Xenosaga III is out

[GhostMachine]

....thumbs up on this one. Pre-ordered it from Gamestop and got the art book.

The good news:

Jin is actually worth using and Ziggy gets a wicked looking tech attack.

Skill system is a little better than in II. Combat system is a LOT better than the II. (No more of that stock crap or pain in the ass to use double techs)

They got Lia Sargent and Bridgett Hoffman, who did Shion and KOS-MOS's voices in the first game back.

Steven Blum, aka Roger Smith in Big O, Spike Spiegel in Cowboy Bebop, Mugen in Samurai Champloo, and I believe Vincent Valentine in the Dirge of Cerberus game, does a few voices in the game. (None of them playable characters unfortunately, but one of them does appear a lot)

There are now FOUR different Erde Kaisers, which everyone automatically learns how to use when you get them.

Anyone who feared the worst when it was rumored the game was being rushed, relax. There's not much to worry about regarding that.....except maybe the first thing on my `bad news' list.

The bad news:

I'm about 3/4 of the way through the game (yes, I have no life), and a couple of the boss battles (one of which is optional, but you get a must have item for beating it) have been insanely hard.

Albedo doesn't appear much. I won't say if anything with him happens on the second disk, but on the first disk he only appears very briefly in a cutscene.

There's a puzzle game called Hakox that they added, and you have to beat it to get a decoder, Jr's final weapon, and Ziggy's swimsuit.

Your reward\extras for loading a XS II saved game? Shion's Vector uniform. That's it. No nifty weapon, swimsuit or skill points. Just an article of clothing that changes what the character looks like. (You do get some nice extras for beating XS III then reloading the saved game, though, but what's the point?)

And the worst news:

In case you haven't already heard, XS III is the last game. Originally the Xenosaga series was planned to be six games, but for various reasons they're stopping at three.

Edited September 3, 2006 by GhostMachine

[stokeriño]

I wonder if we'll get this game over here in the UK. Since, you know, they decided "no, we won't let you have #1, but we will let you have #2 so that you can enjoy the inferior product that it provides whilst also being left somewhat at a loss without the first part of the story".

Fucking Namco. They're a subsidiary of Namco Bandai, you know, and my opinions of Bandai as a company are well documented. Mainly they tend to wish pain upon their executives.

[MalaCloudy Black]

....thumbs up on this one. Pre-ordered it from Gamestop and got the art book.

The good news:

Jin is actually worth using and Ziggy gets a wicked looking tech attack.

Skill system is a little better than in II. Combat system is a LOT better than the II. (No more of that stock crap or pain in the ass to use double techs)

They got Lia Sargent and Bridgett Hoffman, who did Shion and KOS-MOS's voices in the first game back.

Steven Blum, aka Roger Smith in Big O, Spike Spiegel in Cowboy Bebop, Mugen in Samurai Champloo, and I believe Vincent Valentine in the Dirge of Cerberus game, does a few voices in the game. (None of them playable characters unfortunately, but one of them does appear a lot)

There are now FOUR different Erde Kaisers, which everyone automatically learns how to use when you get them.

Anyone who feared the worst when it was rumored the game was being rushed, relax. There's not much to worry about regarding that.....except maybe the first thing on my `bad news' list.

The bad news:

I'm about 3/4 of the way through the game (yes, I have no life), and a couple of the boss battles (one of which is optional, but you get a must have item for beating it) have been insanely hard.

Albedo doesn't appear much. I won't say if anything with him happens on the second disk, but on the first disk he only appears very briefly in a cutscene.

There's a puzzle game called Hakox that they added, and you have to beat it to get a decoder, Jr's final weapon, and Ziggy's swimsuit.

Your reward\extras for loading a XS II saved game? Shion's Vector uniform. That's it. No nifty weapon, swimsuit or skill points. Just an article of clothing that changes what the character looks like. (You do get some nice extras for beating XS III then reloading the saved game, though, but what's the point?)

And the worst news:

In case you haven't already heard, XS III is the last game. Originally the Xenosaga series was planned to be six games, but for various reasons they're stopping at three.

It makes me sad that this is going to be the last one. Once you beat it, you HAVE to tell me if it brings closure to the game or not.

I'm probably gonna buy it and XSII soon.

[Herr Matzat]

i preordert x2 and still did never manage to start playing that dident even know that there was a 3 one comming, let alone already in english.

Edited September 3, 2006 by Michael Matzat on a Plane

[Riceman 4K]

I love the XS series. XS:I is prolly in my top five of favorite RPGs of all time. I put so much time and effort into that game...

Anyway, XSIII is a fun game but I heard that they censored the fuck out of the US version. To the point where some cutscenes don't even make any sense.

[GhostMachine]

I love the XS series. XS:I is prolly in my top five of favorite RPGs of all time. I put so much time and effort into that game...

Anyway, XSIII is a fun game but I heard that they censored the fuck out of the US version. To the point where some cutscenes don't even make any sense.

Edited September 4, 2006 by GhostMachine

[Gongsun Zan]

Is there any more 45 minute cutscenes?

I loved the one in the first, where the whole fleet gets kerpwnsmashed.

[crazedfan]

I played the first, but stopped playing partway through, just because I get tired of all RPGs. My sister beat the first one, and didn't like the second one very much, so I'm curious to see how good this one is.

[GhostMachine]

Is there any more 45 minute cutscenes?

I loved the one in the first, where the whole fleet gets kerpwnsmashed.

Edited September 4, 2006 by GhostMachine

[Herr Matzat]

Is there any more 45 minute cutscenes?

I loved the one in the first, where the whole fleet gets kerpwnsmashed.

Allen's swimsuit

[GhostMachine]

Regarding the censoring, there's another scene besides the one I mentioned where a character dies and they obviously had to edit out a lot of blood.

Rumor is that the ratings board threatened to rate it MA if they didn't edit the blood out.

Btw, if anyone wants to know the identities of the Testaments (although, its kinda easy to figure them out) - DON'T READ IF YOU'VE ONLY PLAYED EPISODE I!!!:

Black - Erich Weber, aka Voyager. The man who murdered Ziggy's family

Red - Kevin

Blue - Virgil

White - Albedo

You only fight three of them, though. And in my opinion, the first one you fight is the hardest.

Edited September 4, 2006 by GhostMachine