In July 21, Japanese development house Monolith Soft unveiled its entire 2003 lineup. Along with the GameCube RPG Batan Kaitos and enhanced version of teh original Xenosaga dubbed Reloaded, Monolith oulled away the curtain on Xenosaga: Episode II Jenseits von Gut und Bose (which means "Beyone Good and EVil" in German). Withinn the trailerthat was shown by the development team, you can clearly see that the series has evolved greatly between chapters. The anime look accomanied the original realease has been fleshed out to include the highest level of realism within its leading characters and enviroments. For instance, teh eyes area a bit smaller and the bone structure in the faces is better defined. The main character from Episode I, Shion, makes a return in this follow-up, but her bubbly teenage attitude and funky glasses have been replaced with a sophisticated adult appearance. The same can be said for KOS-MOS. She looks more like a human than she does a cyborg. From what we gather, these changes will be reflected through the passing of time between the end of Episode I and the beginning of the next chapter.
Not much has been revealed about the plot, but we have learned that many of the twists and turns will have strong ties to Jr. and his past. Shion's brother Jin, who was supporting character in the first game, now has an emerging role and will likey be playable this time aorund. Regardless of what the conflict may be, we can only assume that the game will once again reference the Bible and theology extensively.
Monolith hasn't released any detailes regarding gameplay at this time, but ut has been noted that fan input is weighed heavily in the creation of this title. For those of you who played the first game, character development was equivalent to rocket science. We can only imagine that this aspect will be completley reworked or at the very least simplified. Characters wil still have the ability to pilot AGWS units. Monolith was gracious enough to debut two of these. Both of these mechs have a medieval flair to them and look like lance-wielding knights.
As you probably know oh so well by now, Monolith doesn't wasnt to divulge too much information at this point. From the brief teaser that we got, however, there's more than enough here to get us excited and eager to return to this science fiction world. Namco will once again handle the publishing duties, but the release date for Japan and the U.S. has yet to be annouced. |
