Sky Render on 20 December 2008
Xenogears is credited at the end of the game as episode 5 of the original planned series. However, Xenosaga pretty much split off from the original plot written for Xenogears. Or perhaps it's more appropriate to say that Xenogears was purposefully extracted from the prototype of the Xenosaga storyline to work as a standalone game.
As for why, it was simple enough: the proto-Xenosaga storyline was not well-detailed or fully fleshed out, save for the last three parts (not unlike George Lucas' Star Wars trilogy planning). Of the three parts which were most fleshed out, the middle one was the best suited to adaptation as a standalone title.
Sky Render - Sanity is for the weak.
