Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra

You Gotta Fight, For Your Right
The movies are gorgeous, but be ready to watch a whole lot of them.

The movies are gorgeous, but be ready to watch a whole lot of them.

Where the game really shines is in the combat, which is satisfying enough to compensate for the wordy narrative. If you hate random encounter battles, you can rejoice because Also Sprach lacks the "Ah ha!" element common in most RPGs. Because you can see and avoid encounters, you can sneak up behind enemies and engage them in a back attack. You can also set traps which provide a bonus if you engage the enemy after they go off; your total stock of traps is conveniently displayed on screen, so you can plan their usage strategically.

Attacking enemies fills up your party's Boost meter which you can then expend to increase a character's initiative or to execute special attacks. If you kill a monster with a Special Attack, it becomes a Finish Strike and increases end-of-battle rewards, which rewards careful battle planning. However, enemies also possess Boost meters so it pays to be wary.

Yes, the minigame is weird. Yes, it is confusing at first. Yet it's practically its own entire game, and fun, too.

Yes, the minigame is weird. Yes, it is confusing at first. Yet it's practically its own entire game, and fun, too.

Each character also has a Break meter which fills up when they take damage. When the meter is full, they are effectively stunned for two turns. The fun, and challenge, of Also Sprach battles lies is in preventing your own party from "breaking" while trying to stun the opposition.

Players can also engage in E.S., or Mech, battles where you can choose from multiple weapons layouts. Each weapon expends a different amount of energy which again places an emphasis on careful planning. You also have an Anima meter that increases as you make successful attacks. When the meter is full, you can go into an Anima Awakening state, which reduces the amount of energy needed for normal attacks and allows for a devastating Special Attack.

Trinkets and Fluff

In the end, Also Sprach is a deep and engaging title that makes a worthy capstone to the epic series. Like Return of the Jedi, it brings the trilogy to a satisfying close; here's hoping that they don't mess it up by releasing a bunch of prequels.

PROTIP: In E.S. battles, perform high-accuracy, low-damage attacks before high-damage, low-accuracy attacks to increase your chances to hit and do more damage.

PROTIP: In E.S. battles, perform high-accuracy, low-damage attacks before high-damage, low-accuracy attacks to increase your chances to hit and do more damage.

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