Xenosaga Episode III is the final chapter in the series. It's a great RPG experience that will make you want more.
The characters and story are great. First let's start off with the characters. Every single character is great in the game. It brings back all the games previous characters and adds some new ones too. Every single character's story will end in a good note no character will have a bad ending. All the characters have a great personality so you won't have to listen to some super annoying characters like some games have. Overall the characters are great.
The story is one of the best parts of the game. Every single mystery of the previous games will be revealed. Such as who are the testaments, what is this mysterious organization vector, what is chaos, and everything else will be revealed. The story is simply one of the best stories that a game can have. Some people will just play this game for the story which isn't a bad thing the story is just great. You also don't have to play the previous Xenosaga games to get this one at all. They have a Xenobible that summarizes the previous games and also some other things in the Xenosaga universe. Overall the story is just amazing.
The gameplay is very fun. The battle system is turn-based a system that must RPG's don't have anymore now-a-days. There are many improvements from the last game. There are 2 types of battle E.S. battles(basically huge robots) and on foot battles. I'll first explain the foot battles. The foot battles are basically like any other turn-based RPG. You have your basic commands Attack, Guard, Escape, and Item. There are also 2 technique commands. You have Ether which is basically your magic moves and Tech which is your physical attacks. You also have the special attack option which uses the boost gauge. The boost gauge is basically every time you do damage it increases. You can use this to make you have a extra turn which adds loads of strategy or you can use it to use special attacks. These special attacks are the strongest moves in the game they do ultra amounts of damage and also can do finish strikes which doubles your amount of experience and gold. There is also a all new break system. This break system adds a whole new element to the battle. If your break gauge gets full the character will become incapable to fight. It will also make the character have lower defense and a higher chance of them landing a critical. The foot combat is the most fun to be had in the game but it does get repetitive sometimes.
Now the E.S combat is pretty fun. The E.S combat system works like this. You have a small bar and you have 3 types of moves. The moves depend on what you have equipped on your E.S. You then put what 3 moves you use the 3 moves will take away the energy on the bar. Then when the energy on the bar is all gone the robot's turn begins. Depending on how much damage you do your anima bar increases. When you want you can use this anima bar to do special moves that do ultra amounts of damage. It also puts you in the anima state which can double your damage and you have more energy in your bar. Everything else is like a normal turn-based RPG. The E.S battles are pretty easy because they are way to powerful so don't expect much of a challenge in these battles.
There are also skill trees in this game. This adds a bit of character customization into the mix. You can decide if you want your character to be combat heavy, magic heavy, or a mix of the two. You can upgrade your skill tree by getting SP which you get after battles. Don't expect a great deal of character customization but its enough to say that its pretty good. There is also a mini-game called HaKoX. This mini-game is basically a puzzle game. Its pretty challenging and you will spend some hours trying to figure out the puzzles and to win items. You can also make your own puzzles and share your puzzles with your friends. Overall the gameplay is great.
The graphics are pretty good. The graphics aren't nothing special not to bad, not to great just in the middle. It could be a lot better but at least it isn't horrible. The character and dungeon design is great through. They spent a whole bunch of time to make memorable dungeons and of course characters. Overall the graphics are pretty good.
The sound is top of the notch. All the voice acting is great no annoying voices or crackly voices. This is a relief for a lot of people so don't expect any horrible voices. Also the sound track is also great. It will make you hum along with some of the tunes. Overall the sound is amazing.
The value is also pretty good. The main story will take you around 30 to 40 hours to complete so a normal RPG length. There are basically no side quests through unless you count HaKoX as one. Overall the value is pretty good.
Overall Xenosaga Episode III is a great game. If you don't like story heavy games I wouldn't pick this up but if it doesn't bother you and you're just looking for a great RPG experience I highly recommend Xenosaga Episode III. I give Xenosaga Episode III Also sprach Zarathustra a 8.5 out of 10.