Hey Goog... maybe I'm missing something completely obvious, but is there any easy way to get money in Xenosaga? The shops sell things for insanely high prices considering the amount of money you get. Not to mention the only place you can get money is either from treasure chests or from fighting human soldiers; no other monsters you fight give you anything but items. And the soldiers are few and far between, plus they give you paltry sums for beating them. Yet, shops sell one item for 5000G. Um. I don't get it. I'm stopped at the Kukai Foundation right now, fighting in the simulator on the U-Tic Battleship against soldiers in order to try and rack up enough dough to buy all the millions of new character and gear items now available. I can't go on with the game until I can afford to buy the stuff, otherwise my characters will be pathetically underequipped. What makes so little sense to me is that I spent probably two hours or more in the Cathedral Ship when I beat it, against really difficult enemies, and I got absolutely NO money from any of those battles. I get out of the ship, shops have new stuff, I have 800G. Is there a secret I'm missing here? I can't figure out why no one else has complained about this yet. Thanks....

Seth

I think I might be the only person around who really doesn't like Xenosaga. Yeah, there are a lot of cutscenes, that I don't mind. It's the pacing of the game. It's basically watch a bunch of cutscenes, wander around aimlessly for a while, fight a boss, repeat. That and the game seems to have random and monumentous leaps in difficulty. The first half of a dungeon will be mind-numbingly easy (thus not giving you too much experience,) then the second half baddies will trash you in one round straight. Nevermind I think the story is dumb and I have no reason to care for any of the overcliched characters, mostly because the voice acting is so bad and the fact that I've seen them all before in other games.

I absolutely loved Xenogears, but IMO any real similarities in "feel" are wishful thinking. I felt the same way about other games in the vain of Xenosaga (yes, this has been done before; Chrono Cross? Great reviews when it came out but I doubt anyone would call it a classic.) And Xenosaga didn't even get stellar reviews (8.0 seems par for the course) Anyway, enough of my bitching. I'm just thinking I'll have a lot more people agree with me in 6 months after the initial fanboy stage has worn off.

-Ryan

Hey Andrew what's up,

I got a few Qs for you, and you opinions sound almost like my mind so I'm curious about what you have to say about these.

1.A lot of my friends who live in Texas, say they that they hate FFX. That it was to linear and blitzball sucked. I happened to love blitzball and played it as much as the game itself. The fact that its linear, arn't all the best turn-based games are? I loved FFX characters and digged the sphere system. I loved that almost as much as the the matria system, plus aruon( maybe not spelled right) is the coolest looking character since FF7. The opening grapped me, and I know the whole spirt thing is a little weird, but hell the Ject theme was awesome.

2. Why do rpgs try to become so different? they never really have success. Look at xenosaga, why did they have to change that much from xenogears? I mean come on I know its a prequel, but if it an't broke how can you fix it? For example, how people try to turn great games from 2D to 3D. I mean I love side scrollers. Look at mega man and earthworm jim. They killed earthworm jim when they 3D it.

3. last I can't wait for a new shinning force game, but I'm afraid if they do it will one, be turn based, two, never come to the us. Why does sega let this game die. I love this game. have you heard any news? Also why do america hardly ever gets games like this.(final fansty tatics, vandal hearts,front mission 3(BAD ASS GAME)

thanks

In response to your bit about lightning, I think it must come from the weather. Because in ancient Japan, they had thunder storms. And there was lightning in them. So, historically, Japan has always had thunder storms, right up to the modern time. In fact, you could say that their very way of life would be threatened without the presence of these bits of rain. So I kind of see it as a way of relating to this unique part of Japanese heritage, that they have electricity-based characters and they have schoolgirls who are afraid of the lightning. I hope that helps.

Googleshng, o slime of old,
Indeed, der Wille zur Macht does mean the will to power. And the whole thing with fearing lightning really did confuse me. In FFX, they ought to have made the prize for jumping be Rikku's weapon. That or just cut it completely. Or maybe you are right and it is folklore. Ah, I don't know. While on the topic of cliches (dangitt, how do I make the e have a dash?), it seems like thieves in a game are never strong. Why not have some big thug as a thief? I mean, in real life, all scrawny thieves can do is pickpocket. Sure, they are heroes, but it would be nice to see a thief with an axe or something. Then again, that would make him a warrior who takes peoples money...

Finally, a question: What, in your opinion, is the best free online RPG? I would like to find a good one, but have only found ones that nobody plays anymore.
--Ewcoolio
"First I take off your head. Then I take off with your gold."

I have to agree with you on the whole thunder and lightning thing. At least in FFX, Rikku had a reason to be afraid of thunder and lightning, but the scene in Xenosaga just didn't fit in with anything. Maybe in episode 2, we'll learn that Shion stuck one too many paper clips into one too many wall sockets as a baby and developed a phobia of electricity. Oh well, it was more than worth it to see Shion in a bikini. :D

As for questions, do you have any idea whether or not Pokemon R/S will offer more than one slot for saving? Only having one slot has been an annoyance ever since Red and Blue, and I assume Nintendo will take advantage of the GBA cartridge's increased memory capacity. Also, which version are you getting, and who are you going to pick for your starting Pokemon? If you're afraid of answering that question for fear of everybody copying you, I'll understand.

BL Alien

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