Xenosaga

One of my favorites, Xenosaga is a futuristic rpg divided in 3 games (originally 6) explaining a story, so I'm doing a quick-review for the whole experience, not one specific game.

Without loosing the "japanese touch", it explains a story darker than usual, with many references about religion and philosofy that surprised me a lot, keep in mind that I had not yet played Xenogears or any Shin Megami Tensei game, I was used to play the usual SquareEnix hero-of-justice games like Final Fantasy, Rogue Galaxy, Radiata Stories... so it was very refreshing to me.

This is a saga with a major emphasis on scenes, on telling a story, that I think I was more time listening than playing. And I was fine with it, I found the story so interesting and had me so engaged that I just wanted to keep playing to get to the next scene and know more and more about the plot.

But I wasn't forcing my way through: the gameplay is really good too, so I wasn't forcing my way through. Nice customization and using a turn-based combat system with some nice additions like boosts and Mechs with each game improving the system further and further. Exploration while short, it's still there with many excellent locations and cities always keeping the sci-fi style.

The character design is the common Anime, though it changes each game going from a bit "deformed" style to a more realistic one. Strangely I prefered the deformed style.

Also keep in mind that each game has a different pace which seems to draw back some people, specially around the second game, but I recommend to endure, try to enjoy it on its own way and keep going because it gets better.

Did I like it? So. Much.
I think you will like it if you:
- Avoid comparisons with Xenogears
- Like jrpg
- Don't mind scene-heavy games

I rate my experience with a 10 out of 10.