Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra

"The most moving game this near 30 year old gamer has ever played."

Story: This is the main focus of the entire series and completely delivers in the final episode. There were many questions going into this title and they were all answered. The storytelling done by this game, and the series as a whole, truly blows away every other game on the market, and rivals many big time movie productions. It is truly amazing and words can't describe how well some of the scenes were done. I have never been even slightly emotional in a game before and cried multiple times. An epic masterpiece is the only way to describe the story.

Graphics: Simply amazing. Easily the best of the series and some of the best of any PS2 title I have seen. They really spent a great deal of time with the details and made the game absolutely gorgeous. From the character models to the backgrounds of the levels and cinematic sequences, it all looks great.

Music: Very very good. I don't have a lot to add to this but it is definitely a notch beyond episode 2 and really fits the atmosphere and settings of the game well. Draws in your emotions even more at certain points of the game.

Gameplay: The most fun of the series in my opinion. The battles are done much better than the annoying episode 2 system and the ES battles are very fun. It's nice to gain levels with the characters in ES battles as opposed to separate levels for the ES machines and characters like in episode 2. The level design is very good and there are still a few puzzles in the levels. The skill point system is also more interesting in this game than episode 2, and not as convoluted as episode 1.

Voice acting: Not a normal topic but I wanted to make a point of this one since I was very disappointed with the episode 2 voice acting. It is AMAZING in this one. The old Shion and Kos-mos voice actors are back and they sound great! Everyone else is also back except for Chaos and MOMO still being different from episode 1, although they sound MUCH better than in episode 2.

Character models: Another odd point I wanted to touch on. I wasn't a fan of the drastic changes to Shion and Kos-mos in episode 2 and was glad to see them looking more like their original selves in this one. Both of them look their best now and look like the people you grew to love from episode 1, with Shion looking less dorky of course.

Minigames: Another sort of odd topic but this review has to be a certain length so this should get me there. The main minigame of Episode 3 is a type of puzzle game named HaKox. At first I thought it would be fairly annoying but it actually turned out to be quite fun and a good alternative to the main game at times. I also liked how worlds are only unlocked after progressing further in the game, preventing people, like me, from hammering out the entire minigame in one sitting. There are some other sidequests as well but this is the main minigame.

Overall: Everything taken into consideration, it is easily the best of the series with episode 1 slightly behind it and 2 lagging in the back. Looking at the trilogy of games as one big game, it is an understatement to say it is the best I have ever played. Do yourself a favor and play through this series, it is more than worth the time.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/04/07