Xenosaga: Episode 2

The good: collosal storyline
The bad: ridiculous amounts of cinemas
The first Xenosaga was a uber-ambitious RPG epic set in a alternate universe future where humankind is besieged by an alien-jelly hybrid race called the Gnosis. It was to be the first episode in a planned series of 6 or 7 episodes which also include the PS1 RPG hit Xenogears. Xeno 2 succeeds in continuing the truly collosal tale of the franchise but fails in almost every other aspect.

The first thing you'll notice are the brand new character designs. Gone are the anime-inspired characters with disproportionate body shapes replaced with a slightly more realistic yet still anime-inspired Shion, KOS-MOS and the whole gang. This is a great move by the developers since they fit more in the huge undertaking that is the story of this game.

However, all the other 'improvements' or changes are not as great a move as the graphics change. First off, battles are fun and strategic requiring players to chain combos and moves while switching between the 7 available characters to exploit enemy weaknesses. But regular battles takes too long to finish because enemies have huge HP counts not to mention that your attacks are like hits from a baby. Also, you rarely encounter enemies since the dungeon maps weren't designed to fit in a lot of on-screen enemies. Xeno 3 should drop on-screen enemies in favor of a more traditional and effective system of random battles.

The character development is also whack featuring useless skills and abilities. You really only need the healing skills for everybody since magic is pathetically weak against enemies even when its supposed to be their weakness. The robot battles are also much toned down in terms of actual game time and system-wise. You no longer equip weapons and you no longer get to switch between mechs and characters, instead there are certain points in the game where you have to fight on mechs and on foot. Very sad.

Xeno 3 is one short RPG taking regular players probably only 20-25 hours of playtime. The story is still the main attraction, as is the overly long but fun cinemas, but anyone not interested in the story shouldn't really bother. (3/5)