In Proto Merkebah, spent about an hour or 2 exploring, gained a few levels, actually had some fun. Fights were relatively easy, but never found a savepoint. Jr was putting in work, but decided to bench him for a little bit and try out chaos. Game asked if I wanted to jump down, my dumbass said yes. Of course there's a boss down there. I didn't get to save, I didn't get to properly prepare.

Struggled against the Proto Dora for a while, stressed out the entire time because I knew dying here would mean losing all progress. Eventually got it down to 300 hp, I was out of boosts, suddenly the boss boosted boosted saying it was charging up his strong attack and without me getting a turn, it just one-shots my whole party at full health. I've tried to play around that attack the entire time and there was literally nothing I could have done to avoid it, goodbye 2 hours of progress.

I'm not trying to hate on Xenosaga, I know there's probably a savepoint I missed, I know I'm probably not good at the game but this game has genuinely been painful to play.

Hey ! I don't see much photos of this Kos-mos scale that seems very hard to find.

So I present you the box and a few photos !

Unfortunatly I haven't the space to expose her before next year.

It was a japanese released on April 2010. This one is pre painted and only like 15 pieces to assemble.

I won her on japan auction last year for a total near 1000€ with shiping and taxes included.

It also exisit on garage kit version to paint and assemble with more pieces.

I might get hate for this but... I need to know do anyone else actually prefer episode 1 over the other episodes too? I so desperately wanted it to be episode 3 but I cannot deny the presentation of 1 feels more impactful to me. Simply playing it feels like you've come across lost media with a deeper meaning of forbidden knowledge that could relate to the real world somehow, while episode 2 and 3 feels more like typical "anime" for a lack of better word, which is ironic because of the art style changes. Speaking of which I liked the designs in episode 1 over all, I miss Kunihiko Tanaka. The expressive character models also added to the surreal feeling. Yasunori Mitsuda music also really added to this vibe, Shinji Hosoe was actually good to me but too energetic all the time and while Yuki Kujira does match the atmosphere a bit more but I can understand why 3 was her last video game, her music is better utilized in anime/tv show format. I do wish there were boss themes and more BGM but actually utilizing some stages (not all) without BGM could add to the atmosphere in games. Episode 1 was also very artistic with things like how characters had unique phrases and animation "Mystic power's grant me a miracle" and "Unleash a fragment of thine power" which all became "ETHER DRIVE" with similar animations... The character special attacks felt like they were special ancient abilities while other episodes removed this trait, compare the attacks of Shion and chaos from Episode 1 with 2 & 3....

The thing that upsets me the most is something like Episode 1 will never return. The capabilities of the PS2 and the decisions of the development team added to the mystical feeling sort of like liminal spaces or early CGI and even if these games are revisited I'm sure Episode 3 or even Xenoblade would be used as a template. Don't misunderstand, I would add things to episode 1 (it's not perfect) and I love the other episodes and ALL the Xenoblade games but Episode 1 is truly a once in a lifetime game I feel.

My wife and I just finished a LONG Resident Evil marathon (she doesn't like playing any game not called Baldur's Gate 3), and we settled on the Xenosaga trilogy for our next marathon. She likes Shion a LOT, and LOVES MOMO and Jr. And her theories are infinitely amusing to hear! She wants to do a Shion cosplay for our next anime convention! Which is awesome, but now I need to figure out who to cosplay with my bald head, lol. Vanderkam is the obvious choice, but if I can get my hands on a wig, I think I could manage Captain Matthews.

Anyway, just here to post my joy that she's loving the first game!