If you have to consider a review for this game, then it's not for you.
Graphics: 7 out of 10
With the PS3 looming in the not so distant future you would think that developers would be taking greater advantage of the capabilities of the PS2. Especially considering the amount of time that the system has been around. However the graphics in Episode II are a step backwards from the graphics seen in the first game.
The characters posses a more realistic design this time around doing away with the giant anime eyes and what have you. Most everyone gets either a new costume design or slight alterations to their old one. The newer designs themselves look better than the older designs, however the graphics are more 'simple' in this game. For example: Instead of having individual fingers, the characters have a thumb and one finger, but the last four on the hand are merged together as one block of fingers.
The ether attacks inside battle are slightly less impressive this time around as well, and they weren't all that great in the first game either.
Sound: 6 out of 10
Nothing memorable thats for sure. However we do get more than one battle theme this time around but after listening to them you'll miss the old staple from Episode I. The music in my opinion was better in the first game.
Gameplay: 4 ouf ot 10
This is where to me the game really comes up short. Like Episode I sometimes you'll feel that you're watching the game more than your playing it. You could sit down with Xenosaga Ep II and play through the game advancing the plot for over an hour without having to fight one battle.
Speaking of the battles themselves...Episode II has done away with the Tech attacks from Ep I. Instead of attacking a couple of times and then using a finishing tech that exhibits an extra amount of flair Episode II's battle system is centered around using different combinations of Square and Triangle, with the occasional press of Circle. Most of the characters have attacks for Square-Square, Square-Triangle, Triangle-Triangle, and Triangle-Square or just Circle by itself. You may add a Circle attack onto one of the other combos if you have one stock. Each character can have up to three of these and you get them by defending. if you have three then you can use large combos such as Square-Square-Circle-Circle-Circle.
The circle attacks can cause an enemy to either be knocked into the air or onto the ground if this happens you can use a boost [left unchanged from episode I] to have another character attack them while they are still in the air or on the ground. As long as you have boosts left to use you can continue in this manner until you run our of boosts or the enemy is dead.
Now about the additions of Zones. Every enemy has a specific order of attacks and if you hit them in the right order then you get a Zone Break which can lower their defense or give them more elemental or status ailment susceptibilities. The Zones are A,B, and C. B and C referring to Square and Triangle and middle and low attacks respectively. The A zone is a higher up zone and not many enemies have it. So basically to get a zone break you'll be hitting different combination of Square and Triangle. Bosses have larger combinations of Zones so you'd have to use a boost to make the combination last more than two hits.
For example; Regular enemy's zone : BC. This means hit Square-Triangle. Boss's Zone ; BCCB. This means hit Square-Triangle, but use a boost on that character's turn to have another character finish with Triangle-Square before the boss can act.
Also the character specific ether trees are gone now. Instead there are four levels of various classes of ethers open for everyone to learn. Each class has four slightly related ethers in it and each level save for level 4 is comprised of classes A through H. To learn ethers you need CP points to purchase the class that the ether you want is in, then you need SP points to purchase that ether. CP points are hard to come by, not many enemies give them. The easiest way to get them is to learn all the ethers of one specific class, then you get a bonus of class points. Once you learn a all the ethers of one class the next level of ether classes is open to you. There are also a lot of ethers to unlock through sidequests and items. However outside of the healing ethers none of them are useful. Even the attack ethers are a waste since you're regular attacks will consistently do more damage. You can have two characters cast the same ether to better its results, but even doing this doesn't help out much. So unless you like buffing character abilities you won't be using them much anyway. Which is a shame because two of the characters in this game are designed around ether use meaning that they can only attack with Circle. and if you want more than one attack you'll have to defend to gain another stock.
Thats the 'new' system in a nutshell. Since they took away everyone's pretty Tech Attacks, they've given us Double Attacks that can be preformed by two characters at once and are very flashy, much like the Tech attacks of old. To do a double the characters involved must have two stock each and you must boost one of the characters on the other's turn. Also you can only use these attacks once per battle and they don't do an exceptional amount of damage in spite of the effort required to pull them off. On top of this most of these attacks must be found via sidequests and are quite easily missed if you aren't thorough.
Story: 8 out of 10
The games story is its only saving grace. The story itself is very interesting. Episode II concentrates mostly on the characters Jr. and Albedo from Episode I the overall story doesn't move along much but thats fine. This series is a planned project much like the .hack series in that its overall storyline will be dished out in small amounts through various sequels. Its quite understandable that each game in the series would move the main story along a little while spending more time on different characters. That being said this game is VERY short. Shorter than episode I for that matter. But there is a problem here as well. This game is short. I mean really short. You'll be listening to a lot of talking and watching a lot of cutscenes but truth be told there are only about 7 different places that you'll be running around actually playing the game and getting into battles. Once you go to one place, you won't be going there again unless, like the first game you go back through the Encephylon to get any missed items.
Replay : 6 out of 10
You're given the option of skipping the lengthy cutscenes from the start so after you've beaten the game once you could play though it again skipping whatever scenes you don't want and move through the game in a very short amount of time, however the because of the repetitive and boring combat why would you want to?
In Conclusion:
The first game had a nice little story going for it, and the second moves that story along a little while giving us more background info on Jr. However because of the flaws and shortcomings of the actual GAMEPLAY [what little there is] I can only recommend this game to those people who have played the first game and have their Episode I Clear Game Data save all ready to go and really, really want to see where this series plot goes next.
To anyone else honestly I'd say rent this game or wait until Episode III comes out and then get this game at a reduced price if it looks like III is going to fix the everything that went wrong with II.