Xenosaga

[Nightbat]

So,...

I may have never played the game or got to know the backstory, but the random

artwork I found on the net always kept me interested in a possible anime.

Well, Ep. 1 has been available as fansub and I jumped on the chance to check it out.

I'm not gonna comment on the story after 1 ep. though it makes me more curious

than the "Grenadier"-anime

But I think I can comment on the animation:

can you say: Low Budget!??? since that the only thing that comes up in

my mind

The characters look a little better than those of the 1985 transformers series.

The backgrounds are surpassed by Macross TV.

The computeranimations are utter crap!

Lipsynch is worse than those kung-fu movies

Oh sure, we've been spoiled with the new generation of animation quality, but

c'mon: It looks 20 years old!

I don't know, but it looks to me like waste of money, or a waste of bandwidth

First Ep's always have to lure you in, but this makes me look away

Any thoughts?

[F360°]

well, I checked it out too, it's not that bad,, just not as good as I wanted it to be.

This is just the first ep, give it a bit more time, and you might get use to the animation.

I remember the first ep of Hunter x hunter was so sloooowww and boring.

You might be judging this a bit harsh too early.

[Nightbat]

You might be judging this a bit harsh too early.

Oh, but as I said, the story got me curious

But I consider the animation quality just slightly above M7

and be honest: that's pretty bad

I won't axe it just yet, Grenadier is boring and has bland animation, and even that

i'm giving a fair chance

[haro genki]

Eh, I guess the Xenosaga fans can just stick to *watching* the game

[chrono]

Eh, I guess the Xenosaga fans can just stick to *watching* the game

Pretty much.

The anime has too much fan service to be taken seriously. I'm not into fan service type anime anyways. As for the designs..... well they are taken from the game which is several years old, but it doesn't look like it's that old!

I just think that people expect more from every single anime they seen then they really should.

[Gui]

Is it the same serie than the one whose .torrent file is attached to this post?

'Cause I believe this one is complete (13 eps)

Edit: attachment removed...

Edited January 12, 2005 by Gui

[rikiryou]

Nope. I believe that one you posted are the scenes from the game itself, made into episodes.

This new Xenosaga animation's first episode just released last week or so, and is animated by Toei if I remember correctly. (Which probably explains that 'lack of quality' if compared to, say, Bones.)

Edited January 12, 2005 by rikiryou

[Ido]

Yes low budget, is what come in my mind when i watched it, the quality is real bad, I don't like even the changes in the story, there is only one word for this series: CRAP, the games original movies are 10 times and more better, play the game and stop.

This is my opinion as Xenogears, Xenosaga and general anime fan.

[Hikuro]

I saw just a bit, quick screen thru this morning, I think if you take the game animation style and you turned it into a series, this is probably 90% accurate to what it would look like on an anime point of view...now for the episode II game, that might be different....but thus far....I think it was nicely done in transending from game to anime.

But I haven't watched it yet so I'm making an early assumption.

[Sage58]

Xenogears is my favorite game of all time. Because of college, I haven't had time to play any of the Xenosaga series. Still, I jumped on the animation the moment it was online. I had high hopes. They fell off a cliff, dying painfully on jagged rocks below.

I've yet to play the Xenosaga games, and I'd like to know how close the story and / or storytelling is. It looks pretty clear the animation was made for someone familiar with the series. Much of the first episode is nameless characters exchanging knowing glances and speaking in cryptic code. Spooky! Eh. It comes off as cheap. The animation is hideous. The music sounds completely out of tune.

I enjoyed the new Digimon movie a thousand times more. Seriously. X-Evolution, anyone?

[Nightbat]

Is it the same serie than the one whose .torrent file is attached to this post?

'Cause I believe this one is complete (13 eps)

Gui !!!

Please remove your attachment

We don't want MW to get in trouble for copyright infringement

[Hikuro]

Wha......? Copyright Infringment....? Is it liscened here in the states?

[lord_breetai]

Well I'm enjoying this show... it's a lot better then "playing" the game... with it's hour of cutscenes for every 20 minutes of gameplay. The design work is nice... and the animation dosn't look too bad to me. I'm enjoying it so far.

[Gui]

Is it the same serie than the one whose .torrent file is attached to this post? 

'Cause I believe this one is complete (13 eps)

Gui !!!

Please remove your attachment

We don't want MW to get in trouble for copyright infringement

Done

My sincere apologies to the MW staff: I didn't think it'd be a problem...

[Gui]

Nope. I believe that one you posted are the scenes from the game itself, made into episodes.

Maybe, I didn't download it to check out yet...

[chrono]

Wha......? Copyright Infringment....? Is it liscened here in the states?

No not yet.

But there's this little problem with International Copyright and oh about 12 different other laws that protects ALL tv materials from being retransmitted or re-distrubted(spl).

[Sage58]

Gui accidentally posted a link to a torrent of cutscenes from the game (available in the US), presuming it was the TV animation (not out in the US).

[Sage58]

I watched the first episode a few more times, and I've slightly warmed up. It's serviceable; however, any upgrade in my opinion's probably because of memories of "Xenogears". The first episode does too much. It tries to encompass so very much of the "Xenosaga" world that nothing comes off as deep. The different politics and players should be brought out slowly. Instead, we're give small capsules of all the protagonists and antagonists without any real worth assigned to them.

"Here's this guy... He's here, too... This guy's a traitor, but don't tell anyone... Here's someone else for a few seconds... Look, boobies!"

Instead of there being any drama, we're bombarded with meaningless introductions that do nothing to advance the plot. If the story was stripped down with the different tangents left for later, it would have had a lot more full feel. (However, the fanservice with the 14-year-old was unconscionably in bad taste -- poorly animated, too.)

[Ido]

Who saw the latest episode? Man...they are killing Xenosaga episode I, they cutted some great scene on the vector ship and before, and filled them with a lot of things that have nothing to do to the original story, maybe that scene were too much for a tv series? I loved them, especially when KOSMOS kill Virgil, now Virgil is safe and go on the Elsa instead of cherekov...OMG

Stupid cheap animation

ps

the vector ships main cannon.... they remind me of something Macross.

[Nightbat]

Well, after 4 eps I'm pretty sure to drop it

This could be a great anime, but,... it looks like crap!!!

I don't know how low the budget is, but if this is standard "Toei Animation" material,

then "Mamotte Shugogetten" must be their best work

It's just too damn sad to look at

Maybe we're spoiled by todays standards, but this is made today

It shouldn't look older than Dirty Pair or Macross

[Druna Skass]

Well it's gotten my curiosity simply because several things in the stroy got changed and I want to see how much of a diffrence it has with the game. For example Virgil was supposed to get killed on the Woglinde but instead he got off with Shion and Allen.

Man the AGWS look like crap, I mean seriously i took me maybe five minutes to tell what units those were. It also pissed me off that they didn't use music from the game. I mean when KOS MOS busted in with those two triple gatlings I was dissappointed to no end that it wasn't her theme that was playing.

Edited February 2, 2005 by Druna Skass

[Hikuro]

Well to someone like myself whose only really played the Xenogears game...I'm sorta glad I'm able to watch this series and not the game...there's no way I would play over 80 hours of something...I have a hard enough time with 20 hours...20 hours would take me nearly a year's time...80 I don't wanna think about.

The animation is sorta growing to me...I mean I've seen worse (dog warriors....cough) and its not utterly boring in my opinion....so I can watch it. Shame my DSL is down, I want Episode 4...

[Akilae]

well... the animation in The Hakkenden wasn't bad except for one or two funky episodes that seemed like they were taken straight out of a child's sketchbook.

Xenosaga.. well. as somebody else already said, until they take the anime past Episode I, I'll stick to my in game cinematics... so pretty... (that and the Ep. I movie DVD coming with Ep. II )

[kung flu]

Is this game any good, I'm thinking of getting all three parts.

[David Hingtgen]

Asking if XS is any good, is like asking if Star Wars is good. Each one varies quite a bit.

I think XS1 was the best (story-wise, play-wise it was average), followed by XS3 (best play, second for story). XS2 was a waste---the entire game was spent on exploring a minor side-story of secondary characters and the battle system was torture.

[kung flu]

Asking if XS is any good, is like asking if Star Wars is good. Each one varies quite a bit.

I think XS1 was the best (story-wise, play-wise it was average), followed by XS3 (best play, second for story). XS2 was a waste---the entire game was spent on exploring a minor side-story of secondary characters and the battle system was torture.

Sorry, what i should have asked was "are these games any good?"

I keep seeing a lot of Xenosaga stuff on the internet, but now i found a place selling all three in a bundle. Is it a action RPG type game like Shining tears?

[wolfx]

Sorry, what i should have asked was "are these games any good?"

I keep seeing a lot of Xenosaga stuff on the internet, but now i found a place selling all three in a bundle. Is it a action RPG type game like Shining tears?

Maybe "interactive movie/story book with rpg sequences" would fit its description more.

I finished Xenosaga 1, but when i was 2 hours into Xenosaga 2....i felt like i couldn't go on. Should i even bother with 3? By not playing 2 i'm already missing a huge chunk of the storyline.

But Momo...she's so Moe.....

[Effect]

Maybe "interactive movie/story book with rpg sequences" would fit its description more.

That is exactly how this series should be described. I've never felt more ripped off in relation to a game then I did with Xenosaga 1.

[kung flu]

So i take it, it's a crap game then?

[Effect]

Not so much. It wasn't bad in the sense it was a poorly done RPG or didn't look good (it was strong in those areas) but because it was barely a game I feel. You did far more watching of cut scenes than you did of playing the game. It was the cut scenes that moved the game along and what you did gameplay wise was pretty much to get you to the cut scenes.

Edited January 15, 2007 by Effect

[David Hingtgen]

wolfx--not at all! Forget 2, play 3. As I said, 2 was a waste, there is NOTHING about Gnosis, Shion, KOS-MOS. Here's the spoiler free version of XS 2:

Shion meets her brother, they talk. Flashbacks to the incident on Miltia 14 years ago (all of which will be re-flash-backed and expanded on in XS 3). Lots of stuff about Gaignun, Jr, MOMO, and Albedo. That last sentence is 90% of the game.

And bigger mecha are introduced.

Basically, it's all character backstory, mostly Gaignun/Jr/Albedo. There is little to no actual plot about the whole Gnosis thing. Even though "KOS-MOS and the Gnosis" is supposed to be the main overall plot of the series.

[wolfx]

wolfx--not at all! Forget 2, play 3. As I said, 2 was a waste, there is NOTHING about Gnosis, Shion, KOS-MOS. Here's the spoiler free version of XS 2:

Shion meets her brother, they talk. Flashbacks to the incident on Miltia 14 years ago (all of which will be re-flash-backed and expanded on in XS 3). Lots of stuff about Gaignun, Jr, MOMO, and Albedo. That last sentence is 90% of the game.

And bigger mecha are introduced.

Basically, it's all character backstory, mostly Gaignun/Jr/Albedo. There is little to no actual plot about the whole Gnosis thing. Even though "KOS-MOS and the Gnosis" is supposed to be the main overall plot of the series.

Hmmm..then maybe i shall play 3 then. I'll read the story synopsis for the gaignun/jr/albedo arc since that arc kinda interests me.

Kung Flu: Despite its shortcomings, i feel xenosaga is worth a buy if not only for the epic story.

[David Hingtgen]

Oh, one more thing:

XS 3 has a long summary of each previous ep, chapter by chapter. It could take quite a while to read. It's basically a collection of stills from all the cutscenes, and lots of text explaining what's going on. It's available immediately, you don't have to win the game first on anything. If you played 1, you're plenty familiar enough with the characters to follow the summary of 2, in 3.

[kung flu]

I just watched the first 5 episodes of the anime, its kind of put me off thinking about buying the games.