MARREND'S PROFILE

If I want to be perfectly honest, if I see a profanity filter as a game setting option, I set that to "off". Though, I've only bothered to play one GTA game ever (Vice City, I think it was?), so perhaps I'm more in tune to what kinds of games would be too overboard for me. Though, I'm not sure if I can really quantify how much my personal level of "overboard" is in this regard.

I could probably say the same about blood censorship, but, the last time I ever saw a setting for blood was maybe an early Mortal Kombat game? Or maybe I'm just remembering the button-press "ABACABB" having something to do with it. Gore, well, I can manage something like Dead Speace for maybe an hour or two before needing to take a break? I dunno. It's been a while. I guess it's a thing I personally stay away from nowadays, but might have had a stronger stomach for it when I was younger.

*Edit: I think calunio's Beautiful Escape - Dungeoneer approximates a lot of what the site is willing to host in regards to this topic in general? I've never personally played it to know for sure what it contains, and I... kinda don't want to. Which might speak to my sensitivities on these issues, right there.

Okay! So, the amount of "empty" days has been gutted down, and the result I've got going now is that the game lasts 28 days, rather than 58. There were definitely points in the dialogs I had to correct because of this, and there might still be a few lingering errors/fixes to make. I hope to have those issues fixed by the end of today.

If I want to be honest, I am somewhat worried this game no longer does what it set out to do. However, if everything does check out after another bout of playtesting, I can finally put this game to rest, rainbow-text and all!

Like Xenogears before it, Xenosaga Episode 1 starts with a cut-scene. I don't know if I will show them all in this LP, but, for the major ones, I'll be pulling from this playlist. This link has been added to the OP. In all cases, I will attempt to summarize their content.

Anyway, the game opens with humanity's first contact with an ancient artifact called the Zohar in the year 20XX. No, not some other 20XX, just, you know, probably just a thing they pulled out of their hat to relay that this game is in some form of alternate future. We'll be hearing about the Zohar quite a bit going forward, so, I feel no need to put this info under a hide-tag.

Fast forward 4000 years, give or take, aboard a Federation cruiser, the Woglinde. Members of Vector are performing some start-up tests for their latest military android, KOS-MOS.


Note the password that is entered reads "Ye shall be as gods". Which I highly doubt is a mere coincidence. Either way, the player is then introduced, perhaps somewhat awkwardly, to both Shion and KOS-MOS. We'll be playing as Shion for quite some time, but, I feel the in-game intros could maybe have been handled a bit better than...


...whatever this was. Afterwards, we can get some combat tutorials. So, let's talk a little bit about that.


As Xenogears, this is a turn-based RPG. The fact that there's no waiting between turns, and that there's a window that indicates turn order, makes me consider that, maybe, Monolith was taking notice of Final Fantasy 10's CTB system. Or, maybe, they even helped develop the thing? This goes into an aside that has nothing to do with the game, itself, so, hide-tag time!



Anyway, characters gain 4 action points per round with which to spend, and can have up to 6. Perhaps attempting to capitalize on the Deathblow system that was introduced in Xenogears, simply pressing attack does nothing by itself. The player would follow up by pressing Square to engage a melee attack, or Triangle to engage in a ranged attack. Pressing Square or Triangle again would indicate a combo, or, you can press Cross to converse AP. Both Square and Triangle attacks consumes 2 AP.

Deathblows in Xenogears functioned through a combination of buttons that ended with a Cross. In this game, it's kinda the same deal, with the end-cap being Circle. Characters start the game with the ability to use Tech Attacks with 6 AP (so, two regular attacks followed by a Circle), but, can be improved to only need 4 AP (so, one regular attack, followed by a Circle). I don't want to throw too much more info about this, but, players can set which combination of key presses activate which Tech Attack. There are some limits, but, it's pretty cool that you can set them up. In fact, let me show you a quick screencap of Shion's Tech Attack screen after the first tutorial fight.


Anyway! With all the tutorials done (at least for now), it's high-time for some proper dungeon delving! Sort of? I mean, we're in VR, so, I dunno how "proper" this is, but, I also feel it's a technicality that's getting hand-waved. The music here is, let me pull from that playlist....

...or not, because there isn't any BGM. Which is an odd design decision, to be sure. However, it's the one that was made, and we'll just have to roll with it. This dungeon is pretty straight-forward with not too many split paths. The ones that do exist end pretty quick with treasure at the end. After a fight with a mech, and the subsequent tutorial on boarding mechs, the game finally give us access to a save point.

If you'll excuse yet another aside, the mechs in this game, called AGWS, aren't half as cool as the Gears in Xenogears. AGWS are barely necessary as well, which is another weird design decision when making a spiritual successor to a game like Xenogears. I could be misremembering, but, there is maybe one or two dungeons in this entire game where the player pilots mechs. Everywhere else can be, and will be, done entirely on-foot. Now, maybe the use of Codebreaker has no small part in my experiences and tendencies with this game, so, take what I'm saying with a grain of salt.

That aside, beyond the bot is a room with the mission key that we needed. Snagging that, and maybe a few encounters later, we open the door it unlocked, and confront another mech for a boss. Things go a little more than haywire, though, when Shion requests KOS-MOS to activate the Hilbert Effect. What it is and what it does isn't explained right this moment, but, for now, it causes some kind of cascade failure across the VR space, throwing untold errors towards Vector's staff. They try aborting the program, but, Shion, herself blocks their attempts. Being the boss, and having the higher programming rights/privileges, they can't shut it down from their consoles. It takes direct intervention into the VR space by one of the staff, Allen, to get Shion out of there in once piece. Even then, it's by a very small margin. However, Shion does see a vision of a very familiar person...


...before Allen comes to her rescue. Here's the full cut-scene.


After Shion gets reprimanded by Allen is a scene of the Woglinde, along with a detail of Federation vessels, coming out of hyperspace. The next waypoint on their journey is some 7 and a half hours from now, and even then, it's another jump back into hyperspace. I'm not entirely sure why they got out of hyperspace to begin with, or why it would take over seven hours to get back into hyperspace, but, maybe this has to do with whatever orders this fleet has.

Either way, one gets the distinct impression that it's a cue to take things easy for the members of this fleet. The captain of the Woglinde certainly has a more casual approach to their situation than the executive officer, but, perhaps this is more a clash of personalities than anything else. One of the crew, working in tandem with the Department of Backstory, presents some statistics concerning the low probability of running across "them". No foreshadowing here!

Back to the Vector lab, Shion takes it upon herself to present the A-7 report to the captain of the Woglinde, due today. It's a bit of a trek from the lab to the bridge, and it's not helped by there being no BGM for any area on this ship. Which, again, seems like a weird design design. That, and the game throws in-game e-mails...


...at you, as well as cut-scenes. Some e-mails in this game provide the player with an opportunity to invest in companies to gain various benefits later in the game. This may be a guess on my part, but, I think investing in these companies were supposed to have more far-reaching consequences, perhaps spanning all six games, if the series was able to last that long. Alas, the series does not span six games, nor does the investitures provide any benefit outside of whatever benefits they provide in this game.

As for the cut-scenes, here we go. First, we have a scene in the Vector labs that shows that Shion may have been a little absent-minded, and forgot portions of the data she's supposed to present. Oops! Allen volunteers to get them to her, as various other teammates encourage, and annoy, him in his feelings for their boss. Next we have Shion in the hanger, where the Woglinde stashed the Zohar they picked up earlier. The scene introduces a bit character that we never see after this game, and barely see again this game, but, his name is Vanderkam...


...and is absolutely another callback to Xenogears. This is a rather extended cut-scene, as it includes an interlude into Shion's past, introducing Kevin Winnicot. He's not specifically named in this cut-scene, but, he's pretty important.

However, the cut-scene doesn't end there. Oh, no. After we return to the present, Shion gets "called" by the Zohar. She sees another vision of that Elly-looking girl standing before it. She is drawn to the object, and seems to have been warped elsewhere into a monochromatic area. There, the young girl's mouth moves, yet no words are spoken. Yet, I think there is an understanding by Shion, as the young girl disappears into the Zohar, with Shion following her, stopping just in front of it. Then, she reaches out to touch the thing, causing a rippling effect across it, like a stone disturbing water. It's kinda pretty, actually.

She wakes from her trance just in time, as a worker yells at her to watch out as a stasis pillar passes by, with Shion barely able to dodge it. It might not have been a comfortable landing on Shion's part, but, she's otherwise unharmed. Which is more than what could be said of the poor sap that gave her the warning, as he's become the target of Vanderkam's wrath. Welp.

The next cut-scene is in the next room, with Shion in a bit of a daze, perhaps still recovering from last scene. Or maybe just trying to figure out what the hell just happened. Allen drops by to get her out of her daze, and back into reality, and to hand off the data she forgot. He walks with her for a small spell, but, Shion insists she's fine. Yeah, sure. In the middle of their conversation, she gets called over to Realian maintenance. While Allen reminds Shion that it's a violation to work with other departments, Shion notes that it's kinda on the way to the bridge, and she has time, then scampers off before Allen can say anything else.

We need to make a small detour to Shion's quarters to get some data before entering, but, you know what? There's a cut-scene here too! Two, in fact! The first one is just Shion saying hi, and wondering what all she was called down here for. The second is the more major one, though, I don't feel entirely comfortable showing it. The highlight is the introduction of the soldier, Virgil, into the story. He's a rather high-and-mighty individual, giving no respect to anything. Guy even has a creepy song when he enters. I can't seem to find this track on the OST list. However, for the sake of reference, it's cutscene #17, Realian Maintenance, on the cut-scene playlist, if you are curious.

Either way, the Department of Backstory had a bit of sponsoring in this cut-scene, as it also relays a bit about Realians. While the game doesn't necessarily come right out and say it, one gets the impression they are some kind of synthetic humans that are generally treated as second-class citizens, if not third-class. There was supposed to be something of a bill of rights ratified for them in the year 4963, but, Virgil certainly doesn't care about that.

Another cut-scene after trying to leave the Realian bay, sponsored, again, by the Department of Backstory. This is the first mention of Milita, and, by association, the Miltian Conflict. This event will be discussed in more detail going forward, but, the general idea the game wants to relay at this time is that Shion was originally from Milita, and that Milita is no longer accessible. That, and...


...whatever happened there is not a happy thing. Thankfully, there are no additional cut-scenes between the Realian lab and the bridge. However, there is absolutely a cut-scene on the bridge.

Shion presents her data, and the executive officer is not pleased that there is no actual field data yet. I dunno if that was supposed to be included in this A-7 report she was supposed to give today, or not, but, the guy grills Shion, courtesy of yet another generous donation by the Department of Backstory! Apparently, the fleet was assembled under major time constraints. The AGWS units don't have the 100-series units that are supposed to accompany them (more on what these units are, and do, later), so they are actually at a huge disadvantage if they do run across "them". Not foreshadowing anything at all with these statements, by the way.

I kinda wonder whose great idea it was to allow this fleet to do launch if it was as unprepared as the game impresses upon the player. Now, maybe I'm reading too much into things, but, maybe there is this message about unpreparedness in the game industry? Perhaps specifically directed to how Xenogears was handled? There is a kind of irony that this message could also be applied to this series, but, perhaps I'm getting a little ahead of myself here.

After this, the game directs the player to Shion's quarters. It's not actually all that far from the bridge, but, the game forced us to go the long way around the first time because we're very much on-rails right now, and we can only go where those rails can take us. Either way, going into her quarters triggers two more cut-scenes. One is where the executive officer is talking to someone over comms. The guy on the other end isn't exactly happy that the Zohar is being transported in normal space, and relays that there's activity in the local area that might indicate an encounter with "them". The next is Shion talking to her brother, with the poor guy failing miserably to get the girl home to pay respect to their parent's graves.


Shion eventually relents, saying she'll visit "when she has time". Though, one gets the impression she's in no rush to visit, and will likely find another excuse long before she'll actually be available. After the call ends, the game directs players to let Shion rest. Let's hit up the nearby save point, and take a break, ourselves.

So, May is coming up, and I thought maybe we can discuss what to feature during said month now rather than wait for a week or so after whoever can update it fails/forgets to do so the fact.

Well, there was that brief side-quest side-job involving getting Luxaren Allure up on Steam. So, I think you do deserve something of a break for at least a little while.