Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10572 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2005-11-04
• Platform: PlayStation2

Manufacturer's Description
In Xenosaga EPISODE II, thousands of years into a war-torn future, humanity has advanced to such a degree that its substantial resources of weapons and technology distort the boundaries of human limits. In this sequel, contend for control over the original Zohar to unravel its mystery and defeat the threat of the Gnosis. Customize your characters using over a hundred different skills and take control of a deeper, more evolved combat system. In Xenosaga EPISODE II, humanity must depend on their will to survive in the battle for the holy grail that could be their only savior ... or biggest threat yet.

Customer Reviews

A great game, but not for the faint hearted.
Xenosaga episode 2 is the second game to be released. The first never made release in this country, and unfortunately the game starts where the first one left off. This is a problem as you CANNOT dive straight into it. Immediately it starts talking about U-TIC, The Zohar's and the song of nephilim. You won't have a clue. Fortunately, Namco have provided a special feature disc which contains all the information you need from the first game, which you will need to watch in order to know whats going on. Its 6 hours long, but well worth getting into.

The game starts by showing what happened in the second Militia conflict 14 years ago, and then continues with the original cast. MOMO, Ziggy, Rubedo and the others are all back, mainly to return Kos-Mos, and to get the Y-Data inside MOMO analysed (see what i mean about needing to see the other disc!) However, you'll soon end up in all sorts of twists and turns, mainly because of U-TIC and Albedo. Basically, a classic story for an RPG.

The graphics are excellent. The characters are all unique and interesting, and locations are detailed and always different. Some ranging from a sea-side, to outer-space, to futuristic cities. Cut-scenes are excellent, especially the samurai fight at the start of the game.

The gameplay is interesting. Its a turn based combat game which is unique to anything i've ever played before. You can combat on land or in a xenogear-a huge metal robot. However, you don't get a choice. There are a range of special moves to be unlocked, and these can be fully customized, teaching any moves to any characters through the use of SP that you unlock as you progress. Of course, through battles you also grow stronger by gaining EXP. In battles you are able to boost, to help characters at any time, plus their are additional bonus's such as improved critical, or extra boost, which can be obtained. There is ether (magic) which can be used, and add to this the "stock" option where you can save and then use two moves at once later in the game.

There are numerous locations to go to, including the sub-conscious of MOMO, to second Miltia (past and present) and of course, outer space. All of these are huge. Add to this a range of side quests such as the joining the SAMARITANS where you can unlock items by helping people, and being able to revisit old locations and you've got a very meaty game spread over 2 discs which is well worth buying.

Problem-this is a HARD game to get into, it will take hours just to get used to all the different options, its got a hard difficulty level, PLUS you'll need to watch the bonus disc first. Hence the four star rating, but if your looking for a challange and a story. GET THIS GAME!

Unbelievable game, shame some cant get to grips with it.
This game is absolutely superb, the story is original, innovative and very interesting.
It's one of those game where you actually have to watch the cutscenes.

I cant see why this game has recieved critism for being too hard as far as the battle system is concerned.

In my opinion the battles are a challenge yes, but at the same time much better than any FF game, because you need to use tactics to win over the enemy.
I can tell you now, the guy that slaughtered this game above me is overexaggerating to the biggest extreme.

I spend roughly 5 minutes at most on random battles, and find the healing spells to be very helpful. The key is just to store up attack power with all characters and unleash it all at once, that way in turn with mutliple boosting you will get roughly 20+ attacks in and do well over 10k damage to your enemies.
If the timing is right and you use the correct characters you can kill any boss in this game with one collection of attacks.

As far as the DVD ia concerned, It's very good, the only DVD (thats not 12 hrs), that is about 5 hrs 15mins that i can watch all the way through.

Although i would recommend importing the game if you can, because dispite Episode 2 being brilliant, the 1st is ever better.

This game gets 5 stars easy, i wont spoil any of the plot, as it will ruin your experience, but take it from me, this game will leave you despirate for the 3rd and final installment.

Great buy for anyone who likes FF RPGs with a sci fi twist..
I recently bought this game, for only £7.99 i might add, and i am fully satisfied with my purchase. Firstly, i was expecting jus the Xenosaga II game but what i received was a box set complete with a bonus DVD of Xenosaga one footage, which was not relesed in this country. This allowed you to to understand the story from the first game, as Episode II follows on from the first. And if, like me, you enjoy watching beautiful CG cutscenes then this bonus DVD will be a real treat.

Now for the game... this is a fairly long game, tho not as long as most RPGs but has a very exciting and gripping storyline. I wont give anything away but it will keep you entertained with the standard plot twists that every RPG must have.

Apart from the main quest there are 30 side quests to take part in and you can customise your characters with a vast array of of power-ups, advanced attacks and over 100 special skills. You can also take control of more power mechs and do battle, which is an interesting bonus.

The only flaws this game contains is the battle system. It ia very difficult to kill enemies and very frustrating for the inpatient people out there. There are also no shops available to buy items and healing items are very scarce, thus making the game fairly difficult to progress through. Tho if u like a video game to be challenging and of the faith that a good RPG should be difficult, then this shouldnt be a problem.

There are many positives about this game and a few negatives that should have been ironed out, but all in all this is an original, challenging, epic RPG which will be enjoyed by all RPG gamers out there. Also keep an eye out for the next episode in the series, Xenosaga Episode III, which should be out later this year.