5/5 ★ – DarkDrawer's review of Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra.

"The preciousness of limited life, the beauty of death. You're intoxicated by that narcissism. It's such an incredibly human choice." Pretty much the thesis for the entire Xeno series while also being the most different of the Xeno games in vibes, themes, and overall character arcs portrayed. Characters like Shion, Kos-Mos, Jin, and of course, Allen are why this series and game become something quite exceptional. First of all, the combat is easily the best of the Saga series. Although it was extremely off-putting that in this game you don't really boost, using special attacks to get a winning hit on enemies for bonus exp ended up being the gameplay loop of the game (up until the endgame anyway). I pretty much used every character for at least a bit and for one very good reason: the skill tree. There's a massive skill tree that will span the entire game that is essentially a choice between 2 styles for each character. In this way, I felt compelled to utilize characters when their strengths came into play, especially healers. Unlocking different tech attacks and ether attacks made combat the most intuitive its ever been. Bosses were likely the most frustrating the game could get, but a lot of them were fair. My main squad was Shion, Kos-Mos, and Jin, but as Kos-Mos isn't a part of the first half all that much, it made me switch around some of the party. The story, while having its bumpy roads due to clear outside constraints, was incredibly satisfying as the end of the majority of the character arcs built up since Xenosaga 1 and arguably stuff paralleling Xenogears! Shion, Kos-Mos, Jin, Jr (lol), Momo, Ziggy, and Chaos make up a party that is among the most charming of jrpgs. Can't really say I've ever disliked any of these goobers. The "time travel" of the story is a little wack as its not actually time travel, but the way some characters interact and how things come to light, it sorta implies that it is? Very odd, but overall not a deal breaker by any means. Never liked anyone with the name Kevin tbh... I know he's a character made to be disliked, but his scenes, especially at the end game can really grind a guy's gears especially with how much priority it feels he has over other characters. The revelations around Kos-Mos and Chaos are pretty interesting in how it interweaves with other characters, especially Shion. I have my critiques surrounding Wilhelm and Mary, but if anything, its very interesting! The mechs from Saga 2 are here and are as fun as ever. It just makes me think of Gears as that game interweaved ground combat and "E.S." combat as well. This game can be enjoyed without playing XenoGears, but it is just elevated by Xenogears in how it references it and builds off of it. Highlights for villains for me are definitely Dimitri Yuriev and Margulis, but Kevin and Wilhelm aren't bad either. The former 2 just have a more explosive personality. Gaignun and Canan's sacrifices weren't too much of a tear jerker for me, but some of the other sacrifices hurt a lot more! Allen really is the GOAT. Wish he had more scenes as he really shapes up into a big part of the narrative. This series could've easily had a game or two after it, but alas, this is the game we got and so this is the ending we received to bookend this series. Hope the next XenoGames can do Saga justice...