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I'm a huge fan of both Xenogears and the Xenosaga series, but I know that I'm not in the majority. I do know that I really enjoyed the focus of the series, but there were many flaws that kept the series from becoming as great as it was envisioned to be. Does that mean that the saga was a failure or did it truly succeed? Or is the problem that the series, both in part and in whole, was never finished.
Starting with Xenogears, the series seemed to be off to a grand start that never seemed to finish in the way that the creators wanted. Xenogears was epic until the story telling fell apart on the second disc. It was a case of budget running out before the vision could be fulfilled. The world map was mostly inaccessible, the story was rushed, and interaction was limited. What started off as a glorious masterpiece, ended as a set of cliff notes. The quality of the story was still outstanding, but the game was clearly lacking.
Jumping forward in time to the Xenosaga series, we still see a pattern of unfinished glory. In the Japanese Xenogears Perfect Works book, it was detailed that Xenogears was the fifth in a series of six tales to hopefully be told within the Xeno world. When Episode I of the Xenosaga series was announced, it was quickly expected to be the first in the complete series of six games. Many issues caused the games to fall short, mainly the development team of Monolith Soft now being a stand alone company under the wing of Namco. Other troubles within the company are claimed to be at fault for the crumbling of the series, but as finished product Xenosaga Episode I showed, the grand ideas were still not able to be implemented without flaws.
Xenosaga Episode I was considered a spiritual successor to Xenogears, since direct ties were going to be legally difficult. It was praised for its story and music, but was criticized for its numerous cutscenes and mediocre gameplay. Overall, Episode I was the most complete feeling of the unfinished series, but was not as solid of a game as many had hoped for. Episode II was where the series veered off course and doomed itself for destruction. The game picked up where Episode I left off, but the biggest issue was that it never really went anywhere. The battle system was awkward, the story length was a fraction of the first game's, and the plot itself did little to push the series arc forward. Everything ended with Episode III. This final episode made vast improvements to the combat systems and told an epic story, making it a wonderful experience as a whole. Episode III only faltered in the fact that it was supposed to end the series. It did a well enough job with that, but it poses the greatest issue to fans: Why end the series when you've just started to get it right?
The end of the series was not difficult to foresee. The deeper the series went, the more it would require ties to prior, lesser quality titles. Episodes I and II killed the series by not living up to the epic expectations, making it impossible to ever get back on the right track again. Would fans like to see more? I would imagine so, as I know that I would, but I'm not expecting my wish to come true here. The grand six story arc is dead only halfway through, and with most of that unfinished itself. I wish Monolith Soft, now with Nintendo, the best at any future attempts to create a grand, glorious world for RPGamers to explore, but I hope they don't bite off more than they can chew like the did with Xenosaga. It just leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth.
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