If I were a cut-scene, where would I be?
As the second (and somehow, final) episode, Xenosaga II continues the storyline of the original Xenosaga without disruption. Having just disposed of the apocalyptic flying device, Proto Merkabah, Shion and her motley gang venture to her hometown of Second Miltia. However, as faithfully as the storyline has been kept intact, the game has not. The designers made a bold decision to rebuild the gameplay from the ground up. So while many elements from the previous installment have made it through with a few minor touches, Xenosaga II still lends itself to be a similar yet unique experience. Unfortunately, Namco has not addressed the major problems that severely plagued the first Xenosaga and adds a few of its own.
If I were a cut-scene, where would I be? Most likely Xenosaga II. Following its predecessor, the linear storyline is told mainly through in-game cinematics. As before, each cinematic is actually insightful, dramatic, and intriguing, and remains faithful to the Japanese animation from which the game is derived. However, is Xenosaga II (let alone, the series) a game or is it a movie? As much as I admire the storyline, I would have liked to have seen a bit less talk and more action, especially with the rather horrible dubbing. Practically all of the actors, notably Chaos, Jin, and Canaan, speak with overwhelming disinterest. If toning down the voice acting was a conscious choice made by the director, it was an extremely detrimental one. The direct translations are not compelling and do not match with the characters' mouths. Moreover, the dialogue between characters is more often than not, contrived and uneven. Somehow, Xenosaga I had better voice acting and dialogue, and quite frankly, this second installment, while keeping the integrity of the Xenosaga concept, has done a disservice to the storyline of Xenosaga.
Already not so keen on how Namco handled the character progression from Xenosaga I to II (it relies upon a formula that downgrades all the characters), I found the combat system more complicated than anything else. There are break zones, air attacks, down attacks, stock, ethers, boost, counter boost, elemental combinations, and double tech skills (I’m probably forgetting something). On the other hand, these features truly give the combat system the much needed depth where sacrificing a bit of simplicity is nothing serious. In fact, for a game of such length, complexity is welcome. True mastery of the battle system occurs somewhere near the middle of the game, as it should. However, casual players may probably find the combat system too convoluted for their taste.
Ether skills have been given a complete overhaul. The system for learning new ethers have been reorganized into a more comprehensive and understandable format. Characters spend class points and skill points gained either through defeating enemies, using item upgrades, or completing a full set of skills (say, all four skills in Class A, Level 2) in order to unlock and obtain ethers. Thankfully (insert angelic chorus here), ether weight, which frustratingly restricted the number of ethers a character could allocate for battle, has been removed. Now, except for Shion's Erde summons, there are no more character-specific ether skills. Consequently, tediously evolving and transferring skills is no longer necessary, and the ability to customize a player's ethers has been improved.
Still, with these improvements aside, the new ether system is far from perfect. While the ethers that comprise a class usually have a specific theme (i.e., all "ether attacks" or all "equippable skills"), class names are given extremely arbitrary letters: Class A, Class B, etc. These terribly non-descriptive titles force you to cycle through every ether menu before almost randomly finding what you want. Also, though it's a minor gripe, the idea of a planetary system graphic filling in with pretty blue and red planets as each ether is acquired is useless and downright unnecessary. The programmers and designers could have used their time doing something else, such as actually utilizing the whole half of the screen the graphic takes up.
Players will also find that a whole slew of ethers are locked with "????" emblazoned over it. This causes a rather awkward gameplay issue that undermines whatever strategy in ether selection a player can adopt. Since class points are rather difficult to come by and a significant amount of class points are awarded when a class is completed, you will almost be forced to unlock classes where all of the ethers are also already unlocked. That way, you can actually complete that class and gain more class points without having to worry about when, if ever, a "????" will be revealed. This, in turn, forces you to ignore the skills within other classes for the sake for gaining class points.
With all the "????"s to uncover, it is difficult for the so-called Global Samaritan Campaign not to be a chore. Essentially, the GSC tracks the progress of sidequests in order to improve the livelihood of the common people, one person at a time. However, I found the GSC such an awfully poor excuse for sidequesting, because it bluntly states the purpose of sidequesting in the first place - "Global Samaritan Campaign". That is obvious - the whole concept of a sidequest is usually to help people in order to get something back (and if they don't give something back, they deserve eternal damnation in pixilated hell). But it's more of the GSC being so contrived and poorly executed. Practically every reward is a secret key that unlocks ethers or a double-tech skill. Hardly ever is a sidequest required in some way or a reward something other than uncovering a "????". Somehow, unlike other games, it just makes the player feel used by the designers - the "????"s are so obviously placed that it's like they are purposely dangling a carrot in front of you.
Sidequests would not have been such an issue if Xenosaga II was not so damn sluggish. If there is one word to describe Xenosaga II, it is "SLUGGISH". The text moving across the screen is sluggish. The cutscenes, dialogue, and voice-overs are sluggish. Even transportation and movement are sluggish. Just like in Xenosaga I, no matter whom you select as the leader, the on-screen character moves mind-numbingly slow; it doesn't even look like you're running. Moreover, loading times define the essence of the word, "long". Xenosaga II is one of the only games where there is substantial loading time before enemies and characters appear on the battle screen. Traveling normally through the game, the loading times in between areas are just barely tolerable. However, with so many GS paths that require backtracking, going back and forth between the Kukai Foundation and Second Miltia for the 257th time is unbearable. Do not be surprised to find yourself spending half of your gameplay time visiting a sector you've already seen a thousand times. One particular GS campaign that required recharging a battery in Second Miltia and using it on the lower floor of the Elsa took an inexcusable thirty minutes of going back and forth twelve times!
Perhaps the only saving graces for Xenosaga II are the bevy of minor improvements and the attention to level design and graphics. The removal of the annoying email system; quicker on-screen item retrieval; not needing to venture back to a UMN point to exit the Encephalon; and each character being able to perform three animated attacks against breakable objects are just the tip of the "improvement" iceberg. The sounds and music, although not memorable, fit the environments well, be they technological cities or natural scenery. The removal of item shops and currency, while probably unrealistic in the futuristic world of Xenosaga, is a refreshingly new direction toward a more simplified gaming experience, which I applaud. Level designs are also superb - no two areas are identical in texture, environment, or construct. Each area and fighting environment is beautifully conceptualized, and really makes you feel that you are part of an intergalactic galaxy. Also, Xenosaga II is more puzzle-intensive that its predecessor. While they do not integrate with the gameplay or storyline very well, the innovation in the design and the sheer visual clarity of the puzzles are quite refreshing and help keep the monotony down. This, coupled with the smooth, lush, and well-detailed graphics that just expands across the screen down to every nook and cranny, complete the package.
In the end, Xenosaga II gets its job done, but doesn’t reach its full potential. Besides the graphics, there really isn’t anything that shines above the standard fare of RPGs. Perhaps if the game’s speed was twice as fast, the sidequests more involving, and the storyline better executed and acted, we would truly care for the characters beyond ten cut-scene minutes at a time.