Even from the very first trailer of X I was wowed by the scale and grandeur of its world. Not so here.

Again, I hope at E3 they'll show some more impressive areas. A lot games seem meh at first then look progressively better as they approach release.

You always do this. Don't you think Monolith Soft deserves the benefit of the doubt for the next 5 weeks? Hell, is there anybody who has earned the benefit of the doubt like they have in this department?

You know all about "games that look meh at first!" That 3D World 180 was one for the history books.

I'm not writing it off, I'm just not sold yet.

Fair enough, although I have to ask whether you mean that literally - as in if the game came out right now, you wouldn't buy it.

Personally, if I were to pretend they didn't have me at "Takahashi" or "Monolith Soft" or "Xenoblade," they STILL would have had me at "ACE."

I'm really not sure what to think of XB2 yet. The reveal trailer made it look like rushed, generic trash, but maybe its one of those games that gets better the more we see of it.

I am pleased that its a sequel to the original game and not XCX though. I did enjoy XCX but the first game was by far superior.

June 16th is still technically Spring.

I get that so far too, I think it's the use of "Tales of" character art-style that gets me. but someone pointed out to me this little gem, which gives me a surprising amount of hope for the game:

The Zohar? This is the greatest powersource in the Xenogears/Xenosaga universes, and it is the one element that was missing from XCX. It looks like some kind of power source, what could this mean? Are they planning on using this game as a bridge between XC and XCX, as XC was an independent story, and XCX fits much more in line with the universe of XG and XS, or the mainline Xeno-vision.

Otherwise, it could be just a little reference and will maintain as an independent storyline.

Somehow I am not sure that Takahashi is interested in wasting time with filler projects at this point in his career. A lot of science fiction authors like to write stories to join together their independent works.

XCX identifies the timeline as being when the Samaarians came forth into Earth's universe. In Xenogears and Xenosaga, this is when the Zohar came through as well from a higher dimension, and the Zohar had the ability to capture beings and energy from that dimension giving it the ability to generate infinite energy in our own. Could these people be the Samaarians? Those who brought the Zohar into our universe? We'll see, something along those lines would make things more interesting.

Stylistically, the character art should at least attempt to mimic Tanaka's work. Similar to XS2 and 3, and similar to how DQ spinoffs mimic Toriyama art. Otherwise, at best it's a Chrono Cross-like sequel, one that will have its fans, but will not be seen as a legitimate sequel; due to the inaccurate art style (not like Toriyama's original Chrono Trigger art at all), but unlike Chrono Cross, it is likely that the writing voice will at least be similar to the other games, whereas CC's was way off.

I get that so far too, I think it's the use of "Tales of" character art-style that gets me. but someone pointed out to me this little gem, which gives me a surprising amount of hope for the game:

The Zohar? This is the greatest powersource in the Xenogears/Xenosaga universes, and it is the one element that was missing from XCX. It looks like some kind of power source, what could this mean? Are they planning on using this game as a bridge between XC and XCX, as XC was an independent story, and XCX fits much more in line with the universe of XG and XS, or the mainline Xeno-vision.

Otherwise, it could be just a little reference and will maintain as an independent storyline.

Somehow I am not sure that Takahashi is interested in wasting time with filler projects at this point in his career. A lot of science fiction authors like to write stories to join together their independent works.

XCX identifies the timeline as being when the Samaarians came forth into Earth's universe. In Xenogears and Xenosaga, this is when the Zohar came through as well from a higher dimension, and the Zohar had the ability to capture beings and energy from that dimension giving it the ability to generate infinite energy in our own. Could these people be the Samaarians? Those who brought the Zohar into our universe? We'll see, something along those lines would make things more interesting.

Stylistically, the character art should at least attempt to mimic Tanaka's work. Similar to XS2 and 3, and similar to how DQ spinoffs mimic Toriyama art. Otherwise, at best it's a Chrono Cross-like sequel, one that will have its fans, but will not be seen as a legitimate sequel; due to the inaccurate art style (not like Toriyama's original Chrono Trigger art at all), but unlike Chrono Cross, it is likely that the writing voice will at least be similar to the other games, whereas CC's was way off.