Xenosaga
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Xenosaga (ゼノサーガ Zenosāga?) is primarily a series of video games developed by Monolith Soft and published by Namco. Xenosaga's main story is in the form of a trilogy of PlayStation 2 video games. Several side stories and spinoff projects have also been developed, as well an anime adaptation.
The Xenosaga series serves as a spiritual successor to the game Xenogears, which was released in 1998 for the PlayStation by Square (now Square Enix). Outside of allusions, stylistic connections, and design similarities, there is no relationship between the two storylines. The creator of both Xenogears and Xenosaga is Tetsuya Takahashi, who left Squaresoft in 1998 along with Hirohide Sugiura. Using funds from Namco, they started Monolith Soft and the Xenosaga project.
The first game in the primary trilogy, Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht, was released in February 2002 in the Japanese market, and then in February 2003 in the American market. Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse was released in June 2004 in Japan and February 2005 in North America. Xenosaga: The Animation, an anime based on Episode I, premiered on TV Asahi in Japan on January 5, 2005. Xenosaga: Pied Piper, a 3 chapter-long cellphone-based game depicting the history of cyborg "Ziggurat 8" 100 years before the start of Episode I, was released in Japan in July 2004. Pied Piper was not released in the United States. Released in July 6th 2006, Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra is the final title in the Xenosaga series, effectively cutting the initial projection of the series in half (see section). A retelling of the first two episodes (titled Xenosaga I & II) was released on the Nintendo DS in March 2006.
All three episodes of the main Xenosaga trilogy are named after the books of Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche. The first episode is named after The Will to Power, a book published posthumously by his sister Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche. Several Nietzschean concepts and references appear throughout the series.
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[edit] Story
[edit] Plot summary
It is the year T.C. 4767, and mankind exists on distant planets and artificial colonies. Earth is seemingly gone; it has been erased from starmaps and renamed "Lost Jerusalem". The capital of all known space is Fifth Jerusalem, where the Galaxy Federation supposedly keeps watch over mankind.
For the past fourteen years, a mysterious enemy known as the Gnosis has attacked man's colonies seemingly indiscriminately. It is largely believed that the Gnosis were brought into the universe by a scientist named Joachim Mizrahi during the Miltian Conflict of T.C. 4753, but there is more to that story than the public really knows.
Since its discovery on Lost Jerusalem, an artifact known as the Zohar has been highly sought after, despite having caused the disappearance of Earth. Several factions — chiefly the underground Ormus society and the aforementioned Galaxy Federation — wish to harness its power. Both groups believe that the Zohar's significance is threefold; is a power source, the cause of the Gnosis crisis, and the key to U-DO, a being from a higher dimension. Thus, the two factions believe that the Zohar could be the key to the Gnosis destruction and a pathway to unlimited power. At the same time, the Kukai Foundation, an independent organization secretly founded by the autonomous Second Miltian government, also seeks to gather the Zohar and the Zohar Emulators while investigating the conspiracy surrounding them.
Since the age of Lost Jerusalem, many researchers have studied and attempted to control the Zohar. Among the results of this research was the development of several Zohar Emulators. However, the original Zohar's power still eclipses the energy output of any known Emulator, despite the fact that one of the Emulators caused the disappearance of the planet Ariadne. More importantly, no Emulator is capable of the true function of the Zohar.
As a result, the Ormus society and the Galaxy Federation are obsessed with finding the original Zohar that was sealed away on Miltia at the end of the Miltian Conflict. However, the key to unlocking Miltia and the Original Zohar is contained within the Y-Data, which is hidden within the mind of a Realian called MOMO. In order to retrieve the Y-Data, Ormus hatches a plot against the Galaxy Federation and its allies by using a series of dummy organizations and insiders, as well as its military force, the U-TIC Organization and an enigmatic figure known as Albedo. In turn, the Galaxy Federation employs a cyborg named Ziggurat 8 to rescue MOMO and act as her bodyguard.
Meanwhile, Vector Industries, the largest corporation in existence and the primary arms manufacturer for the Galaxy Federation, is currently researching new ways to use nanotechnology to build an unstoppable anti-gnosis battle android, code-named KOS-MOS. This is quite unusual, since androids have been replaced for many years by artificial life-forms known as Realians. However, Vector Industries and their head of first R&D division, Shion Uzuki, have other ideas. Shion, a simple software researcher travelling on the starship Woglinde, becomes involved in a conspiracy not only to control the mysterious Gnosis and Original Zohar, but to reshape the destiny of all mankind.
Detailed information on the storyline aspects of Xenosaga is available at Xenosaga lists.
[edit] Playable characters
Xenosaga features a cast that is slowly introduced as the series develops. The following is a brief description of the playable characters featured in the series, in order of playability. Lt. Virgil, Mary Godwin, Allen Ridgeley, Miyuki Itsumi, and Canaan are only playable for a short period of time; therefore, they will be listed last.
Shion Uzuki — The chief engineer of Vector Industries' first R&D division, Shion is a young woman who is the lead designer in the KOS-MOS project and also specializes in Realian technology. However, during events that take place between Episodes II and III, Shion distances herself from Vector. Shion is ignorant to the fact that her role in the story is greater than it appears.
KOS-MOS — KOS-MOS is a female battle android developed by Vector Industries (primarily Shion and Kevin Winnicot). Although her development was delayed by an incident two years prior to Episode I, she becomes fully functional during the Woglinde disaster. KOS-MOS has a strong loyalty to Shion that is only overruled by unknown commands from Vector Industries.
Ziggurat 8 — A humanoid cyborg who wishes to become a complete machine so he will no longer remember what it was to be human, or his tragic past. Ziggurat 8 ("Ziggy") befriends MOMO while rescuing her from the U-TIC asteroid "Pleroma" during Episode I. Ziggy's past rises again in several instances, primarily in Episode III.
MOMO — A female 100-series Observational Realian developed by Joachim Mizrahi and modeled after his daughter Sakura, MOMO is captured by the U-TIC Organization because she carries valuable information: the Y-Data. MOMO soon befriends Ziggurat 8 when he rescues her from Pleroma.
chaos — An enigmatic figure who appears to be a silver-haired teenager (a flashback scene reveals that he hasn't aged since the Miltian Conflict). A member of the Elsa crew, chaos' origins are unknown. However, he does possess the mysterious power to destroy Gnosis with the touch of his hand.
Jr. — A U.R.T.V. unit who played an integral role in the Miltian Conflict, Jr. is actually a man trapped in a child's body due to his gene modification. Currently, Jr. is a leader of the Kukai Foundation, which is run by his fellow U.R.T.V., Gaignun Kukai.
Jin Uzuki — Shion Uzuki's older brother, Jin Uzuki runs a bookstore on Second Miltia. However, he was once a sword-wielding Federation commander who attempted to unlock the truth behind the Miltian Conflict. In Episode II, he joins the quest to confirm what he learned about the Conflict.
Lt. Luis Virgil — A (former) soldier in the Miltian government, and a veteran in the Miltian Conflict fourteen year prior to Episode I. On board the Woglinde during the Gnosis attack, Virgil is playable for a short time, until he is eventually killed by KOS-MOS. He reappears later as the blue testament.
Mary Godwin — Second in Command of the Durandal and chief of the Kukai Foundation's Strategy devision. On the U-TIC Battleship in Episode I, Mary is a playable character, but does not have an in-battle character model. Instead, she pilots a pink A.G.W.S. unit in every battle.
- With Mary, a Federation Soldier is also playable. But, like Mary, has no character model and pilots an A.G.W.S in battle. This soldier seems to have no connection to the story at all.
Canaan — Introduced in a flashback at the beginning of Episode II, Canaan is a Realian who was involved in the Miltian Conflict. He is a mysterious special type of Realian and was unaffected by the phenomenon which caused standard Realians to go berserk during the incident. Canaan accompanied chaos on a mission to secretly infiltrate Militia and assist the U.R.T.V.s. During the mission, he came into contact with Jin Uzuki and accepted a record of the Y Data into his own memory bank. In Episode III, Canaan joins Shion in her quest.
Allen Ridgeley — Shion's assistant and friend, Allen is the second in command of the KOS-MOS project. Although two years older than Shion, he is relatively new to Vector Industries and is her junior in the organization. Allen often acts shy around Shion because he is in love with her, although she is rather oblivious to this fact. Allen joins the party in Episode III to act as a support (yet rather obsolete) in the past Miltia whilst infiltrating Labryinthos a second time.
Miyuki Itsumi — Another member of Vector Industries, and something of a fan of Shion. Miyuki was once a member of Vector's second R&D Division. She tendered a request to transfer to first R&D Division and was accepted, becoming one of Shion's underlings. In Episode III, Miyuki sides with Shion and joins her in her quest to get to the bottom of Vector's corruption.
[edit] Allusions and influences
Like Xenogears, Xenosaga contains religious and historical allusions, which often involve names and terms. For example, "KOS-MOS" is derived from the Greek 'kosmos', originally meaning "ornament or decoration", eventually coming to mean "universe, order, and harmony". Another example is chaos, who is also identified as "Yeshua". Furthermore, "Abel" and "Abel's Ark" are references to a biblical figure of the same name. The Zohar in space in the first Xenosaga game also bears the Hebrew phrase "bereshith", which means "in the beginning."
Xenosaga's storyline has several influences, including Gnostic plot devices. Intertwined with the symbolism of the series are themes of Nietzsche, Sartre, Jungian psychology, and the biblical Book of Revelation. Buried beneath the mythological and psychological references are the questions the series asks, which often deal with the meaning of life and the truth behind figures and artifacts.
While the connection in storyline to Xenosaga and Xenogears is only speculative, they do have stylistic connections. Like Final Fantasy has its chocobos and Cids, the Xenos share stylistic similarities, such as their use of anime style, similar feels to character designs and locations, and gameplay similarities, such as button-mapped attacks, big combos, and mech battles. And there are plenty of design throwbacks in their characters. Nephilim looks like Elly, Shion's outfit in I is very similar to Elly's, and chaos looks like Billy without the habit (overcoat). In addition, Shion's and Jin's last name of "Uzuki" happens to be the last name of Citan from Xenogears (although it was not Citan's real last name). Jin and Citan are also skilled swordmen with long hair and a thirst for knowledge, and additionally, Jin's character design in Episode III is extremely reminiscent of Citan's. A minor character from Episode III, Mai Magus, shares the likeness of the Xenogears character Maria, and her mech Leupold bears a similar design to that of Seibzehn, Maria's Gear.
While the timeline of Xenosaga does not correspond completely to that set out in Xenogears, the two are largely synchronous. T.C. 4767 is the year the events of the game take place, according to the Xenogears Perfect Works Book, but in that same year the Eldridge is supposed to have been launched and no mention of that is made in Episode I. However, Xenosaga does use several elements, themes, and plotlines from Xenogears.
In addition, there exist references to Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. The ship on which Shion starts in "Episode I" is the Woglinde, a reference to a Rhinemaiden in Das Rheingold. Indeed, the large weapon formed by the Woglinde II, the Floßhilde and the Wellgunde borrows its name from all three Rhinemaidens. In addition, the ship Dämmerung can be seen as a reference to the fourth and final opera of the ring cycle, Götterdämmerung.
[edit] Primary trilogy
[edit] Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht
Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht is a Role Playing Game for the PlayStation 2 and the first title in the series. Der Wille zur Macht, translated as "The Will To Power", is a reference to Nietzsche's thus named concept of an assumed rudimentary a-teleological force that elicits all activity stinted to existence itself.
Episode I serves as an exposition to the storyline; it introduces or mentions most of the main protagonists and antagonists, establishes a plot involving the Gnosis and the recovery of the Zohar Emulators, and provides foreshadowing to important past or future events. Several plot points - such as the significance of the Miltian Conflict, the manipulators behind the U-TIC Organization, and the backstories and motivations of many characters - are left unanswered for the player to question prior to playing Episode II.
Episode I generally received high marks, although critics were mixed about a variety of issues (see section). The game's battle system introduces new concepts not common among popular RPG titles, and the majority of the soundtrack (composed by Yasunori Mitsuda) is performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
[edit] Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse
Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse is a Role Playing Game for the PlayStation 2 and the second installation in the series. The subtitle Jenseits von Gut und Böse translates to "Beyond Good and Evil", and is taken directly from the title of a book by Friedrich Nietzsche.
Episode II continues the storyline started in Episode I. The backstories and significance of Albedo, Nigredo/Gaignun, and Rubedo/Jr. are developed. Multiple secret organizations are uncovered, including Ormus and Hyams. The Gnosis take a back seat for Episode II; instead, the main plot focuses the search for the Zohar, which culminates in a crisis at the location of Old Miltia. The cast from Episode I plays an important role in the events that transpire on Old Miltia. Although there are several loose ends and characters unaccounted for in Episode II, it concludes without a sudden cliffhanger. This is underscored by the fact that Episode III will take place a full year later.
Episode II changes some of Episode I's elements, including different graphics, a modified battle system, new music composers, and shorter cutscenes. These changes led to mixed results (see section). Moreover, after the release of Episode II, several Monolith Soft employees were removed from the project (see below).
[edit] Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra
Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra is the third and (as of now) final game of the primary series. It has been released on PlayStation 2. Also sprach Zarathustra, literally "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", is also the title to Nietzsche's most famous work, which introduced the Übermensch and popularised the phrase "God is dead".
In September 2005, it was officially announced that Episode III would mark the premature end to the series, which was originally expected to span six titles. [1] Episode III continues the storyline using the current cast of characters, with the addition of several playable characters (Allen Ridgeley, Miyuki, and Canaan). Episode III was released in Japan on July 6th, 2006 and in North America on August 29, 2006 by Bandai/Namco.
The battle system has been changed, foregoing the button-combo interface style of the two previous games in favor of a more traditional menu-based system. This new system does retain some traditional Xenosaga features, such as Ether spells and Tech Attacks.
Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra seems to lead off from where Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht left off on Shion and KOS-MOS' story, following with the strange appearance of T-elos (a blueprint is found in Episode I on the U-TIC battle ship of T-elos) and KOS-MOS' mysterious blue-eyed form. Shion seems to see both T-elos and KOS-MOS in the form of a dark long haired brunnette in some rare circumstances.
[edit] Side stories
[edit] Xenosaga: Pied Piper
Released on mobile phones in Japan, this Xenosaga side-story is set 100 years prior to the start of Episode I. It explores the past of the cyborg character Ziggy when he was a human named Jan Sauer and working for the Galaxy Federation's counter-terrorism task force.
The events take place on planet Abraxas (aka Michtam). Notable characters include Dr. Sharon Rozas, who becomes Sauer's wife; and Joaquin, Sauer's stepson. His team of subordinates consists of Melisse Ortus, who witnesses Jan Sauers's suicide and later founds Scientia; Lactis, an early model Realian equipped with "Canaan"; Erich Weber or as later discovered, Voyager; and Mikhail Ortmann, an experienced U.M.N. operator.
The purpose of Xenosaga: Pied Piper is to develop the back stories of some of the most important yet rarely felt presences in the Xenosaga universe, including Ziggy, chaos, Wilhelm, Voyager and Dr. Dimitri Yuriev. The plot itself spans three chapters. It centers on Sauer and his team as they track a serial killer known only by the hacker alias "Voyager", who kills his victims using the U.M.N. network. The game was also Soraya Saga's final contribution to the Xenosaga project. A translation script can be found at http://zarathustra.kaisho.org/
[edit] Xenosaga I & II
- Main article: Xenosaga: I & II (DS)
Originally under the working title Xenosaga DS, Xenosaga I & II is a retelling of the first two episodes of the game for the Nintendo DS handheld system. The game's script (with ideas from Tetsuya Takahashi) is by Yuichiro Takeda, who worked on Xenosaga: The Animation. Hiroshi Takeuchi, of Cowboy Bebop fame, is responsible for character art, which has been promised to be dramatically different from the PlayStation 2 titles. Music for the game is being composed by Kousuke Yamashita, who scored the soundtrack for Xenosaga: The Animation. Other previous work includes the Hana Yori Dango and Mahou Sentai Majirenjaa Tabidate live-action television series and Nobunaga's Ambition video game series. Yamashita is the fourth composer to score a Xenosaga video game, following Yasunori Mitsuda, Yuki Kajiura and Shinji Hosoe.
Xenosaga I & II is not an exact retelling of the previous two games; some minor changes have been made to the storyline of the game without changing the pre-existing elements which the first games have already laid out. Some scenarios have been edited and some new but minor characters have been included in these new parts. The Episode II portion of the game, originally told through Jr.'s perspective, will now focus on Shion, much like Episode I and Episode III. The Episode II portion of the game features new content (some of which was cut from the Episode II) from Xenosaga creator Tetsuya Takahashi that expands and enhances the storyline. This fills in some of the holes caused by Episode II, allowing for a better understanding of the plot and reducing the amount of questions that will be unanswered in Episode III.
The game plays out on the DS' top screen from an isometric perspective while the bottom touch screen is used to issue commands and navigate menus. The game's battle mechanics follow Episode I's style as opposed to Episode II.
Xenosaga I & II was released in Japan on March 30th, 2006. No mention has been made thus far as to an international release. It received an overall score of 31/40 in Famitsu (individual reviews: 8/8/8/7).
[edit] Other projects
[edit] Xenosaga: The Animation
- Main article: Xenosaga: The Animation
An anime based on Xenosaga, titled Xenosaga: The Animation, premiered on TV Asahi in Japan on January 5, 2005. The anime itself follows the story of Xenosaga closely, albeit removing several scenes and adding others. Some scenes were entirely re-written for the show's purposes. The pacing has the viewer running through the first ten to fifteen hours of gameplay of Episode I in the first five episodes. Given the nature of the anime, it works best as a supplement to Episode I; some points that the game explained poorly or didn't explain at all are brought to light in the anime. Despite the changes, many fans prefer The Animation over the movie DVD of Episode I given with pre-orders of Episode II, saying that the DVD was a poorly assembled group of cutscenes; the quality of the DVD is significantly lower than that of the original PlayStation 2 cutscenes.
[edit] Xenosaga: The Manga
In 2004, an official Japanese manga adaptation for the series was written by Atsushi Baba and published by Zero Sum Comics. As of 2006, Baba has finished development of Episode I's adaptation and is currently working on Episode II. It is believed that the manga will focus more closely on character development rather than scientific, religious jargon and mysterious shadow games much like with the Neon Genesis Evangelion manga.[citation needed]
[edit] Xenosaga: A Missing Year
A web series started by Monolith designed to bridge the one year story gap between Episode II and Episode III, or appropriately between Xenosaga I&II and Episode III. The series has seen the reappearance of Shion Uzuki, KOS-MOS and Juli Mizrahi and also introduces Episode III's Doctus and a young girl named "Nephilim". Please note that this is not the same "Nephilim" that Shion has seen in previous games. There is a fan-translation of chapters 1-4 up on Labyrinthos. However translation of further chapters has been put on indefinite hold due to the announcement by Namco USA that the Missing Year will be translated and posted up on the Official English Xenosaga III site .
[edit] Series controversy
In recent years, the Xenosaga project has seen the removal and resignation of staff who were contributors to the game Xenogears and/or the first episode of Xenosaga. As of Episode II, scenario writer Soraya Saga was removed from the Xenosaga team. According to a column by Saga, the original draft of Episode II was drastically altered. (However, most if not all of the plot details removed from Episode II, as originally described in Soraya's FAQ, have been included in Episode III.) This information was removed from Saga's website. While Saga is not working on the series anymore, Tetsuya Takahashi continues to be involved as a scenario planner. The music composer, Yasunori Mitsuda, has also left the Xenosaga series as of Episode II. After these events, Episode III was declared to be the last primary Xenosaga episode.
Tetsuya Takahashi, Kunihiko Tanaka (character designer), and Yasunori Mitsuda have been contributors to the series since its origins. While Tanaka re-illustrated the characters for Episode II, he has since distanced himself from the project as well.
With the cancellation of the series at Episode III, several other Xenosaga projects initially announced ended their development cycles. Episode IV (said to have been in simultaneous production with Episode III), Episode V, Episode VI and two games being developed for an unknown platform known as Xenosaga: Frontier and Xenosaga: Exceed were all summarily cancelled when Namco pulled the plug on the series.
Namco Bandai has however expressed some interest in continuing the Xenosaga series past the original trilogy. As noted in an FAQ with IGN [4] their answers seem to suggest a willingness to fund additional games, albeit hinging on sales results of Episode III.
- Question: Any plans on bringing new Xeno series to PS3?
- Namco Bandai: The answer for this question is related to earlier questions. There are no plans at this point but we might consider bringing new Xeno series to PS3 if there are huge fan requests and sales.
- Question: If Xenosaga Episode III is the last game of the Xenosaga series no matter what, would that change based on fan requests and sales? Is there a chance that Namco Bandai will make more games based on the Xenosaga universe (RPG or not)?
- Namco Bandai: Yes, the Xenosaga universe is a grand concept and the number of ways we can think of to expand on this is infinite. We look forward to seeing player's reactions to Xenosaga III, and if reactions are good -- who knows!
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ RPGamer announcement Deals with information relating to the development of Xenosaga I & II, as well as some details on Episode III.
- ↑ IGN DS Xenosaga I & II preview Used for most information regarding Xenosaga I & II.
- ↑ Soraya Saga's website Information relating to staff issues were deleted from Saga's webpage.
- ↑ Namco Nation Forums Announcement by "NamcoTara", a site admin, that the Missing Year will be translated for English audiences.
[edit] See also
- Xenogears
- Monolith Soft
- Namco
- Role-playing games
- Science fiction
- TV Asahi
- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
- Richard Wagner
[edit] External links
- Xenosaga.com Official English Xenosaga site
- Xenosaga.jp Monolith's official Japanese Xenosaga website
- Labyrinthos - Extensive information on Episode III
- Xenosaga: The Animation (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
- Zohar Project French fansite
- Xenosaga TV Asahi Xenosaga anime website
- Xenogears/Xenosaga Universe at MobyGames
- Xenolegacy
- Xenonation
- Xenosaga reviews at Game Rankings
- Xenosaga II reviews at Game Rankings
- Xenosaga Emulator A growing source of information for the Xeno series
- Petition for Continuation of Xenosaga A petition to encourage Namco-Bandai and Monolith Soft to continue their work on Xenosaga series.
- Xenosaga Continuation Petition This petition is for the continuation of the series. The publisher is in the midst of sending Namco a letter via snail-mail to show the adoration for the series.
