This 22-Year-Old JRPG Is Unplayable (and That Needs to Change)

by

It’s becoming increasingly rare for video games to be truly lost forever. Remasters, online stores, and a growing gaming market mean even older, less well-known games are being saved. While games that rely on ongoing services can disappear when those services end, most games now survive thanks to platforms like Steam and the continued release of both indie and major titles.

It hasn’t always been difficult to find classic games. If you’re looking for top titles from the PlayStation 1 or 2 era, you might struggle. The original hardware isn’t made anymore, and the physical game discs are now quite expensive. Take Xenosaga, for example – a once-popular Japanese role-playing game that’s largely been forgotten, even though the people who made it went on to create a hugely successful RPG series. It’s currently hard to play in the UK and many other regions outside North America, and legal issues could mean it’s lost to time completely.

Xenosaga Is An Unplayable JRPG Masterpiece

Tetsuya Takahashi, the creative mind behind the game, aimed to tell a vast and emotionally resonant story with Xenosaga, but it proved too grand for the resources available. He previously created Xenogears at SquareSoft (now Square Enix) and later founded Monolith Soft, a highly respected Nintendo studio known for the acclaimed Xenoblade Chronicles series. Sadly, like Xenogears before it, Xenosaga didn’t achieve widespread popularity and ultimately remained incomplete.

The Xenosaga series originally planned for six games, but only three main titles and several spin-offs were actually released, along with an anime series that isn’t highly recommended. When the original lead, Takahashi, left the project and new developers took over, they realized six games was unrealistic. Despite scaling back the project, Xenosaga didn’t sell well, limiting its release primarily to Japan and North America. Only the second game in the series was ever officially released in the UK.

As a huge fan, it’s really frustrating! If you’re like me and live outside the US, getting into the older games from Monolith Soft is almost impossible. The second game was okay – it came with a movie about the first one, though it skipped some important stuff – but the third game, which wraps up the whole story, never even made it over here. Even in the US, finding a copy is tough because they never released a digital version. And the worst part? A remaster was almost happening, but Bandai Namco cancelled it right before it could launch! It’s a real bummer for those of us who want to experience the complete story.

Xenosaga May Never Get A True Remaster

Bandai Namco, the company behind the Xenosaga games, once thought about releasing a remastered collection of the trilogy, but ultimately decided it wouldn’t be profitable. Katsuhiro Harada, a veteran at Bandai Namco, explained on X (formerly Twitter) in 2019 that the project actually reached the planning stages before being cancelled due to market analysis. He indicated that it’s unlikely the idea will be revisited, suggesting fans shouldn’t expect Xenosaga to come to modern consoles.

If you’re a fan of Tetsuya Takahashi’s games, or the Xeno series in general, you’ll immediately recognize what’s happening here. It’s frustrating, because Square Enix kind of left Xenogears behind, and Bandai Namco didn’t seem willing to remaster Xenosaga, even though Xenoblade has done so well. It feels like we’ll probably never see those older games get a new look, and honestly, it’s not even up to Monolith Soft or Nintendo – they don’t own the rights to those titles. It’s a real bummer, especially because Xenosaga is such an amazing game and deserves a proper revival.

Xenosaga Deserves Another Chance

The Xenosaga series is truly special and deserves a second look. It shares the same artistic ambition, complex storytelling, emotional impact, and stunning music as its related games, but hasn’t received the same level of recognition. The soundtrack is incredibly moving – it’s uplifting, exciting, and deeply emotional (especially the ending theme of Xenosaga 3, “Maybe Tomorrow”). While the graphics may seem a little old now, the cinematic cutscenes deliver the thoughtful action and philosophical themes you’d expect from a game created by Takahashi.

Despite its imperfections and limited scope, Xenosaga deserves to be remastered and made available worldwide. It’s frustrating that this 22-year-old JRPG, created by one of the most talented and reliable developers in the industry, is still inaccessible in many countries, and that needs to change quickly. While Xenosaga might not be the best JRPG, or as commercially successful as Final Fantasy, there’s a clear demand from fans who want to revisit the series, experience it for the first time, or simply understand the enduring appeal of its protagonist, KOS-MOS – who truly is a fantastic character.

https://comicbook.com/gaming/list/3-games-that-make-february-perfect-for-jrpg-fans/embed/#

Read More

2026-01-25 18:14