| Xenosaga | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Role-playing |
| Developers | Monolith Soft Tom Create(I & II,Pied Piper) Namco Mobile(Pied Piper) |
| Publishers | |
| Creator | Tetsuya Takahashi |
| Platforms | PlayStation 2,Mobile,Nintendo DS |
| First release | Xenosaga Episode I February 28, 2002 |
| Latest release | Xenosaga Episode III July 6, 2006 |
| Parent series | Xeno |
Xenosaga[a] is arole-playing video game series developed byMonolith Soft and primarily published byNamco. Forming part of the widerXeno metaseries,Xenosaga is set in ascience fiction universe and follows a group of characters as they face both a hostile alien race called the Gnosis and human factions fighting for control of the Zohar, an artifact connected to a god-like energy called U-DO. Gameplay across the series is similar, with the characters being guided through a linear narrative and fighting enemies using aturn-based combat system. The party fights both on foot and in a variety of mechs.
Tetsuya Takahashi createdXenosaga as a spiritual successor to theSquare-producedXenogears, for which he founded Monolith Soft with help from Namco; multipleXenogears staff returned, including co-writerSoraya Saga. Following the release of thefirst game, theXenosaga series was given over to new staff with Takahashi both supervising the project and providing the draft scripts. Under the new staff, the original script saw several changes and its planned six-part structure cut down by half. The series made considerable use of Biblical imagery and elements of the works ofCarl Jung andFriedrich Nietzsche, with the subtitles of the main trilogy drawing from the works of Nietzsche.
Reception of individual titles has been positive, although journalists have commented that the series was too ambitious. While the first game met with strong sales, the series as a whole was a commercial disappointment. The first game also received both a manga and ananime adaptation, the latter being dubbed and released in North America. Following the end of theXenosaga series, Takahashi and other team members started a new project to rebuild morale, which becameXenoblade Chronicles. Characters fromXenosaga would go on to appear in multiple crossover games.
Xenosaga spans five different games sharing a single continuity; the three mainline games for thePlayStation 2, a spin-off and prequel formobile devices, and a remake of the first two entries in the trilogy for theNintendo DS. Each title in the trilogy features a subtitle taken from the published work of German philosopherFriedrich Nietzsche.[1][2]
| 2002 | Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht |
|---|---|
| 2003 | |
| 2004 | Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse |
| Pied Piper | |
| 2005 | |
| 2006 | I & II |
| Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra |
Following the release ofEpisode I, a supplementary disc titledXenosaga Freaks[g] was released on April 28, 2004. The disc features a visual novel segment featuring multiple characters from the game, a minigame dubbedXenoPitten, a dictionary that explains the game's terminology, and a demo forEpisode II.[17][18]Freaks was part of a movement with theXenosaga series to turn it into a multimedia franchise, with the project growing substantially larger than previously planned.[19]Xenosaga Episode I was adapted as a manga by Atsushi Baba and published throughMonthly Comic Zero Sum. It was later released in three volumes by publisherIchijinsha between 2004 and 2006.[20][21][22] Additionally an anime adaptation titledXenosaga: The Animation, which adapted the events of the first game, was produced byToei Animation. Originally broadcast onTV Asahi between January and March 2005.[23] the anime was later licensed and dubbed for a North American release; originally licensed byA.D. Vision, the North American rights are currently held byFunimation Entertainment.[24][25] Multiple staff fromXenosaga: The Animation later worked onXenosaga I & II.[13]
Gameplay in theXenosaga series feature similar gameplay across its various entries. The core gameplay revolves around the player controlling a party of characters navigating different environments including dungeons, with combat initiated when exploring environments and touching sprites representing enemy groups. Combat makes use of a traditionalturn-based battle system, with basic mechanics involving the spending or conserving of Action Points (AP).[26][27][28] Battles feature combat using both human party members, and inmecha known under different titles in each game.[29][27][28]Episode I introduces the basic gameplay and combat systems.[30]Episode II incorporates multiple levels of attack types which different enemies are weak to, combined with alterations to the performance of mechs.[27][31]Episode III further expands upon the system, and mechs have expanded functions including dedicated dungeon environments.[32][28]Xenosaga I & II reworks the gameplay systems; combat takes place during random encounters while exploring, and characters are arranged and have elements of their combat dictated by their placement on a grid.[33][34]Pied Piper incorporates gameplay systems similar toEpisode I adjusted for mobile devices, with navigation separate from battles which take place in a virtual zone tied to the narrative.[35][36][11]
TheXenosaga series takes place within a singlescience fiction universe. In the year "20XX", humanity discovers the Zohar—a primordial artifact which connects to the realm of a god-like energy dubbed U-DO—is discovered onEarth and allows travel beyond theSolar System. A disaster causes Earth's location to be lost, becoming known as "Lost Jerusalem". By the game's events, humanity has adopted a new calendar system dubbed "Transcend Christ" (T.C.), with the series' events beginning in T.C. 4768—equivalent to A.D. 7278, with humanity forming a Galaxy Federation. Planets are connected through a warp travel network called the Unus Mundus Network (U.M.N.), managed by Vector Industries, which also controls interests in the Federation's military. Existing alongside humans are Realians, synthetic humans who hold equal status with natural humans.[6][37][38] The Federation is attacked by the Gnosis, an ancient species revealed to be formed of souls who rejected U-DO. Vector develops two different weapon systems to fight the Gnosis: humanoid mecha dubbed AGWS (Anti Gnosis Weapon System), and the similar but more powerful KOS-MOS battle androids. There also exist more advanced AGWS models called E.S., powered by Lost Jerusalem artifacts called Vessels of Anima.[6][38] A key backstory event is the Miltian Conflict, which occurred fourteen years before the events ofEpisode I. Beginning as a war between the U-TIC Organization and the Federation, it escalated when a group of Realians went berserk when an experiment to suppress U-DO's energies went wrong. Miltia was lost in a space-time anomaly. Key organizations include the Federation government; the Kukai Foundation, a group that acts as a shelter for enhanced humans including U.R.T.V.s; Vector Industries, a megacorporation controlling the U.M.N.; a splinter faction called the U-TIC Organization; religious cult Ormus, which funds U-TIC; and the Testaments, a group of men who have been granted a form of immortality following their original deaths.[38][39]
The first game follows series protagonistsShion Uzuki and prototype battle androidKOS-MOS escaping a Gnosis attack and traveling to Second Miltia aboard the passenger freighterElsa, where they meet a young man called chaos. Together with U.R.T.V. and Kukai co-founder Jr., the group thwart the plans of Albedo Piazzolla, Jr.'s biological brother.[40] InEpisode II, Albedo uses information gathered during the events ofEpisode I to open the way to the original planet Miltia, which becomes the focus of a conflict between the Federation and Ormus. Ormus' leader Sergius gains control of a powerful mech called Proto Omega, destroying Miltia in the process. He is then killed by the Testaments, who give Albedo control of Proto Omega, forcing Jr. to kill him.[41] InEpisode III, Shion, KOS-MOS, chaos and the rest of their group confront both the Testaments—which includes a resurrected Albedo—and Vector CEO Wilhelm. Wilhelm is revealed to be an immortal being stopping the universe's destruction througheternal recurrence. The group defeats him, then KOS-MOS and chaos help banish the Gnosis to the region of Lost Jerusalem. Shion and Jr. set off to find Lost Jerusalem and save the universe.[42]Pied Piper follows the character Jan Sauer—later known as the cyborg Ziggurat 8 (Ziggy for short)—as he investigates the crimes of a cyberspace-based serial killer a century before the events ofEpisode I.[11][43][44][45]
The creator ofXenosaga wasTetsuya Takahashi, who had previously worked atSquare on multiple projects including entries in theFinal Fantasy series. Together with his wifeSoraya Saga, Takahashi created a proposal forFinal Fantasy VII; while rejected, they were allowed to develop the proposal as its own project, titledXenogears. A sequel toXenogears was allegedly in the planning stages, but it was never released.[46][47][48] Wanting to create his own project, unable to get suitable funding from Square, and disagreeing with Square's focus on its major franchises such asFinal Fantasy, Takahashi left Square and foundedMonolith Soft with a number of staff fromXenogears.[49][50] Creating the proposal forXenosaga during 1999 as a six-part series, development began on the first game in 2000 under the codename "Project X", taking two years to develop with a staff of between 60 and 100 people, with around 20 of them being veterans ofXenogears. The team were helped byNamco, who provided funding and acted as the publisher.[48][49][50] The scenario was written by Takahashi and Saga. TheXenosaga series, while carrying over thematic and design elements fromXenogears, is an unconnectedspiritual successor to that game.[50][51]
Following the release ofEpisode I, Takahashi and other Monolith Soft staff reassessed the series and the general structure of Monolith Soft. Takahashi, who had acted as the first game's director, stepped down to allow theXenosaga series to grow. He gave the development ofEpisode II and futureXenosaga projects to a team of younger developers. The new team decided to shift the game's focus based on player feedback and expand the series into other media. Takahashi continued to act as a supervisor to ensure the series remained true to the original overall plan.[19][52][53] The draft, created by Takahashi and Saga, was turned into a script by Norihiko Yonesaka, who needed to condense and even cut several events from the original draft to fit it into a single game.[19] Saga later commented that these changes resulted in the planned scenario forEpisode III also being changed.[46] A portion of the intended narrative ofEpisode II was turned into the plot ofPied Piper.[54]Pied Piper was co-developed by Monolith Soft,Namco Mobile and Tom Create.[52][55] Following the completion ofEpisode II andPied Piper, Saga left the series.[51]
WhenEpisode I andEpisode II were remade asXenosaga I & II, which was Monolith Soft's first portable title and co-developed with Tom Create.[55][56] Takahashi worked with scenario writer Yuichiro Takeda on the scenario, which was to both include the original games' events and incorporate elements and scenarios cut from the original versions. While doing this, Takahashi and Takeda needed to keep the scenario consistent with the in-developmentEpisode III. The volume of the game's scenario and Takahashi's wish to cut as little story as possible resulted in the game being given a two-dimensional artstyle.[54]Episode III, which began development during the last development stages forEpisode II, was designed to be the last entry in theXenosaga series. In addition to up the story of Shion while also leaving room for further entries if there was enough demand, further adjustments were made to both gameplay and graphics based on combined staff comments and fan feedback. Takahashi supervised the project and created the draft, with the script again being written by Yonesaka.[19][57]
TheXenosaga series incorporates multiple references toBiblical mythology,Jewish mysticism andGnosticism; several character, object and place names (such asNephilim,Zohar,Gnosis,Merkabah) are taken from sources within these belief systems.[58] The universal structure incorporates elements ofZen, with the names of central characters KOS-MOS and chaos being deliberate homages to theuniversal concepts of order andchaos.[59] It additionally draws on the philosophy and literature ofCarl Jung and Nietzsche.[58][46] Nietzsche in particular is heavily referenced throughout theXenosaga trilogy, with each entry taking its subtitle from the native title of one of his famous works; forEpisode I andEpisode II, the subtitles tied directly into the story themes and characters.[6][10][16][52] The subtitle ofPied Piper likewise tied to the game's narrative.[11]
The score forEpisode I was composed byYasunori Mitsuda, who had created the music forXenogears. Mitsuda worked with Takahashi to create tracks based upon specific locations and scenario elements rather than general recycled tracks for segments of the game.[50][60] ForEpisode II, the music was composed by three people:Yuki Kajiura, who had found fame as a composer for anime series;Shinji Hosoe, who worked onStreet Fighter EX and theRidge Racer series; and Ayako Saso, who had composed forGalaxian andStreet Fighter EX. Kajiura worked on tracks which played during cinematic cutscenes, while Hosoe and Saso composed other cutscene music and gameplay tracks. Hosoe and Saso worked together as part of the Super Sweep music group, but they did not collaborate with Kajiura on any tracks, or even meet with her during the game's production.[61][62][63][64] Kajiura returned to create the entire score forEpisode III, drawing upon the game's concept art and scenario when creating the music.[61] All three games have received album releases, although bothEpisode II andEpisode III saw large portions of their scores go unreleased due to varying factors.[62][65][66]
In an article for1UP.com about video game series that had ended prematurely, Scott Sharkey felt that no-one was surprised when the series ended withEpisode III as he deemed the series far too ambitious.[67] Jeremy Parish, writing forUSGamer, felt that Takahashi managed to "[come] through" despite his planned six-part series being cut down by half, withEpisode III being a satisfactory conclusion to the series' storyline. He also noted thatXenosaga showed a trend with Takakashi's work of being ambitious to the point of needing to compromise the original plan due to external limitations.[68] Blake Peterson, in a feature on theXenosaga series, felt that the success of laterXeno titles—which took a different approach and had met with critical and commercial success—meant that theXenosaga series would not be continued.[2]
| Game | Famitsu | Metacritic |
|---|---|---|
| Xenosaga Episode I | 33/40[69] | 83/100 (35 reviews)[70] |
| Xenosaga Episode II | 33/40[69] | 73/100 (45 reviews)[71] |
| Xenosaga I & II | 31/40[72] | — |
| Xenosaga Episode III | 33/40[73] | 81/100 (34 reviews)[74] |
Episode I received positive reviews upon release. The narrative was generally praised for its complex structure and cinematic approach, while its gameplay was seen as enjoyable despite initially being complicated even by genre standards and the mech segments not feeling consequential. The graphics and music were generally praised, although the latter was felt to be too sparse.[26][29][69][75][76][77]Episode II, which had seen its gameplay and graphics reworked fromEpisode I, received praise from critics for both these adjustments and the refocusing of its narrative despite the latter's short length. The replacement of some of the original English voice actors also came in for criticism.[69][78][79][80][81][82]
Episode III received praise for its narrative and the way it concluded the series' overarching plot, but many felt that there was too much need for knowledge of the original games for it to be enjoyable for newcomers. The battle system and character customization also saw praise, although other gameplay aspects such as side activities divided opinion.[32][73][83][84][85][86][87]Xenosaga I & II was generally praised by critics; while some more technical elements of the story slowed the pace, the narrative was generally seen as the game's strongest feature, while the general gameplay and battle system were also praised for removing the more convoluted elements from the mainline titles. In import reviews, it was commented that the extensive amount of Japanese text would be the largest barrier for those who wished to import the game from Japan.[33][34][72]
Episode I managed a strong debut, selling over 240,000 units within three days of its release,[88] and becoming the seventh best-selling game in Japan during 2002.[89] It was also a commercial success internationally,[90] going on to sell over one million copies.[91]Episode II debuted at #2 in sales charts,[92] going on to sell 280,000 in Japan during 2004.[93] It also saw commercial success in North America, although no sales figures were revealed.[94] Despite this,Episode II underperformed commercially, reaching just over 50% of Namco's projected sales target.[95]Xenosaga I & II met with poor sales, with its debut being seen as disappointing for the still-popular series,[96] and going on to sell over 38,000 units during 2006.[97]Episode III debuted with sales approaching 124,000, noted as being the lowest debut for the main trilogy.[98] Selling over 181,000 copies in Japan during 2006,[99] it went on to sell 343,000 units across Japan, mainland Asia and North America by February 2007.[100] Takahashi later stated that the series as a whole had underperformed.[101]
The initial success ofXenosaga turned Monolith Soft into a popular developer, with Namco placing the company alongsideNamco Tales Studio as a valuable development partner.[102] Following the release ofEpisode III, and the mixed reception received by the series as a whole, the entire development team were in a state of low morale. Partly to boost team morale and create a game players would enjoy, the team developed a new RPG for theWii. Originally titledMonado: Beginning of the World, its title was eventually changed toXenoblade Chronicles. During its development, the team moved away from the narrative and design techniques used for theXenosaga games, which were considered old-fashioned.[101][103][104] The success ofXenoblade Chronicles led to the development of furtherXenoblade Chronicles titles.[105] In a later interview, Takahashi stated that he would be willing to develop further titles in theXenosaga series if funding was provided.[106]
The character KOS-MOS was included as part of the playable cast ofNamco × Capcom for thePlayStation 2, a crossover title developed by Monolith Soft featuring characters from both Namco andCapcom-owned game franchises.[107][108] KOS-MOS and her rival fromXenosaga Episode III T-elos appeared inSuper Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier.[109][110] Supporting character MOMO was later introduced alongside KOS-MOS and T-elos in the game's sequelSuper Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier Exceed.[111][112] Both KOS-MOS and T-elos starred inProject X Zone for theNintendo 3DS, a spiritual successor toNamco × Capcom from the same development team.[113][114] KOS-MOS also appeared in its sequelProject X Zone 2 alongsideXenoblade Chronicles heroine Fiora.[115] KOS-MOS and T-elos made cameo appearances as titular blades inXenoblade Chronicles 2.[116][117] KOS-MOS's head armor fromXenosaga I makes a late game appearance inTales of Arise as part of its artifacts system. KOS-MOS was added as a playable character during a limited-time event inTales of the Rays, additionally, costumes based on MOMO, T-elos and chaos were added for other playable characters.[118]
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