"Definitely original, but definitely lacking..."

As a gamer from way back and a big fan of the RPG genre, the things I heard about this game sounded promising to me. So, when I got the opportunity to buy this game for $15 bucks a few weeks ago, I said, "Cool! Now I can finally see how this game is!"

Was it worth $15? Absolutely.. Was it worth the $50 other people paid for it a few years ago? Um...uh, well...

But let's start at the beginning. As a continuation of the cult classic Xenogears, Xenosaga is a sci-fi RPG with many unique features. It has a rather original battle system that fuses turn-based fighting with a good dose of action (via the button commands for each attack and the Boost system...more on that in a sec), a very complex storyline, interesting characters, and some decent graphics that can really show off the beauty of outer space and laser blasts.

However, the audio in this game is not among its strong points, the menus are a bit clunky and slow, and people who aren't good at handling 'sci-fi jargon' are gonna want to skip the cutscenes, 'cause there's a LOT of it. Example:

You start the game as Shion, of the First R&D Division of Vector Industries. What do you do right away? You dive into the Encephalon to help train KOS-MOS, an Anti-Gnosis Humanoid Weapon System, on fighting off the mysterious alien race known as the Gnosis. Meanwhile, your team is back in the real world, onboard the starship Woglinde, monitoring the 300-level procedures...

Yeah, that was just a very SMALL sample of what's to come. If you had any trouble following that, prepare for a VERY long game.

Which brings me to one of the most notable features about this game; the cutscenes. RPGs have FMV custscenes. It's been that way ever since the days of Final Fantasy VII on the PS1. Generally, they tend to be a bit long, and help cover the action from area to area. In this game, travelling from area to area means covering transitions between areas that are literally light-years apart...and the cutscenes show it. Some of the them can last for several minutes; I don't mean 2-3 minutes, I mean 5-10 and well beyond.

For me, this isn't such a problem. I happen to like the stories in RPGs, and the one in this game is certainly very in-depth, so lengthy cutscenes don't bother me none. However, if you're a more action-hungry gamer, either skip the cutscene entirely (a smart decision for the makers of this game to add that function in) or go find yourself a book or a snack or something.

When you FINALLY get back to controlling your characters, you'll get to the stuff you actually, y'know, can interact with. Fortunately, the makers did this part pretty well. You can see the enemies before engaging them, and on occasion you can actually use what I call 'elemental traps', destructible items in the area that set off a wide-area trap. If an enemy gets caught in this trap before you begin fighting it, you'll have a bit of an edge in the fight (such as higher critical hit rates or a free Boost for your team...again, more on that in a bit).

Once you're in the battle, if you started losing your focus during the cutscenes, you better bring it back. These fights are interactive, as the game requires you to input button commands to initiate your characters' attacks. Each character has several attacks they can perform and use, depending on how much AP you have.

How the AP system works is like this. Each character has a maximum of 6 AP, or Action Points. Each character starts out the battle with 0, but gains 4 every time their turn comes around. Now, each attack a character make takes up 2 AP, which means your characters can perform two attacks per turn. Other actions use different amounts of AP; using an Ether spell (this game's version of magic) uses 4 AP, while using an item takes 3 and guarding (halves damage for the turn) uses 2. When your character has 6 AP stored up, they can use a Tech Attack, which are like normal attacks, but more powerful, more flashy, and can be upgraded in various ways.

There's also the A.G.W.S., or Anti-Gnosis Weapon System. Basically, they're the obligatory giant robots one should expect in any Japanese animated sci-fi story. Some of your characters are able to jump into one of these big boys in battle, changing from a frail human to a mech-driving machine of destruction. There are a variety of weapons you can buy, find, and equip on these big guys, allowing for a fair amount of customization. While you still have the AP system, it doesn't play as big a part; most attacks in the A.G.W.S. take up 4 AP, you can still Guard, and, if you have 6 AP and two of the same weapon equipped, you can perform a W-Act, which is basically a very powerful single attack. Unfortunately, these big guys, while fun, aren't often necessary, which is truly a shame.

Now on to the enemies. The game serves up a respectable variety of baddies for you to introduce death to, from Biological enemies (humans, generally) to Mechanical enemies (machines, enemy A.G.W.S., etc.) and the Gnosis, which you'll learn more about in the game. Each enemy has its strengths and weaknesses, and while you don't necessarily have to learn the difference, you'd better; enemies are actually pretty tough, and taking too long to finish them off can lead to serious pain. This is especially true against bosses; these guys don't play around, and if you don't play carefully, you will die. It doesn't matter HOW good you think you are.

Fortunately, you do have one advantage in every battle; the game provides a small bonus reel that changes at the end of every one of your characters' and your enemies' turns. The reel switches from Nothing->Critical Hit Up->Boost Up->Point Bonus-> Nothing, and so on. During each turn, whichever item the reel is on applies to everyone, including your enemies; if your enemy's turn comes up and the reel is on Criticial Hit Up, odds are you're gonna be feeling a critical hit. Combined with the right attack and some bad timing, this can be devastating. Fortunately, you also have the Boost system, which allows you (if you have a Boost Point stored up) to essentially cut in line during battle and attack right after the current turn. This is a very helpful (and in one boss fight, absolutely vital) part of the fighting.

That covers the basics of the gameplay. Now, time to cover the bad stuff. There are basically two major problems with this game:

1) Complicated. Complicated, complicated, oh dear LORD it's complicated. There are so many things that you are practically forced to keep track of in this game, even those capable of doing so will find it aggrivating. You've got your AP, BP, EP, Skill Points, Tech Points, Ether Points, Experience Points, money, armor, accessories, weapons, ammo for the weapons, tech attacks...the list goes on. You can use Tech Points to upgrade your attacks or upgrade the character's stats. You can use Ether Points to learn new skills or transfer them to someone else. You can use Skill Points to gain new skills from accessories, IF your skill level's high enough.

THEN you have your A.G.W.S. equipment, your e-mail, the special minigames, miniquests, and the full-fledged trading card game-within-the-game (I kid you not). And that's just the gameplay. Throw in the loading times (which make perusing the menus and organzing your stuff a real chore), the aggrivating menus, and the storyline, which introduces about three or four new pieces of ingame jargon every cutscene, and you'd better have an expert Dungeons & Dragons game master to help keep everything organized.

2) This game came out about a year after Final Fantasy X, and simply doesn't compare. Now granted, I am a Final Fantasy fan, so there is probably some bias in me. I can't deny that. However, compare these two games, and you'll see what I mean.

Final Fantasy X's storyline was not nearly as somber or complicated as Xenosaga's. The voice acting was better (which, considering the characters of Yuna and Shion were voiced by the same person, is interesting...), the music was more original, and the backgrounds were lively, colorful, and exciting, where Xenosaga's, while unique, just looked and felt lifeless and bland.

As far as the action goes in FFX, there truly is no comparison. The game runs smoother, the menus are much more user-friendly, and things are so much less complicated. Each character has a unique strength and weakness that is used frequently and utilized and accessed with ease, and the game doesn't limit how many spells a person can have (a serious inconvenience in Xenosaga, considering how difficult gaining those spells can be).

I could go on, but you get the idea.

Essentially, Xenosaga: Part 1 is not a bad game. It certainly gets points for creativity, originality, and some awesome (if lengthy) cutscenes. However, when a game that was made a year earlier on the same hardware manages to outclass it in almost every way, it raises eyebrows.

The game is pretty good, but there's just too many imperfections here and there that hold it back from its true potential. If you're really in sci-fi stuff like androids, cyborgs, genetically-engineered races, aliens, and stuff like that, but want something that wasn't simply taken from Gene Roddenberry's or George Lucas' book, then you'll probably like this. However, since it's hard to get a good grasp on Xenosaga without playing it through a good distance, only rent it if you're willing to give it a few hours before making a decision.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/04/06