|
Intro:
First things first: Xenosaga is only cosmetically related to the Square RPG Xenogears. Yes, the titles are pretty close and all, but Xenosaga isn't a prequel or a sequel to that irritatingly confusing game starring Fei Fong Wong. No, this game, allegedly the beginnings of a six-part series, takes place in an entirely separate universe, though fans of Xenogears may find a few things familiar in this one (just hopefully not any ridiculous Biblical allusions of any kind).
|
|
Preview:
Though not a part of any "Xenogears" series, Saga has enough hype -- and the interest of Xenogears fans -- to make it one of the more hotly anticipated role- playing games for the Playstation 2. With what looks to be a deep story and a relatively interesting battle system, Xenosaga seems to have enough going for it to justify it's already growing fan base. It's a shame Namco doesn't do this more often.
Facts:
The story in Xenosaga takes place, naturally, in the future. Players take on the role of Shion Uzuki, a researcher hoping to build a better android to strike back at a nasty bunch of plane-shifting aliens known as the Gnosis. Obviously, things aren't going to go over perfect and the game would be sort of boring if they did. In fact, it seems that android, oddly referred to as "KOS-MOS" still isn't working properly. That's a shame, but hopefully this will open the door to all sorts of comical mischief and high jinks. To help flesh out the fun, the characters are supposedly going to get the voice actor treatment, just as with Final Fantasy X. Let's just hope they pull this off as well, if not better than that one. In between those story segments, the actual gameplay is looking to be rather interesting. While dungeon-crawling, players will actual be able to see the enemy monsters looking to fight them, rather than the random battle systems of Final Fantasy. So if you don't want to fight, run away from the little buggers. Should the gamer actually find him or herself in a fight, the usual array of commands will be at their disposal, from "attack" to "magic," (called "Ether" in Xenosaga) and even some special attacks that will require AP to pull off. But that's only when you're not fighting in the mechs. You see, much like in Xenogears, this one's got giant robot combat, also. So maybe the two have a little bit more in common, after all. There's also the neat option of customizing the monster mechs to your preferences, selecting weapons and the like. Obviously, gameplay will be deeper than that, but until the game is released, it's hard to say. The graphics do look very nice, however. No doubt about that. This game is truly a joy to behold.
Written By: Brandon Parker
|
