Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra (2006)

This game was an insane trip. As a Xenoblade fan, coming back and seeing a sort of prototype of where it all began was honestly shocking.

Compared to Xenosaga Episode I and II, this is definitely the best in terms of presentation and gameplay. Some of the weird — and frankly lacking — design choices from the earlier entries were corrected here, which makes the experience feel much tighter.

You can really tell how fast-paced this one is. After the slow crawl of Episode II, Episode III just barrels forward, covering a huge amount of content. Especially toward the end, it feels like one “ok, what’s next?” moment after another.

That said, you can also feel the rush in development. It’s clear that the originally planned six-game saga had to be wrapped up here, and the result is a finale that leans heavily on info-dumps — which only get more intense as the story goes on.

That said, what an adventure! In a way, this really feels like the Neon Genesis Evangelion of video games — dense, ambitious, and unafraid to dive deep into heavy themes while breaking down its own characters.

I found myself completely absorbed, not just in the story but in the way it challenged and deconstructed its cast. It’s the kind of experience that lingers with you long after the credits roll.

Truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

A final note for Xenoblade fans: (Heavy poilers for Xenoblade 3) I was shocked how much of Z's dilemma related to N and M transpire into the "Eternal recurrence" thing Willhem has going on in this game. In particular the disussion between Allen and Kevin when Shion switches sides and Allen tries to convince her not to, was a constant deja vu of Xenoblade 3. It is also very clear that Z from X3 is heavily inspired in Willhem, not only in purpose but also in design.

I couldn't make it very far in this game before dropping it out of bordem. Sad to see it's only bearly better than Xenosaga 2 (a game that's basically unplayable) as I really liked Xenosaga 1.

I'd only recommend this game to someone who plays JRPGs and even than only as a very low priority game. If you play any other genre I guarantee you that there is something more fun out there for you.

Xenosaga was supposed to be a 6 game series and the story was written for that. Once they had to shorten it to 3, in order to hasten the story telling. Every single cutscene is a boring exposition dump. This also killed the personality of the characters as all of them are reduced to just mouth-pieces to explain a bunch of proper nouns to the player. No amount of high-quality cutscenes are cool visuals can prop this up. There was simply no motivation for me at all to see what happened in the story or to the characters.

Dungeons and combat are the bare basics of JRPGs. It's perfectly playable (it dropped the stupid attack system from Xeno 2) but only just that. Offering nothing which isn't done better in many other rpgs. Little depth to combat, level design that's just one step up from straight lines of empty corridors, and not even any gimmicks as compensation: as Xeno 1 did with the bonus wheel.