Xenosaga Episode 1 Der Wille zur Macht - the Kawaii Terminator

Xenosaga Episode 1 Der Wille zur Macht was a game developed by Monolith Soft and primarily published by Namco.  Originally created as a spiritual successor to the Square-produced Xenogears by Tetsuya Takahashi.  Der Wille zur Macht, was taken from the native title of The Will to Power, a posthumously-published collection of notes written by Friedrich Nietzsche.

Being a fan of Xenogears for the ps 1 I immediately got a copy of this game the moment it hit game shelves back in 2003. Xenosaga franchise was originally planned to be a 6 part episode game series with each Episode focusing on one or two of its main characters.  

Over 400 years into the future humanity has left earth to colonize the stars. Synthetic humans can now be created. But human has advancement had a steep price as mysterious alien entities known as Gnosis has started decimating colonies after colonies. Conventional weapons don't work against the Gnosis so they developed Anti Gnosis Weapon Systems (AGWS) mechs. At the center off all this is Shion Uzuki and the new anti gnosis android KOS-MOS.

If you have played Xenogears for the playstation 1 before than you know exactly what to expect in Xenosaga. Religious inspired themes and names, philosophical driven narratives and over the top battles. Although both games are also very different from each other in this regard. One in comparison is Xenosaga has a more sci fi atmosphere to it compared to the dusty almost Mad Maxx style setting of Xenogears.

There's a bunch of religious themes based from Biblical mythology, Jewish mysticism. Even the name Gnosis is clearly a Gnosticism reference. So much so that it can be overwhelming and confusing at times. But going through the trouble of actually delving into it has its rewards as this gives the game a complexity that is rarely found in modern games even today. I can saw for a fact that the games narrative is one of the games selling point.

The gameplay is turn based at is much like Xenogears with the addition of a Boosting mechanic that lets you do cool special attacks. Much like Xenogears you got a standard character fight and a mech fight and if you level your character enough your character can go toe to toe with giant size enemies without relying on the mechs. And like all RPG games there are side quest and mini games that unlocks you powerful items and even a swimsuit.

Just check out the gameplay in this youtube video by .

The character design is japanese anime inspired for the most part. From the android KOZ-MOS is a kawaii looking ball of cuteness that has probably the tenacity and toughness of the Terminator to that of Shion, the nerdy scientist type with an arm cannon that is bigger than her arm that doubles as an energy blade. Even their attacks is something you'd see out of a shounen action anime and is always an eye candy to see on screen. 

The graphics of Xenosaga Episode 1 Der Wille zur Macht isn't groundbreaking but it gets the job done. The cinematic and cut scenes are always cool to look with each cut scene trying to outdo one another in terms of scale like the ones you will see in the anime Gurren Laggan. The background does lack texture in some areas and there's really little to explore unless you want to back track on areas that you can't get through the first time you were there like a certain number of red door.

The music in Xenosaga is catchy and fits the theme of the game but sadly their number is in short order with the battle themes coming in two flavors being the standard theme and the Boss theme aka KOZ-MOS battle music. The bgm in a lot of the areas you explore in the game are sadly forgettable and didn't have the same impact as the battle and Boss themes.

The game does has its flaws as the religious themes is probably not for everyone. The battles tend to drag a bit too much if not for the excellent bgm you get during these encounters. Some of the side quest and mini games aren't worth doing and are often too tedious. The areas doesn't offer much variety being mostly a city, space station or some ruins.

Xenosaga Episode 1 Der Wille zur Macht is an enjoyable game specially if your into anime inspired sci fi JRPG games. This is a must for anyone who is a fan of Xenogears as the game elements and the use of religious themes isn't all that different. The design New players will find the game easy to get into due to its steady difficulty increase. This is a must try if you are into JRPG and is a good jumping in point for players who wants to get into the genre.