Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Bose Preview

Developer	Monolith Soft
Publisher	Namco
Genre	Role-Playing
Release Date	TBA

To the delight of Namco, Monolith Soft, and of course fans of the game, Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht had quite an impressive sell-through when it was released here in the U.S. last February. Currently, Namco has the second chapter in the Xenosaga series well under development and, more importantly, slated for an eventual release here in the states. For the uninitiated, Xenosaga is a planned six-episode RPG series showing many references (but not directly related) to Square Enix’s 1998 cult-hit Xenogears. Xenosaga, developed under Monolith Soft, (which houses many ex-Square employees who worked on Xenogears) is an epic sci-fi video game series imbued with a heavily philosophical storyline. Specifically in Episode I’s case, it was also brimming with hours upon hours of cut scenes to tell this story – an aspect of the game that turned off just as many role-playing fans as it turned on.

Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Bose (that’s Beyond Good and Evil to those not familiar with the German philosopher Nietzsche) will still contain more movie scenes than your average RPG, but we’re promised that they won’t approach the 50-minute length that a couple in Episode I did. For fans of the first game, however, probably don’t care about that nearly as much as what is in store for Episode II’s storyline.

Jenseits von Gut und Bose continues the saga right where Der Wille zur Macht left us all scratching our heads and running to our computers to learn everything we could on Gnosticism. (You know who you are.) Without spoiling too much of the first game, you finally land on Second Miltia in Episode II, and throughout most of the game, learn all about the mysterious events surrounding the Miltian Conflict, a war that occurred 14 years before the start of Episode I. This war, which is oh-so vaguely alluded to a number of times in Episode I, has a crucial role in Xenosaga’s storyline. The already multilayered plot is about to get a few more layers added onto it, and hopefully, answer some of Episode I’s more burning questions at same time.

Since Xenosaga Episode II is in direct continuity with its predecessor, Shion, KOS-MOS, chaos, Ziggy, Jr., and MOMO all return as the main playable characters. Newcomers to the playable character roster will be Shion’s own brother, Jin Uzuki, and the mysterious Canaan (more on him later). This time around, in addition to the Miltian Conflict explanation, the mysterious relationship and history between Jr. and Albedo (all-around bad guy) will be delved into. In fact, most of Episode II’s storyline will focus around Jr. and his obviously clouded past.

As for the events surrounding the Miltian Conflict, Monolith Soft hasn’t released much information aside from a few game trailers. What is known for certain, though, is that sometime around the start of the Miltian Conflict, the Realians (machine/human hybrids) started going haywire and wrecking havoc on the cities of the planet Miltia. Canaan (a new orange-haired character, who also happens to be a Realian) and the blatantly angelic chaos were assigned to investigate Miltia to find out the reason why the normally tranquil Realians suddenly rebelled in an army of violent destruction.

During their survey of the situation, they meet up with Jin Uzuki, Shion’s book-loving brother whom we see briefly in Xenosaga Episode I. The trio explored and fought together until they were confronted by Margulis (another character from Episode I), who then speaks with Jin for a moment until tensions erupt into a one-on-one fist fight between the two. Obviously, Shion’s brother and Margulis have some sort of connection that will be explored in Episode II.

Although no concrete details on Episode II’s battle system have surfaced, we do know that it will streamline many of Episode I’s annoyances, which will include hastening the overall length of battles and decreasing the wait time from entering battle to being able to attack and give commands. Where Episode II is really getting an apparent upgrade is more in the visuals department than anything else.

Xenosaga Episode II’s graphics have been entirely redone. Gone are the anime style characters from Der Wille zur Macht, and in are realistically-proportioned characters with genuine facial expressions and body animations, as in recent RPGs like Final Fantasy X and X-2. The more attentive of you may also have noticed from various screenshots that KOS-MOS is no longer donning her helmet, and that Shion has tossed her spectacles. Currently, it seems that KOS-MOS no longer needs the hi-tech helmet because she can now harness her immense powers without it. Exactly why she can do this, of course, has not yet been revealed. Shion’s missing glasses is another mystery, although we are told that Episode II will explain that, as well. Knowing the complexity of the Xenosaga series, we highly doubt the possibility that she just switched to using contact lenses…

With Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Bose well on its way to completion, the U.S. release may be closer than many originally expected. If everything goes smoothly from here on out, you may be playing the second chapter in the Xenosaga series by the beginning of this fall. As a final reminder, remember to hold onto your Xenosaga Episode I game completion data. Monolith Soft has reconfirmed that it will indeed be in someway compatible with Episode II.

Preview by Nick Pappas