The movie-rpg that plays..like a movie

Reviewed by benkosar on February 21, 2008  |  report this review

First of all, I will say that if you like interaction, alot of action and movement and such, this game is NOT for you. Xenosaga is basically, an anime mini-series shoved into a game format. You'll watch..Say, if you play for 40 hours, you'll maybe play for 8 in actual gametime. The rest, is all cinema.

Now, that's not saying the cinema isn't good. The fact is, this is one of the most engrossing games EVER. The chars, voices, acting, all absolutely top-notch. This was obviously a high budget affair, and even a high-budget port to the US. This game sets the ground rules and working for the second (And I assume third) game, so you may want to take notes. Things are managable in the first game, but they get really complicated in the second.

I found this game to be fairly long with all the cinemas (Which you can skip). There's a lot of stat-poking, a move your save data to the next game feature, but in general the stat-pumping doesn't matter too much. You play this game for the terrific story and visuals anyway. It's a space-adventure that realistically, doesn't have all that many explorable areas, but it has a ton of secrets and bonus content.

If you plan to play I & II (And I commend you!) then get them both right away. I waited forever for II to come out, and I wasn't terribly impressed. The story just wasn't fresh in my head, and I couldn't get into it. Start the second game right after the first. This game has anime-graphics, no doubt about it. The second went with a more realistic look to them, which I didn't care for.

If your a more patient RPG fan, then GET THIS GAME. If you need to play (You might be sitting 30 mins watching story go by) then this one probably isn't for you.