TGS 2001 Fall: Xenosaga hands-on

Xenosaga Episode 1: Der Wille zur Macht was playable for the first time at the Namco booth at the TGS 2001 Fall. In the demo, the players' party members are Shion, KOS-MOS, and Momo. The game mechanics are similar to those of Xenogears, using a combination of buttons on the controller for varied attacks. Inside dungeons, enemies are visible onscreen, and they can be avoided simply by staying out of their range or by luring them into traps and paralyzing their movements for periods of time. The demo was rather short, only allowing players to access two areas in the dungeon map. The load times were questionable, but this may be due to the game being early in development. Xenosaga Episode 1: Der Wille zur Macht is scheduled for a February release in Japan.