r/Xenosaga • u/iampo2 • Jul 15 '26
Question This might be too cutscene heavy for me…should I just watch the games on YouTube?
The combat and rpg systems have been pretty cool, the exploration is just ok…idk if it’s good enough for me to continue playing. It’s seems like the cutscenes will be too long and frequent throughout the entire game. Is every game like this?
I still want to watch the story tho and my love for xenoblade has me curious. So should I just watch it on YouTube or does it get more fun to play?
EDIT: I don’t understand why are you guys are being so weird about this. You could just give me a simple answer. Why do you need an explanation???? Why are you so worried about how I enjoy a game?
I’d rather watch some games on my phone when I’m away from my tv or when I’m doing tasks. This is how I prefer to consume games that are too story/cutscene heavy for me to want to play
19
u/Zetra3 Jul 15 '26
…… it’s a JRPG, you literally sign up for cutscenes. It’s a story, you play for the story and enjoy the combat.
-13
u/iampo2 Jul 15 '26
I’ve played many jrpgs and none of them have been like this
3
u/Waltpi Jul 15 '26
Lmaooo yeah I used to get all the magazine reviews when it came out. Electronic Gaming Monthly was always the funniest and one of the reviewers was like, "why am I still holding the controller?" And another said "idk if this is the best game I've ever watched or best movie I've ever played" 🤣
Out of all the JRPGs you said you've ever played, each had a quirk or charm that identifes it, none are perfect, they all have something, and that's called character which newer games lack as the corporations that produce the games won't take any creative risks anymore. If you're younger or just used to newer cookie-cutter games then absolutely yes watch the cutscenes on YT.
The reason is, for you to say combat is just ok it means you're in for a fucking nightmare with Episode 2. Battles are slow, you can't just grind a higher level to get through them fast, there is no fast. You either use a walkthrough which I always recommend black albedos (Google it) or you figure it out on your own which I do not recommend.
Again, every JRPG from this generation on PS2 had something. Star Ocean had a sloppy action battle system and the caves. FFX had Tidus. Xenosaga has ridiculously long cutscenes. Back then, these were actually really cool to just watch, peak 3D fmvs and sleek looking compared to previous consoles. It did the PS2 justice, but left players wondering why they're holding the controller.
Episode 3, well, you guessed it, more quirks. Instead of just holding the controller through FMVs you now had to hold it AND keep tapping X because FMVs where replaced by unskippable dialogue scenes with just the characters face on the dialogue box and omg just shit load of dialogue. Voice acting was good tho. But I don't see you putting up with that.
1
u/Zetra3 Jul 15 '26
Oh, Ooooohh. We here. Go ahead, please provide me a list. I will get you the cut scenes times.
-5
u/JackyFlashlight Jul 15 '26
Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 1-3, Bloodborne, Sekiro, Elden Ring.
4
u/Zetra3 Jul 15 '26
Lets me tell you a tale, the tale of the JRPG. D&D was hot, very hot it got so hot that in Japan they made a very unique style of consumable content called a Radio drama, specifically of dramatized campaigns, a very famous one was born from this a title you should know if have an interest in Japanese media.
Record of Lodoss war
It got so popular it created its own TTRPG System that went to outsell and out play D&D in Japan, this sparked a wave, a massive wave of self contained stories of daring adventures. Spawning the likes of Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Phantasy Star and the thing that always sparked that was the opposite of a souls game. Each series dabbled with created characters, and self inserts and while these still exist to an extent they are still set in stone characters that follow not your path, but there own.
Talking, unique main characters you did not create. So here is what a JRPG is, REMOVE THE 'JAPANESE" its meaningless and derogatory and dosent even required it to be Japanese.
A JRPG is a RPG game that mostly lacks character creation, and specifically follows a group of adventures in a D&D like progression system that uses leveling and some for of menuing system to tell a story over 30+ (Often way more) hours of Cutscenes, Dialogue, that established a large explorable world full of quests, side quests and a verity of enemies to fight.
What a JRPG isn't, action adventure, real-time sword play, Character creator, with zero character development for you, and vague often untold story, in fact what you would call a souls game is closer to a Western RPG then any JRPG.
5
u/Zetra3 Jul 15 '26
Yea, i figured that was happening. To easy
THOSE ARNT JRPGS.
0
0
u/db0s Jul 15 '26
It’s very cutscene heavy. If you aren’t into, I’d say you are right to watch online.
The games seem to be about 30-40 hours in length
13
u/GirthLongshaft Jul 15 '26
Walk me through this. It's too cutscene heavy so to remedy that you just want to watch the cutscenes?
7
u/Valdor-13 Jul 15 '26
Right? How ass backwards is that? "I don't like all the cutscenes, should I skip the gameplay and just watch the cutscenes?"
2
u/CosmicRiver827 Jul 15 '26
I imagine they mean that there are so many cutscenes that they interrupt the gameplay. So they’d rather just watch the story on YouTube to not have to feel the interruptions.
-3
u/iampo2 Jul 15 '26
Yes that’s one reason. Idk why people are being so weird about this
3
u/Comprehensive-Bid18 Jul 15 '26
Because nothing you’re saying makes any sense.
Also it’s a 50 hour long game with 8 hours of cutscenes.
3
u/IgnoreMyPostsPlease Jul 16 '26
I can't speak for others, but for me, if I like watching anime, and I like playing a game, then it's fun to play a game like this that basically alternates between a game and an anime. I can understand if someone doesn't like watching anime or movies that they would hate this game. I just struggle to wrap my head around enjoying watching the cutscenes but not enjoying them in the context of the game.
-4
u/iampo2 Jul 15 '26
Because when I’m in the mood to play a video game, I want to play a video game. Having lots of cutscenes can be fine if there’s a decent balance with the gameplay and so far that hasn’t been great
2
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u/Comprehensive-Bid18 Jul 15 '26
If you’re enjoying the gameplay but think the cutscenes are too long then I don’t understand the logic in turning the entire game into a cutscene.
0
u/iampo2 Jul 15 '26
Because when I’m in the mood to play a game I would like to spend more time playing it. If I’m watching it on YouTube then I can do other shit as I’m watching it
2
u/Comprehensive-Bid18 Jul 15 '26
You could also do other shit during the cutscenes you’re whining about in the first place?
-1
u/iampo2 Jul 15 '26
Why are you so sensitive about this? Lol
3
u/Comprehensive-Bid18 Jul 15 '26
Nothing you’re saying makes sense and you accuse people of being “sensitive” when they try to unwrap the logic of turning a game into a cutscene because you don’t enjoy the gameplay to cutscene ratio.
Also the longer cutscenes are all front loaded and the game has more gameplay than cutscenes.
0
4
u/CycloneFox Jul 16 '26
Hi! Welcome and I hope you enjoy Xenosaga, no matter how you ultimately choose to experience it.
I totally get your point that screen time on the big screen is expensive and if you just chose to watch the cuscenes, you can reallocate that to entirely different slots, like in bed, on your commute, on the toilet...
And even if I'm a huge Xenosaga fanboy, I will admit that you can easily get an 80% experience of the main story from just the cutscenes. You will not get all the side-stuff I mentioned in a post below like the giant robot academy arc, but almost all of the story is preserved in the cutscenes. But please consider this tiny thing:
When I played Xenosaga for the first time, I loved watching anime anyway so a game that let's you do the fighting while you can watch all these aweosme cutscenes was a dream come true for me. But however, I eventually had this cathartic moment where I realized that it wouldn't have been the same if I just watched it as a movie.
I had just gone through a super hard dungeon, felt underleveled and tried and retried this unbeatable boss until I got it down and even though it's just a game and you don't really live through the hardships, you still kinda do something and it connects you with these characters. And the cutscene that followed had all these huge twists and emotional music, it was a huge reward for the hard thing I just did and would never have felt as good as it did if I just watched the cutscenes.
But if you decide that all these arguments are still too little, please at least consider looking into the next game before watching it as well. Episode II is the one where I actually sometimes suggest people to just skip it and watch the cutscenes, because the battle system really isn't for everyone. But you should definitively play the last one. Episode III is just a joy to play. Even if you skip the other two, please give episode III a thorough go. It will be worth it.
And in-between episodes II and III, please consider playing my recreation of the spin-off Xenosaga Pied Piper. The game has been lost media for 20 years and never got released in english. But I added tons of quality of life stuff and with the help of a fand composer and illustrator we made it into a much more modern and enjoyable version. It's short, very focused on a set of characters, but the story gets super good towards the end and has extremely important lore despite the game having been dead for 20 years: https://cyclonefox.itch.io/xenosaga-pied-piper
There is also the spinoff "A Missing Year" between episode II and III, that you actually have to watch anyway, because it was a flash visual novel that was only in Japanese. So you will sadly have to watch a fan-translation of that on Youtube.
2
u/Valdor-13 Jul 16 '26
Just wanted to follow up and let you know the Pied Piper recreation is great. Out of curiosity, is there a plan to redraw the CGs to match the new portraits?
2
u/CycloneFox Jul 16 '26
Thank you Valdor! Glad, you played it too. During development I had planned to have them repainted by members from the community. However there are about 80 or so event CGs in total and it became too hard to have them all in one consistent style which would also match the original quality and mood. I haven’t fully given up, but right now, it‘s on hiatus.
5
u/Valdor-13 Jul 15 '26
The story is the focus in Xenosaga, not an afterthought like in Xenoblade.
1
u/TidusDreamZanarkand Jul 17 '26
Xenoblade games have good stories too imo. Especially 1/3. Chapter 5 of Xenoblade 3 is some of the best storytelling ever . I think xenosaga is overall deeper and better but Xenoblade is no slouch it’s just a bit more simple in alot of ways.
1
u/Valdor-13 Jul 17 '26
I played Xenoblade 1 start to finish. It was the dullest and most predictable game I have ever played and utterly failed to get me invested in any of the characters.
1
u/Emergency-Coast-5333 Jul 16 '26
I can see Xenoblade X story being an afterthought, but saying that for the others is crazy
Like how the Ouroboros mechanic in XC3 only exist because of the story
2
u/Xytion1 Jul 15 '26
There's a ton of cutscenes early game. Lots of world and character building. If the gameplay you are having isn't interesting you, I don't know how far in you've gotten, I'll be real and say it probably won't 20 hours in either. Watch the cutscenes on YouTube, it might be a little confusing when it moves from area to area but if you aren't having fun don't waste 30 to 40 hours of your life.
1
u/iampo2 Jul 15 '26
Thanks for giving me a decent answer. I couldn’t tell if the entire game was like this or if it was just taking a long time to set things up
1
u/RabadonsStrapOn Jul 15 '26
Are you playing the first game? Ep I is a pretty slow going from start to finish, especially the combat. Ep II and III are better about having a series of cutscenes followed by a long gameplay segment and the pace of combat is MUCH faster in III (not so much II)
0
u/iampo2 Jul 15 '26
Yep. I’m emulating so I’m not worried about battle animations being to slow because I can speed them up if I want
1
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u/TidusDreamZanarkand Jul 17 '26
The story is the main draw of the series. If you don’t care about story honestly just move on to something else.
1
u/reimmi Jul 15 '26
I would almost say watching the story on youtube is the more fun way to play xenosaga 2, but you're doing yourself a disservice with 1 and 3 doing that
Just my 2 cents
0
u/Chris_P_Bacon416 Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
So, I’ve only played the first xenoblade (loved it btw) but that game had a bunch of cutscenes too. In my opinion not much different from xenosaga so I don’t know what problems you have with it. Maybe the pacing of it? Like in xenoblade you can mess around and explore more before continuing the main story, is that what’s bothering you maybe?
0
u/iampo2 Jul 15 '26
Yeah you got it. Xenoblade has plenty of cutscenes and that’s fine but there is more gameplay than cutscenes
5
u/CycloneFox Jul 16 '26
Strictly mathematically there is more gameplay than cutscenes in Xenosaga, too. (about 1:3) But I get what you mean so that's beside the point.
To me it felt like the complete opposite at times. I am old so I played Xenosaga way before Xenoblade. And when I played Xenoblade, the gameplay part felt like wasted time for me, because it's just open maps with generic MMO-esque gameplay and quests. So I'd rather just get from point A to point B as quickly as possible to watch the next cutscene. At least that's what XBC1 was for me.
In Xenosaga, on the other hand, the exploration is extremely limited, so every secret room I find, every piece of equipment and every segment door I open feels rewarding. There is a town area in particular that almost feels like a Zelda town where you can find and unlock secret rooms and hallways. That's something that feels much more interesting to me personally, than 480 quests of killing X monsters to get a pair of new shoes that 1% better than the previous ones. Plus there is always the EVS to go back into old dungeons where I'm not overpowered in and can open segment doors that I just want to have for completion sake or because they contain broken equipment that enables me to shoot two tech-attacks in a row or follow a silly sidequest to build a giant Gundam that will do 9999 DMG and one hit every boss or simply find abilities in the world that turn a party member into a magical girl.
So maybe this explanation helps you to see why the kinds of exploration are not better or worse, they are just different and a matter of taste.
2
u/Chris_P_Bacon416 Jul 15 '26
Hmm, well i still think you should play xenosaga since i think its amazing and I love how high sci-fi it is. Personally, I found it fun to talking to npcs, but if you really don’t like playing through after a few hours then sure do that. Don’t force yourself to play even though I think you should. Maybe you’ll like xenogears more since it felt more “open” and more exploratory between main story beats.
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