Have started playing quite a few games again after a seven or eight month hiatus in Japan, both for Japanese language exposure and because I'm feeling a bit run down over leaving the country, and it's a fun means of escapism. :'D Yesterday I went back to my Japanese replay of the Xenosaga series, and finished up 2 after dropping it for six months at the Omega System. Have always defended the second game, mostly because of the nice story stuff with Jr and the other URTVs on the first disc, but in hindsight, the second disc is really, really bad. I remember Tetsuya Takahashi and Soraya Saga saying that they were cut out midway through the game's development, and only directly worked on the scenes with the URTVs, after which the new team mostly their own thing with the rest of the game. It kind of shows, as there's really almost no story to speak of on the second disc. Some stuff happens, but it's just a vaguely linked sequence of events and dungeons, without any real central narrative binding it together as in the rest of the series, and most of the few story scenes that there are are just action set pieces. Contrary to many people, I actually found the gameplay in the second game okay (except for the ES battles, which are duuuuuull), and the boss fights, in particular, were pretty fun. But to me, it's nowhere near strong enough to hold together a second disc that is basically just a long gauntlet of mediocre dungeons.
Not that I think that only Takahashi and Saga are capable of handling Xenosaga, of course. After all, the third game turned out great without much of their involvement at all. But it's obvious looking at the game that there was a scramble to piece together a complete story and script without their involvement in time for the game's release, and the second disc was a real slog for me this time.I have such a big backlog that I don't tend to replay games a lot, but when I do, I'm generally left with lots of warm, nostalgic feelings, and the resolution in my head that I'll definitely go back and replay them again five or six years down the line. I felt that way after my replay of Episode 1 in Japan, after my replay of Skies of Arcadia back in late 2011 to early 2012, and after my replay of Chrono Trigger in French just before leaving for Japan. But Xenosaga 2 is a game that I have now finished in both English and Japanese, and that feels like more than enough. It has its good points, and I still think the first disc is not bad at all. But next time I play the Xenosaga series, I'm just going to watch 2's cutscenes on Youtube. :'D
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