Xenosaga Episode II
| Xenosaga Episode II | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Monolith Soft |
| Publisher(s) |
|
| Director(s) | Koh Arai |
| Producer(s) | Tomohiro Hagiwara Shinichirō Okamoto |
| Writer(s) |
Tetsuya Takahashi Norihiko Yonesaka |
| Composer(s) |
Yuki Kajiura Shinji Hosoe |
| Series | Xenosaga |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Role-playing video game |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 73.53% |
| Metacritic | 73 of 100 |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| 1UP.com | C+ |
| Famitsu | 33 of 40 |
| Game Informer | 7.75 of 10 |
| GamePro | 4 of 5 |
| GameSpot | 7.8 of 10 |
| GameSpy |    |
| IGN | 7.9 of 10 |
| OPM (US) | |
| PSM | 6 of 10 |
| Yahoo! Games | 6 of 10 |
Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse (ゼノサーガ エピソードII 善悪の彼岸 Zenosāga Episōdo Tsū Zen'aku no Higan?) is a role-playing video game for the PlayStation 2 and the second title in the Xenosaga series, created by Namco and developed by its subsidiary at the time, Monolith Soft.
Jenseits von Gut und Böse, literally "Beyond Good and Evil", is taken from a philosophical work by Friedrich Nietzsche of the same name. Episode II was originally written by Tetsuya Takahashi, director of the previous game and Xenogears, a game that critics associate with the Xenosaga trilogy; it was directed by Koh Arai, who worked previously on Radical Dreamers, a visual novel set in the Chrono Trigger universe, Xenogears, Chrono Cross, and the first Xenosaga game. This is the only Xenosaga game to be released in Europe, so the European released contained a DVD movie featuring the cutscenes from Xenosaga 1.
The second installment to the series features the same cast from Episode I, still focusing on Shion, KOS-MOS, and their friends. Episode II differs in that the plot follows the characters Jr. and MOMO closer than previously, exposing much of their past, which was kept secret during the first game.
Episode II begins with a flashback of the Miltian Conflict, where Helmer orders chaos and Canaan to pilot E.S. Asher to Old Miltia and retrieve the U.R.T.V. units from the Realian rioting near Labyrinthos, the U-TIC Organization headquarters. Along the way, the two men encounter Federation officer Jin Uzuki, who is investigating the root of the Conflict. Uzuki believes that the entire Conflict is a set-up to turn U-TIC into a scapegoat, which, in turn, will keep the larger organization hidden in the shadows. He has data that he believes can prove this, but the data can only be decoded at Labyrinthos. The trio encounters U-TIC operative Margulis along the way, who demands that Jin return the U-TIC's encoded data. Uzuki defeats Margulis in a sword fight. Canaan is then entrusted with Jin's data before parting ways with Canaan and chaos, who then rescue U.R.T.V.s Rubedo and Nigredo.
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