions

2006-08-27T23:11:41Z

I put a good 10 hours or so into Xenosaga II this weekend and I thought I'd share my thoughts on it. So far I'm finding it MUCH easier to follow than Episode I. I get the impression that most of the first game was simply to introduce us to the characters and get a few plot items in motion, but the details weren't supposed to make a whole lot of sense. So far in Episode II, things are starting to come together and we're given a LOT more detail as to how everyone's lives tie together (Rubedo, Albedo, Negredo! I get it now!).

As far as the gameplay goes, there have been some interesting changes to the battle system. They take a little getting used to, but I've found that by the time you get to the first boss fight in which mastery of the new system is required, you've had enough practice with it to get a handle on things... and of course during said boss fight, you are prompted with suggestions as to how to pull it together, all very helpful.

I have found that fights in general are MUCH more challenging in this game than the previous one, in fact I'd say they're harder on average than most RPGs. In the last area I went through, I found myself having to fully heal between every battle if I wanted to survive, and even then there were a lot of close calls. As much as I complain about it while I'm playing, I think this is actually better. Rather than having 100 battles between one major event and the next, all of which you brease through in seconds, there are only a dozen or two battles from one boss to the next, but they all offer an actual challenge.

The side-quests start very early, which is cool. I have probably already spent more time doing side-quests than I have going through the main plot, and that's saying a lot considering that almost every FMV runs about 10 to 15 minutes.

Oddly, I have already had to switch over to Disk 2, but my guess is that this isn't an idication of being halfway through the game, but rather an indication that they chose to put certain areas within the game on one disk rather than putting all areas on both disks and just splitting the plot events between the two. I'm sure that once I get back to Second Miltia, I'll be back on Disk 1 again. It's different than the way most console games have worked over the years, but back in the day of actual FLOPPY disks, this is how it worked, and I think it's a much more economical use of disk space.

Lady, this one is for you. Though there hasn't been anything TERRIBLY suggestive yet, there are a lot scenes with three young playful boys, two of which are twins, and all three of which are identical (except for their hair color). I remember a complain of yours from Episode I was that both KOS-MOS and Shion were rather annoying. I think you'll be pleased (or at least less annoyed) with their new incarnations. The voice actors for both of them have changed, so Shion sounds much less whiney, and both of them are rendered as looking much more adult than they did previously.

So far, there hasn't been a HUGE amount of religious iconography, but there have been a few things of note. The most obvious of course is that there is some priest guy getting involved in some political intrigue. He's icon of choice seems to be a form of a cross, though not the standard crucifiction variety. This one is longer up than it is down and all of the edges are pointy and tribal-like. The more subtle (though still not subtle) point is that Jr. (Rubedo) was number 666 in his batch of URTVs and he actually has the number 666 tattooed on his hand. There have been several references from Albedo about what a monster Rubedo is.

I'm sure this will come as a suprise to absolutely nobody, but so far, I'm greatly enjoying Xenosaga Episode II and I'm very much looking forward to seeing how things pan out.

posted in Xenosaga - 3 replies

Xenosaga III THIS MONTH

2006-08-26T13:23:01Z

So I am totally out of the loop. A friend told me at Otakon this weekend that Episode III comes out at the end of THIS MONTH. Holy crapbuckets. I need to finish up a couple other games right quick. No more Guild Wars for me for a little while. It doesn't look like the game has been listed on Amazon yet, but the strategy guide has:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0744008301/sylvanelfcom-20

Release date of August 23, so the game itself must be coming out right around then. EBGames has it listed for release on the 29th. How did I not know about this? I gotta pay more attention. And I gotta call around to see if there are pre-order goodies or anything.

http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product_id=B281602A

Looks like there's an art book, but there may be more in-store. I'll post if I find out anything more.

posted in Xenosaga - 6 replies

Cinematics

2006-08-23T10:33:48Z

I have a question about what you all think of the Cinematics. Do you think they are to long and wasting play time or do you think they add to the story and don't mind them.

I don't mind them personally becuase they do add to the story

Jay

posted in Xenosaga - 1 reply

Hey all

2006-08-08T13:09:27Z

Well this Tribe hasn't had much action lately.

I haven't even beaten Xenosaga yet and planning to play it more this week. However I had a couple of questions.

Is it worth me to get Xenosaga 2 after I beat Xenosaga 1 or just go strait to Xenosaga 3?

I know everybody has mixed reviews in all the games.

Secondly, Does anybody know if they are going to restart the series. I know that it has been said that the last one is Xenosaga 3 (which is a disapointment)

Jay

posted in Xenosaga - 2 replies

Gearing up for Xenosaga 3

2006-03-13T13:36:38Z

http://files.filefront.com/Xenosaga3PVwmv/;4855611;;/fileinfo.html

posted in Xenosaga - 0 replies

Super Secret Website Content

2005-08-27T14:57:58Z

For those hardcore gamers, there IS a reward for doing just about everything in the game. After you've beaten the game and then beaten Dark Erde Kaiser, talk to the robot in the Robot Academy TWICE to obtain a REAL email address to which you need to send three pieces of information. Your reward for doing so is access to a special section of xenosaga2.com, which contains an image gallery and a 50MB downloadable zip file of PSDs (photoshop documents).

I highly recommend doing this on your own, but if you absolutely MUST know and can't do it yourself, send me a private message and I'll give you the info you need.

posted in Xenosaga - 0 replies

Nietzsche is Pietzsche

2005-07-04T14:37:03Z

So... I was just tumbling over a few irrelevant posts in another tribe when I was reminded, by a remark from another triber, that "Der Wille zur Macht" (the subtitle of Xenosaga I) is actually a book by Friedrich Nietzsche. Now, as I haven't put enough thought into it just yet as to what the relation between the book & the game is, I also researched that Xenosaga II, subtitled Jenseits von Gut und Bose, is also a book by Nietzsche.

Like I said, no connection has been made as of yet - but if anyone else was already aware of this or has read both the books & played the game, please, give us your insight.

posted in Xenosaga - 24 replies

Xenosaga II: All the Marbles

2005-06-11T15:54:37Z

So I have no finished EVERYTHING IN Xenosaga II with the exception of the super-bosses in Old Miltia and the Desert. I have to say that the accomplishment was a little anti-climactic. I was hoping for some sort of extra cinematic or major plot information from either completing the Dark Erde Kaiser quest or for completing all of the GS campaigns.

I suppose there was SOME interesting plot items in the Dark Erde Kaiser story, but I was still expecting something from completing all of the GS campaigns... I mean, one of them requires beating the game 15-20 times and the final one is called referred to as the Miss Miltia contest... now during the game, Miss Miltia is referred to as a beauty pageant, but in the final GS campaign, all you get is this girl telling you "wow, you completed all the GS campaigns. go you. w00t" or something along those lines. I was honestly hoping for some sort of... I don't know... amusing cinematic or plot item about Shion entering and winning the Miss Miltia competition. But no such luck. It was certainly amusing to get to see Jin in his bathing suit (a reward for beating the game 928374982 times), but I dunno... I was just hoping for something a little more "holy crap, look what you did! hot damn!" for getting everything done. Perhaps my great reward will come in Episode III when I import my saved game *shrug*

Of course, as I mentioned, I haven't beaten those two non-plot super-bosses, so maybe I'd get something cool from those, but I doubt it. I also hear that after beating Dark Erde Kaiser, you can get an email address from someone in-game where will give you access to extras on the web, but I haven't tried that yet. Maybe I should do that before declaring that it wasn't worth the effort......

posted in Xenosaga - 8 replies

Xenosaga I was easy to manipulate

2005-06-02T10:52:04Z

You could endow your characters with godlike strength relatively early in the game with a slight knowledge of the menu's and a couple of items you can easily gamble. Did anyone else discover this?

I managed by the end to get rubedo to be able to do 6000-9999 damage a hit per turn. not to mention Shion's insta 9999 summon.

posted in Xenosaga - 8 replies

HELLO

2005-06-01T16:35:19Z

i just bought both xenogears and xenosaga 1 and was wondering which one i should play first. i heard the xenosaga is the prequil to xenogears. is this true?
Namaste

posted in Xenosaga - 3 replies

Nigredo, Albedo, & Rubedo.

2005-05-27T21:28:01Z

Thought you might consider the alchemical references to be fascinating.

http://www.soul-guidance.com/houseofthesun/alchemy%202.htm

posted in Xenosaga - 5 replies

Xenosaga: All of them

2005-04-26T17:51:52Z

I have a question, i just picked up the First Xenosaga. How many more does Namco plan to make?

Just a question, and where can I find out more.

posted in Xenosaga - 12 replies

Hey

2005-04-11T20:39:17Z

I don't keep up with Xenosaga much so I am not very informed on what goes on. The only game I have played was Xenogears, I want to know if that is in the Xenosaga realm. (if so where at) and 2 are they redoing every Xenosaga from 1. ( I have seen 1 at the store and been meaning to pick it up)

posted in Xenosaga - 4 replies

Religious Overtones and Undertones

2005-04-09T16:39:13Z

For those who played Xenogears, the religious overtones are rather obvious. The entire story is based around a God that is actually a massive weapon that is harvesting humans as fuel. But I've wondered how many people noticed all of the Jewish symbolism all over the place in both games. Here's some examples off the top of my head. I'm sure there's more:

The city names, Shevat, Nisan, and Kislev, are all months in the Jewish calendar.

In the games, the Zohar is that big monolith. In Judaism, the Zohar is a mythical book said to posses the sum of all Jewish mystical knowledge.

The symbol on the Zohar in Xenosaga is an Aleph, the first letter of the Hebrew and Yiddish alphabets (and if I remember correctly, the other Zohars had other Hebrew letters on them, but I could be making that up).

This actually has me thinking about the fact that the Xenosaga games all have episode names in German... which is extremely similar to Yiddish. Though I suppose that's a somewhat loose connection.

posted in Xenosaga - 8 replies

Wikipedia discoveries

2005-03-31T02:55:57Z

So I've found all sorts of useful information through Wikipedia's entry on Xenosaga, some directly and some indirectly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenosaga

The two items that I found most interesting were:

1) The entire story of Xenosaga is vastly different from what was originally planned, because Squaresoft still owns the rights to everything in Episode V (Xenogears). This means that rather than keeping Xenogears as Episode V, the Xenosaga team will almost definitely do a complete rewrite when they reach that part of the story. I think it's cool that Episode V will get a facelift, but it's also rather sad that this means we will NEVER see the complete series as it was originally intended... all because of Squaresoft.

2) Monolith, the team behind Xenosaga, is currently working on a strategy/action/rpg/something game, Namco vs Capcom, which is to include characters from MANY games by both companies including Street Fighter, Ghost and Goblins, and yes Xenosaga. Promotional images I've seen include KOS-MOS, Shion, and Momo.

http://www.monolithsoft.co.jp/

posted in Xenosaga - 2 replies

Incest, Religion, Royalty...But Mostly Incest

2005-03-29T03:51:59Z

The males in the ruling family of Aveh (Fatimas) have always wed the Great Mother of Nisan. This results in a long line of inbreeding (if I remember correctly, Margie and Bart were cousins, but also betrothed).

Incest in royal families is nothing new, certainly. To keep the blood "pure" one had to choose from a limited gene pool. However, in Xenogears, it seems it has more to do with religion or tradition than with keeping a pure genetic line. The Fatima Jewel (blue eyes) seems to be a dominant trait, as Sigurd inherited it even though his mother was not one of the Great Mothers.

I'm totally rambling!*laughs*

Ok, so why do you think there was this big thing about the King of Aveh marrying the Great Mother of Nisan? Politics? Religion? Tradition? Just a groove thing for the relatives?

Do you think Shakkahn was planning to marry Margie after he used her for the "jewel" in order to assert his legitimacy as King of Aveh? Or was he only after the power and not politically savvy enough to think of that kind of a move?

Am I spending too much time thinking about a video game? Haha.

posted in Xenosaga - 4 replies

Xenosaga Episode I Movie DVD

2005-03-03T15:43:28Z

Did anyone else get the Episode I DVD when preordering Episode II? I've watched the first 2/3 of it and it SEEMS to me like a lot was edited out. I can't figure out why they would do that. They left out everything that happened with Kos-Mos before her actually "awakening." They left out the entire introduction to the Realians. They left out everything about how Shion and Kos-Mos got onto Chaos's ship (which includes Chaos's introduction). I just wonder what the thought process behind that was. If they're going to give us a DVD of all the cinematics, why not give us ALL the cinematics, ya know?

Maybe they were tyring to make it a more cohesive movie-like story-line for people who hadn't actually played the game, but if that was their goal, I don't think it worked. I definitely felt like a lot was missing and when watching it with someone who had NOT played the game, I found myself often explaining what was going on or what important event we had just missed.

Yes, it would be even LONGER, but so what? That's why it's broken into chapters. Maybe the problem was disk space? This stuff takes up a LOT more room as a DVD than it did as a video game since in the game most of the scenes were rendered on the fly, but as a DVD they all have to be pre-rendered. I suppose if they had included EVERYTHING it would have taken up two disks, but so what? I personally would have gladly PAID for a copy of the ENTIRE Episode I story on DVD.

posted in Xenosaga - 5 replies

Xenogears connections

2005-03-03T14:29:24Z

So I made a thread about the things that changed between Xenogears and Xenosaga, so how about the things that link them together? There's plenty of things that are obvious, but I thought I'd try to point out some things that might be more subtle.

At the end of Episode I, there's a brief shot of a child balancing blocks in a fashion that would seem to be physicall impossible. By his haircut, I'd say this would have to be Fei or an earlier incarnation of him (as you might remember from Xenogears, both Fei and Elly had lived several lives).

Having just rewatched all the cinematics from Episode I as well as the preview for Episode II (haven't played II yet), I'm convinced that KOS-MOS is going to evolve into the being that is God in Xenogears. She is a weapon that was created to battle an seemingly undefeatable enemy. This describes what we were told about God in Xenogears. The end of Episode I shows some preminitions of KOS-MOS's destructive power, which falls in line with the story in Xenogears when the weapon supposedly turned on its creators. And of course there's the scenes of KOS-MOS on the cross... they build her up as their savior against the Gnosis, but when they start to see that they can't control her anymore, her former friends turn on her and destroy her (crucifiction), crash-landing her on the planet from Xenogears.

Anyone agree or think I'm full of crap? :)

posted in Xenosaga - 1 reply

New Tribe! Wooh!

2005-02-24T13:47:42Z

Xenosaga II came out today and I was sad to see that there was STILL no tribe specifically dedicated to Xenogears and Xenosaga, so I thought I'd make one. And, well, here it is. Tell all your friends. Upload screenshots. Talk about whatever you want. And if you haven't yet, go buy the games. They're fantastic.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000038IFX/sylvanelfcom-20 - Xenogears (Episode V)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005BW7Q/sylvanelfcom-20 - Xenosaga Episode I
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002CHJAA/sylvanelfcom-20 - Xenosaga Episode II

posted in Xenosaga - 2 replies

Gundam Wing connection

2005-02-19T15:09:14Z

Seem like there something simalar to Gundam Wing and Xenosage. Other then character name Fei which similar to Wufei. Mean some of Gears do like some of mobile suits from Gundam.

posted in Xenosaga - 1 reply

Xenogears corruptions?

2005-02-18T12:04:16Z

So I remember reading about how Squaresoft forced Tetsuya Takahashi to make changes to Xenogears that he was unhappy with, but I've never heard any specifics about what was changed from the original vision. I've made my own observations though.

One thing I noticed was that the Zohar in Xenogears has an eye on it whereas in Xenosaga it has an Aleph, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This made me wonder if perhaps Squaresoft wasn't comfortable with all of the Jewish symbolism in the game. (sounds like a good topic for another thread)

Another somewhat obvious change is where the budget ran out. Disk two is almost entirely sit-and-watch-the-story-happen, boss fight, sit-and-watch-the-story-happen, boss fight, sit-and-watch-the-story-happen-for-a-freaking-hour, wander a little, boss fight, rinse, repeat. I wonder how much more of a game we'd have gotten if Square hadn't said "alright, enough, wrap it up, let's just publish the damn thing."

Anyone notice anything else that seems like Square putting its hands into the mix where it wasn't wanted?

posted in Xenosaga - 2 replies