Xenosaga Episode II
by Namco
|
List Price: Our Price: $14.00 You Save: $5.99 (30%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Video Games See more product details |
|---|
Video Game Reviews of Xenosaga Episode II
Customer Review: STORY GREAT! Battle engine took turn for worst
Summary: 4 Stars
Xenosaga II....okay we all said it, the battle engine blows now. Bosses are crazy hard. All I can say is get some dag-gone sword ethers to help and put aside some time to play. Get a walkthrough somewhere so you don't have to be so tortured. I really love the Xenosaga story line so I had to get this for my collection. Alot of voice acting changed. I actually like the up-beat music of the towns you walk through. I didn't bother to do the final side-quests after you beat the game--hey, I was studying for boards. Get it if you're a fan or you'll be REALLY lost in the third installment. The third one rocks and really makes up for number 2.Customer Review: It is important to play the first
Summary: 5 Stars
At first this game begins at a point where you think the story has nothing to do with xenosaga episode 1, but while you advance in it you think of how much you're missing if you don't know anything of the first game. Great storyline, great graphics, great sound, simply Namco did it again!. If you beated the first one don't erase the saved games and get this one, you'll like it a lot. But on the contrary if you haven't played the first then avoid it, because you'll be lost in the storyline.Customer Review: Predictable
Summary: 3 Stars
Alot of reviews have been given for this game as "REALLY BAD." I'm one of those people who lets things slide. I'm a big RPG gamer. If you're just looking for fighting in a game. Stay away from this one. This needs alot of role playing consciousness. It has a FANTASTIC storyline (surperior to alot of other RPGs), but the game should have been a movie if you ask me. This game goes back to the past, alot of flashing back and forth and alot of surprises. On "The Trio" as I would say. Jr. Albedo and Gaignun. Don't worry about other characters. They're not as important here. But don't let that get you down.
It summerizes everytime I turn the game on to back where I left off, (loading from memory card) so that should help people who dooesn't game much. I couldn't understand why people wouldn't get the storyline if the UMN at the beginning of the game allows a feature to review what has already happened. I'm guessing people are giving irks about that.
I would probably complain about the voice actors and battle system, alot of people would probably say the same thing. I do not mind KOS-MOS' voice actor as much as Shion and chaos. chaos (Yes no caps) is too stoic for me, after playing Xenosaga I (over and over in order to get his character down, hey he's not human!), I'd say he doesn't add much to the action in the beginning where all the cool fight scenes are. The beginning of this game, IS AWESOME. Yes AWESOME. (Voice actors killed it.)
Shion, I would say, is a mess, her attitudes and momentum throws me off everytime a new situation becomes bad. How can she sound so perky all the time? I would definately go with the voice actor in Xenosaga I if I were to choose between the two. And the old voice actors are wonderful as always, Albedo, Jr., Gaignun, and Captain Matthews. Yar they're the same.
The battle system, yes it's a pain. You're not actually fighting. You spend most of your time "stocking up" and letting your enemies rag doll you most of the time. Stocks are like AP in Xenosaga I, except you can only add one stock each turn, or use an ether "Stock 1" to add a stock to another character. After you attain a certain amount of stocks you are presented a number of combo options. The more stocks, the better combo. It becomes an issue because I would have to run around and train in the same area in order to get enough levels or TM points (in order to get Medica All, it becomes valuable, trust me.) I was hoping that this game system would take a tiny bit from Final Fantasy X (because you can to switch characters in battle) however, unlike FFX, this only allows share of spoils (TM points EXP etc.) to the remaining three characters standing in battle. It becomes a real disadvantage if you have characters that have some abilities, but not others. (Medica, Revert, Refresh, etc. although they all have the same abilities to learn, such as Psycho Pocket.) I would suggest picking three main characters and if you do have a strategy guide, ignore the character reccomendations. I chose to maintain Jr., KOS-MOS, MOMO, or Ziggy. (Robotics addict.) Unlike Xenosaga I, tech attacks are only avalible with doubles. So say you have KOS-MOS and Shion, if you have the key for the ability Double X-Buster with a boost and a certain amount of stocks, you can do a tech a attack. Once per battle.
Also, alot of people are confused about "break zones." It's hard to explain in words, there are tutorials in the game. But it's something so that you think you'll always have to rely on combos. It's like suppose you have an enemy with a break zone of B, A.
On your controller there's a:
O which represents "A" or "B" (Some characters such as Shion and MOMO have only B as combos so you press O all throughout for a "B")
Triangle which represents "C"
Square which represents "B"
Those buttons represent letters. Characters have combos accordingly to the buttons you press. So you attack with Square and O. Then their zone is broken. You give more heavy damage by following the character with O buttons for "break bonus" this just means you successfuly broken through their break zone and you are currantly giving more than average damage.
This all comes down to your characters. Characters have different combos. It's much more simple to play it rather than explain it. There's more to it though. Battle slots are still there, and a few more quirks.
A few notes:
Jr. - A bit weak. He doesn't have a lot of enemies that has a weakness for him. But I use alot of skill upgrades so that he gets to make quick work of Albedo.
KOS-MOS - She's super strong against Gnosis. (Fitting of course.)
MOMO - She's a super valuable asset. I use her ALOT. Her ether bow kills.
Ziggy - He's good against anything. Like bosses.
Another battle system irk is the "Move" command. I use that command to do efficient back shots. But the stupid thing is that if I move to the other side, my character is facing his/her back towards the enemy. Then I'll have to wait next term to attack in order to make her face the enemy. (Confusing ya.)
Speaking of areas, the maps are smaller compared to other games I played, so there's fewer enemies to bash. A bit convienient but gets tiresome if you're trying to get treasures around the block. The UMN encephalon has changed. Now you don't have to worry about exiting through a plate. Just start menu and exit. But I really hate knowing that two disks can only contain about 30 maps. It goes by fast. I mean, really fast. Before the first disk was over I was halfway through the stradegy guide. (And I don't usually buy stradegy guides.) The only things that are making the game longer are the GS campaigns, I'd totally reccommend that you do it or else you won't get all the nifty stuff that would make gameplay a bit more "exhilerating." Like double tech attacks and all those other cool items. (Believe or not I haven't used any item in the game yet, not even a Med Kit.) I'm a thrifty person, knowing that there is no currency = no shops. And I hate the puzzles in this game. It gets on your nerves eventually. Even little tiny puzzles.
The maps are beautifully rendered. One thing I'm ticked off about is that there's no radar. You just have to wait to be ambushed unless you memorize every quirk in the area (which doesn't take a lot since you eventually visit the maps over and over.) Sometimes you can't even smash the traps before the enemy ambushes you.
Although I can't say the same for the characters, even though it's become all realistic, it's become too femme for me. KOS-MOS' new design throws me off, and that's why I put the bathing suit on her for battle, Shion is also a bit femme for me. But I would totally think guy gamers would fall for them eh.
I would also say the same for the guys, they grown cuter, but I still am not pleased with the new character design after I played it.
E.S.s I almost forgot about that. (I was reading other reviews.) Piloting the E.S. is like the A.G.W.S. only more bulky and cooler. The thing that pissed me off for the E.S. is that it's slow on the maps. No matter which E.S. you chose, Dinah, Zebulan, Asher. It's slow. Pathetically slower than the human lead characters. I would love it if they had more abilities and hope that they STOP STOCKING UP. I almost died because half-way I did not have Zebulan (that's the only E.S. that can use ether = heal). But I love the E.S. Much more detailed and beautiful things than the A.G.W.S.
Music is a bit more techy. Very techy. I don't like most of the soundtrack. Gives me a headache. I love orchestra, but that's me. (like Chrono Cross, FFX, and Xenosaga I etc.)
Three stars, it's not the living saga, there's not a "true game" thing going on. Not enough for me to play over and over. If you're into SCI-Fi storyline, random philosophies, techy mechas. (Like me) This game would probably love you. But not as much for me. (And I ain't no star wars fan but I'm loyal enough to keep Xenosaga as my favorite RPGs)
Customer Review: Xenosaga Ep. II: What Are You, a Moron?
Summary: 4 Stars
One of the most common complaints is that Xenosaga Ep. II's battle system is annoying and ponderous because "even in 'regular' battles, it forces you to spend many turns Stocking just so that you can do decent damage to enemies." This is actually a form of codespeak. What these people are really saying is "I'm not very bright, and even after several hours of playing Ep. II, I somehow never realized how to use the battle system efficiently. Duuuurrr!"
Ep. II puts a great deal of emphasis on each character's attack attributes. Attacks are classified as either Physical or Ether, and then there are elementals (fire, ice, lighting, aura) and finally there are types (slash/pierce/hit). Sound complicated? Eh, a little more so than the average RPG. Not nearly as bad as something like Vagrant Story. All you have to do is use Analyze on any enemy you're unfamiliar with to see their weaknesses, and then use the Change command to bring in the character that has the proper attack, if they aren't already in your battle party. When you come across enemies with Physical/elemental weaknesses, there are Ethers which you can cast to add that element to a character's physical attack. If their weakness is ether/elemental, then just use the standard elemental spell Ethers against them. This is all you need to do to make battles flow at nice, normal pace.
For some reason, the vast majority of Ep. II players seemed to never realize this. Instead, they saw their only option to be using the Stock command for nine (NINE!) turns in a row before beginning their attack. Even on wimpy garden variety wandering monsters! They took no heed of enemy weaknesses, using characters with physical/fire based attacks against enemies weak vs. ether/ice. RPG players used to have a reputation for being the more intelligent gamers. I wonder what happened...
A lot of Ep. I fans never bothered to play Ep. II because negative word of mouth spread so quickly amongst the fanbase as soon as the JP version was released. But now that Ep. III is out (and it's truly fantastic) a lot of them will finally play Ep. II soon. I hope they do better than the first rounders did.
Customer Review: Xenosaga Episode 2
Summary: 4 Stars
THIS PREVIEW HAS SPOILERS OF THE GAME PLEASE DON T READ IT IF YOU DIDN T PLAY IT!
I played Xenogears and when i saw Xenosaga Episode was kinda short compare xenogears in battle system but was ok because xenosaga was like an "introduction".
OK improvements:
Gameplay was Longer than Episode 1 (I ended Episode 1 with everything in 42 hours) in change Ep2 (88+).
Sidequest is like a plus if you want it to do it if you don t you can end the game anyways.
The Idea of Epiloge after you finish the game was very cool because you could kill special bosses and get better and kill the final boss overkilled and stuff like that.
Chaos Jr Momo Shion & Kosmos Looking was improved they looked more grow up.
Battle system to put them up or down depending who you were using or fighting as well double Tech attacks
All Characters were able to use all magic skills as long you buy them with your skillpoints and making able with the sidequests.
Momo Bow was a very nice improvement and now she can be a very good Damage Dealer
Recover Mp while stock was a good idea as well to use ep freely without any trouble.
People complain because history was focus in Jr and URTVs but the title says itself (Jenseits von Gut und B?se) means "Beyond Good and Evil" wich means "Rubedo worring for the ladies in danger and his Red Dragon mode wich makes him go out of control (possible reason of Sakura Death), Albedo and his obssesive love for rubedo but at the same time to kill him as well, Nigredo wich refused to do a mission (involved with Rubedo) and killed his own father but he plays as good person at the moment as albedo said "Giving life from 1 hand and delivering death from the other".
Honestly second episode history role was more development than first one because wasn t an introduction and we were starting to know how things were going...
What they did wrong:
I don t see how they could think throw away the tech attacks was going to be a good idea...
Good Thing they added the tech attacks & special attacks in ep 3
You had to do stock a lot of times to make a good combo between characters(wich made battles kinda boring)
Music in battle was kinda boring compare to Ep 1
Voices of Chaos(sounded boring...) Kos-Mos (like Fake silly girl trying to play as a robot) Shion (Pushing and like "I m better than you") Momo (Very Annoying) sad thing is my main team is Chaos Kosmos & Momo thats why i got sad for that voice changes but they said they refix their voices as episode 1 in the third and last episode.
Ep 1 has almost 8 hours of movies Ep 2 4:30hours (i guess for the complains of the long movies)
I still don t get it movies give more motion of the storyrole of the game wich is most of the attractive things Xenosaga has over most of the games. In Episode 3 is 4hours of full motion movies but plus the speak texts with faces included while characters move and do stuff like Valkyrie Profile
They cut completly the close up when they cast spells or hit lights and stuff most of the time you see characters back all the way while you are fighting. (they fix that in ep3)
In Resume as everyone know Episode 2 had bad things but as well good things (as every game) no they shouldn t did it bad when they noticed the things people like of the game itself. Good thing is they fixed most of the bad stuff of Episode 2 to Episode 3. Battle system soundtrack and characters voices all is better only thing i didn t like of episode 3 battle mode is they make it appear as an average rpg system (attack, ether, tech, special tech, and others) so forget the 4 combinations to make a tech attacks & ethers cost "ep(cp)" special attacks cost boosts. i wonder if attack will give some "ep(cp)" later. Even with all this i recommend you to buy it before you get episode 3 because you will be losing a lot of storyline if you don t and more now they cost 20 dollars each (or less)
Atte:
Roy_Masters