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Xenosaga Preview
Chris Leyton
00/12/0000
The game Xenogears fans have been waiting for finally arrives later in the year.
Xenogears gained something of a cult reception when it was released on the PSOne, never quite making it in the way that a certain other Square RPG did, however in some ways that meant that it gained an almost fanatical following. Shortly after finishing the title, many of the staff left Square and formed their own development team named Monolith Soft. Under the wing of NAMCO, they have spent the last few years on a PS2 RPG that they claim has no links to any previous titles, yet bears more then a few coincidences with their previous game, the name, the character designs, the story they all resemble close links to Xenogears.
Xenosaga, or Xenosaga Episode 1: Der Wille zur Macht to give it itâs full title is set in the future, a time where technology has advanced and mankind has all but forgotten about Earth, or has tried to escape it by reaching out to the stars. All that is explained about the exodus is that we left for a âcertain reasonâ, whilst the homeland is referred to as âLost Jerusalemâ. The Star Cluster Network comprises of half a million worlds, connected by a series of space warps known as the Unus Mundus Netwok, or UMN for short. The UMN is governed by the Vector corporation, which sends colony fleets to the ends of the universe in order to expand humankindâs presence in all directions, by brute force if necessary.
The force is needed to wipe-out the threat of the alien race known as the Gnosis, these beings appear to be made out of people, and are hostile to man wiping out many cultures. To combat the threat mankind has developed the Anti Gnosis Weapon System (AGWS), robots that have been designed to be as small as possible to aid manoeuvrability. The AGWS comes in two types, those with model numbers prefixed by AG and those with VX. The AG models are standard use amongst the Star Cluster Federation army, and feature changeable limbs so they can be fully upgraded. The VX series are experimental models that are being designed by Vector for internal use. Equipped with the D.S.S.S that enables them to detect the Gnosis even when theyâre invisible, but lack the firepower to destroy the Gnosis. So Vector begins work on a new type of machine, the KOS-MOS an android suitably equipped to actually battle the threat.
And so the game begins and we are introduced to the games main character, Shion Uzuki, a 22 year-old scientist in charge of the KOS-MOS project. Soon into the game she meets up with KOS-MOS and an amnesiac white-haired boy named chaos.
Other characters include M.O.M.O, a new line of synthetic humans named Realeins designed by Vector and was created by the scientist Joachim Mizraki and modelled after his missing 12-year-old daughter. M.O.M.O.'s mission is to monitor the Gnosis, a task she pursues with great zeal, believing that will enable her to go to heaven and be reunited with her now-deceased father.
The running theme through Xenosaga is drawn from Nietzcshe, who positioned the theory that all humans motivation boils down to the âwill to powerâ. Humans do many different things for many different reasons, but essentially lies the desire to wield power. To this extent there is no real good versus evil storyline, the game doesnât focus on the battle between human and the Gnosis but on rich character development.
Moving onto the actual game itself, Xenosaga wonât feature random battles like most RPGâs. Instead enemies can be spotted roaming around the environments and confronted or avoided depending on your choice. The environments are said to be fully interactive allowing you to destroy objects or push objects to block off the enemies path, itâs unknown at the moment whether the jump function from Xenogears will feature.
The actual battle system is very similar to Xenogears, attacks are created by stringing together hits with the Square, Triangle and X buttons, whilst each character has their own Ether powers. A number of elements have been added to make combat more tactical, character placement now plays an important part and will be partially determined by how the player's party and monsters meet on the field map. Whilst the speed at which you win the battle will determine how many experience points and items youâll earn.
The AGWS are summoned in battles, like the Aeonâs in final Fantasy X. Specific details on this are still sketchy, however itâs known that you can customise up to eight different parts, which affect its attack type, special features, and how long it can remain on the battlefield. You can also play a mini mech game with them that allows you to collect items and other goodies.
Visually Xenosaga is very impressive with a very distinct SCI-FI fused with Manga inspiration visuals style used throughout. Everything has been rendered in real-time 3D, however players will have no control over the camera much like Resident Evil: Code Veronica. This will allow the developers to create a more suspenseful adventure, giving them the opportunity to decide exactly what should be in view and what shouldnât. There are two models for each character, a high-quality one used during the event scenes and a lower quality one for the battle scenes. Little touches such as facial animation and moving hair further aid the visual style.
A lot of attention has been paid to the games soundtrack which is set to feature over 50 songs from Yasunori Mitsuda's, the same composer who worked on Xenogears, and the London Philharmonic Orcahestra.
