Ah yes yes. That reference I /do/ know without having played the game.

Now, boss-fight-wise...I couldn't stand Mai. "GO LEUPOLD GO LEUPOLD GO LEUPOLD"...I think I fought them like, five times before being them.

[Yes, I'm making petty conversation to keep the thread alive...so shush]

...Am I the only one that thought the scene [spoiler]"On the Terrace at Night" w/ Shion in a white shirt and Kev-Kev shirtless[/spoiler] was hot? *smacked*

So uh... what's the age difference between Kevin and Shion, anyway?

[spoiler]I'm sure certain people know what I'm getting at[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Well, in the flashbacks of Kev-Kev and Shion, he looked fourteen. and she looked...eight O_o so five years...? Unless I'm totally missing something [and I usually am][/spoiler]

So 'parently in the distant future, there will remain only one black person in the entire universe, and he'll look and act exactly like Morpheus. XD

LMAO!

[spoiler]Jin x Pellegri soap opera! XD[/spoiler]

Well, I'm well into the Cathedral on Michtam now, and I can definitely say that episode III is by far the best of the trilogy, with I being a close 2nd and II lagging behind. Pending the ending, of course... Although I do think III was a bit on the easy side - especially compared to II, which was often frustrating.

...I still need to give Episodes I and II real good plays. In episode I I'm at [spoiler] the fight where Cherenkov is Gnosified, and I'm stuck...[/spoiler], II I've barely touched, and III I'm close to beating, so I can't really give a valid opinion...though III does seem easier when compared to the first two, probably because the battle system is more along the lines of standard turn based RPG fare. [But still hella fun]

LONG ENDING IS LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG

Ultimately, though, it was reasonably satisfying. More people died/were lost than I would've liked, but them's the breaks.

I do wish they'd done a better job setting the stage for the story of Xenogears. Of course, the games being published by different companies means they couldn't lay things out explicitly, but it would've been nice if they'd hinted at the coming of events leading up to the launch of the Eldritch.

Oh I loved those games. Well, more like I adored Episode 3 because that's the only game I played. But I heard how hard and short was Episode 2 and how awful was the music (seriously, that Hosoe guy, what the hell did he do !? That's not quality music he did, that's garbage.). Good thing Kajiura was the main composer. She rocks.

Episode 1 seems to be good... but hard. And I saw how the music (gorgeous, thanks to Yasunori Mitsuda) wasn't used nicely (walking/running in silent places seems pretty depressing to me... and I doubt it was an artistic choice...).
Well, basically, Xenosaga was a game series (kinda like a TV show based on a movie) based on Xenogears's mythology. And I think Gears and Saga really have similar flaws and qualities (contrary to some people who claims that Saga is complete garbage and that Gears is just perfect... well, no, sorry... Saga is NOT garbage and as much as I love Gears, it still is a pretty flawed game). I just think Saga is better when it comes to team bonding. And, we can say Albedo is one of the best and creepiest villains ever created, I think (and he still managed to make me cry). And KOS-MOS is a monster. And Shion's a geek (she can be mean or annoying but I think those things make her a very human person... considering the life she had). Yep, the ladies made me happier in Saga than in Gears (I'll explain below). Well, minus the fanservice, at least.

I think Xenosaga must be the game that made me the most emotional... Xenogears was something else... it was mystical and very inspiring (really, maybe because it's a flawed game with a brilliant core... so my imagination just can run wild and get rid of what I think are flaws or bad choices... such as Giant Chu-Chu, the Gears design *and the cheesy assemblage scenes that goes with it* the lack of capable women *but they do have potential, that's why it makes me even more irritated to know that Yui for example never got to get out of her kitchen during the game... while she totally kicked her husband's arse at sword fighting when she met him... she also lead the entire Lahan's village people to Shevat but of course, we didn't got to see it*, the lack of real team bonding, some characters that deserved more development than what they got *such as Krelian, Rico, Jesiah, Billy, Maria and Emeralda, and the 4 Elements girls*... plus some incoherent moments in the story *why do we have to glimb Babel Tower to get to Shevat if our Gears can fly by themselves ? Plus Citan probably knew how to contact Shevat. He probably did it at the beginning when his wife brought the village people to Shevat...* and disk 2 where important events are explained in a flash) and everything but it never put me to tears (maybe with better graphics, completely voiced characters and a better direction it would, I don't know).
But I know that I loved the love story between Fei and Elly, the bad guys, the scifi/mystical vibes and that plot that covers so many years.

Also, I wanted to say that an arranged orchestral album named Myth is gonna be released February the 23rd. Yes, Xenogears does a bit of a come back, kinda. I can't wait.

Here's the tracklist :

01 Dark Daybreak - Orchestra Version -
02 My Village is Number One - Orchestra Version -
03 Flight - Orchestra Version -
04 Unstealable Jewel - Orchestra Version -
05 Stage of Death - Orchestra Version -
06 The Wind Calls to Shevat in the Blue Sky - Orchestra Version -
07 October Mermaid - Piano Version -
08 Bonds of Sea and Flame - Orchestra Version -
09 The Gentle Breeze Sings - Orchestra Version -
10 In a Prison of Peace and Regret - Orchestra Version -
11 lost... Broken Shards - Orchestra Version -
12 The Beginning and the End - Orchestra Version -
13 SMALL TWO OF PIECES - Orchestra Version -
14 Faraway Promise - Piano Version -

Here's the official website where you can hear the beginning of the first track : http://www.square-enix.co.jp/music/sem/pag...ears_orchestra/
Here's a little Youtube video where you see Mitsuda and the orchestra (they play a bit of Bonds of Sea and Fire... well it's Flame now on the tracklist) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=350qXLzCUBM

Also, Xenoblade (originally named Monado) came out in Japan a few months ago and apparently, it's like FF12 met Xeno or something (which means good story and characters but with a huge and lively world, and tons of quests *I'm not exagerating, it's really huge, near 400 or something*... and more gaming/exploring time than watching cutscenes time for once). The game isn't related at all to Xenosaga or Gears (you could have doubts with Xenosaga... but this time, there is no doubt at all, NO relation between Xenoblade, Gears or Saga) but people said some themes are similar. Most people said it's a really good game. And it's on Wii (just like Sakaguchi next attempt at Final Fantasy with The Last Story).

And I learned recently that Xenogears is gonna come out on the American PSN... along with Vagrant Story, Legend of Mana and Threads of Fate.

Also, I discovered a brand new Xenogears fansite and forum lately (a pretty good, agreable site I should add... and kinda complete too... this is nice). It needs more members so... if you love those games as much as me, why not join ?
It's here : http://xenogears-fansite.com/index.html