I won't say that I'm the biggest Xenosaga fan on the face of the earth (although I own Xenosaga Episode 1, and it rocked), however, I will say that I was a litle disappointed with the sequal to an amazing RPG. Xenosaga Ep. 2 was supposed to allow gamers to have insight into the troubled past of Jr. (Rubedo) and Albedo. It was also supposed to deliver a "mini-revolution" in the Xenosaga by almost completely changing the fighting engine. It certainly delivered on the good storyline, but it was absolutely lacking on the second point. Although it was refreshing to see a change in Xenosaga's battle engine, Monolith took out almost everything that made Xenosaga appealing. The mech battles are now completely seperate affairs, occuring only at special points in the plot. The original character trees have no been molded so that everyone learns the same moves. This was especially disappointing because now, it's even harder to mix up attacks during battles, forcing you to use the same battle (or ether) skills everytime. However, the thing that saddened me the most was (surprisingly) the addition of double attacks. The concept in and of itself was a great idea, something that would have attracted many fans had it been used to its utmost potential. Instead, you learned the double attack only by completing mundane chores and going back and forth to help people who were in silly (yet funny) situations. It would have been better if these double attacks were rewarded after defeating a boss or clearing out a dungeon...not fixing a sewer under Second Miltia.
All in all, the game was disappointing, but not a total loss. The graphics were better and making the characters look more mature was a really great change (better than Shion's dorky glasses at any rate). The soundtracks were okay, but not exceptional. Still, it didn't make me want to simply put the tv on mute either. If you're a diehard fan of the series, then you should go ahead and get the game. Otherwise, you should just rent the game and workout your frustrations over a shorter period of time. If you just want to play a good sequal...wait till Xenosaga III.
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