Xenosaga, Episode III: Thus Spake Zarathustra Monolith Soft Namco Bandai PS2 With the abridged and anticipated close of the Xenosaga series on the horizon, the final volume had the unenviable position of wrapping up two games of plot, starting and completing its own arc, and cramming in the major beats of the remaining three planned …
Chaos Legion Capcom Studio 6 Capcom PS2, PC When Chaos Legion first appeared on the scene during Capcom’s glory days, it was an easy game to ignore. With flashy sequels like Resident Evil 4 and Devil May Cry 2 about, and wildly inventive new titles like Viewtiful Joe, Okami, and Killer 7 (all developed by Capcom) debuting during the same time …
As mentioned in the first part of this series, Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille Zur Macht had debuted to middling sales in spite of its high critical acclaim. Unfortunately, this lead to interference from Monolith Soft, and Episode II was heavily altered leading up to its release.
When the mammoth project known collectively as Xenosaga was first announced in 2001, it sounded like a dream come true for RPG fans, at least on paper. Developer Monolith Soft promised a six episode epic that would redefine video game storytelling and wildly reinvent the genre. Unfortunately for the team, the first title in the series debuted to more modest sales than initially expected, and not without it’s fair share of criticisms.
People have a broad tendency to want to simplify evil. In that sense the idea of a monster can be as comforting as it is frightening. After all, as bad as a person might get, as far as they might go, and as many terrible sins as they might commit, they can always frame themselves against a monster, imagined or otherwise, in order to diminish the evils that they have been party to.
Now that next gen consoles are in and current gen consoles are heading for e-cycle centers this holiday season, it’s time to take a moment to reminisce about the good old days of gaming. Atari is a classic, and the Xbox 360 is swell, but there is one console that can be crowned king; the …