As a fan of Xenoblade I always wanted to go back to some of the original games these people worked on. I do know they are infamous for long-scenes and decisions tied to low-budget issues – but I really couldn’t stop being curious about these pieces of media.

So, to be truthful, Xenosaga excels at what it excels, and delivers poorly in what delivers poorly.

The characters, world-building and music are top-notch. Gameplay wise I found the game quite repetitive, and sometimes kind of an excuse from going to one place or the other.

Overall, it was a beautiful experience, very thought-provoking. However, sometimes it does get confusing in the terminology it uses. The story and lore continue to progressively -and aggressively- expand at a point where it is easy to get lost.

Anyway, I LOVED it. I know the rest of the series is a hit or miss given its production background, but I will give Episode II a try and see how it goes.

An amalgamation of just about every sci-fi anime trope you can imagine. It feels epic and opaque but kind of fails to make much of an impression beyond that. I never made it to Episode 2.

It's the earnestness - the straight faced delivery of unbridled horny fantasy absurdity. I think playing this type of thing inspired me (and others) to attempt creating their own Japanese-style RPG, full of angsty boys, sexy waifus, vengeful space gods, giant robots and the like. This ultimately leads down a dark road of drawing naked girls holding swords, which you have to hide in a folder labelled TOP SECRET.