After Xenosaga Episode II ended up becoming one of the most disappointing RPGs of its generation, nobody was expecting Episode III to be anything special. But it was, in the most spectacular way possible.

In this final Xenosaga retrospective video, I discuss how Episode III not only improves in virtually every area Episode II fell short, but delivered an ending so emotionally powerful that it almost makes every other criticism I have about the series meaningless.

Works Cited:

Xenogears and Xenosaga Study Guide, http://xenogearsxenosagastudyguide.bl...

Kotaku, "The History of Monolithsoft," https://kotaku.com/from-xenogears-to-...

FRP Fan, "Xenosaga III First Look Preview," https://web.archive.org/web/201709021...

IGN, "Reader Q&A: Xenosaga Episode 3," https://web.archive.org/web/201602041...

Abandoned English Fan Translation of Xenosaga I + II, http://aerie.wingdreams.net/

Differences Between Xenosaga I + II and The PS2 Games, http://yzak.nu/cfud/xenosaga/ds.html

Xenosaga: Pied Piper English Translation, https://web.archive.org/web/200710060...

Soraya Saga FAQ, http://xenogearsxenosagastudyguide.bl...

Xenosaga: A Missing Year English Translation,    • Xenosaga: A Missing Year (English Tra...  

Resonant Arc, "Becoming Whole | Xenogears Thematic Analysis (Ft. Patrick Holleman),"    • Becoming Whole | Xenogears Thematic A...  

00:00 - Introduction
02:23 - Lack of Dev History
03:17 - Possible Reasons For Lack of Dev History
05:25 - The Return of Tetsuya Takahashi
08:11 - Xenosaga I + II
11:00 - Xenosaga: Pied Piper
13:27 - Xenosaga: A Missing Year
14:52 - The Supplemental Stories (Conclusion)
15:55 - The Graphics (Character Designs and Environments)
17:31 - The Cutscenes
19:07 - The Soundtrack
21:11 - The Sidequests
23:24 - The Character Battle System
26:48 - Money, Shops, Character Customization
28:10 - The Mech Battle System
29:25 - The Miracle of Episode III’s Improvement
30:11 - The English Dub
31:29 - Introduction to the Story
32:15 - Disc 1 Summary
34:00 - The Xeno Series Disc 2 Curse Revisited
35:06 - Disc 2 Introduction
35:38 - Pacing Issues
36:03 - Sellers
37:04 - Richard and Hermann
38:30 - Pellegri and Margulis
40:59 - Introduction to the Ending/Complete Thematic Analysis
42:21 - The Theme of Xenosaga (Even the Smallest of Waves Can Spread Throughout The Whole)
45:10 - Shion (Part One)
49:00 - Shion (Part Two)
50:08 - Kevin
53:59 - Allen
56:36 - The Final Scenes
59:02 - Conclusory Remarks
1:04:50 - Ending Credits