Caught In The Whirlwind
Posts tagged playstation 2
Xenosaga 3…Completed
02075 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
Kos-Mos
After an exhaustive week of playing it almost nonstop…I’ve finished Xenosaga 3. Yay me!
So the game was pretty good if you consider it a standalone title and not compare it to it’s inspiration (Xenogears). The storyline got a bit confusing towards the end when they brought in a bunch of meta-physical stuff to it, but generally an enjoyable experience. They still have a habit of namedropping things from the bible in a completly misplaced context, but if you just nod, smile and accept it for what it is in the context of the game, it’s not quite as bad…
The comabt system is leaps and bounds better than what was in the first and second titles in the series, a lot simpler but letting you have some ability to strategize if you enjoy that sort of stuff.
The music was pretty good in general (a huge departure from number 2), but there were a couple tracks that felt out of place.
Actually, that sums up a lot of the game. It’s pretty good in general, but has some rough spots. Not a masterpiece, but something which gives you a good solid 40 hours worth of enjoyment for your cash. I do recommend it, but it’s helpful if you’ve played the first two games…otherwise you’re going to be very confused to start off with.
It’s Been A Xenosaga Weekend
02081 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
Kos-Mos
So I bought Xenosaga III for the Playstation 2 Friday night. I’m now about 18 hours into the game and have been playing pretty much nonstop all weekend.
It’s pretty entertaining, and much better than the second one was. By Far. The combat system is pretty nice, the music is good, the story is pretty good so far.
About 8 hours in, there’s a cinematic action sequence that just ROCKS. I need to figure out how to rip that off the disc and onto my computer because I want to watch it again….and again…and again…
I played so much Xenosaga that I ended up forgetting about my History reading, which I’m taking a break from now.
Lets see, what else did I do this weekend? Hmm, well, I reinstalled windows on my desktop computer since I installed one too many Microsoft beta products on it and things were acting really funky. I’ve got everything all set up and going now (did it while playing Xenosaga earlier today…I’m obsessed)
Sigh…back to my history reading then…
Xenosaga 3 Out?
02083 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
I apologize for going all geeky here these past couple of entries. I’ll get back to recording the mundane details of my life soon enough 
I was just informed by a friend that Xenosaga III for the PS 2 is out in the US now. For those not familiar with the Xenosaga series, well..you didn’t miss much. It’s a followup to a much better game, published by Square called Xenogears. Well, really they’re unofficial prequils. It’s rather hard to explain the relationship. Anyway, Xenogears has probably the best storyline in any game I’ve ever played. It’s about 60-70 hours long in true Japanese RPG fashion, however it doesn’t feel that long, always keeping you interested in a story that has so many twists and turns that playing through it again to catch everything that’s happening is recommended. If you haven’t played Xenogears…stop reading this now and go do it. It’s incredible.
Anyway, Xenosaga isn’t. The first one was all right…the second one was torture. One of the worst games I ever played, but I finished it because of it’s connection to Xenogears. And now episode 3 is actually out and people say it’s pretty good.
I think I’ll be picking it up tonight. I’m a glutton for punishment
0
2107 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
Katamari Damacy
I just finished Katamari Damacy for the Playstation 2 after buying it about 5 months ago. So I got sidetracked…so what? 
Anyway, it’s a very fun game. For anyone who hasn’t really played it, the object is to roll this sticky ball around the world and pick up objects that are laying around. The ball starts small and grows as you pick up bigger and bigger stuff. Like in the beginning, you might be able to only pick up thumbtacks and stuff. As it goes along, you can pick up kitchen utensils, pets, birds, people, cars, buildings, clouds, tornadoes…etc.
It’s a very Japanese game in the way it presents itself. A lot of the music is very upbeat Japanese music (with words in Japanese as well). The cut scenes are…odd. The story is that the stars have fallen from the sky, so it’s up to the prince (you) to recreate them by rolling up all sorts of stuff on earth. The cut scenes follow a group of kids and their mother as they try to go cross country to see their astronaut father blast off on a trip to the moon (which no longer exists). I’m not sure I can do justice to how weird of a game this is
The graphics are simple, but they work well with the way the game works. It’s impressive to note that the game engine needs to work well close up and far back since in the course of the game, your Katamari can grow from 10cm to 100+ meters in size. So it’s really impressive from that angle.
My only complaint is that the conrols can be a little hard to get used to in the beginning. It’s a very odd control scheme using both of the analog sticks at the same time to control direction.
Overall, an excellent game. And cheap too. If you haven’t played it yet, you should try to track down a copy.
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