Overall, I think the story, graphics, sound and world map was all
improved. I have mix feelings with the battle system, since I think it
was improved in some areas, but entirely messed up in others. They
added a bunch more sidequests in the game, and the dungeons require
actual thought at some points, so I think the game as a whole was
improved. Otherwise, it's the same ol' game you played before. Even
with all of the improvements, it’s still not a great RPG franchise at
all. The battle system in the first game was pretty boring, and this
one is just slightly more interesting.
----------Battle System----------
Xenosaga II is a turn-based RPG. You can only battle with 3 characters
at time, and cannot summon Mechs to help in battle this time around. In
battle you can only use 4 different attack combos, but Shion and MoMo
can only use 1 attack. The way the combat the lack of combos and
attacks is by using "stock". Each character has 3 slots under their HP
info, and during one of your characters turn he can "stock" up by
skipping their turn. The stocks add extra moves to your already
existing combos, and make for powerful attacks. On the status wheel in
this game, you can gain an instant boost if you land on it. So between
the stocking and easy boosting this can make for quicker battles
depending on how you play.
Mech battles are separate battles
and you need use 2 characters per Mech. You can only battle with 2
Mechs at a time and cannot use Items during battle. Mechs only have 2
optional attacks, but they can also "stock" up for special attacks,
otherwise it's the same as fighting with characters.
You don't
equip weapons or even gain money in this game, that's mostly a
downgrade, but the weapons in the first game was so boring to deal with
I think this was for the best. Not gaining money however is ridiculous
and because of that there's no shops to buy items (although I rarely
needed them). A good thing about the lack of items was the ability to
revive ones magic by putting them in the reserve, so you can use your
reserve characters after a battle to heal your fighting characters
without wasting items at all.
The skill system is much better,
but it can be worse in some areas because everyone learns the same
exact skills, and the characters you don't use won't gain any skill
points. I pretty much played this game with the same 3 characters all
the way through (I did the same thing in Baten Kaitos and the first
Xenosaga aswell). Anyways, there's 4 class levels, each level have
around 8 sub-levels, within each sub-level there is 4 skills you can
learn. Before you go off buying skills, you first have to purchase a
sub-level with Class Points. You gain Class points only by defeating
bosses, using items that give you CP, completing a class sub-level and
a few select random encounters, in other words, gaining Class points is
rare. Once you unlocked that sub-level, you can then start using the
skill points you gained from battles. If you gain enough, then you'll
unlock the next level of Classes. I only uses Shion, Kos-Mos and Jr for
most of the game and only got about 2 and half skill levels completed,
so there was alot of unreachable stuff to get unless you power leveled
your way to them.
You can gain three types of skills, a magic
ether skill to use in or out of battle, an equipable status skill and a
permanent status skill (my favorite). The status skills are the only
thing you can you equip and change around game, so there's alot less
micro-managing in the game and I like that.
The dungeons are
about the same, but possibly longer. In each dungeon you'll encounter
puzzles, so that right there makes this a much better game than the
first.
Xenosaga II brings back the 18 decoder / red door
sidequests from the previous Xenosaga, and adds 36 new sidequests.
These new sidequests can be either extremely simple or extremely hard,
but most of them are fetch missions that require you to run around
talking to random people with little advice who to talk to. There's
also hidden bosses and other sidequests that make this game slightly
bigger and more fun than the other game.
----------Characters / Story----------
You play as Shion again, and you're once again trying to find the
answers left in the first game, like what are the Zohars, and where is
old Miltia, blah blah blah. All of this 'current' story was pretty
forgettable, actually the main storyline in this game is the backstory
between Jr. and Albedo. I loved all the backstory moments of the game,
and it all made sense towards the end. Everything about the storyline
was more interesting than the first game.
----------Graphics----------
The graphics have been touched up quite a bit since the first game (and
it should, duh). The character models are alot crisper, more detailed.
The towns and dungeons are HUGE, although only in appearance. Walking
around is still pretty restricting. The only downgrade I can think
about is the normal attacks are extremely weak to watch, everything but
the Mech's special attacks are minimalized. The best thing about
Xenosaga II is the awesome cutscenes of course, and they're alot more
exciting to watch than the first one. There's alot more action packed
scenes in this game, not just a bunch of people standing around
computer monitors talking to each other.
----------Sound----------
The music is better, but I have mixed reactions with the voice work.
While all the voice work is much better acted out, they changed a few
of the actors and that's a little distracting. Chaos is is easily the
biggest difference between all the characters, but I think it's an
improvement, he still talks in a low-effeminent voice, it's not quite
as over board this time around.
----------World Map----------
The world map is pretty much the same as the previous Xenosaga game.
Depending on the storyline, you'll either be warped to your next
destination or you have to ride on Elsa to it. You can't backtrack to
most areas, but like before you can "simulate" previous areas with a
with a E.V.S. point. During breaks between cutscenes and dungeons you
can venture off on your own to walk around the Foundation, and a new
bigger area of Second Miltia. When you get to the only actual "world
map" on the game, you walk over a map with icons, walking across a
narrow trail to each section of the map, similar to the first game and
the Baten Kaitos games. The world in this game is about two or three
times the size of the original Xenosaga, and while it still makes this
game extremely linear, it's still a big improvement.
----------Time to Complete Game----------
36:41:58
After I beat the game and the credits started to roll, I was like, "Is
that IT???". Well, after you "finish" the game you can save your data
and re-start at the Elsa, where you can take on new sidequests and
finish all previous sidequests you didn't get to tackle. While my
overall time is alot less than my time over the first game, I had to
level grind alot in the first game, never once in this one. Also this
game has a ton more sidequests I didn't even tap into yet, so this game
is a much bigger game overall.
