Does anyone else feel they altered U-DO's role in the series for some reason?

Now I have no proof of this it's just a thought.
Afterall, in some possible future, U-DO would battle KOS-MOS and destroy everything. It also appeared to use the planet Miltia as a body or weapon....
Also in EP1, it's portrayed as some sort of cosmic leech, feeding on those who want him and his power.
Then we have Pied Piper where he had Erich Webber/Voyager kill all those people and then just...left him. I believe Wilhelm commented that U-DO just wanted to know something.

Anyway, I just felt his general appearance and position in the story was changed. Possibly the suddenness of this was caused by the games being shortened to 3?

It's hard to say, because overall I think that many elements of the story were changed to finish the series for part 3. I feel that we got the basic plot we were going to learn overall for the saga (at least for Shion's story, because it was suppossed to go on much longer), but I think that many things were either cut or changed to do so. Thining back at Episode I, I always feel that there was a much more deeper and longer story thought up for originally before the saga went haywire, especially for U-DO. I mean, look at Episode I and compare that to what Episode III became. Sure, Episode III was a great game on its on right but it really does not even feel like it is part of the same series.

I'm sure there was plenty abou U-DO that had to get cut out, and was cut out by the time Episode 2 was released. I didn't get that rushed feeling from Episode 3, but there was a sense that the story could have been much deeper in terms of what had gone on in Episode 1.

I was honestly expecting something more like the fight against Deus for Episode 3's final boss, the only real part of the game I was disappointed by.

I'm just putting this here because it needs to be put somewhere...

Just a little babbling about U-DO...

Some argue the Zohar's power source is U-DO and nothing but. This is a viable theory but it seems not-completely-true to me. The fact is, the Zohar is just one of the things U-DO is connected with in this domain.

http://zarathustra.kaisho.org/chap3-12.php

Erich: U-DO…

Lactis: …U-DO?

Erich: It started with a trivial event. Driven by my curiosity, I invaded the U.M.N. root data.

Lactis: You mean you hacked into the U.M.N.’s core structure? Isn’t that dangerous!?

Erich: It is. Even I knew it was a stupid thing to do. That place is a Pandora’s box that must never be opened by humans. With every second that passes, the program’s structure evolves. Trying to understand it, I dove over and over, day and night, until I couldn’t even recognize my own existence anymore. There was something between me and that far-off structure… I became convinced it was something like 'the end of the world.'

It also seems implied in the XSIII Database that the UMN is Animus/Mary’s power
(under Vessels of Anima)

“causing half of Mary’s body (the Animus) to be dispersed across the area of the collective unconscious - in other words, the UMN.”

A similar relation between U-DO and chaos’ power of Anima is hinted at in the XSIII Database.
(Under chaos)

“He still exists as the universe’s failsafe. Because of his fate ordained by God-or perhaps because people struggling against their own fatesdesire his existence-his future form still lies in the chaotic darkness.”

We also have Wilhelm calling Anima "the body of God" and Zarathustra's complete bio in the database calling Anima "the power of God".

Finally we come to the Vessels thenselves as stated in the E.S. bio in the Database:
"since E.S. Units operate on energy supplied by the Zohar via the Vessels of Anima interface, their supply of energy is inherently limitless."

Then we have Abel and the Ark which serve as the real space and imaginary space observational terminals in this dimension.

So, U-DO is not just a powerful figure in the Zohar. It appears to have a relation to multiple things in this dimension that we can find.

So, the Zohar can’t “reach up and draw power from U-DO” in my mind. After all, the idea of Wilhelm’s Eternal Recurrence is:
(under Zarathustra in the Database)
“As observational terminals for God, Abel and the Ark (ie. U-DO) need to be sealed in lower dimensional space.”
Ie. What Wilhelm said “cover the eyes of God”

Then there’s the fact if the Zohar’s only power is the U-DO where does Omega Res Novae fit into this? Abel is U-DO. Yet it needs something else to channel U-DO’s power?

There are some bits to the Zohar=U-DO idea though. By U-DO’s/Abel’s word, “that song” appears to heal him. We know the Song is Lemmegeton which was used as a way to control the Zohar. But we also know from the Database that the Song of Nephilim doesn’t summon Gnosis but
(from the Database)
“The Gnosis appear simply because a door has been opened onto imaginary space as the result of U-DO activating in response to people who have made fragmentary contact with it through the Song.”

This applies to even when the Song is nowhere near the Zohar like in Episode I. The Song can contact with U-DO anywhere in space so U-DO’s relation to the power of the Zohar is still ambiguous.

We saw U-DO link with Albedo near the end of Episode II. But we know U-DO had already left an avatar in this dimension since the death of Earth. It also shares some relationship with the UMN which was around long before this incident. So, U-DO was in multiple locations in this dimension when Albedo drew the power he got.

We do know the Zohar going out of control on Earth was the cause of Abel, U-Do's real space avatar, appearing in this dimension, though.

Plus the fact I don't believe it was ever explained what happened with the two Shions and the Zohar that caused the Gnosis and Abel's Ark to appear.

There's simply too many pieces left unexplained in the end.

U-DO can be several “parts” in Xenosaga, though. Perhaps the Zohar represents its energy and power, Abel and the Ark its eyes and body and the UMN its mind?

Again, idle speculation.

The idea of U-DO and the alteration comes from Udo Dirkschneider of Accept and U.D.O. fame. Without Accept and solo project U.D.O. german heavy metal would never be what it is today and Xenosaga could have never came to be. The transition in game is meant to show the change from Accept to U.D.O.

This bears re-posting


Who is that?

Ok. German metal.





It all comes down that Xenosaga Episode 1 was cut in half, and Xenosaga Episode 2 was also half a game, with both of them together being the full thing. That cut out a good bit of material. Episode 3 was meant to be something else all together in the first place, so the whole set up of Episodes 1 and 2 had to be changed (probably in Ep. 1 + 2 for DS) slightly in order to accommodate Episode 3.

Remember that the DS game is actually CANON. Several events unfold rather differently in there, and assume that's what it would've been like if the first two episodes remained the first episode together. Relying on the first two episodes is relying on faulty information, sadly.

There's no doubt that U-DO's role had evolved, however.

Well, some kind of battle with U-DO was originally planned. Remember this: "Jr. & Albedo vs U-DO vs KOS-MOS 3rd armament (removed)". I'm still not sure what exactly that was supposed to be, but U-DO would have featured in battle, at least.

So.. those two vs U-DO..and U-DO versus KOS-MOS?

Or.. those two vs. U-DO..kill U-DO and then go up against KOS-MOS?

I guess KOS-MOS was meant to be an antagonist??

See, that's exactly what I keep wondering about. I dunno if it was supposed to be Jr. and Albedo working together to fight U-DO, which in turn might have been doing battle with KOS-MOS. Maybe you'd have to defeat U-DO with Jr. and Albedo before KOS-MOS ends up using that planet-obliterating attack on U-DO. Or maybe I have too much fantasy. xD

It seems the answer to "why" it was not put in, is clear. Monolift had no idea how to build up on that. It doesn't make sense.