New Xenosaga screens, info

[07.08.01] » A first look at the battle system of MonolithSoft's PS2 RPG, plus a fourth playable character.

   Namco held its long-awaiting "unveiling" of Xenosaga today in Japan, and Japanese site Gpara had the scoop. The event revealed new story and gameplay details, including the first look at the game's battles in action and a peek at a couple of new characters.

   Shion, chaos, KOS-MOS, and a new red-haired female character all appear battling on foot; Shion is also seen fighting in her A.G.W.S. mecha. (Note that Shion is not fighting in the active party in some of the screens.) Each character has four statistics: HP, EP (Ethereal Points, or magic), a gauge consisting of several green arrows, and a continuous red meter with a number at the end. A large blue box containing the heroes' portraits appears in the lower-right corner of the battle interface; this might be tracking when the characters will take their turns, or their positions on their battlefield. The A.G.W.S. battle screens also show a "Boost" icon, which likely has the same significane as the power-enhancing Booster option in Xenogears.

   Xenosaga's battle system looks to carry on the combo-based style of its predecessor Xenogears. Menus showed different moves listed for the Square, Triangle, and X buttons, with each attack seeming to carry an EP and AP cost. (These three different buttons can be assumed to be the short, medium, and long-ranged attacks mentioned in a previous interview with director Tetsuya Takashashi.)

   Also shown were a number of new story scenes including a new orange-haired character looking suspiciously similar to Elly and an imposing dark-haired man with glasses. The red-haired girl from the battle footage also returns; here, she is more clearly seen in a black and white Solaris-style uniform and looks a bit like Xenogears' Margie. Though the battle scenes took place on a sandy plateau, the story and exploration scenes were almost universally set in high-tech corridors and in space. Note that the radar in the lower-right corner of the screens tracks the movement of both the player and monsters.

   (On another story-related note, the official spelling of chaos' name has been confirmed as being in all lower-case letters. This further establishes him as the counterpart to the order-oriented KOS-MOS, whose name is written in all caps.)

   Finally, the trailer revealed a few scenes apparently detailing Zohar's discovery on Earth at least a thousand years before Xenosaga begins. Unlike the anime-style designs in Xenosaga's present, these flashback scenes featured extremely realistic characters and scenery.

   For a slew of additional screenshots and photos from the event, check out Gpara's live coverage.