First Archimpressions: Xenosaga 3: Also Sprach Zarathustra

 It´s time to settle the score. It´s time to play Xenosaga part III.

 I went in with an open mind, it´s been 4 years since I had the displeasure of playing Part II, and even though the foul aftertaste isn´t completely gone, I feel ready to tackle this game. Monolith completely killed it with Xenoblade, so maybe, just maybe, they got it right before with Xenosaga III, and hey, it can´t possibly be worse than Xenosaga II!. Where to start... Hmmm.... I´m about 2 hours in, cleared the Prologue and Chapter 1, and so far it feels like Xenogears 2nd disc, not a good omen, since I´m being led cut-scene after cut-scene, heck, Shion even had a pretty long monologue, kinda like when the characters in Xenogears would relate their stories!.
 Also, another thing I disliked, right after the first "mission", what happens in the next scene? Shion in a bikini, ´cause she is on a beach. For no good reason. Right, fanservice is Monolith´s most recurring trend, sigh. They also managed to completely ruin a plot twist, by having a flashback, featuring a character long been dead... and the very next cutscene, set in the present, features one of the Testaments, masked characters, who has the exact same voice, no effort whatsoever to mask the voice. Worth mentioning, but it didn´t affect me at all, characters are using Xenosaga´s lingo, and mentioning places and organizations left and right, so it´s not a good idea to play this one without having played the other ones.
 Now, as to what I liked? The graphics. The models look pretty nice, but what I dig the most are the enviroments. They look really cool, backgrunds are specially good looking. Breaking open objects is back, and it´s satisfying, like in Xenosaga 1!. Voice acting is pretty good too, but I still can´t stand Junior´s voice. Or his attitude. WHO MADE HIM THE LEADER? WHY IS HE BOSSING EVERYONE AROUND?! Please, let Shion be back as the main character... actually, Shion is just as she was in Xenosaga 1 and 2, she only ever thinks of KOS-MOS. Why are the two leads so annoying and plain? Jesus, it´s been two games already, get some character developement, for crying out loud. It has to be said though, that seeing all these characters again, after three years, was kinda.... Until Junior had to show up and boss everyone around, that is.
 Last element I want to mention, combat. Grounded and Air statuses are gone, thank god. However, they did away with the "Combo Attacks", so now you just get a generic attack option, I don´t like this change. Instead of Air and Ground, there´s "Break" status, if you, or the enemy, recieve too much damage, you enter into Break, which leaves you unable to take action for two turns, I didn´t really care for this, so meh. There´s three types of special attacks: Ether, which consume Ether Points, Techs, which also consume Ether Points(Why could´t they share "Ether" menu? Guess I´ll find out) and then there´s... Special Attacks, which consume Boost, yes the boost mechanic is still here and works just like it used to, and if you down an enemy with this attack you get extra XP. Gear battles....erm, E.S. battles are back, and now when attacking you chose from your weapons, instead of Break gauges, you have an Anima Gauge, once charged you can go into Anima Mode and unleash your Anima Attacks. I´m ok with E.S. combat, it´s not as good as Xenogears´, but then again, Xenosaga is not as good as Xenogears.