It’s
no secret that I am a big fan of storytelling in videogames. Oftentimes, I have
praised videogames for their ability to immerse me in a story, but it is
important to recognize that when I review a game- discussing story, gameplay,
and presentation- I am talking about three equal parts of a greater whole. If
one of these aspects is lacking, then the whole is greatly weakened. The best
games are ones where the gameplay, story, and presentation are of the highest
quality, and this brief tangent brings us to the subject of what I hope will be
a three-part review of the Xenosaga series.
With
the Playstation classic Xenogears being one of my favorite games, I was
certainly interested in Tetsuya Takahashi’s first project after departing from
Square and forming Monolith Soft. Originally meant to serve as a six-part,
multi-generational epic that would encompass the entire universe from beginning
to end (and perhaps include a remake or reimagining of the tale told in
Xenogears), Xenosaga would instead be remembered as a case of failed ambition, and
was cut to only three games after seeing disappointing sales. Still, the
question does remain whether Xenosaga was able to still provide something
special and unique, even if it would never reach its full potential. So, let us
discuss the first entry in this most troubled of sagas, Der Wille Zur Macht- The Will to Power.
STORY
Thousands
of years into the future, mankind only exists in deep space. Earth is
remembered as an unattainable bastion called Lost Jerusalem, and the Galaxy
Federation encompasses the remnants of our society. But not all is well, with
an alien menace known as the Gnosis threatening mankind. In addition,
mysterious artifacts known as Zohars (a term anyone who has played Xenogears
will remember and immediately be intrigued by) are appearing, and various
factions desire to control them. Enter Shion Uzuki, designer of an anti-Gnosis
android called KOS-MOS, who must uncover the mystery of the Zohars, and the
greater significance they have towards humankind.
It
is difficult to discuss Xenosaga without comparisons to its predecessor
Xenogears, which told an incredibly complex story that delved into Jungian
psychology and heavy religious themes. Xenosaga would follow suit, but the
story present in Episode 1 is only the first part of many (well, of three as it
turned out). Unfortunately, due in part to the episodic nature of the series,
the story comes across as a mere prologue for events to come. Characters are
introduced, several mysteries that will hopefully be resolved in later episodes
manifest, and the basic conflicts and intrigues are established, but not a whole
lot really gets resolved in Episode 1. It is the beginning of a story, not
necessarily a complete one in its own right. At least what is there is well
written and presented quite nicely- the characters are suitably well-rounded
for this type of space-opera storyline, and the universe clearly had a lot of
care and thought put into every detail, as the setting is very well realized in
the context of the story. Things do start off kind of slow, but they pick up
and become more interesting later on… just in time for Episode 2.
GAMEPLAY
This
is where the problems begin, unfortunately. Xenosaga Episode 1 feels more like
a tech demo than a final product. It’s as if Monolith Soft and Namco threw
together a bunch of unfinished gameplay concepts and rushed it out the door,
and what we got was certainly a poor first impression of Takahashi’s planned
epic. Episode 1 offers a lot of the things we’ve come to expect from console
RPGS, including some minigames, sidequests, and optional boss, but there is
still relatively little meat on the proverbial bone.
Episode 1 is a plot driven game, and as a result there is no overworld to explore. New areas are unlocked as the plot demands it, and it is only through plot convenience/a virtual reality system accessible from some save points that old areas may be explored, with few exceptions. Granted, this does still allow for some backtracking and exploration, making it different from a Final Fantasy XIII-esque plot railroad (from a gameplay perspective, at least), but it does make the expansive universe feel a little less cohesive, at least from my perspective.
Both
the combat system and character progression suffer from a curious combination
of being needlessly convoluted, yet strangely underdeveloped. The combat system
in particular feels like a watered down version of the system from Xenogears,
where different button combinations allow each character to perform different
commands. The main foil to the combat system is the ability to Boost, which
allows other party members to immediately take their turn ahead of when they
normally would, by expending points from a gauge that slowly builds up over
time. This adds a nice degree of strategy to combat, as enemies can Boost
against your party as well, but it’s a quite simple ability that isn’t really
explained properly in the game. Outside of the cursory infodump/tutorial at the
games start, it is up to the player to figure out the ins and outs of combat,
and when they do finally manage to slog through the needlessly complicated
explanations and interface, they will find that there really isn’t a whole lot
to it. At least the boss fights tend to be quite challenging and require a
great deal of strategy when compared to normal enemy encounters, which grow
repetitive very quickly.
Character
progression is handled through a series of points that the party earns from
battles. With three different kinds of points to spend (on Skills, Techniques,
and Ether- the Xenoverse’s equivalent of magic), and multiple ways to use the
accumulated points, there is once again a needless amount of convolution,
particularly with something as simple as building up your characters. It doesn’t
help that it requires cycling through three or four different menus in order to
distribute points, nor that it’s not immediately apparent what your characters
are gaining. It turns what should be one of the most exciting aspects of an RPG
and makes it quite tedious.
 |
| SYMBOLISM!!!!!!! |
Which
brings us to the real problem with Episode 1, which isn’t the combat system,
character advancement systems, or even the plot progression (which are all
functional if not all that exciting). It’s the glacial pacing. Everything in
Episode 1, be it normal battles, earning new skills, navigating through new
areas, etc., takes much more time than it really should. The much-lauded story
doesn’t pick up fast enough before the slowness of the gameplay will start to
wear on the player. Hopefully these concerns are addressed in future episodes,
but with such weak gameplay in the opening chapter, it’s easy to see why Xenosaga
didn’t immediately grab its audience.
PRESENTATION
So
the story is pretty good, although it functions as a mere prologue, and the
gameplay is average when it’s not downright boring. So how’s the presentation?
Fortunately, it’s pretty darn good. While not on the level of something like
Final Fantasy X or Kingdom Hearts, the visuals in Episode 1 are quite good,
both on an aesthetic level (the art direction is excellent throughout) and in
terms of animation quality. The few CG sequences sprinkled throughout are
directed a bit better than the in-game cutscenes, but they still deliver the
Hollywood-esque feel that Monolith Soft was going for. The game’s sound is also
pretty good, with a great English dub and a soundtrack by Yasunori Mitsuda, the
legendary composer who also scored Xenogears, backed by the London Philharmonic
Orchestra of all things.
I
do have a serious complaint when it comes to the soundtrack, and that is the absence
of it for 90% of the game. Mitsuda is a talented composer, and the music in
Episode 1 is really good, even if I couldn’t call it his best work. However,
it seems to only ever exist in cutscenes, with the majority of gameplay lacking
any background music. I am told that the silence was a purposeful design
choice, meant to invoke a sense of drama akin to famous films like 2001: A
Space Odyssey, but if so, they failed. I’m all for dramatic silence, but such a
thing requires that something dramatic be happening-
the lack of music during long stretches of dungeon crawling or poking around
towns only makes the monotony of the gameplay even worse, especially when the
music is so good when it chooses to make itself heard.
CONCLUSION
It’s
safe to say that Xenosaga did not start off on the right foot. Takahashi may
have envisioned a grand epic of a storyline, which may or may not have been
realized by the series’ premature conclusion, but Episode 1 on its own is kind of
a poor game. Still, it is meant to serve as the beginning of something far
greater- the story has the potential to become great, and the rest of the
series may very well build on this troubled first installment to create
something truly exciting. It’s just difficult to tell from Episode 1, which is
a functional prologue and little else.
SCORE: C (Average)
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