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sc94597 on 23 May 2014
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0815user said:
sc94597 said:
0815user said:

is it a bad thing that there is one series (i mean the games up to xenosaga 3) on the market that is targeted to those people? i guess not. but i can tell you what's bad. it's when this one series is taken and the part where it shined the most, where it was and still is superior to anything else, is downgraded to what it is/seems to be today.

1) The whole series of Xenosaga was already a downgrade from Xenogears (story-wise), according to your criteria. It was a trend that occured well before Nintendo. And honestly, the more I read actual 2) books the less I NEED video games to tell me complicated stories. Yes, it is nice, but I'd definitely prefer better gameplay mechanics, and more immersive worlds (which story can affect and vice-versa of course), and a decent story with some depth, than any game with dated, boring mechanics. If I were to compare the level of depth with respect to satisfaction of Xenoblade's story with any other RPG it would be equivalent to SNES RPG's like Terranigma, and Chrono Trigger. Both of which have many strong mature themes and allusions to real-world cultures 3) without the convolusion found in Xenosaga and to a lesser extent Xenogears (I consider Xenogears to be done right, and Xenosaga to be poorly executed.) For a medium that is the video game, 4) I prefer more straight forward interesting stories that I can review and get back to if I take a break from the game, without being loss.

5) Anyway, the consensus on forums by Xeno-fans seems to be that Xenoblade is a classic like Xenogears, and both are much better games than the Xenosaga series as a whole. 

1) to me the xenosaga series (1-3) is in no way a downgrade to xenogears. they are pretty much equal. so i don't know which criteria of mine would contradict that. care to explain?

2) books are fine but for me they don't work as entertainment media. they are good for gaining and storing information but that's it, at least for me. games on the other hand are some form of higher level media due to being able of using text, sound, visuals and on top giving you some interaction possibilities as well. all this is what can entertain me if done well.

3) + 4) that's actually why i care about those games and why it pains me to see what they are doing with the series. if everything is straight forward and pretty much a no brainer from the start, where ist the fun?

5) maybe but it's certainly not my opinion.

1.) I would probably rate the Xenosaga similar to Xenogears because they have more enjoyable gameplay (Xenogears can get a bit reptitive), but story-wise Xenogears was unmatched by any single Xenosaga game, in my opinion, and Episode II really brought the series down further than that. Xenosaga just felt too entangled without much conclusion (I guess since we never got Episodes IV - VI.) Complex stories can be a bonus if everything ties together, but otherwise it is a negative to story-telling. You can have complexity without plot-holes, and that is when it is done well, but often complexity is coupled with plot-holes, and in Xenosaga you have a plethora of them. These are not found so much in Xenogears (which is pretty much self-contained.) 

2.) - 5) Alright, I won't criticize you for having different values and opinions. I just wanted to present the idea that many people like these games for their gameplay and setting in addition to the story-telling, and that is why many fans of Monolith Soft find Xenoblade to be excellent just like Xenogears and Xenosaga were for them.