Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse
You know that old saying, "if it ain't broke, don't try and fix it"? Yeeeahhhhh...
Published: March 6, 2005
In fact, this is damn near one of the best looking games on the PS2, not because of any particular effects (those are actually rather subdued), but because of the level of detail and imagination present in the world your exploring. The same angular pulsing lines of energy and the sleek-yet-antiseptic look of the machines and buildings in the first game return, but they're given a far better sense of scope. Actually seeing Second Miltia and all the animated holograms, the stark white curved edge spires and the various inhabitants milling about, it was a sight to behold and more than enough to give pause to appreciate the texture detail and incredibly solid framerate.
The cinemas apparently used motion capture data, but it's not completely obvious, nor is it especially apparent that the movies you're watching are all that complex until a special effect the PS2 normally couldn't handle pops into play. The bigger, more climactic events are usually played out in an obviously pre-rendered fashion with higher detail character models and environments, but by and large it's an impressively seamless experience.
The audio works the same way as the visuals, almost forcing you to listen to the aural minutiae, and every effect, every voice quip, every synthesized note of music is clean and polished. The game just plain feels high-tech, and it's due in no small part to the effects work and the overall audio refinement. The voice acting is generally rather impressive from a performance standpoint (especially the more emotional moments), but the jarring switch in some of the voices is downright unacceptable. The cast is apparently for the most part the same as the first game, but it's like they forgot when their old characters sounded like, and the change isn't exactly a welcome one.
While the first game's composer, Yasunori Mitsuda didn't return for the sequel, the work done by Yuki Kajiura during the game's many cinemas is certainly an apt fill-in, right down to the Mitsuda-esque lilting Celtic flutes that dance around some of the main melodies. The main game music isn't quite as remarkable, mainly because it just sits there most of the time and loops around whatever's going on when there's any sort of interactivity. Even the battle music is complex and nicely layered, but you'll hear it every time you enter a fight, and after a while it too slips into the background.
After more than 30 hours with the game and countless lines of profanity and half-vocalized disbelief at what the enemies just pulled, I still want to see what happens with the next chapter. The world and storyline conceived by Monolith is complex, beautiful, wholly engaging and perfectly delivered as a tease. Unfortunately, while it's coaxing you along with spoon-fed storyline revelations, the game is also raking you across a bed of hot coals with the overly complex skill and battle system, daring you to keep pressing on to see what happens next while punishing you for doing so at the same time.
When you finally do finish things up and set in for the final credit roll, Episode II feels a lot like an abusive relationship. It keeps smacking you around, making you feel bad for not "getting" the numerous steps required to execute the only kinds of attacks that will let you press on, but then it pulls you back in with a bombshell. If Episode III doesn't fix some of the problems that arose from trying to fix things that didn't need fixing from the first game, there may not be too many mass-market fans that stick around to see how this six-part storyline wraps up.
