Ok, screw my last post in the XS2 topic, I decided to play Xenosaga 3 now. =) I just finished the E.S. battle against Margulis, and then I saved my game.

So far, the battles are much quicker and smoother than the Xenosaga 2 battles. And I'm really enjoying them to the point where I actually look for random enemies. I also try to get the Finish Strike bonus on every battle I fight, including boss fights. =) I havent gotten any new equipment other than what came with my Clear File bonus, but it's great that equipment is in this game nonetheless.

I have a semi-understanding of what's going on right now in the story, but I admit, I didn't finish Missing Year yet. But if someone's willing to fill me in on what happened during that part, that'd really help. So far, it seems that Rennes-le-Chateau is the Ormus' homeland and has great value to what's going on in the plot. It also looks like Jr and company are about to land there to investigate. Shion's heading to Fifth Jerusalem to meet up with Allen and KOS-MOS. And supposedly Vector's beginning a new project for a new battle android (T-Elos, perhaps?).

All in all, I haven't played enough of it yet to have a fully concrete opinion, but it looks like a definite improvement over the alleged "bad" Xenosaga 2. Can't wait to play more. =)

What happened during the Missing Year will at some point be available for reading in the game's database (don't remember when exactly).

Something I liked about the story scenes are the so-called "textbox-conversations". It reminded me of Xenogears. As a matter of fact, there are a couple of interesting Xenogears references in XSIII. But if you haven't played Xenogears, you're not missing out on anything storywise, but you do miss out on the greatest RPG ever made. *end of commercial* =P

I've played so much of Xenosaga 3 since my last post, it's not even funny. xD I'm at the part where I have to invade the Merkabah.

The battle system is definitely smoother and more fun than in Episode 2, and I'm really making progress on the Skill Line, getting my characters stronger attacks and abilities. I'm not a big fan of HaKox, but I suppose I have to play farther into it if I want to get the rest of the Segment Adresses. x_x The dungeons aren't as puzzle-heavy as they were in Episode 2, but still fun to explore. All in all, the gameplay is just right.

The story has had a lot of crazy twists. Virgil has gotten a lot of resolution as a character, and he's probably one of my favorite in the game. And even crazier was to find out the truths about the people involved in Miltia 15 years ago. But I can't friggin believe that it was SHION who summoned the friggin' Gnosis back then. I'm betting it was her unique ability to make contact with U-DO which also allowed her to communicate with Nephilim and Febronia. But I still dont understand the concept of these Subconsious Domains and how they can cause these outlandish phenomena. But I guess its all good. =p

All in all, I'm loving this game. If it just had some GS Campaigns like in episode 2, it'd be perfect.

Make sure to get Kos-Mos Blood Dancer skill. I think it's the last one of her skills on the bottom row. It increases attack power for a few turns by a lot. Very useful.

Heh, I liked HaKox. I finished every single level of it, which for the most part isn't too hard to pull off. There are a few challenging levels, but nothing impossible. May I add that the translation "HaKox" is truly horrible? It was originally called GeMix, which sounds much better imo. I mean, seriously... "Ha-Kox", I don't have to spell it out, do I? =P

As for the story, it only gets better the more you progress. I think I have 6-7 separate savefiles of boss fights and/or story moments that I liked. =p

I hardly used the skills at the end of the lines at all in the game... In fact I used them only in one fight and that was against the Erde Kaiser whatever. Towards the end of the fight I had a bunch of MP to waste so I thought I'd try them out. Some are much more useful then others but I really didn't need to use them throughout the game and I most certainly didn't over-level or anything.

Me and HaKox just don't mix... I never played it much and I just decided to screw finishing the segment addresses and getting Jr's final weapon instead of forcing myself to play it. The only other thing I have left to do is get Ziggy's final weapon as well but I don't see the point. Chaos, Shion and KOS-MOS basically took down everything at the end without breaking much of a sweat. I guess I could finish all the skill lines with all the extra's but without any amazing secret bosses to fight, I don't see the point.

I liked HaKox as well, because actually it was pretty simple and it was funny to use all the different characters. One of the better minigames of the series. Though Xenocard from Xenosaga 1, is still the best by far.
I liked Xenosaga 3 a lot, in the last dungeon the story gets a little too convuluted, with some Christianity mixed in. Overall though it's a great game, and if you skip 2 and play 1 and 3 you wont miss out on much to tell you the truth. The best part of Xenosaga 2 is Jr.'s backstory with Albedo and Nigredo or the introduction of Jin and his ordeals with Margulis. Jin and Jr. vs. Albedo are the only real interesting things about two. Ormus sucks.

You know looking back, I agree with Hoodman. I think I've tried to convince myself to like Xenosaga 2 but...I don't think I can. It was just too messed up of a game. Some parts were okay, but most of it was bad. The only interesting thing I found about Xenosaga 2 was basically the ending scenes which were cool to watch. Kind of like the whole game acted as some anime filler episode or something...is that weird to say? Being introduced to Jin was very cool in Xenosaga 2 as well, one of my favorite characters. But I could never stand to use him as an on screen character. When he ran you could see his inner thigh.

My first play through of Xenosaga 3, I hated Hakox, probably because I didn't spend a lot of time with it and couldn't understand the mechanics. I quit after not being able to beat the Tutorial world. I know, keep your comments to yourselves please XD. I think I really only enjoy Hakox for the character comments. Currently I'm only far enough to have unlocked up to KOS-MOS or something. So far her death comment is the funniest. The first time I heard it I laughed pretty hard, I wasn't expecting 'that' out of her at all haha.

Mostly, I love the game, though it does feel slightly squished in a way. Not to mention a very large portion of the story isn't even spent in real time. I felt the Testament's could have been used a little more, not so many main villains had to be taken care of. Seemed like they put two episodes together except kept only the most pertinent plot points for the two, mashing them together. Then again it was the fact all of that was put in that gave it Xeno's classic epic feel. Though I thought Episode I felt plenty epic and nothing was strained in that game. And Xeno Poker will always be my favorite mini game. Usually I hate all mini games in RPG's with a passion. That one was pretty damn addicting.

I get what Flame is saying too, with those end skill lines. They seem a little overrated to me, and overly expensive too. Plus some of those extra's costs were a little ridiculous too. Granted Last Ally (or whatever its called) is very nice, 999 skill points to get it? Jeebus. With Omega Id and Erde Kaiser Sigma out of the way, there isn't too much point in it, unless you want to do everything. Its a shame you need to get 99 of those sellable items for Ziggy's final weapon too. Those would sell for a pretty penny.

wow it's been like 3 years since I was here. lol, I forgot all about this site. any ways, I'm so sad theres no more Xenosaga series... I bought the 3rd game on it's release date and beat it in less than a month. I was really into. I was so glad that the gameplay was one of the center attention for upgrades because the last two titles had very slow gameplay. I liked the story line and the characters (more Kos-Mos) thats one reason why I forced myself to play the first two titles. but I was really impressed by the gameplay in the last title. it was just awesome. and since then, I don't think I've played a good RPG game..