Xenosaga trailer analysis

[08.23.01] » Eight minutes of next-generation RPG bliss rendered in text form for your convenience.

   After a grueling three-hour download, the GIA has managed to view the Xenosaga trailer posted by GameSpot VG. Running 8 minutes and 8 seconds, the trailer shows an extended story sequence - the Gnosis attacking the Woglinde, possibly the game's intro - followed by a collection of other scenes. No actual gameplay footage is shown, only automated story scenes. However, the cinematography in the trailer is excellent, boasting constant use of varying camera angles, terrific animation, and excellent voice acting. The lip-synching, however, could still use some work; in several places, the characters' lips movements noticably do not correspond at all to the audio track.

   The sheer number of shots used in the trailer prevents us from doing our usual shot-by-shot analysis; however, we've summarized all the important events of the trailer before:

   The trailer begins with a slow pan across a capital ship - presumably the Woglinde - flying through space while organ music plays. The ship bears the logo of the Vector Corporation: a pair of apostrophe-shaped white emblems which together look like a yin-yang sign that has been broken in two. Several other ships, as well as an asteroid belt, are seen in the background. A narrator begins speaking.

   We then cut to the bridge of the ship, which bears a similar design to Shevat's Excalibur flagship in Xenogears. It is populated by a number of crew members, all of whom have different uniforms but identical hair colors. A female voice is heard speaking behind the narration; presumably, this is some part of the ship's systems. The narration then stops and a dark-haired man with a mustache, sitting in what appears to be the captain's seat, addresses a gray-haired man standing behind. The gray-haired man speaks until he is interrupted by an urgent exclamation from one of the crew members. Electronic systems begin beeping as the dark-haired man starts giving out orders. The crew argues back and forth and checks various gauges, growing more and more frantic.

   The music swells as an alarm sounds. Several of the crew members are shouting out exclamations, while the mustached captain curses. We then see several jellyfish-like Gnosis wriggling through space; some are orange, while others are white. The Gnosis glow and appear to emit some beams of light. In retalation, the spaceship opens up several cannon bays and begins firing blue beams. Several AGWSes floating in space also shoot handheld cannons.

   On board the ship, the crew is seen running into a room where weapons and AGWSes are stored. There is a brief glimpse of a man in a purple suit before the crew begins arming themselves or boarding AGWSes. Meanwhile, the pointed front end of the spaceship opens to reveal a large beam cannon, which fires at one of the Gnosis. Several neighboring ships do the same as well. The beams strike the Gnosis, but do not appear to affect them; the Gnosis simply absorb the beams and launch back orange fireballs. The orange balls strike several of the neighboring spaceships, destroying them.

   We cut back to the interior of the ship, where bloblike, humanoid Gnosis strike down several of the AGWSes. The man in the purple suit, who is riding in a special purple-accented AGWSes (the others have blue markings), fires his mecha's weapons. Meanwhile, one of the monsters picks up something and throws it across the room at one of the AGWSes, destroying it. The Gnosis then proceed to slash several of the on-foot crew members, spraying blood everywhere. One of the Gnosis swings its ethereal claw and grabs a blue-haired crew member by the head. It lifts up into the air; he turns white and then shatters into pieces.

   A blue creature looking somewhat like an Alien leans over a defeated AGWSes and appears to merge with it. The combined creature rises up, revealing a single grotestque eye on its underbelly, and begins firing the weapons of the AGWS frame it merged with at the other, human-piloted AGWSes. (Glimpses of the man in the purple suit are again seen throughout this.) Shion is finally seen, standing in a doorway as one of the blue Gnosis creeps up behind her and rises up to strike her.

   The trailer next cuts to a dark room with a cryogenic pod. The pod is marked with a red version of the Vector logo, except that the word "Vector" has been replaced by "KOS-MOS." The pod opens, revealing a frozen KOS-MOS. She lifts one hand up and the screen flashes white. We then see her standing in one of the generic ship interior rooms. A halo of blue and white light shoots out from around her and - in an overhead shot - continues outside the ship to affect all the Gnosis. KOS-MOS then materializes her huge Vulcan weapons and starts gunning down the Gnosis.

   We then cut to the bridge, where the silver-haired man is talking to two brunette crew members, one male and one female. (The silver-haired man has actually been speaking in voice-over for the past several scenes; we could not see who was talking until now.) Several of the crew members argue, interspersed with shots of KOS-MOS standing in several different rooms and Shion in a dark room cradling a dying blue-haired man (probably her now-deceased boyfriend).

   chaos appears for the first time, in an apparently unrelated shot, and begins speaking in a soft voice. We see a glowing Gnosis thrashing about and a bright light expanding from elsewhere in the room. The image of Abel's mother - Elly's ancestor - is seen inside the light as Shion looks on. Everything goes white and the music stops.

   In a new scene, Shion walks up beside KOS-MOS and speaks comfortingly to her. We then see chaos bending over KOS-MOS in her cryogenic pod; he speaks to her. A new music piece starts playing. This one is a vocal song; while there's no confirmation, the vocalist sounds like Joanna Hogg, who sang "Small Two of Pieces" and "Stars of Tears" from Xenogears.

    We cut back to KOS-MOS firing her Vulcans, shooting one of the human crew members through the chest. Clips of several dialogue scenes are then shown. One involves a man in a suit and tie speaking to someone off camera while he stands in an office. Another involves Shion talking with a dark-haired man - possibly the Citan look-alike seen in several places. Shion then turns and speaks to a blonde man lying down, apparently wounded from the Gnosis attack. We then see several shots of Zohar materializing over a lake on Earth; these shots, taken from the game's intro, are the only pre-rendered clips in the trailer.

   A blonde man with several scars speaks into the camera. He appears to be in the same room in which Shion was just addressing the wounded soldier. We then see scenes of M.O.M.O., the man in the purple suit, and the grey-haired guy from the bridge speaking. Several AGWSes are then seen in space, with one of the piloted by Jr. He speaks briefly, then we cut into a council room with eight tall chairs in a circle. Several holographic images are floating near the ceiling. A man in a red uniform stands in the middle of the room, listening to the council - including a blonde man in a uniform and another guy in casual clothes smoking a cigarette - talk to him.

   M.O.M.O. speaks to a woman in a brown dress; the woman is sitting one of the council's chairs. Several black and white shots are seen of M.O.M.O. and Joachim Mizraki, the scientist who created her. M.O.M.O. address a blonde-haired woman - we can't quite see who it is - as "Mama." We then cut to an sinister-looking silver haired man flying in an A.G.W.S. He speaks M.O.M.O.'s name, then mutters something under his breath and laughs evily. Back in the council room, a blonde man in a white uniform addresses the woman in the brown dress while more black-and-white images of M.O.M.O. are shown. A purple-haired man in a black room is then seen addressing M.O.M.O. in a separate room. The "evil" silver-haired guy is then seen standing in a room with a character who looks like M.O.M.O. but with white hair and a white nurse's uniform - possibly another Realien (artificial human). The silver-haired man, who is wearing a black and white robe, puts his arm around the shoulders of the white-haired "M.O.M.O." and speaks to her.

   Shion is then seen a blue room, looking up with wonder. She speaks, and then we see what she is looking at: A hideous half-human-woman, half-Gnosis creature. (The right side of her body is human, the left side made up of orange Gnosis goo.) Shion gaps with horror. In a separate scene, the silver-haired man claps Jr.'s shoulders from behind and speaks to him. We then cut back to the room where Shion was, where we can now see there are several of the creatures suspended in tubes. M.O.M.O., KOS-MOS and Jr. stand on a walkway in the middle of the room, examining them; the party converses.

   Another series of dialogue shots is shown: A black-robed man with a purple crew cut talking while a large green screen in the background mirrors him, chaos jumping up angrily to blurt something out, and a white-haired man in a green kimono and white gloves ranting angrily. There is a brief shot of a huge armada of Gnosis flying through space, then we cut to KOS-MOS riding an elevator up a green shaft. While KOS-MOS rides, Shion speaks to her from a hologram screen on the elevator. A young man with spikey blonde hair and a blue headband is standing beside Shion. A large panel is opens on the exterior of a spaceship, and KOS-MOS' elevator rises towards it.

   More miscellaneous shots include a huge blue laser tearing about some Gnosis and M.O.M.O. speaking with a blonde character. We then see the silver-haired guy standing atop a red-carpeted altar illuminated by candles. He is holding the white M.O.M.O. look-alike in his arms, and descends the altar while speaking to the real M.O.M.O., who waits at the bottom of the altar.

   The guy with the headband and another young guy - this one wearing a blue shirt, green shirt, and a red baseball cap - are seen on board a small spaceship with chaos. The man in the cap shouts "TONY!" and a third character, a blonde boy in a white shirt, pulls the throttle and the ship takes off, shaking. In a separate scene against a totally black background, the silver-haired man bends down to talk to Jr. We then see the inside of what appears to be a futuristic aparment with a green couch. A hologram of Abel's mother speaks.

   In an extended sequence, the purple-haired man with the crew cut - the one who was talking on a hologram screen earlier - emerges from some flames, carrying a short sword. He confronts a character in a black kimono, who looks very similar to Citan (he has small glasses, a similar face and dark hair) and is wielding a long katana. The two speak, then begin to duel with both swords and kicks. Soul Calibur-style motion blurs trail the pair's weapons as they battle. (The animation in this scene is outstanding.) The purple-haired man warps around several times, then unleashes a powerful strike that leaves a trail of flames. (Note that while using this attack, the purple-haired man yells something that sounds like "HYUGA!" - Citan's real name. We'll leave the interpretations of this up to you.) The Citan character jumps out of the way, but the purple-haired man attacks with a jumping strike and pins his adversary to the ground.

   After a shot of an AGWS flying through space, we see Abel sitting against a white background. There is a blue explosion in space and the music stops. The credits appear and fade out. In a final scene, the man in the black kimono and chaos are seated outside a Japanese-style house at night; the scene is illuminated by a single candle. The Citan character speaks while crickets chirp. In the trailer's final shot, a man in a suit and tie speaks briefly; his face is covered in shadow to hide his identity, but we can tell that he has long, curly white hair.

   More on Xenosaga: Episode I can be found in the GIA's comprehensive preview. Again, the trailer is available on GameSpot VG and is well worth the hefty download.