Mindhive

Xenosaga mini-review

Xenogears was an RPG for the original Playstation which excelled in almost every area. The graphics were true 3d (even if a bit jaggy), the art was well thought-out, the music was top-notch (it is still being remixed by fans today), and -- most importantly -- the story was great, and the characters were likable. The anime FMVs were icing on the cake. In short, Xenogears is probably my favorite Playstation RPG.

Xenosaga is the polar opposite of Xenogears.

The first thing that grabs you about any game is the graphics. When Xenogears was created, PS1 was the top-notch console. This means that the 3d graphics would be jaggy, low-poly and low-res. PS2, on the other hand, has no such limitations. Unfortunately, there must be some hidden cap on texture memory for the PS2, because Xenosaga uses two types of textures almost exclusively: a) solid white, and b) transparent glass. I realize that the game takes place mostly on sterile corporate spaceships, but this is hardly an excuse. The Xenogears artists managed to overcome the techincal limitations of the console by creativity and sheer force of will; the Xenosaga artists just go with the flow.

The music follows the theme of "bland, generic ambience". It alternates between annoying and forgettable, and I am honestly not sure which one I'd prefer. I suppose some kind soul will eventually remix it and make it memorable; until that happens, you might as well turn the music off.

There are no FMVs in Xenosaga, which actually could have been a good thing -- the animes in Xenogears sometimes felt like they clashed with the rest of the game. Unfortunately, the "bland, generic, corporate-lackey-generated" theme continues here as well. The Xenosaga intros suffer from what I call the "Hack Sign Syndrome". They consist mostly of still shots of boring characters talking about pointless trivia which interests no one. Don't get me wrong -- I actually like in-game movies. I loved Metal Gear Solid, for example. However, the key point here is that the movies have to actually be interesting. I don't care how many polys per second you can render. If you have nothing interesting to say, don't even try.

Which brings me to the next point -- the story. Oh wait, there isn't one. Events happen one after another for no discernible reason. New characters keep getting introduced with mechanical regularity. Presumably, we are supposed to care for them. Unfortunately, without a coherent plot, there is no reason to do so. The game keeps hinting at major factions in opposition, political machinations behind the scenes, cosmic forces of literally Apocalyptic proportions gathering behind the horizon... But that's all we get. Hints. As soon as it looks like some coherent story fragment is about to form, the game launches into another one of those three-hour-long intros, and then switches to a totally different topic. Gotta keep those new characters coming, right ?

So far, what I have described is merely a below-average game, not an abysmal one. Oh sure, there are many other annoying details -- mecha in high heels, drawn-out special move animations, bad voice acting, etc. -- but they could potentially be tolerable. However, the makers of the game must have felt true contempt for the player; and, early on, they eagerly demonstrate this.

You see, your main character has a futuristic PDA with her, which she carries everywhere. The PDA is mail-capable. Which means that the character receives e-mail, about half of which gives you useful information. The other half is spam from Namco, cramming their other games down your throat.

You heard me. The game actually spams you, the paying customer, just to inform you of many other valuable product offerings from the parent corporation. As I see it, this behavior is simply inexcusable. It is one thing to use product placement (an annoying practice in and of itself); it is a wholly different thing to overtly inslut the player with intersticial commercials. I get enough spam in physical and e-mail forms; I don't need it on my console on top of everything else.

Now, I will come clean: I did not finish Xenosaga. Perhaps it gets better. Perhaps the spam disappears, the story picks up, the annoying characters get shot, and the artists finally realize that texture mapping was developed back in the 286 days. Perhaps. However, I simply do not have the patience to sit through hours upon hours of walking down long, boring corridors; of fighting the same monsters over and over; and of listening to in-game movies which are 15 minutes long but feel like 15 years of lost time. I could do something more exciting with my life, such as watching grass grow.

As a parting note, I must also point out that Xenosaga is episode 1 of 6. That's right. There will be 5 more of these things. If nothing else, this cements my opinion of the game: it was made not by artists, programmers or storytellers. It was made by marketing flacks who are incapable of thinking of anything other than maximizing the shareholder value -- which, in turn, involves milking you for every last dollar as efficiently as possible.

I think I will go back and play Xenogears again, just to help me forget Xenosaga for good.

Posted by metabug at 2003/06/17 00:03 | TrackBack (1) | Categories: Games