Gamefaqs:

"Few games on this list would be seen as disappointing as this game. Xenosaga II is a direct sequel to the first game, but a number of questionable changes can make it a bit disheartening to play; the game features no shop or currency system, it's less than half as short as the first game, the soundtrack is greatly inferior, a lot of the voice cast changes are for the worst and it can be punishingly difficult at times. However, it's confusing new battle system favors understanding and strategy over mindlessly spamming tech attacks so once you do finally get things down, it can be very satisfying to play. The new art style for the characters is extremely welcome, and several of the character's new voices are definately for the better."

So...uh...I'm trying to figure out what in GOd's name they're talking about? What new voice-actors in EPP are "for the better?" I mean...not Shion. Her voice made my ears bleed. Not KOS-MOS. Her new voice-actress took being an emotionless android and made it...emotionless. I mean, KOS-MOS was the same in EP1 most of the time. Arnold was an emotionless android in Terminator. They both kicked a lot of ass with their voice-acting so just because you're emotionless doesn't mean you put the person playing the game to sleep with your lack of talent.

Then there's the fact both Tony and Hammer's original voices were canned... I found them good comedic foil in EP1 and decent side-characters. This was to become non-existent when they got their "for the better" voice-actors in Episode II.

The most conflicting ones are chaos and MOMO. Now, I personally liked MOMO's designa nd voice most in EP1. She's a loli and she should look and sound like one. EP1's voice-actress did it very good. chaos...chaos just don't care enough about.

Dude, its gamefaqs, what do you expect?

Overall Episode 2 sucked ass in almost every department. The only thing that kept me on the game was that it dealt with Jr. exclusively and Jr is my favourite Xenosaga character.

Some people have strange taste. I guess the voices being netter is their oppinion, but I think it's safe to say that the majority of fans feels otherwise.

Personally I liked all the original voice actors better. And I think that voices like Shion's in XS II even managed to portray the character worse in many ways.

MOMO I can't remember from Epi 2, but while chaos was very different from his original voice actors, his was also the one that I disliked the least.

Episode II's voice acting is just plain terrible compared to episode I, and this is coming from someone who hasn't played Episode I... It's really not hard to hear. The biggest Culprit has got to be Shion's voice... There was NOTHING good about Shion in Episode II, He appearance had changed for the worse, as had her personality and most of all she now had a freakishly flat ass (and no, I shall never shut up about this travesty). I'm not sure what Shion was like in battle in Episode I, but with MOMO on the team Shion was useless and whiney...

Trust me, this reviewer is quite alone when he says that the voice acting is for the better... I have mixed views on whether the art style change was for the better because in some respects it is, but it was too far the other way... Episode III got the art style just perfect...

The only replaced voice that I liked better in Episode II was MOMO's. I didn't like her original voice, it sounded too "adult-acting-as-kid". Her new voice at least makes her sound like a real child.

Other than that, the replaced voices were poorly chosen. But on the other hand, it did have the great newcomer's voice of Yuriev, which I'll never stop praising. And even though it's the same guy in Episode III, I like his performance in Episode II better. Probably the only thing I can refer to as being "best in Episode II".

Yuriev had better dialogue in Episode III, though. Of course, he also had lot more dialogue period in Episode III. But there's nothing really memorable about him in EPII. I remember it sure - but it's nothing that will make me stop, think and go "that's pretty cool." In EP3, he has a few good scenes of dialogue. Backed with the better music, his little talk when he steals the Emulators, about the history of man and God, is quite intriguing. When he merges with Proto Omega, that was awesome too. (both those scenes had the exact same music and it fit so damn perfectly).

True, he does have a much larger role in Episode III. I guess the thing what impressed me most was how he appeared in Episode II (and I mean after his "death"). His voice just sounded rougher in Episode II, not so much Episode III (which even made me doubt if it was the same voice actor at first). But he does have moments where his voice reaches the same level as in Episode II again.

Many of his biggest moments are indeed in Episode III, though. On the other hand, now that I come to think of it; Albedo's biggest moment of glory was in Episode II if you ask me. The "eternal chain", I love that whole scene. At least that's one thing that I can definitely single out as being best in Episode II then. =p

I thought that Albedo was far better in I and II than in III (obviously, he was one of the disappointments of III) but its just that in III, no one's voice actor/actress did a good job during the text box scenes, I dont know what it was, but I think that Rubedo, Albedo, and Yuriev's voices were really bad during the text box scenes, but I still loved Albedo's intro scene on the song of nephilim in Episode I, that was one of my favorite scenes in any video game. I was actually extremely disappointed with Episode III's cinematic feel though just because I felt they ruined it partially with the text box scenes (not to mention the mass editing that made some scenes confusing).

I liked the conclusion of Albedo's story in III, but I agree his voice work wasn't as good this time. Though in Episode I his voice is too much over-the-top for my liking. It seemed fine at first, but after playing Episode II, I much prefer his voice work from II. It wasn't as high-pitched crazy as in I, and in III he was just lacking to some extent.

Though I don't agree with all the textbox scenes having been poorly done. I didn't notice any change in quality between the FMV's and the regular textbox cutscenes.

well, for example, in the last scene with wilhelm and such, the lighting is dark, and it looks cool during the FMV, but during the textbox scene, the lighting is kind of weird, as in it was too light, and that was the same in a few other scenes, and the quality of voice acting for nearly every character was worse during the text scenes.

I liked Albedo the most in I, I think his voice actor did a really good job to make Albedo seem like a truly insane villain, and then in II, you see why hes like that, and I thought he wasnt crazy enough in episode II, but thats just me.

Virgil's voice actor was good in text box scenes.

Now, his battle voice was ugh.

"Come at me with everything you've got. This thing doesn't know restraint!" Like... like he was asking them to kill him out of mercy or some such, when that wasn't at all what he was doing.

I liked "show me the proof of your existence!"

There weren't that many good battle quotes in III, at least I can't remember any. Except for T-elos' "Pathetic, die!", I'll never get enough from that one. But there's nothing as good as Orgulla's quotes in III. See, there's another thing that was great in II; Orgulla. =p

Voyager had some good lines in E.S. Dan

"I never thought I'd get to enjoy this experience again. I'm grateful to you, Jan Sauer."

He says Ziggy's name in such a cool way.

I also liked Yuriev's "behold! This is what it means to have the power of a god!"

That's the big difference between II and III; in III the ES fights are spiced up with small convo's and are generally more fun. And ES Dan with its elemental defence shifting requires a bit more strategy. Episode II didn't have any really great ES fights, except for Mikumari... and that's an optional superboss fight.

With that said, I still think Mikumari is the hardest ES battle of the entire series. That's a small plus we got with Episode II (if I recall Mikumari isn't in the original Japanese version).

Orgulla and the sheer amount of extras were the only things that were great about episode II... Everything else was terrible to good...


Damn Straight... That voice actor managed to turn some quite mediocre lines into something quite stunning, and the highlight was when he would say Jan Sauer... I loved it.

Yah, Episode II still had several extras after beating the main game. In III on the other hand, loading the clear data doesn't do much, except for the data viewer (and the swimsuit cutscenes mode is really the only new thing in there).

I was kinda hoping that there would be another secret e-mail thingie to access a bonus website like there was in Episode II. But... no Bunnie e-mail in III... *sniff*

I forgot the one quote that made her a hit with a lot of people.

was it. . shut up and die, or take this and die? It was similar to that.

Albedo RULED in episode II. Oh my God. I actually had FUN dealing with the main antagonist of an RPG. His lines were just awesome and his voice actor was cool. I was dissappointed with his place in epIII because obviously, his story arc was over and he served as nothing more than a filler character.

It seems like I am the only one who thought Shions voice actor in EpII was alright. Even KOS-MOS. And her character design was very classy and mature. Shion EPIII looks great but stupid looking clothes.

Probably "take this and die!", though there are other quotes I liked better from her. Like the one prior to the battle "you leave me no choice but to rip you apart"... isn't she lovely? =p

Orgulla should have her own spin-off series... she is just your average 21st centuary schizophrenic cyborg trying to make it big in new york... with hillerious consequences... starts this Friday 8pm on ABC... no?

Joking aside I really wish we could have seen the story behind Orgulla... maybe if there is another Xeno series she can appear as a cameo... That would be awesome...

Namco, despite the fans loving episode III, seemed very adamant about not continuing with xeno-anything, so I wouldn't even bother with wishful thinking. I think Namco is mad because we were'nt going to settle for another craptastic Episode II engine. We wanted a fun game, while they wanted us to play an annoying game.


And then there was your old sig: "Don't worry, I'll kill you later".

Yes, that one too. I know all her quotes by heart, except for one that I can't understand. When she increases her poison effect she says something like "I will ...-ish that body!", but I can never hear it properly.

I never quite understood what that whole deal between her and Jr was... it was almost as if Jr had not ony met her before but had some backstory with her... it was cool scene to watch but jut plain didn't make sense... because I didn't know the backstory well enough on my first playthrough and because I still wasn't sure who all the characters (especially the villains) I thought that there was something I had missed between her and Jr but I'm pretty sure I'm not.