Tag Archives: voyager

Xenosaga Episode III Part 19: A Jerk Planet for Jerk People

Previously on Xenosaga: The final giant robot has taken flight, everyone has their ultimate weapons (except Junior), and the last great Xenogears reference is in the can. Now is finally the time to confront the end of everything…

Technically this update picks up after Update #17. Abel’s Ark… uh… we don’t know if it disappeared or exploded or The Brews simply left, but one way or another, we’re out here in a section of space that is… rather crowded.

But Albedo gave us that hot tip that Abel and the Zohar have been transported to Michtam, so to Michtam we go.

You know you’re living in a JRPG when your destination, an entire planet, lights up.

But, as has been established since the second chapter of this little story, Michtam is a highly contested piece of real estate.

So, like always, we’re going to bypass this insurmountable problem through Tony’s cutscene-based piloting powers.

Zoom! For the final time!

Xenosaga Episode III Part 10: Fashionably Late

Previously on Xenosaga: I don’t know, it’s all starting to blend together. Shion did something reckless and potentially dangerous because of issues with some men in her life, but it worked out alright. Allen was insulted. I’m pretty sure there were some bad guys somewhere in there talking about nebulous, evil plans, too.

Oh, right, it’s the past, and Feb and Virgil are both alive. Virgil less so.

Note that Virgil doesn’t know (Kiddy) Shion’s name. A long, long time ago, someone stumbled onto Gogglebob.com with the search “why doesn’t Virgil recognize Shion”, obviously referring to their Woglinde encounter fifteen or so years later (than this scene). Here’s a fun question: do you remember every eight year old you’ve ever met? And there is evidence Virgil has face blindness

This is one of those “prequel problems” you see a lot. It was established that Feb was literally the last thing on Virgil’s mind when he died, so we know they had a significant (at least for Virgil) relationship. But when it comes time to actually see that relationship, it has to all be established in a time frame that will still hold the audience’s interest (you’ll note that both characters have the handicap of not actually being in the main party, either). So, like Romeo and Juliet, theirs is a love that is lasting and eternal and based on like two days of knowing each other.

I guess the explanation is that Virgil never knew true kindness before or after Feb. Cuteness ensues…

Xenosaga Episode II Special 2: Pied Piper

Previously on Xenosaga: We took a look at the reimagined, portable version of Xenosaga. Ya know, thinking about portable remixes of classic JRPGs gets me thinking…

I remember when I first heard about Final Fantasy 4: The After Years. An official sequel to Final Fantasy 4! I loved the cast of Final Fantasy 4, and revisiting the gang with modern sensibilities should be amazing! And it’s a sequel, so we get to find out “what happened next”! That’s astounding! How could such a game be anything but awesome?!

But there was one significant thing holding me back from enjoying such an eagerly awaited game: Final Fantasy 4: The After Years was only available on Japanese cell phones. This… was a deathblow. At the time, I barely had a cell phone at all, left alone a cell phone “for gaming”. And with the technology of the day, the idea of playing a comprehensive JRPG on a phone’s screen seemed, at best, cumbersome. And, of course, we’re talking about a game that was only in that magical land of Japan, so even if the previously mentioned hurdles were somehow bypassed, I didn’t have a prayer of seeing such a niche product stateside anytime soon.

Oh well, at least a variety of nerds took the time to transcribe the finer points of the adventure for an online audience. Edge got disciples! Palom and Porom were all grown up! Cid was somehow still alive! It all sounded so exciting, and, like other “never gonna see ‘em” games like Secret of Mana 2 or Terranigma, my imagination filled in any blanks on what may have been a game’s deficiencies.

In time, against all odds, we received Final Fantasy 4: The After Years as a WiiWare title. I played this “Japanese cell phone game” voraciously, and found it… lacking. In time, the game was released again on the PSP. At that point, despite technically buying it again with its Final Fantasy 4 Original brother, I didn’t even boot the game once. Anyone who has ever played it knows exactly why. Suffice it to say, Final Fantasy 4: The After Years did not live up to whatever hype it had once garnered.

Xenosaga had its own “Japanese exclusive cell phone game”. Was it any good? I have no idea. Will we ever see it come to America? I very much doubt it. But is it important to the franchise? Unfortunately, yes.

Xenosaga: Pied Piper is a prequel of sorts to the Xenosaga main story. XPP tells the story of Ziggy, aka Jan Sauer, before he was the immortal cyborg we all know and love. A century before the events of Xenosaga, Jan was simply your average space cop, working a case to track down some terrorist that had a habit of eating babies. In short, Pied Piper tells the entire tale of how Ziggy came to be Ziggy, and initially met his archrival, the Black Testament, Voyager.

And the US audience never had a prayer of playing the dang thing…

Xenosaga Episode II Part 13: The End(s) of Albedo

Previously on Xenosaga: … Forget the last two updates. Think back before all the sidequests, think back to a time when we were just making our final approach on The Patriarch, the malevolent mastermind behind the destruction of Old Miltia. You there now? Good. Here we go.

Yep, right about here. The final choice before…

Welcome to The Patriarch’s giant shiny death dome.

As per villain tradition, Patriarch compliments The Brews on making it this far, bwa ha ha and whatnot.

Burn.

But our good friend has come back to us!