"A gorgeous game with terrific storytelling, yet bogged down by tediously repetitive gameplay."

Let me get one thing straight: I liked Xenosaga. It was lengthy, it was pretty, and it was engaging - everything an RPG should be.

Having said that, I must also say that >Xenosaga is a game that the casual gamer should be cautious about. The game is a spin-off of the Xenogears series, a series of games published by Squaresoft that took place in a futuristic world, and contained a long, epic, engaging adventure. Xenosaga is a game that dares to go places where other games haven't gone before - it features many controversial religious themes throughout, addresses a few political issues, and sees itself more of a movie with gameplay elements thrown in. So believe me when I say that Xenosaga: Der Wille zur Macht (the title controversial in itself, meaning "The Will to Power) is not for everyone.

Xenosaga takes place 4000 years into the future, where Earth has been re-named Fifth Jerusalem - one of the many religious references in the game - and humans are deep into space, locked into battle by a mysterious alien race known as the Gnosis. The game's protagonist, Shion Uzuki, is an employee at a massive corporation known as Vector Industries, developing a futuristic A.I. robot known as KOS-MOS. After all things go to hell, Shion and KOS-MOS are paired up with the crew members of a starship in space. From there, the story branches into many, many paths. A corrupt political organization, a mysterious cyborg, a strange artifact - to give away more of the story would be to spoil the very thing that makes Xenosaga so enjoyable.

The game features an enormous cast of characters (one that only grows as the future installments are released), and at some point or another, the game will single out a character and explain basically their entire back story. Nothing is fully resolved in this game because the series is a continuing trilogy. However, a damn good amount of information is given about these characters - where they come from, their objectives, their connection with the other protagonists. Even the alien race, the Gnosis, features a back story. Just when you think everybody has been introduced, another one is thrown into the mix, and it doesn't stop until about three-fourths into the game.

The game uses hours and hours of cut-scenes to explain the long, drawn out space opera. Some scenes are so long, that the game allows you to save in the middle if you want to take a break (although you are allowed to pause in the middle of a sequence, a welcome relief). Every cut-scene is of massive importance. Because the game features so many different plotlines, paying full attention to what is going on is a must. Even so, casual gamers may find themselves lost in the middle of the storyline, something that can become quite frustrating when the game's plotline is deeper than the core of the Earth.

Hardcore RPG gamers will love the game's excellent pacing, well-rounded characters, and it's bravery to connect itself to religion and politics. Casual gamers looking for a good RPG will find few things to love in the game's complex system of gameplay.

At first glance, Xenosaga's battle system looks a lot like a basic RPG - turn based attacking, with a standard physical attack and an "Ether," or "magic-based" attack. Returning from Xenogears is the ability to combine different attacks to do two or three-hit combos. However, players will soon realize that there is a lot more to Xenosaga's battle system than what meets the eye. Long and short ranged attacks affect different enemies, and deciding which to use is a part of figuring out how to combine your attacks for the most efficient combos. "Boosting," or the ability to push an ally's turn up to the very front of the list, is used commonly throughout battles and must be mastered in order to complete some of the harder fights.

Xenosaga abandons the traditional menu system, opting for a single-button layout. This makes attacking simple, especially later on, when you can upgrade your attacks and combos to assign shortcuts, or change around the button combination. Like all RPGs, Xenosaga contains a massive list of abilities, skills, and magic ("Ether") that can be learned.

Xenosaga's baddies can all be seen on-screen, eliminating random battles. Throughout the game, there are various hazards that can be blown up close to enemies. This will effect the start of the battle, allowing you to start off with an advantage. While this seems cool, it also seems like it was thrown in at the last minute. There are very few ways to cripple an enemy, and usually it only grants you an extra turn or two at the start of the fight.

In addition, at any point in any battle, you can up the stakes by enter a gigantic, mechanized robot. These guys aren't even necessary to get through the game - hell, I once played through it without touching them - but it introduces a whole different strategic element to battles. Do you lose a couple of turns in order to unleash these mech's powerful, devastating attacks? Or would you be safer sticking to your own roots, and avoid the robots all together. For an entirely different approach to the battle system, people can play through the entire game in these robots, upgrading their armor, health, and weapons as your progress deeper and deeper into the epic.

Another twist is the level-up system. Basic experience points are given out, and characters increase their status as they gain levels, but abilities and special attacks - as well as their attributes - are increased by using the skill points or ether points gained throughout battles. Those can be saved up and distributed at your will, and there are always many options to choose from - a welcome relief for some, and frustrating for others, since it increases the non-linear feel of the battle system.

However, a unique battle system does not mean that the game won't suffer from extreme repetition - which is the single biggest drawback to Xenosaga. All fights are fought in the same way, as you fight back and forth until there's a winner. Battles take a long time, lasting anywhere from a minute if you've really sharpened your skills to five minutes if you've just entered an area. Surprisingly, the fights that seem to take the shortest amount of time are the big, bad, boss fights - the problem is slightly fixed later in the game, but not by much. And since the game gives only small rewards for completing battles, you'll find yourself in the same room, having to fight the same enemies, over and over and over again.

The main game is quite linear, though there are many sidequests and extra missions that can be picked up as you progress through the massive environments. Xenosaga's environments alternate between peril and safety - the game starts off with a long mission involving several tutorial battles.. Following the completion of that mission, you're thrown into another mission that requires you to run around for twenty minutes until you complete a said objective - one of the "safe" portions of the game. These parts become quite dull, as the game offers little to no clue as to where to go next. By the time the required objectives are complete, you may not have had a battle for an hour or two.

Because the game is so massive, a helpful "e-mail" feature has been installed. In addition to sending you countless advertisements for other Namco games (I'm not kidding), this system will keep track of all sidequests. It also contains a nifty little device that simulates past environments - in other words, allowing you to return to any previous environment to train or to collect items you may have missed.

All in all, Xenosaga's gameplay throws some interesting twists and turns into the mix, and some are incredibly innovative - others result in boring, tedious, and repetitive fighting that is the main drawback of the game. There are times in the game that are incredibly exciting (these times increase as you delve deeper into the game), and other points when you just want things to hurry up.

Many good things can be said about Xenosaga's anime-styled graphics and vibrant colors. The futuristic look of the world is quite unoriginal, but at least it's done with flair. The cut-scenes look great, though the lack of lip-syncing can get distracting when the scenes are lengthy. And the battles look quite spectacular, as well they should. Little tidbits of detail thrown in here and there throughout the game give it a more complete look, and the textures make the game look quite polished and sharp. It's a joy to look at, and although the game is seriously lacking in CGI scenes, you won't end up missing them too much as the rest of the game looks fantastic.

The audio, when it's there, is incredible. Performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the richness of the music rivals Final Fantasy in some cases. If there's one bad thing to be said about the audio, it's that there's not enough of it. The battle theme is used and re-used throughout the entire game, save for the final boss. When you're exploring, there is absolutely no background music. I don't know what their goal was there, but it only makes exploration even more dull. Obviously, there is voice acting in the game. The voice acting is quite a mixed bag, as some of the more dramatic moments in the game come off as cheesy, while other humorous attempts are just flat-out awkward. The voice acting works best when the cut-scenes are doing what they're there to do in the first place - explain.

Xenosaga is a long game. The game gives you thirty to forty hours of gameplay, while also presenting at least five hours of cut-scenes. RPG freaks will be able to finish the story in fifteen to twenty hours - it's not terribly easy, but it's not that difficult either - while a casual gamer may find themselves troubled towards the end of the game. I've never found replay value in RPGs this massive, but there are certainly enough side-quests and mini-games in the quest to warrant a second play-through.

All in all, Xenosaga is a great RPG that is bogged down by tedium. And while I did enjoy this game (I do intend to complete the trilogy), I found myself more engrossed in the storyline than I was in the gameplay - the two should at least be balanced out. If you're looking for one of the most engrossing plotlines in the history of the entertainment industry, choose this game. If you're looking for a great gaming experience, approach it with caution. I can promise that many, many people will love Xenosaga. But I can also promise that many of you won't.

FINAL SCORE: 7.3/10

Over and out.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/26/06