Now let me begin by telling you that Xenosaga is not a game that you play for a few minutes and can simply walk away from. First of all this is the type of game that sucks you in and will not let you go, until it is some odd time in the very early morning; and secondly Xenosaga has the most cinematic cut scenes I have ever seen in a videogame. At times it feels like you are watching your game instead of playing, however, with a story that is as deep and rewarding to watch unfold as Xenosaga has, this is definitely not a bad thing at all.

The story in Xenosaga is a vast and immersive one; to fill you in all the details of this game would be virtually like writing a novel. However, here is a quick glance at the immense storyline. Xenosaga is set 4000 years in the distant future. Having giving up the planet Earth, mankind now lives in the vast region of outer space. Even in space humanity cannot escape war and turmoil, a hostile race by the name of the Gnosis, attack without warning or any apparent reason. After rediscovering an ancient and powerful artifact called, the Zohar, with hopes of unlocking its secrets and its power; unknowingly, humanity has just begun to unravel the mysteries of the universe.

Graphically Xenosaga looks and feels very much like a 3D anime. The characters are extremely detailed, however, just like with most animes the backgrounds and settings are mostly dull and lifeless. Thankfully that doesn’t detract from the game or the story one bit at all. The animations in Xenosaga are done fairly well. The only complaint that I have with the animations is the way the characters hands interact with the objects the he or she is picking up or holding. When a person in Xenosaga picks up something, the object appears to be glued to the hand of that individual. However, the backgrounds and the way characters interact with some inanimate objects were the only gripes that I could find in this otherwise gorgeous and mesmerizing game.

Now when you are not watching the game you are actually playing it. The gameplay in Xenosaga is almost as deep as the story that it is in. In Xenosaga there are no random encounters, you can see your enemy walking around and can attempt to avoid it if you want to, this makes it actually possible to clear out an entire area without the worries of randomly fighting every two or three steps you take. The battle system in Xenosaga is laid out like a traditional RPG turn-based system, meaning you select what each of characters will do and you watch the round unfold, depending on what actions you asked your characters to perform and what his or her stats determines when he or she will move/attack during that round. However, there are a few different twists in Xenosaga’s combat system, which sets it apart from every other traditional RPG.

Your actions in combat are determined by something called, Action Points or AP for short, your AP replenishes to its starting value at the beginning of each round. Different actions cost different amounts of AP. With your AP you can pull off a string of attack that spends all of your Action Points for that round. During battle you can expend all of your allotted AP for that round or you can cancel your combo and save the remaining AP for the next round or until you have enough AP to unleash a more powerful and devastating attack. Also during combat you have to keep an eye on something that is called Ether Points, or EP. Some weapons or certain attacks require you to spend EP as well, and naturally once you run out of EP you cannot perform those attacks anymore.

And of course what anime game would be complete without giant robot combat, something which Xenosaga has plenty of. The Anti-Gnosis Weapon Systems, A.G.W.S. for short, are the giant mechs in Xenosaga. Combat in these metal giants operate fundamentally the same as when your character is on foot, however you cannot use ether attacks nor items while piloting an A.G.W.S.

Also Xenosaga allows you quite a bit of freedom when it comes to customizing your characters or A.G.W.S. Upgrading weapons, tech attacks, EP attacks are all ways you can upgrade your characters. Furthermore, you can share your EP among the characters in your party, helping you to build the less powerful characters or the characters that cannot pilot the A.G.W.S up more quickly. In addition, you can upgrade your characters’ A.G.W.S’s weapons and accessories as well. The amount of customization in Xenosaga really allows you to get into the story more, while you develop the characters as you intrepid.

Xenosaga has that extra special something that has been missing from RPGs for the last couple of years, an enthralling, profound story that leaves you truly wanting more. Added with a unique and deep combat system that compliments the story and Xenosaga’s enriching world perfectly. However, if you don’t play games for their stories then avoid Xenosaga at all cost, because this is truly the definition of a story driven game. But if a story is what you want then a story is what you will get, with hours of cinema to help deliver this well thought out and clever story, Xenosaga will not leave you in the slightest bit disappointed. However, after unraveling the many secrets of the universe only one question remains, how long do I have to wait for Xenosaga chapter 2?