Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht

"Xenosaga....game or movie?"

More than five years ago, a game was created with such intrigue, such mystery, and the most powerful story ever created for an RPG. The game? Xenogears. The game blew gamers away with it's likeable characters, engaging storyline, anime style cinematic's, impressive and innovative battle systems, and some of the best music for an RPG to date. Literally hundreds of pages of text and dialogue tell an amazing story by the end of the game and captured the hearts of many a gamer. Before long the game would amass an enormous and loyal following for years to come. But then nothing...for years. Many fans ached at the thought of never seeing a sequel to this magnificent game. But...then...it finally came. News that a prequel was in the works. It's title...Xenosaga.

Well, it's finally here and I've got some things to tell you about it. The game begins with an impressive cinematic sequence that stays true to its predecessor. Familiar bits and pieces of the Xenogears story have returned and the game immediately captivates you.

Many people have complained that the game is too story driven and that the game is less of a game and more of an interactive movie. That there is too much story and not enough game. While it is true that there are times where you will go through the game and not touch the controller, save for pressing the ''circle'' button to page to the next bit of dialogue, for what seems like ten to twenty minutes. What's wrong with that? Do people forget Xenogears? It's no different. I find this lends itself perfectly to the game. The game has such an intense, and often times confusing story, that anything less would be a detriment to the game. It works well and reflects the style of its predecessor perfectly. Well done Monolith Soft...well done.

GAMEPLAY
The gameplay in Xenosaga is fantastic. The developers managed to bring a bit of familiarity to the battle system while still maintaining a new take on it. Elements of the battle system in Xenogears have made their return, however a fresh spin has been woven seamlessly throughout it. The familiar combos and ether system give fans of Xenogears a good jumping off point, and the new additions like critical hits, skill point bonuses, proximity damage, and A.G.W.S. system, give old and new fans of the series plenty to grab onto.

The environments are beautifully done and your characters move throughout them similar to a standard RPG. Unlike most RPG's however, random encounters have been replaced by physical enemies roaming the screens. If your character runs into one of them or alerts them to your presence, you will be attacked and thrown into battle. This is great as it adds a kind of stealth mode to the game that other RPG's lack. Sometimes you can just tip-toe past an enemy instead of fighting it. It really works well.

As in Xenogears, characters in Xenosaga have the ability to jump into an A.G.W.S. instead of fighting larger enemies hand-to-hand. An A.G.W.S. is similar to a gear in Xenogears. While it may seem that you would always just fight in Gear mode since, after all, it would be more powerful. You will often times find that it is in fact, the opposite. One disadvantage to fighting in gears is that you cannot use items, so no healing. Once your Gear reaches 0 HP, your characters cannot recover. This is a refreshing turn from Xenogears, where you spent the entire game leveling up your characters and learning all the deathblows, only to find that they were completely useless and unusable in the end battles.

GRAPHICS
The graphics are markedly impressive. The 3D graphics have a nice anime touch to them that gives avid fans of anime a good show and everyone else a breath of fresh air. The characters are well done and have a good range of emotional characteristics that bring them to life. The environments are remarkable. Detail has been brought in on every imaginable scale, from a beat up old pickup truck, to the most amazing spatial disturbances. Overall, the graphics are what you would expect from an emerging high profile RPG.

SOUND
The sound effects are brilliant. The voice acting is of a slightly higher caliber than average RPG's. Some of the voice acting is fantastic, while still others are not so good and are encumbered by the script in some places.

The music, while perfectly done in most places, and fantastic when it's there, simply isn't enough to carry the heavy burden of living up to its predecessor's remarkable score. The true shortcoming of the game is the non-existence of music in portions of the game where it seems it is needed. It makes it appear as though the game was shipped before it was fully ready. While not enough to detract from the overall success of the game's spirit and fun factor, it does keep the game from receiving a perfect score. Hopefully the music in the next game of the series will be better placed and have more of a variety.

STORY
The story is where this game truly shines. As in all RPG's, without a great story, it would simply come across as just another game. Building off of the amazing story created for Xenogears, Xenosaga takes the gamer into the past to the beginning of it all. The story begins in the year 20xx, where archaeologists discover something Xenogears fans will immediately recognize. The game then jumps 4000 years into the future and spirals from there. This gives avid fans of the series a great look at how it all began, and new fans to the series, enough information to get going. The story unfolds in dramatic ways making good use of the games in-game cinematic engine and voice acting to boldly deliver and captivate gamers in a powerful way.

REPLAY VALUE
Like all RPG's, replay value is something only the individual gamer knows. There are two types of people when it comes down to replaying an RPG. One type plays an RPG an has no desire to ever play it again because it's really about the story and once it's revealed, there's not really anything left to do. Then there is the other type who want to pick the game up and start over from the beginning the moment the credits finish rolling. I am the latter. If an RPG is a great game, I can't wait to play it again and do things...''the right way'', if you know what I mean. To find all those things I missed and build my characters and such right from the get go, without a learning curve. The game offers a lot in the way of mini-games and customization, but this alone may not be enough to draw gamers back a second time.

Xenosaga has such an engaging story that it draws me back to it just to watch the story unfold again. Of course, I like to watch movies over and over again too. It's all up to the individual, but Xenosaga offers a lot in the way of extras and replay value.

OVERALL
Overall, the game is a smashing success. In my eyes, the game has lived up to expectations placed upon it by me and thousands of other gamers. If you were a fan of Xenogears, don't pass this game up.

For gamers who have a thirst for story and don't mind taking a back seat to the action once in a while, Xenosaga will deliver. But for those who look for action and prefer to skip cinematic's to get back to the action, Xenosaga may fall short of your expectations. However fans of Xenogears will find that Xenosaga delivers in every aspect and will renew your thinking as to why the Xeno series is one of the best.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/26/03, Updated 02/26/03