Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra

"The End Is Here. And It Was Good."

SBaby here. Figured I'd take a look at the local game dealer. I was a bit surprised to see Xenosaga's final installment on the shelves. After quite a bit of reluctance and fear, I picked it up. This might take awhile, so you probably wanna eat lunch.

Anyone that's played the previous games in the series will be expecting alot. Closure, answers, and a massive ending with a bang. Well, I can safely say that you won't be disappointed. This game delivers on these and more. It IS Xenosaga, after all. Let's take a look.

Anywho, the game starts out about a year after the end of the second Episode. Things look pretty grim, as Shion resigned from Vector six months beforehand. Joining up with an underground group called Scienta, the former Vector R&D Chief is now bent on exposing all of Vector's wrongdoings, and finally learning the secret of the Gnosis attacks, which are rumored to be linked to the UMN now.

As far as the gameplay goes, it's very similar to the first two games in the series. You have a few towns, though they aren't always accessible. However, the meat of the gameplay lies in the dungeon crawling. Now bigger than ever, the dungeons not only look much better than before, but feel alot more smooth as your character moves much faster through the areas than before.

All of the enemies can be seen on-screen before running into a fight. You now even have the option of laying down traps to stun the enemy and give your party an advantage in battle. Or you can simply stun them and avoid the encounter altogether. What this means is the player now has control over the encounter rate. Wow, concept.

Once in battle, the game uses a much more linear turn-based engine than previous installments. Gone are the confusing Break Zones, in the place of a subdual meter that fills as you or the enemy takes damage. Once full, the victim is stunned for two turns, adding strategy and management to the battle, as you now have to keep an eye on an extra gauge. Boosting has returned, but now in a more advanced form. Not only are the gauges linked to Boosting to pre-empt the combat order, but you also have to consume Boost levels to use your Tech Attacks. This makes battles much more complicated, as you have to plan your moves out more carefully than ever.

E.S. Battles have made a return as well, utilizing a more similar style to Xenogears, but with a twist. Now the E.S. has a meter on the left side of the screen that dictates how many attacks the robot can get per turn. The more points the meter has, the more attacks are available to the E.S. Another perk that was given to you is the Anima Awakening ability. These are the special attacks of the E.S., and they can heavily influence a battle. Each mech has a meter that fills over time. When it gets to the appropriate level, you can use Anima Awakening to initiate a massive attack against the enemy. This all ties into the overall strategy you'll be using in battles.

As for the graphics, what can I say? Gorgeous. However, there are a few hiccups, most notably in the cutscenes. Sometimes the characters will slow down for about a second. It happens pretty infrequently, so it isn't really anything that warrants a point being taken off. Other than that, there are absolutely stunning cutscenes that will leave you in awe. One scene in particular involves KOS-MOS going up against a giant mech and getting thrown through a wall. When you see her next, she has scorch marks all over her. All this happens in a brief moment of time, so taking your eyes off the screen WILL cause you to miss something.

Now we get into the reason we play the games, the story. The story this time around is something special. Mainly because they crammed four games worth of scenes and events into 2 discs. Some of you might now be dreading buying this. But I'll alleviate your fears right now. This game has the best storyline seen since the first one. There are scenes with voiced text scrolling on the top of the screen and the bottom, much like Xenogears. But the real deal is the cinema scenes.

The cutscenes are gorgeous and everything is tied up surprisingly well. There are some cliches (show me one RPG that DOESN'T have cliches, and I'll show you an unproduced game), but really they serve to enhance the experience more than anything else. In fact, there is a HUGE cliche that you'll know when you see, but you'll still be left in awe when it comes. You'll never see it coming.

Of course the main question you might be asking is, does the story get tied up? I'll plainly say yes. All of your major questions WILL be answered by the time you get to the end of this epic adventure. However, some will be answered in very unexpected ways. The storyline gets tied up, and every character is fully fleshed out here. There's action, adventure, drama, happiness, sadness, wins, losses, and even a bit of comedy thrown into the fray. All in all though, it is executed pretty well, especially considering the circumstances surrounding this game.

Overall, there really isn't anything wrong with this game. The story is excellent, and the battles are much easier. Plus, the load times have been reduced substantially. If you're an RPG buff who thinks story is the main reason to play a game, then definitely buy this one. Trust me, you'll be glad you did.

SBaby gives Xenosaga: Episode III for the PS2 a 10/10. Thus Spoke Zarathrustra, indeed.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/06/06