Considering starting in this series

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Belegorm

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Yo,

Recently, I remembered the existence of Xenogears, Xenosaga and Xenoblade Chronicles. I'm kind of interested in this series at this point but haven't played any of the games in the series before.

For getting my feet wet, at this point should I look for Xenogears, go for Xenosaga, or Xenoblade Chronicles? What would be a good point of entry for this series?

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TruthTellah

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@belegorm: Start from the beginning. Xenogears.

There isn't a ton of overlap on the various games(besides the Xenosaga titles), but Xenogears is the best of the bunch and got it all started. Push through some of the old game clunkiness to enjoy the fighting and story.

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Slag

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I agree with @truthtellah, start with Xenogears.

These games are often very dense, and the more background info you have the more sense they will make. Each iteration does have some standalone potential (except maybe Xenosaga II and III), but having that creative background I found helpful.

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Hailinel

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@slag said:

I agree with @truthtellah, start with Xenogears.

These games are often very dense, and the more background info you have the more sense they will make. Each iteration does have some standalone potential (except maybe Xenosaga II and III), but having that creative background I found helpful.

The one thing I'll add here is that Xenogears, while definitely a classic, has its issues, particularly in terms of its story and pacing. Make sure you take the time to do a lot of leveling while you're on the first disc, because the second disc is almost entirely text.

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TruthTellah

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@hailinel said:

@slag said:

I agree with @truthtellah, start with Xenogears.

These games are often very dense, and the more background info you have the more sense they will make. Each iteration does have some standalone potential (except maybe Xenosaga II and III), but having that creative background I found helpful.

The one thing I'll add here is that Xenogears, while definitely a classic, has its issues, particularly in terms of its story and pacing. Make sure you take the time to do a lot of leveling while you're on the first disc, because the second disc is almost entirely text.

Yeah, that's why I brought up forging through a bit of old game clunkiness. It's a tad uneven with the pace, but with a simple guide pushing you along, it still holds up well.

I replay through it every year or two. :)

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Belegorm

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#6  Edited By Belegorm

Thanks for the advice!

On a related note, I work in a used bookstore and recently we got in a copy of the sheet music book for Xenosaga's soundtrack. I'm not familiar with the music and all the text in the book is in Japanese, but would this be something worth picking up for a few dollars, as someone who plays piano casually? More or less, is Xenosaga's soundtrack good enough that you'd want to go play it on piano if you knew how?

From the same pile I've already got the FFX sheet music, Chrono Cross, and Howl's Moving Castle, btw :D There's something else in there by Joe Hisashi as well but no idea what it's from, the text is in Japanese as well like the others and no recogniseable logo.

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Video_Game_King

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#7  Edited By Video_Game_King

New suffix=new storyline, although I think they also make callbacks to the previous games? All I know is that I played Xenoblade last and didn't have any trouble understanding it. (Curiously, I had trouble understanding Xenosaga, but that was for different reasons.)

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Zeik

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#8  Edited By Zeik

I kind of want to suggest starting with Xenoblade. It's the most well-rounded and probably the easiest one to jump into right now. I know people love Xenogears, and it does have its highlights, but man, some of the writing does not hold up well at all. I tried replaying it recently and the early game dialogue drove me crazy. And while I have fond memories of Xenosaga, that is a big commitment to jump into for the first time and the quality can be sporadic over the course of the trilogy.

@belegorm said:

On a related note, I work in a used bookstore and recently we got in a copy of the sheet music book for Xenosaga's soundtrack. I'm not familiar with the music and all the text in the book is in Japanese, but would this be something worth picking up for a few dollars, as someone who plays piano casually? More or less, is Xenosaga's soundtrack good enough that you'd want to go play it on piano if you knew how?

Which Xenosaga? Xenosaga 3 honestly has one of my favorite soundtracks in any game ever, but the other games have their good tracks. I can't really speak for whether they would be worth learning on a piano though, since I have no musical experience.

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lego_my_eggo

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If you are going to start might as well start with Xenogears, and its probably my favorite of the bunch (having not played the blade chronicles). But be prepared for cutscenes, there are lots of them and they are some of the longest i have seen out of all the JRPG's i have played. And Xenosaga 2 was probably the worst of the Saga series, taking all the bad stuff from 1 and messing up all the good stuff, but 3 is probably the best (other then the annoyingly loud footsteps).

And i do remember enjoying the music in the Saga series, but it has been a long time since i have played them, so if its only a few bucks its probably worth the gamble.

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veektarius

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I liked gears and blade, was okay with saga 1, but saga 2 lost me within like 2 hours and I never played 3.