Xenosaga Episode II, Baten Kaitos Unveiled

Thanks to GameSpot for their article revealing the first details on Xenosaga Episode II, subtitled 'Jenseits von Gut und Bose' ('Beyond Good And Evil'), and a follow-up to the popular, if long-winded PS2 sci-fi RPG from MonolithSoft/Namco. Screenshots reveal the major characters have returned, "..and some of them have been given a more-mature look for the new game." In related news, GamePro reported on new details and screenshots from MonolithSoft's GameCube-exclusive RPG, Baten Kaitos (named after a star in the Cetus constellation), which is "set in a collection of five floating continents in the sky", and surprisingly, has a "..fighting system [which] will involve the use of cards." Both are likely, but as yet unconfirmed for release outside Japan.

Comments

Is Namco going to repeat the mistake...

[lightspawn]

of publishing the game in North America with a German title?

I have no idea why the Japanese do that ("Panzer Dragoon / Panzer Dragoon Zwei"? WT*?) - perhaps they're are completely language-agnostic - but American costomers are much less likely to buy a game if they can't understand the title ("Chu Chu Rocket", "Puyo Pop", etc). It at least has to sound like something. Now, who other than a violent audiophile would buy a game about guts and Bose?

Re:RPGs + Cards ??

[Godeke]

A whole new generation of gamers were weaned on cards. I'm a second generation D&Der myself (AD&D first printings forward) but I got caught up in the Magic the Gathering thing for a while.

There *is* something about card games that makes sense in a game context: they provide a controlled randomness to the available powers a player has. Building a legal Magic deck is a skill far more subtle than twinking stats, and therefor somewhat more appealing. With a repeat limit on cards, I *can't* simply have my most powerful cards all the time, and so I have to be creative with my lesser cards. In RPGs, you often can build a stat powerhouse that is so unbalanced you need a tripod keep him upright.

I thought they were a fad after Magic started to fade, but I now think they are going to be around for a long time, with varying popularity (just as RPG popularity waxes and wanes). Magic is still fairly popular, Yugioh is obsenely so for how dumbed down it is, and there is a healthy number of alternatives to those two leaders.