3.5/5 ★ – Lancey's review of Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht.

Several years after the release of Xenogears, we were finally given a follow up in the form of Xenosaga. This being a Namco game and not a Squaresoft game, Xenosaga is a spiritual successor, though it borrows ideas and concepts from its predecessor. Unfortunately, Xenosaga didn't fully live up to expectations. Xenosaga can feel like more movie than game, similar to its contemporary in Final Fantasy X, though it's even more egregious here. The game is extremely linear -- with long, drawn-out cutscenes. Thankfully, the battle system is still strong, the music (once again composed by Yasunori Mitsuda) is still excellent, and its story is still a major highlight -- though it does suffer from a hint of pretentiousness, which prevents it from reaching the heights of Xenogears. Xenosaga was also the first part of pre-planned 6 episode series, which would eventually be cut down to 3 games due to poor sales. If they had just focused their attention one game, instead of outlining an entire franchise before they even knew if it'd be successful or not, maybe Xenosaga would have been the successor that Xenogears deserved. As it stands, it's just all right.