Xenosaga franchise

[James D.]

This is old news, but I didn't know how many people who might be interested had heard. Anyway, back in September, it was officially announced that Xenosaga Episode III will be the final chapter to the series, as opposed to the six-episode plan they had set out to do. This is very depressing news to me, as Xenosaga I and II both had major flaws (i.e., animation style in Ep. I and the music in Ep. II, for examples) but at their core, they were fascinating games and I played through them both and enjoyed them overall. And I kept hoping there would be SOME miniscule link to Xenogears as the episodes progressed.

The main reason I'm sad is because this basically puts any last shred of hope for a Xenogears sequel or retelling to rest. I would be remiss if I didn't admit that Xenogears is my absolute favorite game ever made and that it has greatly affected my life in several ways. Not the least of which is it inspired me to start drawing and to study world mythologies. The music is also, in my opinion, the greatest soundtrack ever produced for a video game. And to this day, I don't regret it one iota that I spent $170 on the Xenogears: Perfect Works book.

I knew after Square failed at life by essentially ousting Tetsuya Takahashi and Kunihiko Tanaka from their staff, that it was doubtful Xenogears would ever see a prequel, sequel or anything else related to it beyond Xenosaga. And Xenosaga has almost nothing in common with Xenogears in the first place. Which is sad because most people will remember the Xenosaga franchise, whether fairly or unfairly, as "those games with too many cutscenes". So, after reading this news just now on Wikipedia, it's like a piece of my soul has been ripped away.

Like I said--somewhat old news. But this still depresses me immensely.