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

Xenosaga ep. 1

[Mprx]

After all the hype, Xenosaga episode 1 was a major disappointment. The combat system was boring and repetitive, and non-interactive parts took up far too much time. There's nothing wrong with having non-interactive parts, but if you're going to rely on them as much as Xenosaga does the story must be exceptionally good. Unfortuantly, Xenosaga's story is bad fanfic quality. Characters were cliched and predictable, and all the "deep" philosophical stuff wasn't. Xenogears did this type of game much better, and Xenogears is overrated itself.

Here's a quote from the caltrops.com review of Xenosaga ep. 1:

"Here's something that Gamespot (and not me) said. Tell me if you think this seriously makes sense. They mention that the game, as it's been admitted by everyone who plays it, has extremely long cutscenes. Gamespot's 8.1 OMG GAME SO COOL ANIME RULEZ review says that they do occasionally get boring. So if the entire game is mostly cutscenes, and they get boring, wouldn't that just make the game plain old boring?"

Episode 1 was the biggest waste of money I spent on a PS2 game yet, I won't be making the same mistake with episode 2.

Re:Is Namco going to repeat the mistake...

[devnull17]

I don't know where 'Jenseits von Gut und Bose' came from, but the subtitle of Episode I, 'Der Wille zur Macht,' was pulled from the writings of Nietzsche. He spoke German. :)

The Xenosaga series is targeted toward the hardcore RPG fan demographic. People like that won't care if a game has a German title, and people who do care would most likely not enjoy the game's long-winded and extremely complex story.

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.

Bose?

[DeLabarre]

Bose is german for Evil? That explains why I'm strangely drawn, Boromir-like, to their overpriced audio equipment...my precious...