I LOVE THIS GAME!!! WHO CARES WHAT THEY THINK!!
User Rating: 9.4 | Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Bose PS2
Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Bose (Beyond Good and Evil) is a really great RPG. I have had it for almost a year now and even though I still beat the main story, I'm still trying to beat the extra sidequest (trying to defeat Dark Erde Kaiser). It's also fun to complete the GS Campaigns to unlock Double Attacks and swimsuits for my characters. Once I did that, I usually leveled up a bit, equipped my party in their swimsuits, and have them fight the bosses, showing, in my opinion, just how much you can trust your party members to evade (due to the swimsuits effects of increasing that character's agility) and level up faster (another effect of equipping the swimsuit). Also it's good to speed up slow characters *cough* Ziggy *cough*. Plus it's fun seeing KOS-MOS in a robotic swimsuit. Although I must admit: Shion's swimsuit was so much better in Episode I. The music; one word: WOW! I still have the boss music stuck in my head. And the last battle music against Albedo. The voice-overs; are amazing. Tara Strong, who is Sakura Mizrahi (deceased daughter of Juli Mizrahi and who MOMO is modeled to look like), does an excellent job. Shion's voice, Olivia Hack, is so much better than voice actress in Episode I. The gameplay took a while to get used to, but it also made you think more strategically. The boost system was a whole lot better seeing as your whole party shared the same one, allowing you to do your Ether combos and Double Attacks. Speaking of Double Attacks, each of the ones I've gotten are really amazing to look at. The graphics; this was a little hard to do. I mean, during most of the movie-esque cut-scenes, you see that most of the main characters use full 3-D. But, during the whole game and a few cut-scenes, they as well as the minor characters (i.e. Mary, Shelley, NPC's) suffer from the three-finger bond. Meaning that their middle finger, ring finger, and pinky finger are all glued together and the models aren't nearly as great as the full 3-D characters are.
All in all, Xenosaga II is one superb RPG that you must play, whether you're a fan or not (but I recommend you play the first one, first; but the game starts 14 years before the story so you might get a heads-up). But really pick up this game. You'll love it just as much as I did and still do. 
