Xenosaga® EPISODE II: Jenseits von Gut und Bose

Every RPG franchise has some sort of following and when Xenogears hit the original PlayStation several years ago, something special was born. Since that time people have been salivating at any new information regarding this series, because not only was it fun to play, but it brought in religious overtones as well as other mature themes in this game. Since then many people from around the world have written a variety of fan fiction as well as other things based on this one game. When Xenosaga I: Der Wille zur Macht hit the PlayStation2 a couple of years ago people were jumping in line to see how the series started off and enjoyed every minute of it; the only thing more agonizing for them was the wait for the newest game in the series to be released. Well, they will have to wait no longer because Xenosaga II: Jenseits von Gut und Bose has been released upon the gaming world. The question on everyone’s mind is: how does this game stack up to other RPG games on the market, and was it worth the wait? Read on to find out!

For those of you that are not die-hard fans, here is a quick breakdown of what is going on in this series. The game takes place over four thousand years into the future, and it is a very bleak future because of all of the wars that are constantly going on. Earth has been abandoned, mankind now lives in the deeps reaches of space, and the people have been fighting for survival against the most malicious enemy alien species called the Gnosis. Mankind has been searching for the Zohar, which is a legendary artifact that is rumored to be capable of eradicating the Gnosis, and bring about peace within the entire universe. Are you up to the challenge?

On thing that made Xenogears so unique was at the time no other game had two different forms of fighting during battles - meaning humans and robots battles. Sure, many of the RPG’s had humans versus humans, and humans versus tanks, but never has there been the ability for players to get into another fight and hop into a mech to do it. This was something that made the original so fun and unique that kept gamers coming back for more. This concept has been carried over in the two “prequels” to the game and it works even better in Jenseits von Gut und Bose. Players get the sense of being really small if they start a level in their mechs and then go on foot. Plus, it makes the battles more fun and gives them a greater variety, because not only do players have to keep up with health for all of the humans, but now they have to worry about making sure they have enough supplies to keep their mechs in pristine condition.

The thing that everyone wants to know about any RPG is how the battle engine is, and with good reason since this is where most of the action comes into play. Well, I am happy to report that the battle engine for Xenosaga II is really well done, and makes this game fun to play and keeps players coming back for more. All enemies have three specific attack zones (low, mid and high) and each of these zones has a different defensive strength. If players continually attack a specific zone, it will be come weaker causing a “Zone Break,” which deals 1.5 times more damage done to the enemy in comparison to a normal attack. When an enemy has a specific zone destroyed you can use an Air/Down attack against them that causes twice the damage that a normal attack will do.

A couple of things that characters also need to be aware of are Boosts, Stocks and Double Attacks. Boosting allows characters to jump ahead in the line of action, which allows them to take out an enemy quicker. The Stock command allows players to store up to three attacks they can use against an enemy at any given time. Stock is necessary to do if players want to do a Double Attack, which means that character 1 and 2 can perform a special attack together that deals a significant amount of damage to the enemy. Players must first learn a Double Attack and have enough Stocks saved up during the course of a battle. Also a Double Attack can only be used once in battle.

Instead of being called A.G.W.S. mechs, in this game they are referred to as an E.S. The unique thing about this game is players can Stock while in their mechs. Another point of interest is that whenever two pilots are in the mechs, players will have access to that character's special ability. If players want to have any success in battles they will remember these things because without them they will lose every battle they will come across.

There are only two real complaints with Xenosaga II, and unfortunately they hold up this game from becoming the breakout seller it should be. The first one is the length of the cutscenes. While it is nice to see the storyline, at times you get the feeling that you are watching a movie. If this is the first game you have played in this series it will not interest you as much as a long-time devoted fan. It is not as if the story is bad in any way, it just takes 30 minutes or more to get though a single cutscene. This is an extremely long to wait to play a game, especially since you will get these scenes many times throughout the game. The story is very intriguing; if only the developers made it more interactive or at least streamed more of the storyline throughout the game so players would not have to wait 30 minutes without touching the controller.

Another big complaint that I have is the loading time for the battles. Each time that you go into a battle it takes forever to load up the screen to actually fight. While the longer load times were more acceptable in older RPGs, the load times now shouldn’t be this long. In order to level up in this game you will have to go into battles, but to go into battles you will have to worry about long and seemomgly unnecessary loading times. It is a vicious cycle that players will have to endure if they wish to be successful later on in the game.

One of the first things that players will notice about Xenosaga II is the direction of the graphics in comparison to the first game. The first game featured more “anime” inspired characters, with big heads and huge eyes that amine is well known for. Xenosaga II makes all of the characters more realistic. There is a lot more detail than is shown in the first game due to this new graphical approach. The character models are more detailed, from the clothing to the accessories that they wear. The best upgrade is KOS-MOS because of her armor, and her glimmering and shimmering hair. All of the environments that players will traverse have a lot of detail, from seeing many places in space to the majestic cities you will go though.

Another point of interest is the audio in this game. The first game was filled with a breathtaking soundtrack that was pure bliss to gamer’s ears. For Xenosaga II there is a new composer in town, and his influence is noticed immediately. While the music is not bad, it just cannot stand up to the first game. Another change players will notice is that some of the characters have new voice actors; in some cases it was for the better and in some for the worse. On of the biggest things that the audio for this game has to offer is that all of the cutscenes are done in Dolby Digital 5.1, and everything else can be heard by the encoding of Dolby Digital Pro Logic II, which makes the game sound that much better.

The developers put in many different extras to keep their fans coming back to this game for more. For instance, if you were a dedicated fan of the first game, the developers have put in a special treat for you. Once Xenosaga II loads, it will look for a Xenosaga I: Der Wille zur Macht save file, and if there is one present you will receive some skill points that will become very useful to you, especially early on in the game. There are also alternate costumes that you can have certain characters wear as well as hidden items and even some side quests. So it is in player’s best interests that they always fully explore every area to make sure they find everything there is.

Xenosaga II is rated T for teen for the following: language, blood and gore, suggestive themes, and violence. It will take up to 34kb on your memory card for game saves.

Gameplay: 7.8
The game is a blast to play, and the battle engine is as good as it was in the first game with more additions that make it even better. With the addition of side quests in this game it will extend the amount of time that you will be able to play it. The only problems are the longer-than-generally-accepted load times, and the long cutscenes.

Graphics: 8.7
Xenosaga II has upgraded graphics in two different ways - the graphic style which, in turn, brings about more detail. The first Xenosaga has a more “anime flare” to it, which was really good in its own right, but Xenosaga II has a more realistic approach gives the game more overall detail not only in the characters but also in the environments that you will see throughout the entire game.

Sound: 7.8
The music and sound effects for this game are really good. What is remarkable is the game’s use of Pro Logic II and 5.1 throughout the entire game; it made it much more enjoyable. The only disappointment is some of the voices really do not fit the characters, and what is really distracting is the lip syncing is way off base. There will be times that the character’s mouth is moving yet no words are being said. In this day and age this should be something of the past.

Difficulty: Medium
This is an RPG so some battles will be a breeze, while others will have you gritting your teeth because of the tense moments of uncertainty in which you might die in a battle.

Concept: 8.1
While it is not perfect, I have really enjoyed this continuation of the Xenogears series and I can not wait to see where the next one takes me.

Overall 8.0
Even though Xenosaga II: Jenseits von Gut und Bose could have been so much more, I had many hours of enjoyment playing though it. It is a shame that a few things will hold it back from becoming “the” game to have this winter. Hopefully the developers will correct the few slight mistakes and make the next game in the series more enjoyable. Also I hope that they will hurry up with the development of the sequel, so we will not have to wait long to find out what happens next!