It's really difficult to pick a place to play up to for a game I haven't played before. For that reason, we haven't been doing it for this series. Just try to play 5ish hours each week and hopefully we'll all be more or less in the same place.
Thank you guys for tackling Xenosaga. Like Xenogears, i played this as a teen & didn't really "get" it, despite enjoying the jrpg elements. I watch/listen every week while going for an evening walk
this might be a spoiler but MOMO's name has connotations with Japan too such as Momotaro which also is kinda connected to her in weird ways too I just felt you guys should look at that
Also how the Greek cosmos refers to the formed or physical universe while chaos is the primordial pre universe forces or unorganized dark and light elements. This is also reflected on their behavior as well. chaos does what he wants while he hardly has that much influence on the story and everything around him but KOS-MOS does everything she's ordered to and when she goes chaotic (heh) she is a mas destruction being. This also reflects how chaos can be orderly chaotic or controlled in his unpredictable behavior while she is very disorderly in her destructive once her directive is extreme.
Chaos literally persuades KOS-MOS into doing what he says and she stays silent, something that even Shion is unable to do, since she is not following her orders. If you pay attention, he touches her shoulder hinting some kind of familiarity, which in japanese culture is like invading someone's personal space.
came here to comment on this too! The whole time chaos speaks she only half-listens and is watching the playback but is still stumped at the end. And that gesture is not something she repeats
+egoborder3203 Yes! The way she grabs her own arm just above the elbow is also uncharacteristically human of her. The gesture she is displaying is one of extreme confusion and vulnerability which is neither shown before this scene nor since. I don’t believe this was anything but intentional and it is animated that way to both show that KOS-MOS is very confused about the situation but also to indicate there is a deep connection between KOS-MOS and chaos that brings something very human out of her.
I think it's worth mentioning KOS-MOS's body language when chaos enters the scene. She almost looks startled when she spins around when he shows up. I'd suspect that the fact that she didn't pick up the noise of chaos entering the room is what startled her and prompted her to run back the encounter a number of times in her head to try and figure out what happened.
@@v.m.a.d.l.e.6972 I applaud the viewer for assessing the scene for themselves. I am a diehard fan and can put myself out of the context of information and say its an honest assessment
yeah, she snaps back in almost full-alert mode. I commented that she also does a very "girly" shrug at the end of his dialogue, when he asks if she'll go along with his idea
Given that KOS-MOS seems to play back a visual record of chaos' arrival on the bridge, I suspect she "sees" in all directions at all times, at least to the extent that it made sense in the storytelling to represent the playback as a visual record. The way I interpret that scene, since chaos seems to blink into existence during the replay as part of a visual glitch, KOS-MOS concludes that she experienced a technical failure, as evidenced by her later request for Shion to perform maintenance on her sensors. Editing to add: I don't think she *actually* experienced a glitch, just that was her conclusion from the data she had available and given her nature as a machine intelligence.
During the Wilhelm cutscene when you look at the compass of order the base plate is the circular slab that the character from the intro of the game puts the smaller silver Zohar into.
The POV of Ziggy analyzing the space near the transport vehicles can be confirmed by paying attention to the details. The initial scan of what he was sensing is broad and then narrows on a distinctly blue colored vehicle. In the later scene, after MOMO and Ziggy make their escape, Margulius sheathes his sword and behind him you see 2 shadowy figures - Albedo and Kirschwasser - standing near the blue colored vehicle that was zoomed onto by Ziggy's scan. What exactly he was picking up or sensing to narrow his scan? That can be left to interpretation , however, I can make a very strong case of "what" - though that would be very spoiler heavy.
Yeah, this scene happens almost right after that as far as I remember, so it should've been obvious that they were what Ziggy was detecting. And the blue vehicle was meant to help cement in our brain to recognize it when Albedo reveals himself.
At the end of that cutscene where they're escaping Margulis puts his sword away and two shadowy figures come forward from the spot Ziggy was looking at, a man with white hair and another 100 Series Realian, and he says "You're late" to them.
The fact that Chaos materialises into the bridge would also explain KOS MOS startled reaction to him being behind her. She hunches down when she spins to face him like a cornered animal as if in shock and up to this point she has been robotic in her pefection and ability to not be rattled by anything, but his enterance clearly had an effect on her even before she started playing back his entry into the bridge.
Yes. She also makes a comment to Shion that she needs her sensors adjusted, or something to that effect, reinforcing that KOS-MOS was surprised when chaos entered the room, but after replaying the data concludes that she experienced a technical failure.
Just for your information, Wagner and his music-dramas get a lot of references in Xenosaga. Elsa is the female lead in Wagner's Lohengrin and the Elsa is a Lohengrin class ship. There's the Rhinemaiden as well, which refers to the water nymphs in Der Ring Des Nibelungen. In German Arthurian literature, Lohengrin was the son of Parsifal, who is the subject of Wagner's final music-drama and is a take on the Knight of the Swan legend that appears throughout Romance literature. I was delighted to hear all these references when I first played this game. Love your work. Your deep dives into these narrative heavy games and other RPGs is always illuminating!
Thank you to their patrons. This podcast is legitimately priceless. The deep DEEP dive is incredible and I personally couldn't be more appreciative. I'm not ashamed to say I literally cried in appreciation at the end of the Xenogears Analysis. Xenogears was/is my favorite game since it's release in 98 which makes me 14 at the time. It was the psychology that really grabbed me. I never thought to look for a deep dive until coincidentally this channel was just a few episodes in. I always wanted to know more and like many others prayed to the game dev gods for a remake/finish. I always wanted the Perfect Works. Anyway I'm kinda rambling now. My point is I couldn't be more appreciative and jealous of your ability to....dive into these things and comprehend it AND explain it comprehensively. Thank you t o everyone involved including the patrons. And also the guests of course.
47:00 on the name Wilhelm: it is not merely a reference to Kaisar Wilhelm, it is also in reference to Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, whose philosophy comes up again and again throughout the trilogy (not least of all in the titles).
Just to touch on Ziggy being forced to live as punishment. It’s similar to Xenogears in that Queen Zephyr and several other people in Shevat were given their life extension treatments by Krelian as punishment as well.
Loving the series so far, but I gotta say, one of the things I appreciate the most is Mike and Casen's back and forth expositions or discussions without interrupting each other. TJ, bless his soul, is constantly trying to interject and it got a little grating this episode. He's clearly very excited to be talking about that which he loves, which I can understand, maybe its the stream delay that's making it seem worse than it is.
So glad you called out the scene where chaos just hand waves away his ability to neutralize Gnosis and everyone just accepts it. That still sticks out to me as ridiculous 20 years later.
The thing is, it's clear that it's SUPPOSED to be ridiculous. Of course, whether you think the ridiculousness is well handled or not is another issue entirely.
I must add that this scenario regarding Ariadne is straight up lifted from Takahashi's ideas for Xenogears Episode I, yes, but not from the Deus activation experiment. If you recall, there's a spot earlier on in the timeline from Perfect Works in which a planet vanishes entirely and leaves just the Zohar in its wake, no debris, no remains, nothing. Only thing that remained was the Zohar (the MAM) floating in space. And yeah, it's the same here, only it's an Emulator, not the Original.
Are you going yo be in the podcast soon too? I remember you saying in one of the Xenogears podcast something along the lines of “Jesus joins your party, who is weak as **** by the way” Lol!! (And thats all i remember about that). Great to see you comment!!!
Yeah, at one point during this discussion they say aleph 0, the smallest infinity, is "just the reals." No, aleph 0 is just size of the naturals and integers; the reals are a bigger infinity than aleph 0.
This is incorrect by the way. The rational numbers and the natural numbers are the same infinity size, as demonstrated by the Cantor pairing function. Then, the cardinality of continuum, such as that of the real numbers, is provably larger. Complex/imaginary numbers have the same cardinality as real numbers.
I'm suprised that after obsessing over what Ziggy did not see they failed to recognize that Albedo came from the shadows of that very spot Ziggy was looking in. I thought that someone would catch that. Margulis says to Albedo "You're late" but after Ziggy looks into that spot and notices that somethings off but he can't see anything there and then we see Albedo come from there it seems to imply that Albedo was not late, he purposefully let them get away. Why else would they focus on Ziggy noticing something about the spot Albedo steps out from. Although it is never brought up again to confirm or deny it does seem like something that Albedo would do since he's never really in a hurry, is he? Thought that was kinda interesting.
great discussion again guys! I remember this part well because my first time it felt like a step backward going to Ziggy "stealthing" around and then escorting MOMO to safety. By the end of the section, though, once Margulis makes his appearance I was fully invested in this new branch of the story. Ziggy and MOMO's friendship is one of my favorite in gaming, and now I always look forward to how they're thrown together and get to know each other here I enjoyed your tangent on what Ziggy "felt" on the platform. I always thought it was Albedo freshly arrived at the U-Tic facility, but thematically I think the important part is that Ziggy has human/animal instincts that belie his cyborg reality and even his stated desire for oblivion chaos' first appearance is probably one of my favorite moments in the game. You had a full discussion on it, but the only thing I'll add is that KOS-MOS does a very uncharacteristic "girly" gesture at the end; instead of fully listening to chaos' reasoning she's been reviewing her sensor data and is still stumped by the end of it. When chaos asks if she'll go along, she does a very anime girly shrug that I don't believe she repeats in the rest of the game or trilogy. This always let me know that chaos was a special character, but also that there was a hidden, more "human" side to KOS-MOS
1:30:00 ish: The captain on the Woglinde says that AGWS are supposed to go WITH 100 Series Realians, but the realians hadn't been delivered. So that's exactly the plan: 100 Series, inside AGWS units using localized Hilbert Effects to fight the Gnosis.
even though I don't have time to watch everything, (deep dives of games I haven't played yet…the first one you guys have done haha) just dropping in for a like & hoping everyones well. best analysis channel period.
51:45 The Immigrant Fleet is one of the more fascinating aspects of the games. They’re basically trying to use The Zohar to open a gateway to Heaven. The planet scene involves their failed attempt at doing so. Of course, this isn’t their first attempt. 55:35 Ziggurat 8 is also fascinating. If you unpack his name just a bit, you may notice that Ziggurats are religious temples. It’s also said that the human body is a sort of Devine temple to God. Ziggurat has no organic body, it’s mostly machine. Its not just that he doesn’t want to human, it’s as if he doesn’t even want to be a person any more. He has no Devine temple. He’s also dead to rights as a cyborg.
One interesting thing about chaos is his “weapons” throughout the game. He goes from really thick space gloves to really thin gloves with holes. And the hole-y gloves have the highest attack despite being cheap, worn-out pieces of crap.
Not a spoiler. In the scene with Ziggy having the flashback to the dog, the Dog's name is Nexus 6. This is a blade runner reference. It's a funny way to do it, but it also ties into Ziggy's theme of losing his sense of humanity and the way machines have come to resemble the original things they're meant to copy because Blade Runners has the same themes.
1:33:13 I see it as the thing thats often done in Japanese media where it'll show it again to tell you that they're thinking about that moment again. So I think that's just to clue you in to him thinking about that feeling he felt, that there was something odd over there. But anyways- right after they leave the white haired duo show up from behind those vehicles so Ziggy was obviously sensing them, I mean it happens in the very same cutscene.
I genuinely never noticed that you guys have not had a more studio like set up cause I kind of zone out when you guys start each episode, but damn does it look like a more professional look and feeling. What a huge jump from the reviews and smaller retrospectives. So damn cool!
The punishment to live is also pretty similar to certain versions of Cain and Abel. Where Cain is forced to live and walk the earth by God as punishment for killing Abel, and is marked with a symbol that says no one is allowed to hurt him, and I believe he himself also isn't allowed to harm himself, or they incur the wrath of God.
Just an observation, the first Harry Potter film was released about 3 months before Xenosaga 1, so the chances of anything in it influencing the first game are pretty slim given the length of game development.
In the anime version of Xenosaga, which isn't necessarily applicable to the game, they say that the Gnosis phase in and out. So there's limited windows where they're close enough to our reality to be attacked conventionally. It makes a bit more sense in that context since attacking them without something using the Hilbert effect isn't entirly pointless, just very ineffective. Especially since there's all this tech like the AGWS designed to fight the Gnosis that would have been useless otherwise. Also, back in the game, the bridge crew on the Woglende mentions in another blink and miss it bit of dialouge that the Woglende's fleet was *supposed* to have had a 100 series onboard who could use the Hilbert effect and Kos-mos was sent to the fleet to make up for the fact they couldn't get one in time.
That's in the game if you dig through the codex. THe AGWS have sensors that are supposed to let them fire in the moments they are in the world. It's based on the slit light experiment which implies the Gnosis are boht a Wave and a Particle and if observed you can determine which slit they go through, whether the real world or a higher plane, and harm them. DSSS sensor, I believe.
1:43:25 you’ll notice too that Kos-Mos had control of the room. And even SHE does a quick over-the-shoulder at chaos after her sensors find another person in the room who clearly was not there before. It’s not everyday that a person can get the drop on Kos-mos.
I love when Casen say something and Mike correct him post editing, it make me imagine war in the backround between the tow of theme very amusing yet childish for me.
Man I love this series. I've been so interested in these games for a while but have never played them. I almost don't even want to keep listening and spoil it! I wish this game got ports of some kind....
I guarantee you, as great as this podcast has been already, there's a lot of detail they're still missing. And, contrary to many people, I really like the combat in this game too, though it does take some adjustment from other JRPGs even. It has a unique style and presentation, so in short if you have an opportunity to play it, I recommend you do!
A thing about chaos that's really interesting to pay attention to, but normally when you upgrade weapons, their gear gets progressively better, but chaos' gloves actually get WORSE! implying that his powers are directly tied to his much skin to skin contact he makes. And if I remember correctly, in his introductory cutscene, he wasn't wearing his gloves when he touched the gnosis
In talking about the Hilbert Effect's different uses, it actually kind of sounds like the type of thing that would have been researched and developed for only one of the purposes, and then in the course of testing it was discovered that it could do something else as well. Perhaps they were developing it as a weapon to use for normal military operations and they found out that it could also be used against the Gnosis, or even the other way around.
I imagine the dogs' name, "Nexus 6", is a reference to Blade Runner, being the newest version of replicants in the first film. Because there are alot of other little possible references throughout the series to the film, and Ghost in the Shell I believe as well. Some are thrown in very well and hard to pick up on if I recall but I could be wrong.
Every time I see a video about the Xenosaga trilogy online I get really sad that it has not been ported to the Switch, PS4/5, and Xbox so everyone can have it. I assume it is on PC, but if it is not, it should be there as well.
it is not, sadly. But there's hope, as BandaiNamco has been expanding their classic repertoire somewhat while juggling the juggernaut that is Elden Ring/Souls
As someone who's also been a huge "Xenosaga" fan since the mid-2000s, I gotta say... Damn, TJ! I don't know how you manage so well to NOT say any spoilers, specially when they come up with a prediction you know it's wrong. I know I would need to bite my own tongue in order to have that level of self-control! lol
That whole infiltration sequence with Ziggy is my favorite part of the whole game and Ziggy immediately became my favorite character. It’s a shame he has fuck all to do with the rest of the plot. Also, that whole thing with him sensing something at the end, it was probably that silver haired man.
This is very interesting to pop up in my recommendation. Big Xenogears fan ever since I played the best demo of an RPG ever where you just go up the mountain to see Citan and for no reason Bart and Elly show up and Bart tries to retend he's dating Elly much to her annoyance. It was very intriguing and had me saving up that allowance money to buy the game when it came out.
Whoa, kinda feels like chaos just showed up at that point. Like he wasn't even on the Elsa, but simply appeared there, and his appearance altered everyone's memory save Kosmos. That's crazy.
For chaos’ comment, I wonder if they’re referring to how life, organically, on it own, creates all sorts of types of life. Some people will have disabilities, some people are extremely intelligent or have special skills. Like psychic abilities, some people are just born with it. In the chaos of life, we have people born with it naturally. The lower case letters also represents how he doesn’t follow any rules. KOSMOS: maybe like how the CIA did tons of research on psychic phenomena to emulate and learn how it works, they’ve also learned how to teach people these abilities in a very efficient way. Also, with our technology, we can engineer babies any way we want now, we can play god. This is a very organized, research based, structured creation, totally opposite of chaos. And KOS-MOS (not cosmos) is a very unnatural, scientific looking name
heck yes! shure sm7b's are a solid choice. if havent already and you feel like the mics need a little boost , i'd check out either the fethead or the cloudlift.
That's true, they are supposed to be paired with 100-Series Realians, who can make little local Hilbert Effect fields. But the Woglinde only had the mechs but not the realians
Momo and Ziggy's interaction reminds me of the very brief interaction on Star Trek TNG between Data and Spock. Spock notes that Data, who has no emotions, was accomplished the ideal of what a Vulcan strives to be simply by being built. Data notes that Spock, who represses his human emotions, actively throws away everything he has ever wanted.
I am forever sad that Xenosaga's relative obscurity means that there isn't more high-quality...fanart, if you will, of Episode 1 Shion. I felt things as a young lad back in 2003 when she was on-screen.
I found that the comparison between ziggy and Ramsus to be intriguing. Both have a similar appearance and both seem to be man made in one way or another. Where they differ is their motivation, you have Ramsus where he is constantly trying to confirm his meaning, while you have ziggy where he is trying to throw away his purpose
Vector symbol being that of Cancer can also take on a different meaning if you apply it to the modern use of the word in the medical sense. Also as Casen was saying a Vector can be used as a medical term as the pathway for the growth or spread of a pathogen... or cancer perhaps. Not sure if that is what the developers had in mind but is something to think about as we learn more about Vector later on in the game/series.
Could be! *SPOILERS* Here's another interpretation (while considering the entirety of the trilogy). A vector in mathematical terms is simply a direction with a magnitude, and cancer from the horoscope describes something which can "exist in both emotional and material realms". Now doesn't this seem to describe Wilhelm, along with his Testaments? He, along with the Testaments, is an entity which exists both in an imaginary sense as well as a real, material sense. And his purpose for existence is to guide the Universe in a certain direction with a speed sufficient to successfully trigger an event that will prevent the destruction of the Universe.
I was actually thinking the church looked more like the Ethos church rather than the church in Nisan. With the bridge walkway above the pews; and then of course the modern architecture integrated into it, much like how the Ethos have those underground rooms and hallways that eventually lead to that computer system the party read from.
Really enjoying the Xenosaga podcasts. Would it be possible, however, to have a spoiler episode so we can hear all the links to Xenogears that you guys keep tip-toeing around?
There are no real links to Xenogears at all, so there's not much need for a spoiler section. Xenosaga is an spiritual successor using their ideas from Perfects Works as a jumping point. The references to Xenogears they keep (and will keep) mentioning are just nods. There is no real story connection.
well keep in mind they're playing the game for the first time (except for TJ) so there's no "spoiler sections" per se. The game has its own pace, so they'll be following that themselves as well as guiding the discussion
What Ziggy "feels" when they are escaping is precisely the presence of this weird guy with white hair that shows up behind margulis!!! I can't believe you guys missed that
I think there is some significance to the Blade Runner reference, because Ziggy is kind of the exact opposite of Roy Batty's character. Roy is forced to live an unnaturally short life and wants to preserve his memories, Ziggy is forced to live an unnaturally long life and wants to destroy his memories. Also Ziggy looks a lot like Rutger Hauer.
Switching between CG and real-time is about using effects in CG cutscenes that were not possible on the hardware and switching back to in engine means that is less space being taken up on the disc. Pre-rendered video takes a shit ton of space on the disc compared to using assets to generate a scene. Most PS1 games wouldn't need to be multiple discs if it wasn't for the pre-rendered cutscenes. Each pre-rendered cutscene has to take up space on the disc. In engine scenes will reuse the same models, textures and assets that just have to be stored once.
Thought on the Ziggy POV... First, I want to explain that I haven't watched the scene itself in a while, but the discussion gave me a thought. Is that where Ziggy actually planted the explosive, and the explosion that helps that escape actually came from somewhere else? Was it moved to a different location and the person who moved it still intended for Ziggy and Momo to escape (someone connected to SOCE?) Just a thought really. I'd have to get to that point again and pay attention in order to know if there was a sign before.
Just a minor note. Just because we don't see a particular gnosis again, is it really dead? If chaos just teleports in, might he not be able to teleport other things out? :)
The new setup seems great but it sounds like there is some post-processing compression going on with the new mics, they don't sound as good as the other mics but I'm guessing you'll get it all figured out.
Just like to point out that Momo is a Realian, meaning she wouldn't have a Mother and Father in the strictest sense. So the designation of the Mizrahi's as Momo Parents is probably an indication that they are the ones who created Realians, or at least created her. We also know that Joachim is indicated to be some sort of mad scientist and that there was some sort of big event happened on Miltia involving Realians. Just some food for thought there.
With your study of Gnosticism, I'm surprised you didn't catch something when "chaos" was introduced. I haven't played before so I'm unsure how relevant this is, but apologies if this is somehow spoilers. The name Yaldabaoth (the name of the Demiurge) loosely translates as the "chaos child" from Aramaic.
I'd say based on how AGWS is pronounced its like there is a W sound there, but its basically silent (and kind of hard to go from G to W to S so quickly) such that it becomes one of those things where you simplify the pronunciation and dont even try adding the W sound, unnoticeable as it is already anyway.
Im grateful for you to do this series now. Few thoughts: Jerusalem means "city of peace" and sometimes called Zion or Shion after the mountain it stands on. Ziggy being a cyborg and his POV is definitely Robocop reference with the Nexus 6 all bowing to '80s sci-fi greatness. Nonetheless: the Tyrell corporation HQ is a ziggurat. Really hated the fight with the flaming sword guy. Depleted all my items, fought him for 3 hours straight before falling and realising I was supposed to fail this event. Never liked this in older games. Never liked chaos. I think there are enough good characters besides him who are more integral to the story (at least in episode 1). I think MOMO is a reference to Michael Ende's book with the same title (MOMO) and the heroin of that story. Ende was very popular on that island and himself was very connected with them (having japanese wife). Have fun, go on. I was surprised that you dont do your segments disc by disc but the story is greater and I realised you dont have to suffer with a 3 DVD version like me. Great show.
Im sure Chaos was intended to be more relevant in the original 6 chapters story, because of his age, would be one of the few alive in most of them. Although i don't like his "Moe" design, for someone who is ancient, should look more adult and serious imo.
Momo's "Ziggy" is just her being embarrassed of overly self-conscious about her actions Sphere with wings? That could also be an interpretation of an Ophanim as well en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophanim
so this has been bothering me since the very first time i played, i have asked this question on numerous boards and xenosaga let's plays in the scene where ziggy has a flash back about his kid, is the implication of the scene that Momo was able to "see" ziggy's flashback?
I thought about this back in the day, the best answer I can give is that MOMO doesn't "read" anything, but instinctively repeats another child's action. It's meant to signify that MOMO is a "real girl" in the Pinnochio sense. The fact that she picks up so perfectly on a detail that happened in Ziggy's memory, proves that MOMO is genuine. But it also touches on the fact that without his memories of being a father, that exchange would have been nothing more than data for Ziggy
No, I don't think so. I always thought that MOMO commenting on the name sounding like a puppy's name was just a coincidence. After all, Jr. also makes a similar comment in episode 2.
@@XanderVJ not to be to spoiler but later when the party meet up with the kukai foundation, Momo makes "observations" about their genetic similarity which also seems quite fantastical
For me personally, the scene where they just accepted chaos's insane power as being normal was the point I realized I wouldn't enjoy saga's story as much as gears's
I like these episodes as much as all the previous ones. I have to say, though it comes only natural if you have played Xenogears first, trying to connect or find pararells between gears and saga, I think its somewhat distracting from saga's plot and themes. I hope down the road you will find your ground and ditch gears out of the picture because they are two completely different things.
The gnosis remind me of golems. The aleph brings them to life. I don’t think this is a spoiler, so here goes. Give a golem or the gnosis a command to destroy and they won’t stop until they’re…dissembled. Wonder who commanded them. Removing the aleph kills the golem. So the Hilbert Effect is likely related to the Zohar, so interacting with it removes the aleph. 🤔 But it’s not so much killing the gnosis as it is making them killable. Then again not every Zohar has an aleph. 🤷🏾♀️
In hebrew everything is written in lowercase. When I was young I too thought that this means that he is like an idea of chaos incarnated. But now that I am living in Israel and studying hebrew I think that chaos in Xenosaga is God. Specifically yehudi God.
It's really difficult to pick a place to play up to for a game I haven't played before. For that reason, we haven't been doing it for this series. Just try to play 5ish hours each week and hopefully we'll all be more or less in the same place.
You should do podcast on xenoblade.
@@zenone9698 We definitely will at some point!
Thank you guys for tackling Xenosaga. Like Xenogears, i played this as a teen & didn't really "get" it, despite enjoying the jrpg elements. I watch/listen every week while going for an evening walk
Appreciate that you bring that up!
this might be a spoiler but MOMO's name has connotations with Japan too such as Momotaro which also is kinda connected to her in weird ways too I just felt you guys should look at that
Remember team
KOS-MOS = "Order", name is in all capital letters
chaos = "disorder/anarchy," name is always lowercase
Also how the Greek cosmos refers to the formed or physical universe while chaos is the primordial pre universe forces or unorganized dark and light elements.
This is also reflected on their behavior as well. chaos does what he wants while he hardly has that much influence on the story and everything around him but KOS-MOS does everything she's ordered to and when she goes chaotic (heh) she is a mas destruction being.
This also reflects how chaos can be orderly chaotic or controlled in his unpredictable behavior while she is very disorderly in her destructive once her directive is extreme.
hmmm where have i seen this duality before... ahh Cosmos and Chaos from Dissidia Final Fantasy!
Chaos literally persuades KOS-MOS into doing what he says and she stays silent, something that even Shion is unable to do, since she is not following her orders. If you pay attention, he touches her shoulder hinting some kind of familiarity, which in japanese culture is like invading someone's personal space.
came here to comment on this too! The whole time chaos speaks she only half-listens and is watching the playback but is still stumped at the end. And that gesture is not something she repeats
+egoborder3203
Yes! The way she grabs her own arm just above the elbow is also uncharacteristically human of her. The gesture she is displaying is one of extreme confusion and vulnerability which is neither shown before this scene nor since. I don’t believe this was anything but intentional and it is animated that way to both show that KOS-MOS is very confused about the situation but also to indicate there is a deep connection between KOS-MOS and chaos that brings something very human out of her.
I think it's worth mentioning KOS-MOS's body language when chaos enters the scene. She almost looks startled when she spins around when he shows up.
I'd suspect that the fact that she didn't pick up the noise of chaos entering the room is what startled her and prompted her to run back the encounter a number of times in her head to try and figure out what happened.
Thats not the reason.
@@v.m.a.d.l.e.6972 I applaud the viewer for assessing the scene for themselves. I am a diehard fan and can put myself out of the context of information and say its an honest assessment
yeah, she snaps back in almost full-alert mode. I commented that she also does a very "girly" shrug at the end of his dialogue, when he asks if she'll go along with his idea
Given that KOS-MOS seems to play back a visual record of chaos' arrival on the bridge, I suspect she "sees" in all directions at all times, at least to the extent that it made sense in the storytelling to represent the playback as a visual record. The way I interpret that scene, since chaos seems to blink into existence during the replay as part of a visual glitch, KOS-MOS concludes that she experienced a technical failure, as evidenced by her later request for Shion to perform maintenance on her sensors.
Editing to add: I don't think she *actually* experienced a glitch, just that was her conclusion from the data she had available and given her nature as a machine intelligence.
@@indigodarkwolf Yeah, she ddin't detect chaos and that shouldn't have been possible so she concluded that she's had a malfucntion.
During the Wilhelm cutscene when you look at the compass of order the base plate is the circular slab that the character from the intro of the game puts the smaller silver Zohar into.
The POV of Ziggy analyzing the space near the transport vehicles can be confirmed by paying attention to the details. The initial scan of what he was sensing is broad and then narrows on a distinctly blue colored vehicle. In the later scene, after MOMO and Ziggy make their escape, Margulius sheathes his sword and behind him you see 2 shadowy figures - Albedo and Kirschwasser - standing near the blue colored vehicle that was zoomed onto by Ziggy's scan. What exactly he was picking up or sensing to narrow his scan? That can be left to interpretation , however, I can make a very strong case of "what" - though that would be very spoiler heavy.
Yeah, this scene happens almost right after that as far as I remember, so it should've been obvious that they were what Ziggy was detecting. And the blue vehicle was meant to help cement in our brain to recognize it when Albedo reveals himself.
I was screaming this while listening to the podcast in my car 😅
At the end of that cutscene where they're escaping Margulis puts his sword away and two shadowy figures come forward from the spot Ziggy was looking at, a man with white hair and another 100 Series Realian, and he says "You're late" to them.
The fact that Chaos materialises into the bridge would also explain KOS MOS startled reaction to him being behind her. She hunches down when she spins to face him like a cornered animal as if in shock and up to this point she has been robotic in her pefection and ability to not be rattled by anything, but his enterance clearly had an effect on her even before she started playing back his entry into the bridge.
Yes. She also makes a comment to Shion that she needs her sensors adjusted, or something to that effect, reinforcing that KOS-MOS was surprised when chaos entered the room, but after replaying the data concludes that she experienced a technical failure.
Um it’s actually chaos 🤓
@@omensoffate Yes, we have established that already. I do not understand your comment.
@@saintboot8410 I think it was a joke, the "um actually", and correcting the lower case (chaos, not Chaos) :)
Just for your information, Wagner and his music-dramas get a lot of references in Xenosaga. Elsa is the female lead in Wagner's Lohengrin and the Elsa is a Lohengrin class ship. There's the Rhinemaiden as well, which refers to the water nymphs in Der Ring Des Nibelungen. In German Arthurian literature, Lohengrin was the son of Parsifal, who is the subject of Wagner's final music-drama and is a take on the Knight of the Swan legend that appears throughout Romance literature. I was delighted to hear all these references when I first played this game.
Love your work. Your deep dives into these narrative heavy games and other RPGs is always illuminating!
Thank you to their patrons. This podcast is legitimately priceless. The deep DEEP dive is incredible and I personally couldn't be more appreciative. I'm not ashamed to say I literally cried in appreciation at the end of the Xenogears Analysis. Xenogears was/is my favorite game since it's release in 98 which makes me 14 at the time. It was the psychology that really grabbed me. I never thought to look for a deep dive until coincidentally this channel was just a few episodes in. I always wanted to know more and like many others prayed to the game dev gods for a remake/finish. I always wanted the Perfect Works. Anyway I'm kinda rambling now. My point is I couldn't be more appreciative and jealous of your ability to....dive into these things and comprehend it AND explain it comprehensively. Thank you t o everyone involved including the patrons. And also the guests of course.
47:00 on the name Wilhelm: it is not merely a reference to Kaisar Wilhelm, it is also in reference to Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, whose philosophy comes up again and again throughout the trilogy (not least of all in the titles).
Just to touch on Ziggy being forced to live as punishment. It’s similar to Xenogears in that Queen Zephyr and several other people in Shevat were given their life extension treatments by Krelian as punishment as well.
Loving the series so far, but I gotta say, one of the things I appreciate the most is Mike and Casen's back and forth expositions or discussions without interrupting each other. TJ, bless his soul, is constantly trying to interject and it got a little grating this episode. He's clearly very excited to be talking about that which he loves, which I can understand, maybe its the stream delay that's making it seem worse than it is.
It’s definitely the delay, that kind of thing is pretty common with a setup like that.
So glad you called out the scene where chaos just hand waves away his ability to neutralize Gnosis and everyone just accepts it. That still sticks out to me as ridiculous 20 years later.
The thing is, it's clear that it's SUPPOSED to be ridiculous. Of course, whether you think the ridiculousness is well handled or not is another issue entirely.
@@XanderVJ how does the ridiculousness fit the narrative?
@@joelkirkwood8224 it really doesn't for now it's just anime rule of cool until it gets explained near the end of the series.
I must add that this scenario regarding Ariadne is straight up lifted from Takahashi's ideas for Xenogears Episode I, yes, but not from the Deus activation experiment. If you recall, there's a spot earlier on in the timeline from Perfect Works in which a planet vanishes entirely and leaves just the Zohar in its wake, no debris, no remains, nothing. Only thing that remained was the Zohar (the MAM) floating in space. And yeah, it's the same here, only it's an Emulator, not the Original.
It's not much of a spoiler, but the "Wilhelm" reference, in this case, is Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche.
Yeah, pretty much
The third most known Willhelm after the Kaiser and the scream
Yeah I think Casen is following a wrong lead with his WW2 theory
If for no other reason than "Friedrich" is clearly a NIGHTMARE to pronounce in katakana, second only to "Philadelphia."
Are you going yo be in the podcast soon too? I remember you saying in one of the Xenogears podcast something along the lines of “Jesus joins your party, who is weak as **** by the way” Lol!! (And thats all i remember about that). Great to see you comment!!!
The smallest infinity is the natural numbers set. There are larger infinitys, like the rational numbers set and the imaginary numbers set.
Yeah, at one point during this discussion they say aleph 0, the smallest infinity, is "just the reals." No, aleph 0 is just size of the naturals and integers; the reals are a bigger infinity than aleph 0.
This is incorrect by the way. The rational numbers and the natural numbers are the same infinity size, as demonstrated by the Cantor pairing function. Then, the cardinality of continuum, such as that of the real numbers, is provably larger. Complex/imaginary numbers have the same cardinality as real numbers.
I'm suprised that after obsessing over what Ziggy did not see they failed to recognize that Albedo came from the shadows of that very spot Ziggy was looking in. I thought that someone would catch that. Margulis says to Albedo "You're late" but after Ziggy looks into that spot and notices that somethings off but he can't see anything there and then we see Albedo come from there it seems to imply that Albedo was not late, he purposefully let them get away. Why else would they focus on Ziggy noticing something about the spot Albedo steps out from. Although it is never brought up again to confirm or deny it does seem like something that Albedo would do since he's never really in a hurry, is he? Thought that was kinda interesting.
great discussion again guys! I remember this part well because my first time it felt like a step backward going to Ziggy "stealthing" around and then escorting MOMO to safety. By the end of the section, though, once Margulis makes his appearance I was fully invested in this new branch of the story. Ziggy and MOMO's friendship is one of my favorite in gaming, and now I always look forward to how they're thrown together and get to know each other here
I enjoyed your tangent on what Ziggy "felt" on the platform. I always thought it was Albedo freshly arrived at the U-Tic facility, but thematically I think the important part is that Ziggy has human/animal instincts that belie his cyborg reality and even his stated desire for oblivion
chaos' first appearance is probably one of my favorite moments in the game. You had a full discussion on it, but the only thing I'll add is that KOS-MOS does a very uncharacteristic "girly" gesture at the end; instead of fully listening to chaos' reasoning she's been reviewing her sensor data and is still stumped by the end of it. When chaos asks if she'll go along, she does a very anime girly shrug that I don't believe she repeats in the rest of the game or trilogy. This always let me know that chaos was a special character, but also that there was a hidden, more "human" side to KOS-MOS
I would buy a book written by Casen.
1:30:00 ish: The captain on the Woglinde says that AGWS are supposed to go WITH 100 Series Realians, but the realians hadn't been delivered. So that's exactly the plan: 100 Series, inside AGWS units using localized Hilbert Effects to fight the Gnosis.
even though I don't have time to watch everything, (deep dives of games I haven't played yet…the first one you guys have done haha) just dropping in for a like & hoping everyones well. best analysis channel period.
51:45 The Immigrant Fleet is one of the more fascinating aspects of the games. They’re basically trying to use The Zohar to open a gateway to Heaven. The planet scene involves their failed attempt at doing so. Of course, this isn’t their first attempt.
55:35 Ziggurat 8 is also fascinating. If you unpack his name just a bit, you may notice that Ziggurats are religious temples. It’s also said that the human body is a sort of Devine temple to God. Ziggurat has no organic body, it’s mostly machine. Its not just that he doesn’t want to human, it’s as if he doesn’t even want to be a person any more. He has no Devine temple. He’s also dead to rights as a cyborg.
One interesting thing about chaos is his “weapons” throughout the game. He goes from really thick space gloves to really thin gloves with holes.
And the hole-y gloves have the highest attack despite being cheap, worn-out pieces of crap.
Not a spoiler.
In the scene with Ziggy having the flashback to the dog, the Dog's name is Nexus 6.
This is a blade runner reference. It's a funny way to do it, but it also ties into Ziggy's theme of losing his sense of humanity and the way machines have come to resemble the original things they're meant to copy because Blade Runners has the same themes.
TJ taking a RIP over in hour in amen brother glad your along for the episodes.
Xenostoned
1:33:13 I see it as the thing thats often done in Japanese media where it'll show it again to tell you that they're thinking about that moment again. So I think that's just to clue you in to him thinking about that feeling he felt, that there was something odd over there.
But anyways- right after they leave the white haired duo show up from behind those vehicles so Ziggy was obviously sensing them, I mean it happens in the very same cutscene.
I genuinely never noticed that you guys have not had a more studio like set up cause I kind of zone out when you guys start each episode, but damn does it look like a more professional look and feeling. What a huge jump from the reviews and smaller retrospectives. So damn cool!
The punishment to live is also pretty similar to certain versions of Cain and Abel. Where Cain is forced to live and walk the earth by God as punishment for killing Abel, and is marked with a symbol that says no one is allowed to hurt him, and I believe he himself also isn't allowed to harm himself, or they incur the wrath of God.
Just an observation, the first Harry Potter film was released about 3 months before Xenosaga 1, so the chances of anything in it influencing the first game are pretty slim given the length of game development.
Another great episode to tune into, thanks for doing this every week.
You guys are flippin awesome.
In the anime version of Xenosaga, which isn't necessarily applicable to the game, they say that the Gnosis phase in and out. So there's limited windows where they're close enough to our reality to be attacked conventionally. It makes a bit more sense in that context since attacking them without something using the Hilbert effect isn't entirly pointless, just very ineffective. Especially since there's all this tech like the AGWS designed to fight the Gnosis that would have been useless otherwise.
Also, back in the game, the bridge crew on the Woglende mentions in another blink and miss it bit of dialouge that the Woglende's fleet was *supposed* to have had a 100 series onboard who could use the Hilbert effect and Kos-mos was sent to the fleet to make up for the fact they couldn't get one in time.
That's in the game if you dig through the codex. THe AGWS have sensors that are supposed to let them fire in the moments they are in the world. It's based on the slit light experiment which implies the Gnosis are boht a Wave and a Particle and if observed you can determine which slit they go through, whether the real world or a higher plane, and harm them. DSSS sensor, I believe.
I cannot wait for these guys to play XC3 at some point.
1:34:03 I genuinely thought Ziggy was looking to see if Margulis was still alive after the explosions.
1:43:25 you’ll notice too that Kos-Mos had control of the room. And even SHE does a quick over-the-shoulder at chaos after her sensors find another person in the room who clearly was not there before. It’s not everyday that a person can get the drop on Kos-mos.
Thank you for playing this game. It's one of my favorites and have been really enjoying this discussion.
I love when Casen say something and Mike correct him post editing, it make me imagine war in the backround between the tow of theme very amusing yet childish for me.
Thank you so much for playing this game giving it (and the trilogy) more sunlight.
I've been looking forward to this!!
You have to pay attention to people with red eyes. Also note that Wilhelm is inside a glass pyramid.
Man I love this series. I've been so interested in these games for a while but have never played them. I almost don't even want to keep listening and spoil it! I wish this game got ports of some kind....
I guarantee you, as great as this podcast has been already, there's a lot of detail they're still missing. And, contrary to many people, I really like the combat in this game too, though it does take some adjustment from other JRPGs even. It has a unique style and presentation, so in short if you have an opportunity to play it, I recommend you do!
A thing about chaos that's really interesting to pay attention to, but normally when you upgrade weapons, their gear gets progressively better, but chaos' gloves actually get WORSE! implying that his powers are directly tied to his much skin to skin contact he makes.
And if I remember correctly, in his introductory cutscene, he wasn't wearing his gloves when he touched the gnosis
I can’t wait for the Albedo analysis 👀
and Crispin Freeman kills it the whole trilogy through. WIsh he would be in more rpgs.
@@saintboot8410 He’s in the English dub of Judgement of all games.
In talking about the Hilbert Effect's different uses, it actually kind of sounds like the type of thing that would have been researched and developed for only one of the purposes, and then in the course of testing it was discovered that it could do something else as well. Perhaps they were developing it as a weapon to use for normal military operations and they found out that it could also be used against the Gnosis, or even the other way around.
I always believed Ziggy was feeling Albedo's arrival or something like that !
I imagine the dogs' name, "Nexus 6", is a reference to Blade Runner, being the newest version of replicants in the first film. Because there are alot of other little possible references throughout the series to the film, and Ghost in the Shell I believe as well. Some are thrown in very well and hard to pick up on if I recall but I could be wrong.
They wondered about that too, in this video :)
You would be correct!
I think what is implied when ziggy and the others feel a presence, is that someone or something is watching them.
Every time I see a video about the Xenosaga trilogy online I get really sad that it has not been ported to the Switch, PS4/5, and Xbox so everyone can have it. I assume it is on PC, but if it is not, it should be there as well.
it is not, sadly. But there's hope, as BandaiNamco has been expanding their classic repertoire somewhat while juggling the juggernaut that is Elden Ring/Souls
As someone who's also been a huge "Xenosaga" fan since the mid-2000s, I gotta say... Damn, TJ! I don't know how you manage so well to NOT say any spoilers, specially when they come up with a prediction you know it's wrong. I know I would need to bite my own tongue in order to have that level of self-control! lol
Loving the new setup, gents.
It may be minor changes, but the minor changes improved the quality of the podcast quite a bit.
Wow I did not expect actual use of real microphone terms, well done lads
That whole infiltration sequence with Ziggy is my favorite part of the whole game and Ziggy immediately became my favorite character. It’s a shame he has fuck all to do with the rest of the plot.
Also, that whole thing with him sensing something at the end, it was probably that silver haired man.
TJ better show up with his boozer hat next episode.
Has anyone noticed that chaos's name is all in lower case and KOS-MOS's name is all in UPPER CASE? O.o
Just putting this out there :)
Yes, its a acronym that is said in the beginning scene
This is intentional and meant to indicate that they are foils of each other in a metaphysical sense.
Can't wait to hear their takes on bedo
This is very interesting to pop up in my recommendation. Big Xenogears fan ever since I played the best demo of an RPG ever where you just go up the mountain to see Citan and for no reason Bart and Elly show up and Bart tries to retend he's dating Elly much to her annoyance. It was very intriguing and had me saving up that allowance money to buy the game when it came out.
38:39 Allen is the Morty of this series. :D
Whoa, kinda feels like chaos just showed up at that point. Like he wasn't even on the Elsa, but simply appeared there, and his appearance altered everyone's memory save Kosmos. That's crazy.
He is part of the crew so was there already.
@@v.m.a.d.l.e.6972 I haven't played enough of this game to know that, but thanks.
I think there's an off-hand line where he says he was "napping" but yeah either way he just appeared on the bridge
When someone recommends you read the Silmarillion you know they're completely insane.
For chaos’ comment, I wonder if they’re referring to how life, organically, on it own, creates all sorts of types of life. Some people will have disabilities, some people are extremely intelligent or have special skills. Like psychic abilities, some people are just born with it. In the chaos of life, we have people born with it naturally. The lower case letters also represents how he doesn’t follow any rules.
KOSMOS: maybe like how the CIA did tons of research on psychic phenomena to emulate and learn how it works, they’ve also learned how to teach people these abilities in a very efficient way. Also, with our technology, we can engineer babies any way we want now, we can play god. This is a very organized, research based, structured creation, totally opposite of chaos. And KOS-MOS (not cosmos) is a very unnatural, scientific looking name
Next time we are introduced to one of my favorite villains in all of gaming. What a voice!!!
heck yes! shure sm7b's are a solid choice. if havent already and you feel like the mics need a little boost , i'd check out either the fethead or the cloudlift.
Wait a second. I keep hearing that Kos-Mos is the only anti-gnosis weapon... But AGWS is an acronym for "Anti-Gnosis Weapon System."
That's true, they are supposed to be paired with 100-Series Realians, who can make little local Hilbert Effect fields. But the Woglinde only had the mechs but not the realians
@@cloudkitt Ah. So they were basically guns without bullets.
i always figured beings like kos mos were meant to replace the AGWS.
The guy in the red cloak with Wilhelm reminded me a lot of Graph.
Momo and Ziggy's interaction reminds me of the very brief interaction on Star Trek TNG between Data and Spock. Spock notes that Data, who has no emotions, was accomplished the ideal of what a Vulcan strives to be simply by being built. Data notes that Spock, who represses his human emotions, actively throws away everything he has ever wanted.
I am forever sad that Xenosaga's relative obscurity means that there isn't more high-quality...fanart, if you will, of Episode 1 Shion. I felt things as a young lad back in 2003 when she was on-screen.
@@Alexeon Once again proving that fans have no taste.
I found that the comparison between ziggy and Ramsus to be intriguing. Both have a similar appearance and both seem to be man made in one way or another. Where they differ is their motivation, you have Ramsus where he is constantly trying to confirm his meaning, while you have ziggy where he is trying to throw away his purpose
Vector symbol being that of Cancer can also take on a different meaning if you apply it to the modern use of the word in the medical sense. Also as Casen was saying a Vector can be used as a medical term as the pathway for the growth or spread of a pathogen... or cancer perhaps. Not sure if that is what the developers had in mind but is something to think about as we learn more about Vector later on in the game/series.
Could be!
*SPOILERS*
Here's another interpretation (while considering the entirety of the trilogy). A vector in mathematical terms is simply a direction with a magnitude, and cancer from the horoscope describes something which can "exist in both emotional and material realms".
Now doesn't this seem to describe Wilhelm, along with his Testaments? He, along with the Testaments, is an entity which exists both in an imaginary sense as well as a real, material sense. And his purpose for existence is to guide the Universe in a certain direction with a speed sufficient to successfully trigger an event that will prevent the destruction of the Universe.
I was actually thinking the church looked more like the Ethos church rather than the church in Nisan. With the bridge walkway above the pews; and then of course the modern architecture integrated into it, much like how the Ethos have those underground rooms and hallways that eventually lead to that computer system the party read from.
Really enjoying the Xenosaga podcasts. Would it be possible, however, to have a spoiler episode so we can hear all the links to Xenogears that you guys keep tip-toeing around?
There are no real links to Xenogears at all, so there's not much need for a spoiler section. Xenosaga is an spiritual successor using their ideas from Perfects Works as a jumping point. The references to Xenogears they keep (and will keep) mentioning are just nods. There is no real story connection.
it's just references. it's like how some of the early ff games share themes.
well keep in mind they're playing the game for the first time (except for TJ) so there's no "spoiler sections" per se. The game has its own pace, so they'll be following that themselves as well as guiding the discussion
I didnt even know there was a live stream
Same, wondering where can i watch it
Way to play with that Zoolander ref 😂
What Ziggy "feels" when they are escaping is precisely the presence of this weird guy with white hair that shows up behind margulis!!! I can't believe you guys missed that
I think there is some significance to the Blade Runner reference, because Ziggy is kind of the exact opposite of Roy Batty's character. Roy is forced to live an unnaturally short life and wants to preserve his memories, Ziggy is forced to live an unnaturally long life and wants to destroy his memories. Also Ziggy looks a lot like Rutger Hauer.
Switching between CG and real-time is about using effects in CG cutscenes that were not possible on the hardware and switching back to in engine means that is less space being taken up on the disc. Pre-rendered video takes a shit ton of space on the disc compared to using assets to generate a scene. Most PS1 games wouldn't need to be multiple discs if it wasn't for the pre-rendered cutscenes.
Each pre-rendered cutscene has to take up space on the disc. In engine scenes will reuse the same models, textures and assets that just have to be stored once.
Thought on the Ziggy POV... First, I want to explain that I haven't watched the scene itself in a while, but the discussion gave me a thought. Is that where Ziggy actually planted the explosive, and the explosion that helps that escape actually came from somewhere else? Was it moved to a different location and the person who moved it still intended for Ziggy and Momo to escape (someone connected to SOCE?) Just a thought really. I'd have to get to that point again and pay attention in order to know if there was a sign before.
Nevermind, another comment already explained the scene.
All cops in Xenosaga were signed up for the RoboCop program upon death.
19:00 Tony also specified that his grandma died in the Japanese version, so I don't believe it was a localization error.
Just a minor note. Just because we don't see a particular gnosis again, is it really dead? If chaos just teleports in, might he not be able to teleport other things out? :)
I loop MO loop up in loop of 80 21124
The new setup seems great but it sounds like there is some post-processing compression going on with the new mics, they don't sound as good as the other mics but I'm guessing you'll get it all figured out.
Just like to point out that Momo is a Realian, meaning she wouldn't have a Mother and Father in the strictest sense. So the designation of the Mizrahi's as Momo Parents is probably an indication that they are the ones who created Realians, or at least created her. We also know that Joachim is indicated to be some sort of mad scientist and that there was some sort of big event happened on Miltia involving Realians. Just some food for thought there.
With your study of Gnosticism, I'm surprised you didn't catch something when "chaos" was introduced. I haven't played before so I'm unsure how relevant this is, but apologies if this is somehow spoilers.
The name Yaldabaoth (the name of the Demiurge) loosely translates as the "chaos child" from Aramaic.
I'd say based on how AGWS is pronounced its like there is a W sound there, but its basically silent (and kind of hard to go from G to W to S so quickly) such that it becomes one of those things where you simplify the pronunciation and dont even try adding the W sound, unnoticeable as it is already anyway.
1:40:00 i hear Albedo!
Im grateful for you to do this series now. Few thoughts:
Jerusalem means "city of peace" and sometimes called Zion or Shion after the mountain it stands on.
Ziggy being a cyborg and his POV is definitely Robocop reference with the Nexus 6 all bowing to '80s sci-fi greatness. Nonetheless: the Tyrell corporation HQ is a ziggurat.
Really hated the fight with the flaming sword guy. Depleted all my items, fought him for 3 hours straight before falling and realising I was supposed to fail this event. Never liked this in older games.
Never liked chaos. I think there are enough good characters besides him who are more integral to the story (at least in episode 1).
I think MOMO is a reference to Michael Ende's book with the same title (MOMO) and the heroin of that story. Ende was very popular on that island and himself was very connected with them (having japanese wife).
Have fun, go on. I was surprised that you dont do your segments disc by disc but the story is greater and I realised you dont have to suffer with a 3 DVD version like me.
Great show.
Oh no, you can definitely win the fight against Marguilis
Im sure Chaos was intended to be more relevant in the original 6 chapters story, because of his age, would be one of the few alive in most of them. Although i don't like his "Moe" design, for someone who is ancient, should look more adult and serious imo.
Does anyone have the link to the hat??? Plz plz plz it would be the PERFECT gift for my friend
47:30
Momo's "Ziggy" is just her being embarrassed of overly self-conscious about her actions
Sphere with wings? That could also be an interpretation of an Ophanim as well en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophanim
Joachim is also the name of Jesus' grandfather (Mary's dad)
so this has been bothering me since the very first time i played, i have asked this question on numerous boards and xenosaga let's plays
in the scene where ziggy has a flash back about his kid, is the implication of the scene that Momo was able to "see" ziggy's flashback?
I thought about this back in the day, the best answer I can give is that MOMO doesn't "read" anything, but instinctively repeats another child's action. It's meant to signify that MOMO is a "real girl" in the Pinnochio sense. The fact that she picks up so perfectly on a detail that happened in Ziggy's memory, proves that MOMO is genuine. But it also touches on the fact that without his memories of being a father, that exchange would have been nothing more than data for Ziggy
No, I don't think so. I always thought that MOMO commenting on the name sounding like a puppy's name was just a coincidence. After all, Jr. also makes a similar comment in episode 2.
@@XanderVJ not to be to spoiler but later when the party meet up with the kukai foundation, Momo makes "observations" about their genetic similarity which also seems quite fantastical
It's partially a Blade Runner Reference
I always thought ziggy POV was him sensing albedo's arrival. I think the Ziggy and KOSMOS POV are related but spoilers....
Cosmos = Order
Friedrich Wilhelm* Nietzsche.
For me personally, the scene where they just accepted chaos's insane power as being normal was the point I realized I wouldn't enjoy saga's story as much as gears's
As a Mizrahi Jew it was quite surprising to hear that word used in the game. I wonder why they chose that
I like these episodes as much as all the previous ones. I have to say, though it comes only natural if you have played Xenogears first, trying to connect or find pararells between gears and saga, I think its somewhat distracting from saga's plot and themes. I hope down the road you will find your ground and ditch gears out of the picture because they are two completely different things.
Nice live camera switching hahah
This games biggest mystery is why a company or military would dress their robots to be so sexy
The gnosis remind me of golems. The aleph brings them to life. I don’t think this is a spoiler, so here goes. Give a golem or the gnosis a command to destroy and they won’t stop until they’re…dissembled. Wonder who commanded them.
Removing the aleph kills the golem. So the Hilbert Effect is likely related to the Zohar, so interacting with it removes the aleph. 🤔 But it’s not so much killing the gnosis as it is making them killable. Then again not every Zohar has an aleph. 🤷🏾♀️
And Kos-mos is a golem.
Realians also qualify. Probably more than anything else.
In hebrew everything is written in lowercase. When I was young I too thought that this means that he is like an idea of chaos incarnated. But now that I am living in Israel and studying hebrew I think that chaos in Xenosaga is God. Specifically yehudi God.
01:08:20 aren´t you in for a surprise... Ma peche