Xenosaga Episode 1 Vs. Xenosaga Episode 2, Which One Do You Prefer? Options

I saw kos-mos in episode II, and i thought that they did a pretty good job maturing her. Now she looks like a beautiful woman instead of a sexy model. They also changed shion a bit. Anyways, i would like to know what other people thought about this change

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Edited by N1L: With the new changes in the XS forum layout and the content of the majority posts within this topic, this thread can now be used as an overall comparison between the series, and not specifically for character appearances only --- the reasoning for this revolves around the fact that many of the posts after the first four original voted upon the games a whole, which makes this thread's revised purpose much more appropriate to lean towards, and will help keep other segments clean of repeat topics. Any questions, please PM a staff member.
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This post has been edited by No One Luminary: Nov 22 2005, 01:28 AM

Although at first it took me a moment to recognize Shion, once I did, I realized I love her new look so much compared to the more anime-inspired, more childish and less-seasoned look she had in Episode I. (I think it's pretty nifty how she looks more like an adult after going through the events of the first episode.)

KOS-MOS... at first I didn't like the new look so much, but I do agree. She looks like a beautiful woman now, and it really suits things that take place during Episode II, the chapter I've affectionately subtitled (longly) "face the past before challenging the future." She looks great, she really does. Like the things that happened to her in Episode I transformed her into someone with more emotion to her. And you see this at times in E2.

Junior... now, not so many people know me too well at all here unlike some other places I go to, but anyone who knows me decently well can tell you, he's definitely my favorite character. I really like the changes they did to him -- he looks more mature now as well, but still maintains that boyish charm. He really looks like he's ready to confront his past, which, well, without spoiling anything... let's just say, he gets a chance to face up to some things that were eating away at him for a long time.

Ziggy. Hmm... does he change? Most say no, but I find that he looks a bit better now. But then, a couple of years have passed since XS1 came out, so it's probably just the advancements on creating facial structure. At any rate, let's just say once or twice in the game you'll delve into him a lot more and once or twice, his face is filled with some emotion that you wouldn't have seen so easily in the first. However, his outfit is unchanged so there's not much to comment on here.

MOMO looks really cool now -- I prefer her new look greatly. She's also much, much better in battle.

chaos is just so much cooler to me, now, as well. I'm so glad he got rid've that whole "I'll wear shorts over pants" look he had going for him in XS1. He looks much more... ethnic, now, to me, as well. I think it works for him.

The only change I dislike is the Kirschwassers. They look really weird to me in XS2. >_<

I don't know....the new style is a bit weird for me, considering most of the characters don't look like the original characters at all (Shion especially)

Tons of changes here, MOMO looks a lot older (well that is expected but it is still kinda weird), not to mention she now has a bow as a weapon, I guess that is because both Shion and MOMO could act as healers and they wanted to reduce it to one.

chaos has lost his "anime hair", which I find weird because he looks like that even in the flashback at the beginning of the game.

Shion, well....Shion doesn't look like Shion at all, but I guess there is no way she could have looked like her old character model.

KOS-MOS looks completely different, I liked the way she looked in episode I better, it made her look a lot more like a robot than in this one.

Jr. and Ziggy are prettymuch the same, except for a bit of a change in Jr's costume.

Also, a lot of the other characters look the same with a few minor improvements. (Albedo, Matthews, Margulis, etc.)


I am not going to vote since I like both of the styles, and it is pretty hard to compare them, but I will admit it is a bit weird seeing the new character designs after episode I.

Uh...Episode One.


((Edit by Mist: Add more content please and explain why you choose Episode 1, or else this post is considered as borderline spam.))

This post has been edited by Mist: Nov 9 2005, 04:45 PM

Uh...Episode One.

This man speaks for most of us, myself included.

My reasons for this are as follows:

Story- The story was a whole lot more in depth, showing more character development within the time it was given. The story in itself felt like you were taking part in an epic as opposed to a made for TV movie. I still liked the idea for Episode II story on paper, but it sure didn't pan out like it should have. So much more could have been done.

Graphics- Never have been one to complain about graphics, but this one seems like it didn't really fit if you ask me. I personally liked Episode I's anime-esque look it had going.

Voice Acting- This was my biggest problem. When you know something is going to kind of strech itself out, it would be wise to keep the same development team going on with it. Takahashi and Saga leaving were bad enough, but the least that could have been done was leave us with the same voices we liked from the first installment.

Mini-Games- Unless their mandatory, I really don't care for them all that much usually, and in this case, neither really takes first place.

And Finally....- All the things they left unanswered from the first game, not to mention that they really created more questions than anything else!

All in all, I did like Episode II by the time I beat it, it just didn't leave me with that same good taste in my mouth like Episode I or Xenogears did.

Just one comment on the voice acting thing:

Ok so you fall in love with a character, or characters by the end of ep. 1. You KNOW these guys. They rock your world, you want to see them progress and evolve, you are looking forward for them to return.

So they change their look, and their voices with people who can't act. Their personality is all different, I can't care anymore! These are not the same people I fell in love with, It's not Xenosaga to me. It's so sad to me that they did this.

WHY?? MONOLITH...WHY?!


**Cries*

Alright, I'm prepared to be murdered (and or eaten) for this statement but I guess I'll just come out and say it (and yeah, this is probably one of the only things I actually fit into a minority on when it comes to EPII) : I loved EPII's artwork in all aspects... with the exception of its translation to IN-GAME polygons.

I'm personally not that big of a fan of the whole 'big-eyed anime' thing. Don't get me wrong, I do watch a ton of the stuff. But I tend to prefer more 'serious' looking characters, badass costumes, a slight bit of realism and no over-the-top cuteness and insanity. As I said however, while I did prefer the artwork and what it was trying to convey, I hated how it looked during in-game cinematics and whilst in battle. They all looked fuckin' great in high-res (and they all look excellent in the Complete Graphics Art book, which is probably worth more than EPII itself) but the in-game models (blocky hands, no teeth, lack of consistency) is garbage. On a technical side (polygons, textures, etc) I'll take EPI over EPII any day. The characters in-battle are loaded to hell with polygons, pack a good amount of flair, flowing hair and a very streamlined, crisp and clear reflectivity (almost like gloss) that serves as a lighting effect on their bodies. Yeah. Sexy.

I guess I

This post has been edited by No One Luminary: Oct 9 2005, 09:56 AM

I honestly don't see how people can think that Ep II is better than Ep I, but I'll still give my reasons:

Storyline - Predictable and slow; what happened to all the amazing plot twists of the first game? It was genuinely boring, and I believe its because they got rid of Takahashi and Soraya Saga, both of whom were integral to the storyline of the first game.

Graphics - Different, but not better in my opinion. Still, I while I prefer the animesque graphics of the first game, these aren't too bad. I like the outdoor areas, such as the Summer Domain, but I think the cities look really bland and lifeless.

Voice Acting - Oh. My. God... How could they get rid of such a perfect cast? Shion's okay (but no Lia Sargent), but Helmer's gone rastafarian on us, MOMO sounds like a twelve-year old girl on helium, KOS-MOS sounds like the voice on my anti-virus, and chaos is about as charistmatic and interested as my answer-phone.

Music - Again, its okay, but compare it to Yasunori Mitsuda's score from the first game, and it pales into insignificance. Oh, and I really despise the victory fanfare at the end of a battle.

Minigames - I agree with Donman; these minigames are boring and unenjoyable for the most part. And what happened to the card game? I really enjoyed that!

Gamplay - The battle system is too rigid and monotonous and there's bugger all character differenciation. One thing that I really like about the first game was that you weren't merely controlling three infinitely variable clones, but rather that if you wanted one characters strengths, you had to put up with their weaknesses. In this episode, just select three random characters and GO!!!

Dialogue: Hammy and clich

I'm gonna agree with Nae'blis on just about everything in his post, but I have my own thoughts...

From what I can tell, the original intention of this topic was to see what people thought of the character designs, not the game as a whole, but anyway, I guess it doesn't matter... Let's start from the beginning with storyline:

Bland. Predictable and straight-forward. XSII was far too linear, and although XSI managed to waste a bit of time (e.g. the curry scene aboard the Elsa), XSII has taken it a step further and wasted the entire first disc. The only part I really did like was the scene on Old Miltia with Cecily and Cath

This post has been edited by Gainsbrough: Oct 9 2005, 03:29 PM

I don't like the battle system in Episode II. It took me at least a week to finally get how to do combo attacks and all that stuff. it was frustrating and i miss all the kewl attacks from Episode I = ( i really hope they're not going to keep changing the battle systems for the next games. it doesn't make the series consistent to eachother

the characters look pretty good to me. More realistic and less "CUTE" . . Except the idea of dressing Shion in a skimpy bathing suit... i wouldn't mind if they changed her into a dude with a six pack and beautiful blue eyes... but she's still a girl and now she's lost her glasses, gotten a tan, changed her hair, and has bigger boobs than me. . . I never use her in my party = P

the AGWS are now called Mechs... okay? Because there are less Gnosis things in the second one? or it was just too confusing to explain to new players?? i don't get it.

i'm nervouse about the third one because i dread the new changes they are going to make. Overall - i was kinda dissapointed with Episode II... Episode I was bearable - but not really that great...
my favorite will always be Xenogears... the original <3 but i'll keep playing the others to try to understand the story.

the characters look pretty good to me. More realistic and less "CUTE" . . Except the idea of dressing Shion in a skimpy bathing suit... i wouldn't mind if they changed her into a dude with a six pack and beautiful blue eyes... but she's still a girl and now she's lost her glasses, gotten a tan, changed her hair, and has bigger boobs than me. . . I never use her in my party = P

...And you're talking about episode II, right? 'Cause uh... if you're disappointed with a change as oh-so trite as that, just go check out the the screenshots and artwork for Shion's new and improved space-hooker outfit for EPIII. Ya got the leather, ya got the corset, ya got make-up, ya got the hot-pants, ya got the... futurisitic white tennis shoes?

i'm nervouse about the third one because i dread the new changes they are going to make.

Yes, missy. Be nervous. Be very, very nervous. :tiedup

This post has been edited by No One Luminary: Dec 28 2005, 08:01 PM

the AGWS are now called Mechs... okay? Because there are less Gnosis things in the second one? or it was just too confusing to explain to new players?? i don't get it.

"Mechs" is a term used to describe almost anything that is a giant robot. The old A.G.W.S. where mechs as well.
The new mecha are called "E.S. units". What does E.S. stand for you ask? No idea, they never even mention it in the game. I guess our feeble minds couldn't handle the complexity of taking five minutes to explain the new explosion makers (heck, the Anima Relics themselves are given about 20 seconds).

As for the character designs, I loved Episode I's much better. The new block hands and poor polygons really didn't do it for me.
Besides...KOS-MOS used to look complex, now she looks like a lava-lamp. Shion used to look respectable, now she's a tramp. They are killing the characters themselves with these new looks.

And yes, Xenosaga doesn't even come close to Xenogears. Not even close.

The things I felt episode II improved on were characters. They were all beautifully designed while episode II's were ugly. Also I think the voice actors improved over all except for Kos-Mos and because of that one terrible choice for voice acting legions of people are convinced the entire games voice acting was terrible which is just not true. Also the lip-synching has improved ridiculously. Not that, that was hard.

I preffered Yuki Kajiuras music but thats just a matter of opinion. Most people are gonna hate her anyway because shes not Mitsuda. Thats a common trend with most things in this game. I hated HATED HATED that smurf Shinji Hosoes music though. Everyone who knows anything about gamemusic doesnt care about how bad Hosoes music was since hes a vgm veteron.

Either way episode II's biggest problem is its fans are too pissy to give it a chance because its not enough like episode I.

[quote=No One Luminary,Nov 1 2005, 06:50 ]...And you're talking about episode II, right?

[quote=Twisted Anathema,Nov 1 2005, 16:09 ][quote=No One Luminary,Nov 1 2005, 06:50 ]...And you're talking about episode II, right?

This post has been edited by No One Luminary: Nov 1 2005, 09:10 PM

Either way episode II's biggest problem is its fans are too pissy to give it a chance because its not enough like episode I.

On only the subject of character designs and voice acting I can agree with you. They where different, but some of them could certainly be seen as improvements (I, however, choose not to).
However, in every other area, I agree with No One Luminary.
I don't think fans didn't give it a chance, nearly all of them finished and even did all those lame side-quests. The problem is that Episode II really is pure garbage when compared to Episode I. But No One Luminary did a fine job of explaining that much.

I preffered Yuki Kajiuras music but thats just a matter of opinion. Most people are gonna hate her anyway because shes not Mitsuda. Thats a common trend with most things in this game.

True enough, but you are still not really comparing the two.
I'm a big fan of both Kajiura and Mitsuda. But Kajiura just didn't do a great job on the Episode II soundtrack. So many songs have the same chorus or are "insert song name" #2-4. It is NOT a very varied soundtrack to say the least, though it did have couple really great songs that shine quite brightly.
Mitsuda

I don't know if anyone noticed this from the episode 1 credits, but Kou Arai was the in game map editor/director . That's all he was hired on for in episode 1. Suddenly he goes from drawing a map on a computer screen to becomming the spear-head of the Xenosaga series, replacing Tetsuya and Saga?










I really have to insert another WHAT the FUCK in before I go to sleep.

*Cries*

Had the original writer and director not had their project STOLEN from them just so the new guy (Koh Arai) could advertise his *new* storyline as being easier to understand with more explosions, then sure, maybe I'd give it a chance. But really, too pissy? They STOLE the project from its creators and FIRED them after they practically established their company so they could make the game EASY to understand and FULL OF EXPLOSIONS --- all to get money, which is a fucking insult. Koh Arai said this VERY thing on the official site. More explosions, livelier, and easier to understand storyline. Exactly. The man ultimately said "fuck the fans of the storyline, we need more sex, more techno, and objects blowing up." To me, that's an insult to my, and the rest of the buyers' intelligence. Koh Arai wants to assemble a game for kids --- one that most of the fans don't want. If you're a fan of XSI, wouldn't you want something MORE LIKE it? XSII was nothing like EPI --- I wouldn't care if it was a different game series, but really, this is pathetic --- expectations are built when you're dealing with a series and saying no one gave it a chance isn't what I would say concerning it because I simply don't find it to be true.

Trust me, I gave it a chance. I've actually spent MORE time on it than EPI doing all the side-quest garbage. I've read the script several times and compared it to XS : PP, and when I realize that this new team really fired Soraya, I feel like vomiting. It's got nothing to do with being 'pissy.' Garbage is garbage. EPI was decent and I like THAT game of THAT series. EPII was not decent and it did not top EPI, therefore, I don't like it, and that's a solid opinion founded on solid ideals --- lowering one's expectations SHOULD NEVER be a prerequisite to enjoying something. Ever. That is stupidity --- STUPIDITY to have to expect something less just so you can enjoy it. I expected EPII to be at the level of EPI. It wasn't. Sequels in a multi-installment series are supposed to improve upon the original. This piece of garbage got off and became a completely different game of a new series that I wouldn't have bought. I bought a Xenosaga that advertised story. EPII is a Xenosaga that advertises explosions and an utterly simplified 'easy to understand storyline' for kids and fans of mindless action movies. No. If Xenosaga I had been advertised like that, I never woulda bought it --- I play this game for the Takahashis' storyline, not Koh Arai's mindless explosions. EPII is garbage to me and EPIII will be the final dollar I'm willing to spend on this series. Sure, it might work as an FF spin-off, but it's not supposed to be, for God's sake! EPII's greatest problem is that the fans naturally expected something at the level of its predecessor and got shit in a bucket because Koh Arai wanted to sell more copies to the dumbass American video-game market by CUTTING OUT HALF OF THE STORYLINE so it could be shorter and more simplistic. I've given this streaming load too much of a chance. XS : PP was a far better storyline, and the fans agree that Koh Arai and Yonesaka Norhiko just cannot top Takahashi and Soraya. Reading EPI, PP and then reading EPII, it becomes pretty obvious where the real writers are... EPII is not enough like EPI and I see nothing but negatives in that.

Uh... [/RANT

*Hand cuffs myself to your ankle* Please Luminary, don't ever leave me.

 The things I felt episode II improved on were characters. They were all beautifully designed while episode II's were ugly. Also I think the voice actors improved over all except for Kos-Mos and because of that one terrible choice for voice acting legions of people are convinced the entire games voice acting was terrible which is just not true. Also the lip-synching has improved ridiculously. Not that, that was hard.

I preffered Yuki Kajiuras music but thats just a matter of opinion. Most people are gonna hate her anyway because shes not Mitsuda. Thats a common trend with most things in this game. I hated HATED HATED that smurf Shinji Hosoes music though. Everyone who knows anything about gamemusic doesnt care about how bad Hosoes music was since hes a vgm veteron.

Either way episode II's biggest problem is its fans are too pissy to give it a chance because its not enough like episode I.

I will grant you that some of the character designs were better then in ep.1. I actually liked KOS-MOS and Shion's outfits better in Ep.2 then in one, but I can't stand the voice changes to KOS-MOS or Shion/MOMO. These poeple cannot Act. There is a thing called voice inflection, and emotion. Hamming it up shouln't be the new badge of honor in voice acting.

Example : KOS-MOS' either spell quote from ep. 1
Now insert ep 2 and listen to her new one.

Nuff said.

Believe me, I have given this game 120 hours of my life on two files and I have to agree with Luminary on every point. This game is not anywhere near Ep. 1, in terms of quality, pacing, acting, even GRAPHICS are worse off. Example? One word: Jaggies Watch the end cinematic in Ep.1, there is literally almost zero jaggies in the INGAME cinematic. Tetsuya would not permit anything less. Kou Arai FLOODS the screen with color hoping to dazzle us with such high rez shots and slow load times. Well he dazzled me alright. All the way to sleepy town.

And the "realistic" graphics are NOT an improvement. In ep. 1 I KNEW what each character was feeling during the ingame cut scenes. In ep. 2 (when I'm not blinded by lego hands) there is no emotion on their placid faces.

And I have to agree with Oathkeeper. Yuki's soundtrack and Mitsuda's do not even compare, because they are not even on the same level - in any matter. There are a few tracks I find I like very much: Image Piano theme anyone?

But you have to understand, that just because I say that about ep2's sound track, doesn't mean that Yuki isn't an awesome artist. Take the .//hack Sign OST, that sound track rocks! And if that was the ep.2 sound track, I would go so far as to say it rivaled Mitsuda's. But as it stands Yuki came up short...


And I swear to God, if they re-use the Ep.2 OST for ep. 3...



This post has been edited by Slade: Nov 2 2005, 06:04 AM

I don't know if anyone noticed this from the episode 1 credits, but Kou Arai was the  in game map editor/director  . That's  all he was hired on for in episode 1. Suddenly he goes from drawing a map on a computer screen to becomming the spear-head of the Xenosaga series, replacing Tetsuya and Saga?

? Map director is a very important position in the development of an RPG. For the Final Fantasy series for example, the development team is usually divided into Event, Map and Battle sections and the three section directors are next in the chain of command after the overall producer/director of the game. Watching events, walking around maps and fighting battles are the three biggest aspects of an RPG so this is logical. Arai was also an lead concept artist and map designer for Xenogears, btw.

My vote is for Episode I. I loved the way the looked, probably because I love anime and that's what it most resembled, but I liked the way Shion looked in episode II than the way she looked in Episode I. As far as the voice acting goes, they were both good, but voice for Kos-Mos in Episode II, wasn't as good as the original IMO.

Either way episode II's biggest problem is its fans are too pissy to give it a chance because its not enough like episode I.

I liked it just fine, but there were some things that I didn't. Like the length of the game, for as long as it took to get to us you'd think i'd be about 40 hours, instead it was only 20, which in my opinion is a little too short for an RPG with a story as big as this one. Another thing is the battle system, you have to build up your points and create a chain attack to actually do decent damage, but It's still a good battle system.

? Map director is a very important position in the development of an RPG. For the Final Fantasy series for example, the development team is usually divided into Event, Map and Battle sections and the three section directors are next in the chain of command after the overall producer/director of the game. Watching events, walking around maps and fighting battles are the three biggest aspects of an RPG so this is logical. Arai was also an lead concept artist and map designer for Xenogears, btw.

Yeah, and Koh Arai isn't all that bad of an artist either --- problem is, all that art experience has absolutely nothing to do with writing a storyline in the slightest, which is what was complained about in EPII the most. Not to mention the fact that his dungeon designs for XG and EPI were condemed by most for being very, very tedious and unimaginative. It simply wasn't logical to replace the director with a man who failed at his own job and has no talent to do the other.

Many things were better in Episode 1. Just the whole feeling through the game, the characters were "better" and it just felt like a J-RPG. Episode 2 though was a different kind of game....I got very disappointed. So I'll say Ep.1!

With the new revisions, this thread will be better off in XS. Gen chat. Moving it...

Episode I all the way. But of course, Episode II had the of potential to become just as great, or even better than the first, if they hadn't decided to cut the series in half and attempt to just cram the rest into Episode II and III. Let's not also forget that Takahashi and Saga were let go, including key members that contributed to Xenogears and Episode I (it's just like the whole xenogears/squaresoft thing all over again). The original script was basically butchered.

I preferred the original character design, as it had a more anime-ish quailty to it, and that's how it felt when you're watching the cutscenes in Episode I. Also, the voice acting was not as good, but of course, I may think that becuase it was the Episode I voices that I fell in love with and was comfortable with. It's like watching your long-time favorite T.V. show and all of a sudden all of the actors have been replaced: It just isn't the same.

But my biggest complaint would have to be the time it takes to complete it: about a little more than 20 hours. Now, that's pretty short in terms of RPGs. Of course, that may be becuase of the fact they also eliminated the whole money and shopping thing. One of the reasons you fight battle is not just for experience, but also money. That also contributes to the time factor. I'm sure we all spent quite some time trying to get some cash to buy those A.G.W.S. right?

I didn't mind the battle system, but I don't really care for the skill system. In Episode I, everyone had techs or skills that were there own individual, "special" techniques and ether skills only they could do, and that helps them add to their personality a little bit.

Overall, I did enjoy Episode II, but it could've been better, and I will be there when Episode III comes out.

But remember, there is only one person to blame: the faceless corporation that only care about money and not the fans. THEY DON'T HAVE THE HEART! FIGHT THE MACHINE!

Just wanted to ask you guys if you can still play and enjoy xenosaga 2 having never played xenosaga 1... will the story make any sense..?

Im an old time ff fan and was wondering if the xenosaga games are in the same league..?

pls dont attack me...

Just wanted to ask you guys if you can still play and enjoy xenosaga 2 having never played xenosaga 1... will the story make any sense..?

Maybe, but not much. Even if you have played Episode I, the plot of Episode II is iffy at best.
Personally, I would tell you to either:
-Play Episode I and then Episode II
-Buy the upcoming Xenosaga I&II game being released for the Nintendo DS

If you can't do either of those things, I would just stick to Final Fantasy. Goodness knows it's not going anywhere.

Im an old time ff fan and was wondering if the xenosaga games are in the same league..?

As a whole, the Xenosaga series is far beyond Final Fantasy. But Episode II alone probably won't impress you very much.

Xenosaga I. I like the artwork and the gameplay. I hate that Zone thingies.
but I like the story about the URTVs in Xs II better,, and Xs II art is softer than Xs. I

Still, I think Xs II is incredible with its sidequests

While many things in Xenosaga I were far superior to Xenosaga II, I still tend to like the progression of character designs. (That's what this topic was originally about wasn't it?)

They all seemed to mature, but chaos just seemed to get a little more goofy looking. I've had some xs I and xs II and xs III wallpapers on auto-rotate and I've really been able to tell the difference between the characters.

I like momo a lot, but ziggy never seems to change. Also, I like how kos-mos looks more realistic, but shion looks more "office" than anything else. It's not just more mature she looks like she works in an office all the time. Then again she technically was an office worker in the game.

Honestly, I couldn't get very far into Episode II (hardly made it to MOMO's Subconscious). The game just killed my enthusiasm in a few hours. Especially the combat system. But I'll compare EPI to what I know of EPII, at least.



STORYLINE: Didn't experience much of it, but what I did experience was pretty lame. The excitement factor has been completely lost. Gone is that anticipation of what's just around the corner once you achieve your latest goal. In EPII, I just couldn't bring myself to care. Instead of decent character development and engaging twists in the story, now we have...explosions. Lots and lots of things going boom. Apparently they thought that was a fair trade.


ARTWORK: The environments look all right, especially outdoors. At least it's a bit less repetitive than all those spaceship environments in EPI. However...it's hard to get over what they did to the character designs. I really liked the semi-anime style in the first game. It made everything seem more interesting. EPII committed crimes on these characters. Not by making them look real, but by making them look boring. Shion's cute uniform and glasses are gone. BLASPHEMY. KOS-MOS' classic sexbot outfit is gone, replaced with a lot of metal...stuff. BLASPHEMY. And why did they have to age the women like that? For crying out loud, they're 22 and 18, but they look like they're in their thirties or something! Jr and chaos' outfits are better. MOMO is irrelevant for the most part, although the beret annoys me. Mercifully, Ziggy looks about the same.


GRAPHICS: This was even worse. During the cutscenes, I just had to stare at the character models in horror. WHERE ARE THEIR TEETH? And their fingernails? And the detailed hair? Shion's braid was modeled and everything in EPI; now it looks like a turd hanging off the side of her head. There's no more actual lip sync; now the character's mouths just move robotically up and down. Classy...


VOICE ACTING: The horror show continues. I loved the characters by the end of EPI...then they went and changed half the VAs? What's up with that? And most of the new ones weren't even good! chaos sounded like he was about to fall asleep (almost as much as Canaan). KOS-MOS was completely lifeless (and not in a good way). Shion and MOMO were apparently selected for the purpose of sounding as annoying and incompetent as possible. Helmer's voice was the worst attempt ever made by a voice actor to sound black and/or southern at the same time. Mary's new voice was unbelievably, monstrously bad.


MUSIC: Mostly rubbish. Lame, uninspired techno tracks that are more suited to a low-budget hentai video than a space opera. Hosoe was definitely not the right choice.


GAMEPLAY: This is officially my least favorite combat system of all the RPGs I've played. The battle screen takes several seconds to load (not impressive), the camera angle hardly ever changes, characters' attacks are lame and redundant, everything depends on stocking a bunch of times...and what's with the zone crap? I never could figure that out. None of this resembles actual combat in any way. At least in EPI you could beat the enemies without deciding whether to go for their neck or their groin first, and how many times, and on which turns, etc. AGWS units change from anti-Gnosis tools to just...giant robots. (And what's with the high heels on Asher?)


DIALOGUE: Poor. At least, what I saw of it was poor. Sounds like it was lifted from a bad futuristic soap opera.


CHARACTERS: Shion is now one of the least appealing characters in RPG history, based on personality alone. She's unfriendly, arrogant, and gets pissed off for no good reason. Jin and chaos put me to sleep. MOMO made me long for her EPI self; I'm not even joking. Ziggy and Jr. stayed more or less the same, but the damage was done as far as the original cast goes. As for new ones...Canaan is absolutely mortifying. Attention all insomnia patients: your savior has arrived.





For me, EPI was an amazing, epic journey that captured my imagination. EPII was like an interminable car trip through plain, endless fields...in a Ford Edsel (that's bad)...without a radio. Can you blame me for jumping out after a few hours? xD

This post has been edited by FrozenHope: Jan 7 2008, 02:44 AM

I actually liked episode I more than episode II. Mostly because the game seemed to be less repetitive and a little more edgy than episode 2. The storyline also "felt" more like something that had evolved from the Xenogears style, too. I think the anime style look of episode I was not that popular for some gameplayers, so Monolith decided to do a more "realistic" style of artwork for the second game. I don't like the inconsistency myself - if you've committed to an artistic style for a series, I think it's best to continue with it to the end. I did like the introduction of Jin in episode 2, I think that he was probably the most fully realized of the new characters, but even so, they could've done so much more with his backstory and the plot development around him. But I think overall they depth of storytelling got lost after episode I and the producers were trying to stitch together a saleable product that "looked" good - by episode 3 the storyline seemed incoherent. I think if the original idea of a longer series had been maintained in good faith, a lot of these production issues and storyline problems would not have existed.

I like there look in 2 more. They refined it alot so they dont look like little kids. better art direction in 2 i think. but in all honesty im not a fan of xenosaga character models for the most part.