"Exerting its power over our wills..."

An epic title with an interesting sci-fi storyline to boot, Xenosaga Episode 1 is set with a highly remarkable plot that involves you deeply from the beginning till the end. Indeed, this game includes series after series of cut-scenes that could automatically make itself into a movie, with a certain sequence that goes for more than 30 minutes.

As a space sci-fi set in the future, it involves many unintelligible jargons that leave players who had not played Xenogears confused until an explanation was brought up few hours into the game. I could not bring myself to understand what the Hilbert Effect is or any other terms used for different objects/powers/phenomenon until much more later into the game; nor what U-DO (pronounced oddly as oo-doo) is either. As I had yet to play any of the Xenogears games, I’m not entirely sure if Xenosaga is interrelated to Xenogears, so assuming that those technical terms are not in Xenogears, those jargons should be explained earlier instead of much later on as that would only leave players confused. Monolith Soft did include a nifty tool, however, by including a dictionary type option in the game where it would explain names that happen to belong to a certain organism or machinery, or plain technical terms that appear almost all the time.

On the subject of graphics, the FMV sequences are brilliantly done; even normal cut-scenes look exceptionally good, plus the beautiful surroundings when you’re not anywhere on a spacecraft. The way the FMVs weave in and out almost flawlessly should be commended, and you could see them appearing while performing certain skills in battles. The lighting effects, emotions reflected on the faces and the character models modelled anime-style (hint: wide eyes).

Graphics aside, the music could very well do with a face-lift, as it is not varied widely enough to ensure better atmosphere in scenes and battles. Boss battles produce almost the same music in the entire game, and it’s hair-tearing enough to get irritated in tough fights that result in stressing headache. The voice actors should be applauded to be able to bring life out of the characters that they voice, particularly KOS-MOS’s, a humanoid robot designed to fight off Gnosis (think them as bad aliens for now). It’s marvelous to see how the voice actors for various characters, like the child Realian MOMO and cyborg Ziggy (^_^, “sounds like a dog’s name”; originally Ziggurat) could bring out the personalities of their characters very well.

The battle system is a tad bit confusing in the beginning, as the tutorial provided in the beginning of the game doesn’t seem to go really in-depth. Only by trial and error and at least 30 hours into the game did I find out how to harness the fairly easy battle system, although it’s not as captivating as other games’ battle systems. By learning how to utilize the battle system to its full potential and your advantage, you could easily gain more skill points and the like, as well as deliver critical blows to the enemies. A kind of slot will rotate in order at the bottom of the screen, from empty, to high-critical, to increase boost and finally, to increase skill-related points when you finish off an enemy with that slot’s turn. It’s reported that if you’ve played Xenogears before, you should be able to familiarize yourself with the concept of the battle system easily, so that’s a definite bonus to you Xenogears players out there.

Also, AP (called Action Points) in this game are not used to increase certain ability’s power, but are used in the battle itself. Every move that you perform will use up AP, and in order to use more powerful attacks, more AP (at a maximum of 6 AP) would be used (not inclusive of guard, which instead, increases the amount of AP you will get). Ethers (a type of skill), Tech Attacks and Skills all use certain types of points that you accumulate after battles.

There are also robots/mechs which you summon into battle, that are called A.G.W.S. (pronounced roughly as ‘eggs’), an acronym for Anti-Gnosis Weapons System. These A.G.W.S. can only be used by their own pilots, and because of that, there are different A.G.W.S. with slightly differing capabilities. Upgrading them is also possible, by equipping them with more powerful weapons, ranging from laser guns to large-sized swords fit enough to slice a tree like paper, as well as upgrading circuits to ensure that your A.G.W.S. has more hit points and improvement in defence. Once your A.G.W.S. is defeated, it cannot be used again in that round and remain useless throughout the match.

Just like any other RPGs, this game involves walking around and being attacked by enemies or vice-versa (not random, thank goodness). Puzzles such as unlocking doors are not too difficult – it just depends on your ability to use your common sense and navigate yourself to the right place. Certain places such as in the ship Elsa could be big enough to get you lost; the few maps that are scattered there aren’t specific enough to direct you to the place that you want to go. Save points can be too little at times, but they’re placed rather strategically that you can sometimes get back to the save point and save after going through a hell of battles. Levels get progressively tougher and longer – especially with the enemies – while special items are usually hidden properly but could be easily be gotten by searching every nook and cranny. And interestingly, outside battles while you’re walking around, you can tap the Square button to fire at fire-able objects to reveal either nothing, items (rare or not), and sometimes, hidden enemies.

Storyline-wise, it’s a game that’s philosophically involved, and it’s so in-depth that it makes you unsatisfied when you’ve finished with the game (this game comes in parts). The story revolves around Shion Uzuki and KOS-MOS, an android created from within the 2nd Division of Vector Industries. Thousands of years into the future, humans now exist in space, no longer on Earth. Gnosis, roughly look at as aliens in the game, possessed immense powers that could eliminate mankind. KOS-MOS is therefore designed for such purposes, to destroy Gnosis. On the other hand, an ancient artifact had been uncovered, also known as the Zohar, which apparently appeared in the Xenogears series.

With all the various mini-games and your chance to collect abilities, weapons and the like, this game pulls you into spending 50 over hours, coupled with the extremely long but rather entertaining cut-scenes. In fact, the story’s definitely far more interesting than the likes of mediocre movies available in the cinema. Sometimes, the time it takes to get to a save point can be severely frustrating, especially in areas outside the spaceship. I remember times when I really have to quit playing the game (for certain real-life commitments), and just because I can’t find that darned vital save point, I was ultimately forced to shut the game down and restart from the last time I’ve saved. There’s also another incident when I got killed by normal enemies after a long time walking to further progress the game. These are all things that are certainly challenging. Thankfully enough, you are almost always given a save point before fighting bosses; some save points need you to return to the previous save point by walking for a short while to them.

Mini-games, available to play after you collect certain items and could be played at certain special save points, include card games (with booster packs, if you can find them), a Driller game that’s fun to play but fairly expensive, depending on your financial condition, and two casino games, one of which is a poker game. The card game, if you would take time to explore it, is interesting to play with, just like the real-life trading card games (except you don’t trade). I find the game card confusing, but I’ve learnt that many people seemed to be able to take up and play this mini-game for hours.

Other side quests can be fairly simple (but persistently annoying), like finding objects and returning them to a certain character, but some side quests require you to battle (with your wits too, of course). These battles are usually hard, harder than bosses even, and entail you to sit through an entire hour repeating a certain kind of strategy till its/his/her health is completely depleted. Tiring, no?

All in all, Xenosaga proves to be the beginning of an epic adventure of a lifetime. In fact, it’s so detailed in every aspect of this fantasy world that it can actually match the story of Lord of the Rings. From the thorough and in-depth ‘database’ of information all related to the story, fictional names, places and time all (almost) inter-related, characters that are not unrelated but bound together as luck would have it, it is indeed one of the most comprehensive game ever. Xenosaga Episode 1: Der Wille zur Macht has definitely exerted its power over our wills.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/07/03