They all have fundamental flaws keeping me (particularly the MMO quests) from fully enjoying them, but...
Part 1 - Had the best plot pacing until the middle where it crapped the bed. Also liked the time reversal mechanics. Thought that was a cool little gimmick and was hoping to see more creative stuff in future sequels, but no. All around I liked the characters. They weren't too soy for my liking and the ending is pretty cool. They nailed the environments too for the time.
Part 2 - Made for a great handheld game. East to pick up and play. World is well realized. The anime aesthetic looked good but came off as bland at times and there was a bit too much fan service in the designs at time which felt forced ( Y ). The music and atmosphere while a bit different from the first mainly worked to keep playing. The story never really hooked me though and felt pretty lackluster, though never that cringeworthy. I liked the concept of collecting blades, but I felt like aspects of the system such as the gatcha and the implementation of overworld skills was a bit undercooked. I would like to see a similar system again with more quality of life sans gatcha mechanics.
Part 3 - This one started out in an interesting way. And they definitely cut back on the quest bloat a bit. The music was also amazing (Give this award for best menu music. I could listen to that for hours.) The battles were okay, but it felt really slow to unlock combat fully, so you feel almost handy capped half of the game. I don't think I can ever fully enjoy this MMO style combat unless I'm able to constantly input something. The story started with some promise, but overall the dialogue and pacing just felt off. Particularly the dialogue felt really Captain Planet-esque, where you have characters stating really obvious things about their immediate environment. There were some decent scenes here and there, but I left pretty lukewarm.
X - The story I barely remember. I just remember hating all the MMO side quests and how the affinity system worked for making things progress. I remember wanting for the game's system to focus more on exploration and stuff, not the cringy anime fanservice stuff. (Boy do I hate Nopon). I loved the exploration and how open to world was. The systems around exploration were interesting but poorly realized (it seems they've fixed most of this with the remake thank god). The music was really hit or miss. As with many, the vocal tracks for I believe battle and the town were really grating after awhile, but some of the area tracks were quite good.
So yeah, I can't say I really love any of them. They all have good ideas that are not fully realized or feel cumbersome.
I read somewhere that they are looking to change things up with the next one. I really hope they do.
I've been thinking a lot about Saga recently it's such a mad story lol... I spent hours recently reading up again on Xenosaga Wiki about the characters and places and all the key parts.... it's actually insane.
