Xenosaga: Pied Piper Analysis | State of the Arc Podcast

[@ResonantArc]

Please check out this playlist if you would like to see a playthrough of Pied Piper with english captions: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lWaqemahormnntk&ab_channel=ValakTurtle

[@JarlBarbossa]

A game with a really insane plot you guys might enjoy is baroque on ps1, plus the VN prequel baroque Syndrome

[@CycloneFox]

I just released a demo for my fan-recreation of Xenosaga Pied Piper a couple days ago. For PC, Mac and as a web-application. The demo covers the first sequence of chapter 1 and I’ve already developed more than a third of the full game. Can’t share links here, but it’s not hard to find when you search for Xenosaga Pied Piper demo.

[@gregtroyan]

I was just about to post about this. I appreciate your work!

[@lucianoemmanuelramirez1304]

u rock

[@benjicamarena119]

Thank You.

[@WatteTv]

Let's go! Self promo is the way to go. I feel like so many more people don't realize the different projects being worked on

[@legoguy217]

Nice

[@Xenobears]

Wake up! Resonant Arc just dropped a new Xenosaga video!

[@Chadlton]

And life was gooooood.

[@sjorsvanhens]

“Xenotypical” “Tapestry of villainy” Mike was excellent on this one 😁

[@LS1Highwind]

Guys as exhausting as it must be, your Xeno game coverage is what brought me (and probably a lot of us) here. I never played the Xenosaga games and even watching playthroughs and recaps its a chore to really understand it all. Thanks for everything you two do.

[@jacobmonks3722]

A moment of silence for Soraya Saga's writing career. Xenosaga Pied Piper was the last story she would ever write for the Xeno series. The extent of her input for Xenosaga 2 and 3 is still debated, so for all we know, this is her last contribution to the series as a writer. She was later credited for the scenario in Soma Bringer, and that would be her last official credit outside of some artwork.

[@klaasfaak4039]

Has she ever said why she isn't writing for Xenoblade?

[@jacobmonks3722]

​@klaasfaak4039 She's never given a straight answer. She's a very private individual.

[@klaasfaak4039]

​@@jacobmonks3722 I remember when she was on twitter asking if someone could hire her to write for a video game. It just seems weird to me when her husband is basicly the main guy at Monolith .

[@xerxBreak]

Are they even still married? Shes apparently a little crazy so they didnt do the regular official kind of marriage, and its debated wether they even still live together

[@rodrigo7602]

@@xerxBreak Takahashi talked about his relationship with his kids in some interviews for xenoblade 3, and if i believe saga said she was happy but didnt want people to pry so i would say that its better to leave it at that, they seems to be stable though

[@TJTheEmperor]

Fantastic discussion, guys. Pied Piper has always had a special place in my heart, and hearing you guys discuss it more eloquently than I could ever hope to equal (especially Casen's discussion of Ziggy's character at the end - that completely moved me) was a joy. I definitely need to schedule a re-read in the near future. One more thing I want to add. I've always read Pied Piper after finishing Episode II, since Pied Piper was released a month after Episode II in Japan. But hearing you guys dive into it before Episode II - that's actually a really good idea. Pied Piper, I feel, does a better job of introducing some critically important facets of Xenosaga's lore (the Immigrant Fleet being the most obvious example, though there were others) better than Episode II did - this is one of the many reasons why Episode II disappointed me. Honestly, instead of opening with chaos and Canaan during the Miltian Conflict, I wish the story contained within Pied Piper would've been the prologue to Episode II.

[@joevader10]

KZbin stopped feeding me these, and im not sure why. Looking forward to xenosaga.

[@ValakTurtle]

Glad to see you keeping discussion of this game alive! It took a lot of work to retranslate Pied Piper and create the captioned version so I'm glad to see it was worth it! I'd like to do a full 1-1 remake of the footage eventually if I ever get the time and skills to do so.

[@el_oh_ell]

Much appreciated

[@Bryboy2461]

There's a Japanese company, G-Mode, that started archiving old mobile games to bring them onto modern consoles. They do surveys on Twitter to help them decide on what to preserve next. Thanks to this, Persona 3's "Aigis: the First Mission" is now on Steam and Switch (it just released today!). The same can be done for Pied Piper, though I don't know how licensing will work out.

[@miiks...5...3...9...]

Voyager trapping pure souls inside of him is kinda referenced in the name of the planet Abraxas, Abraxas kinda is and isn't a representation of god (there are a ton of interpretations of it and none seem to agree on what it actually is) the symbol of Abraxas is a guy with a rooster for a head a whip in his hand and snakes below his waist, so a very phallic symbol. Maybe it is the generative force of god. But the name Abraxas has some relation to "abracadabra", so there is that idea of something like a gateway to divinity encoded within the name, like an axis mundi. That seems to be somewhat related to Voyager (voyage) trapping pure souls in his mind to become a god and doing so in a very animalistic way. So kind of a demiurge, which would fit with how nobody can decide which jurisdiction the planet falls under, which means it symbolically exists outside the Pleroma.

[@joepeezy4sheezy]

And it’s an awesome album by Santana!

[@tinyguy9398]

1:06:25 without spoiling anything Mike, I think substituting the term ‘Shining Will’ for ‘The Factor’ might help our a lot more with this interpretation, as they use that term, if I remember, a lot more in Xenosaga I and III than they do ‘The Fsctor’, though in I I think it was rephrased as “his will shines” rather than directly called ‘Shining Will’, but any time you hear ’The Factor’ mentioned in any context, read it instead as ‘Shining Will’ and interpret it as it would be interpreted in Also Sprach Zarathustra (i.e., the work by Nietzsche, not the game). ‘The Factor’ IS Nietzche’s ‘Shining Will’, in no unambiguous terms. Wilhelm is basically referring to these people as being worthy of becoming the Übermensch.

[@willwoodall1561]

We need a new xenosaga game or a remaster trilogy.

[@itsasecrettoeverybody]

Xenosaga belongs to Namco and Monolith software is now a Nintendo studio. I do believe Namco and Nintendo have a good relationship to make a deal. But it probably diminish Nintendo interest on remaking it. Unfortunately.

[@kevinstreetgaming]

I would love to see TJTheEmperor again at some point during this podcast series.

[@Pine2142]

It's such a shame this game is almost completely forgotten and can't really be easily played. It was probably the biggest surprise for me in terms of how great the story was and how it added to Xenosaga. Honestly it's one of my favourite stories in the Xeno series.

[@michs7451]

Thanks for the great episode guys! I think this video is probably one of the very few Pied Piper content out there. Just one philosophical point to add: in *Beyond Good and Evil*, Nietzsche is deeply interested in the problem of truth. He unpacks the value and the desirability of truth in the chapter "The Free Spirit," where he says: "A thing could be TRUE, although it were in the highest degree injurious and dangerous; indeed, the fundamental constitution of existence might be such that one succumbed by a full knowledge of it--so that the strength of a mind might be measured by the amount of "truth" it could endure--or to speak more plainly, by the extent to which it REQUIRED truth attenuated, veiled, sweetened, damped, and falsified." In this passage, Nietzsche ties in the concept of the "will to power" to the capacity for it to bear "truth." And he goes on to suggest that it is perhaps the immoral and the wicked who have a higher capacity to stomach truth than the good and the just. He also asks, in an unpublished manuscript, "“How much truth can a spirit endure, how much truth can it dare? -for me that became the real measure of value.” Truth isn't an end in itself, nor is it fundamentally a problem of knowledge in the very first place. For Nietzsche, and this might be a concept that Takahashi and Arai will explore in later games, the will to power to stomach and overcome truth will be a central feature of the order of rank -- to distinguish, separate, and classify human beings with a capacity for greatness from those who lack that fundamental quality.

[@michs7451]

All of which makes me think about the "will to power," which is the guiding principle of the entire series. Jan, Voyager, Wilhelm, Dmitri Yuriev -- all of the characters in this episode and in the later games are dealing very much with the problem of brokenness, which manifests itself in Xenosaga specifically as "fear" (as compared to Xenogears as "grief"). "I read a lot of Friedrich Nietzsche during university", explains Tetsuya Takahashi. "Fear is a main theme in the game. It's only by overcoming their fear that the game's characters can save themselves." (Xenosaga -- The Power of Will) As Takahashi puts it, the characters "are all living with some past put upon them, filled with regrets and unavoidable destinies," both the heroes and the villains, who need to "find the power to go on in life." *How they muster up their will to power to overcome their fear of truth, then, will be the critical distinguishing factor separating the heroes from the villains, those who can embrace themselves without running away from those who run away from themselves and look for power as a means of escape...*

[@sjorsvanhens]

You might have come across a key piece of the puzzle to understanding the xenosaga series. Thanks for sharing. I’m replying in an attempt to get more people to see your comment.

[@quiddity131]

So happy you're finally getting back to Xenosaga! The number one thing I've been looking forward to you covering. Without getting into whether this is answered in future games (I actually can't remember anyway) if one is going with the theory that UDO is a higher dimensional being akin to Xenogears' Wave Existence then I am totally on board with your theory that its not that UDO is showing people something horrifying but rather that they can't actually conceive of it. Think of it this way, if a two dimensional being was suddenly brought into three dimensions it would be such a massive change to their world and probably extremely intimidating. So if you bring that up a level and introduce a three dimensional being into a four dimensional realm wouldn't the same happen? For me personally it's why the concept of eternal life has always horrified me rather than being something appealing. Existing for eternity goes beyond our conception of our reality where nothing lasts forever and in the overall scheme of things we humans actually have very limited life spans. Whenever eternal life in Heaven came up in church when I was a kid I was always freaked out by it.

[@TheMilhouseExperience]

2 tips for anyone going through Xenosaga 2 for the first time. 1. Have everyone learn analyze and pocket steal (reward for quest 1 of Global Samaritan.) Psycho Pocket is a must have. 2. When you get to Orgulla in armos stronghold, steal 20+ of her rare item when she changes to 1 of her 2 forms. Either green or Blue, I forget which. The second one will take ~2 hours, but that would be better than 8+ at endgame for accessing the extra bosses. You’re welcome.

[@quiddity131]

As a side note, all the stealing is only necessary if one wants to complete a particular side quest, which for me was the most frustrating sidequest in any video game, not just Xeno, where you have to repay Captain Matthew's debt, in a game where money hardly ever comes up. I didn't do the Orgulla thing and instead had to fight the final boss 20 times and steal the rare item from that boss instead. Then go through the end credits, start back up again going through the final dungeon, over and over and over...

[@JEANS__]

better tip don’t 100% xenosaga 2. it’s a waste of time coming from someone that has done it (yes i used to orgulla method atleast)

[@lotheravanti4295]

Your channel and Xeno content, the most perfect epic fusion of awesomeness

[@hian]

As an elementary school kid, we went to see The Pied Piper as a theater play. It left a really strong impression.

[@MikeELtheGamerLPShow]

It's not impossible to find a needle in a hay stack. But if you're going to search for it, you need to be open to the idea that it's probably going to hurt you when you find it.

[@jordanarredondo6749]

Thank you for covering Pied Piper - I never got a chance to play!! 🤩

[@TheSpectacledOwl]

There’s a reason these fables and tales have stood the test of time. The Pied Piper, Little Red Riding Hood, etc. all have powerful morals to tell children. I may not have children of my own, but I do plan on telling these stories to my sister’s children.

[@pelgervampireduck]

I'm very happy you guys are continuing Xenosaga. This "episode", "spin off" ot whatever you want to call it, is very sad, it's a good story, it deserves to be an animated movie like Ghost in the Shell. It's tragic, and very important to understand more of Ziggy and his journey. I wish it had an alternate non canon happy ending.

[@legodawg2001]

I have not played this game, but as someone who is very close to (and was even involved with at a point) several fan projects regarding this game, I think I have a bit of a grasp on it. SO. Pied Piper is difficult because it’s not one download. The game was released in 6 chapters over the course of a year or so, I’m pretty sure it was a paid service, and getting it to work is a pain haha. I only know of two people who even own the game. Keju, the person who uploaded their playthrough that is used in analysis, is extremely helpful and has done lots of preservation work on the game. They archived the script, created dungeon maps, and described unique gameplay mechanics. Most of these were on their now defunct blog but I do have archives of them, and have been in indirect contact with them to ask about details of the game. There’s good work brewing behind the scenes so keep an eye out. The other person has Pied Piper but the phone it’s on just doesn’t work. Dumping these games is becoming more and more possible as the fan efforts progress, but most people in Japan are unwilling to do it for a variety of understandable reasons. So what we have is the raw footage of the cutscenes and boss fights, some archives of the maps and mechanics, and an old script which was retranslated and used for a friends English reupload (done with Keju’s permission) On another note, the company G Mode routinely asks for input on different mobile games to archive and release on platforms like Steam. It’s mainly done good work for the Shin Megami Tensei and Persona series, but I’ve been involved in sparking movements to get Pied Piper preserved… to the point it went trending on Japanese Twitter and choco, a longtime artist for the Xeno series and did the designs of KOSMOS and Telos, even noticed it. So the demand is at least somewhat known

[@sushiserver]

I am so so so excited for the upcoming Xenosaga talks! I originally got hooked on the arc when you guys dropped the first xenosaga episode. Patiently waited for this moment!!

[@Kiitepu]

Happy to be back with you guys for more Xenosaga.

[@RagnaXBL]

these podcasts are so good. the production value is great

[@JustinAZ]

Nice surprise to see you guys (so-throughly) cover this all-but-lost entry. Helps to fill out the lore.

[@GamingWithSpoons]

Truly thank you for this I've waited 20 years for a translation for the pied Piper and never knew the story. To get this info on Ziggy puts so much more weight on his character.

[@xKayges]

Thank you so much for continuing your Xenosaga series! Your thoughts and insight on my favorite game series is something I always look forward to.

[@cultured-fuel543]

Give me that wonderful Xenosaga lore, good sirs.

[@AceBadguy]

Man. I remember hearing about this game back when I was first playing the Xenosaga trilogy knowing I'd never play it due to what it was released on. I'm glad you guys are covering it.

[@zakuguriin4521]

Let's fetching go!!!!! I've been waiting for you guys to get back to the Xeno universe for a hot minute

[@Luma_64]

37:08 the way I read this part, is that Donald Marquand, who was suspected of conspiring with the right-wing organization- “The descendants of Nestorious” (which is being funded by Dmitri Yuriev), formed the goodwill ambassadors to negotiate peace between the Federation and Immigrant Fleet, as an attempt to make himself look better in the midst of the scandal. The incident with the ambassadors where they are killed by Voyager (who is working with Dmitri and the Descendants at this time), was a ploy planned by Donald to wipe his hands clean of the scandal and essentially say- “This was all unexpected and I was still intending to bridge the federation and Fleet together “. When in reality it was all planned and he never had any intentions of negotiating peace between the Federation and the Fleet. Typical corrupt politician stuff.

[@aidanuzuki3449]

Nestorianism is really important for interpreting later plot points in the series!

[@linnaealyn]

1:46 Its really more like the direct katakana for John or the French name Jean (ʒɑ̃) than Jan with a short A-sound (⬅ Im saying Jan with a J sound here, referring to the name you just used 😅 Its kind of like a...nickname for the name Janice) John(/Jean) or Jan (⬅ "yahn" 😅), either way they're all connected to the name Iohannes and they're both canon in the Japanese and English versions, respectively. I actually didn't know it was Jan in the English XS2 localization when I was watching Pied Piper so I kept referring to him in my mind as Jean because of its pronunciation in Japanese, having only read the katakana, so it stuck.

[@JEANS__]

true

[@dudemcguy1227]

Good episode. As someone who hasn't played XS: PP, it was interesting. And I appreciate the included gameplay footage. It helps with following the story/conversation.

[@SHMeira]

Nice to see more Xenosaga coming to the channel. I never played Pied Piper, just barely knew about it. Can't wait for you guys to experience Episode 2.

[@MusicaKenith]

I actually heard a version back in kindergarten of the Pied Piper that the ending was, the mayor PANICS as soon as he sees the piper COULD lure out the kids, and he quickly scuffed all the treasure he could, gave it to the piper, and begged for more time to get the rest. The piper then partied with the kids on an open glade, and left. when the kids came back to their senses, they came back to their village. On the very next month, a traveler playing a pipe came by. The mayor ordered they treated him with utmost hospitality and since then gave generous donations to the church in hopes to appease the magic piper. Admittedly, I grew up on catholic school so, that version was clearly altered to suit the church's ideals.

[@MiniRagnarok]

You mention that the UMN is similar to quantum entanglement where two particles are linked so that the movement of one causes the other to move as well. I believe the in game database for the first game explicitly says this is how the UMN works.

[@Arkholt2]

Mentioning the Pied Piper story in relation to video games reminds me of its usage in NieR Replicant. In the backstory of that game there was the Hamelin Organization, named after the town the piper was from in the story, who recruited children as soldiers and did the research that led to Emil and his sister being turned into weapons, and gave the grimoires to certain kids which led to the opening of the game. A shady government organization that clearly knew it was doing some shady stuff because of the way they names themselves 😂

[@WatteTv]

Yes I have played it and owned it, but due to circumstances it could not be recovered. We know someone who has it but due to Japan law it can not be dumped. Valak Turtle translated Pied Piper. I own the largest Xeno collection in the world currently, but that media/game is considered lost since it is episodic and you had to pay a subscription to buy each chapter and patch the main launcher. It worked like FFVII Before Crisis and FFIV the After years. FFIV AY did the same method on the Wii for those who recall buying by paying a fee per chapter.

[@dreadn0de1]

For as big of a Xeno fan as I claim to be, I've never actually played Pied Piper. So thank you for covering this!

[@orcbrand]

Great show and eagerly looking forward to the upcoming episodes.

[@MiBrCo4177]

Watching this before I watch your episode 2 podcast however I cannot wait until you guys get to episode 3. Hearing you guys talk about the Bible mixed in with all of this, you two are in for one hell of a treat.

[@pelgervampireduck]

This should be remastered for all platforms or if the trilogy gets remastered it should be included as a bonus. This episode is fascinating and very important for understanding the character. It could easily be a movie/ova. It's tragic and sad, but imagine it made with the style of Ghost in the Shell or Akira.

[@SamwiseTheNotSoBrave]

Seeing this video in my queue prompted me to finally watch Pied Piper, and was I glad I finally did. It was a great story, and it's amazing that Soraya Saga was able to tell such a compelling story within such a technically limited medium. If they ever release a Xenosaga HD collection, they simply have to adapt/translate Pied Piper (and Missing Year) and include it. It's vitally important to the series and deserves to be brought back and preserved.

[@mr79843]

Awesome! I'm glad you guys are going to continue the Xenosaga series. I love these games and I love your guy's in-depth discussion into these games. I'm super happy to see you doing Pied Piper. Seems to be overlooked quite a lot cuz of release fails and stuff. I'm looking forward to the future episodes, including Ep. 3. Awesome job guys! Thanks.

[@ryandude3]

I think the lesson of "Question it first" dovetails with Mike's takeaway in the last episode about Legend of Korra.

[@RobSwizz1e]

50:45 - 51:10 - I interpreted this as the Matrix 3 scenario where Bane was the human reality avatar for Smith, and Smith also operated in the Matrix. So they could be doing both, they could have been split, and that ability is part of how it helps to keep the audience unaware or unable to definitively determine Weber was Voyager outright. At least this far in the game. IDK, that's just how I saw it. Great analysis and breakdown of this mobile game!

[@AngelCanseco1]

Super excited to see you guys coming back to the xenosaga universe!

[@orcbrand]

Fun things you'll find out still exist in the xenosaga universe in 4000 years: Paul McCartney records.

[@SkyCladBrent]

Nice glad you're finally getting back to Xenosaga! Been waiting for this to return Also there's one bit of hope that this game can come back in some way. A company called G-MODE has been porting old Japanese mobile phone games to PC and Switch and I think this one was highly requested by fans. Their ports seem easy to hack translations into too. The Persona 1 mobile game they ported already has a translation. Hoping they can get this one too

[@Captain1nsaneo]

Thing about the Pied Piper story. Seems that it was actually referencing a true event. It's been a while since I saw a break down of the details on locations and exact names but short of it was that the country's leadership needed settlers on the other side of the country so they took all the young folk from several cities and moved them forcibly. Evidence was from the new cities' names and the records from the oldest available church in the/one of the cities they were taken from.

[@joeyisabsb1]

Praise UDO we got some Xenosaga content!

[@rodrigo7602]

yeaah, we getting back to xenosaga, gonna watch this after playing it myself

[@dariyanvalentine3564]

The whole we are all connected thing was also with the way you guys were describing it could also be applied to serial experiments Lain.

[@apnwu369]

or the end of evangelion

[@TheBeird]

I've not much to contribute to the discussion of Xenosaga, but regarding the story of the Pied Piper, there's a great short film called Krysař that adapts the story into a really compelling if chilling animation. The whole thing is on KZbin. I highly recommend 👍

[@lanisolfire5692]

On your conversation about truth. I believe it was sherlock holmes who ones said people will cling to facts even though they prove nothing. Truth and facts are diffrent but people often use them interchangeably

[@1SpicyMeataball]

I thought Pied Piper came between the release of Xenosaga 2 & 3? Oh, who am I kidding. I see more Xenosaga content, I click.

[@tinyguy9398]

+cursedcancersurvivor You might be thinking of ‘The Missing Year’, though honestly I alway have trouble keeping track of the side content too seeing it was never released outside of Japan. Thank God for the Episode III database.

[@ardith]

Damn, thought you were going to do episode 2 before diving into this. What an ambush. They can't handle the truth of U-DO. In the words of Albedo: hahahahaha I love it.

[@tacobales]

GUYS WE'RE DOING A XENO GAME AGAIN. WERE ONE STEP CLOSER TO WORLD PEACE

[@smashbrandiscootch719]

Is it weird that I read that in Anya Forger's voice? 😅

[@tacobales]

@@smashbrandiscootch719 not at all 🤣🤣

[@ThePunchening]

The UMN: Operating at the speed of thought. Is the thought yours? Certainly not.

[@ak47dragunov]

Casen, as someone who played through the whole trilogy in Japanese (IIRC you played X1 in Japanese as well), I can confirm even in the original dub, it's pronounced "U-DU" despite the spelling

[@mitchdouglas9844]

Now this is some kino gnosis

[@MrMaskedhater]

Peak fiction is back on the menu

[@quaasar1247]

You know it's good Saga / Takahashi when you have a 40-minute existential crisis from the epilogue.

[@tomc3824]

A Jan chooses, a slave obeys.

[@gabrielhammond523]

I think you guys would be interested in the Theory of the Noosphere developed by Vernadsky and de Chardin as a sort of analogue to the UNM.

[@SanjiTyloxion]

It is also a bit confusing to me also. I'd assume originally the Pied Piper actually referred to the UMN and how they've benefitted from it but Viyager is like the price, or part of the price they're paying. But like you said the translation maybe not as clear-cut as it should to convey the meaning. Voyager not being paid his dues or the respect and support he should have early on and it coming to bite them all could still work, and would reffer more to humanity as a whole. Like it may be a bit cliché but almost seeing it as all humans have the potential to fall into this madness and it is the price they pay for trying to move forward without looking at those who fall by the wayside.

[@tyaustin6114]

Stoked to be getting back into the Xenosaga series! It's going to take me some time to get through this episode of the podcast, can anyone tell me how far into XS Episode 2 we should play up to for the next episode?

[@dariyanvalentine3564]

Also Voyager and this being called Pied Piper and Voyager being a serial killer may have also been I actually don't know the year that the serial killer called The Pied Piper started operating in the USA don't look up too much about it it's kind of disturbing but it could also be a shout out to that maybe

[@hughjanus42069]

FINALLY MORE XENOSAGA

[@SoloRogueStudios]

Resonant Arc is talking about Xeno again! We are SO back. Shameless plug/video game suggestion: As much of a pain as it might be to set up due how non-linear it is, would you guys consider doing a podcast on 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim in the future? It is an absolutely insane sci-fi story, one of the best I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing. It pays homage to all of the classic sci-fi stories, in particular the ones of the 80s, while managing to masterfully tie them all together in an original story with one jaw-dropping plot twist after another. It is a masterclass in non-linear storytelling, and I'd really like to see you guys break down the plot and storytelling techniques used in the game, for two reasons in particular. 1. There are seriously not enough videos out there analyzing this very niche and relatively unknown game. 2. Much like with Xenogears, you only get to experience this game's mind-screwy rollercoaster of a plot for the first time once, then all you can do is enjoy watching other people experience it for the first time. Again, might be a bit of a pain to plan out because of how non-linear it is, but I think this game truly deserves the State of the Arc treatment.

[@Karifean]

Haha, fun to see the speculation on how Voyager and Wilhelm's relation will turn out. Spoilers for Xenosaga 3 below. I suppose it's somewhat down to interpretation how you take it, but to me it seems that Voyager really did get everything he wanted from Wilhelm. He attained true immortality. But - even that did not change him, it didn't get rid of his fear, it only replaced it with a new one, because even his immortality, well, who knows how long it really lasts if Wilhelm were to turn on him. And so Voyager is still driven by fear, still driven by seeking even MORE than the immortality he already has, and is undone by his willingness to, on a dime, try to reach for something even higher. It feels like it conveys not that Voyager is helpless to manipulation because of his desire, but rather that he remains helpless to his desire even when it is granted. It stuck with me a lot because it feels like it hits on something deeper about people and their pursuits than if Voyager was simply betrayed again, instead showing how he will fundamentally never defeat his fear as he is, even giving him everything he wants will never fix his real issues.

[@andreiulyanov9241]

Hope it's a teaser for Xenosaga II 😀

[@mattcat83]

1:33:00 Square could just hire a team of localizers with all of those skills in different people. One person needn't be good at everything.

[@deleth]

What a pleasant surprise, this is a a game that i never played, actually never know about it till i saw some video on youtube

[@cloudkitt]

*excited gasp* More Xenosaga?!

[@CrowsofAcheron]

I rather enjoyed playing Xenosaga ep 2 without knowing anything about Pied Piper. I looked it up after completing the series.

[@lucianoemmanuelramirez1304]

First time i heard about this game... now i need to play it somehow

[@gabrielhammond523]

I know you guys are going to like Xenosaga 2, the incephalon dive are legit cool.

[@CliffConway]

Great episode!

[@AngelCanseco1]

I was like wtf is command? Its Canaan (sounds like cane and without the d)

[@tinyguy9398]

+AngelCanseco1 Unlike Casen, that guy has played Xenosaga II and III already so I am pretty sure he already knows how it is supposed to be pronounced. I think he purposefully pronounces it like that just to screw with the audience. He is kind of like if Jade Curtiss from Tales of the Abyss was a real person. The hair is on point, he just needs the glasses.

[@tearzofthefallen6586]

Quantum entanglement doesnt destroy our ideas in physics. Quantum entanglement is a pairing. If a system is composed of A and B, then if you change A, the system will change, regardless of distance(I am simplyfing to defer the explanation of spin). The thing is that Quantum Entanglement doesnt allow for the transfer of information. While the system is change, what state it is changed to is probabilistic, not deterministic. So it doesnt break any laws of physics, since we cannot get any information from any particular change. Any transfer of information is still bound by classical physics. The UMN, thus, doesnt operate on these conditions. Also, the idea of higher dimensions can be used to explain the data transfer using classical systems. Since coordinate 0,0,0 could map to any arbitrary coordinate in a higher dimension. This means that slipping information from our 3d plane to a 5d or higher plane could potentially mean change position. This also doesnt break our laws.

[@ando336699]

Have u guys considered doing some live streams ?

[@lake4ishikawa]

It's actually U-DU in Japanese too: ウ・ドゥ

[@shaifs5072]

The far-right line might be referring to nationalism rather than tradition. As Nationalism is a part of the Japanese right wing.

[@williamwhite6502]

I'm worried that the use of technology the way that we do now may actually be similar to what they're talking about at around the 47:00 minute mark.

[@ZakuroTL]

In the original Japanese, Jan's name is pronounced more or less like "John," so if anything I feel like the hard "J" is closer to the original name!

[@Paul-to1nb]

This story sounds really ahead of its time as far as the preditorial nature of games is concerned. Parents really need to be careful with Roblox and VR Chat. VR Chat might not have many money grubbing features (yet) but it's a predators paradise, and I don't think any child should be in there. It's a such a shame how such magical places can be used for such evil.

[@ryandude3]

So, Casen should translate the Xeno games?

[@BulletHail1337]

I got my irl friend to play Umineko, so you guys should play Umineko too! You would love it!

[@tearzofthefallen6586]

I know we are a ways away from it, I cant wait until we get to Xenoblade 2. I know Mike has issues with it. But the character depth, thematic ties, and overall story in that game is unbelievably good. Sure, character designs, and some of the dialogue/Voice acting can definitely be grating and make it a game you wanna experience locked in a room by yourself, but when you look past that, its so great.

[@adampit8214]

Please check out the Shadow of memories/destiny game if you never played it before. It's old ps2 title ( with psp remake ), about fate and time travel with multiple endings.

[@monsterartist231]

omg, so voyager is the black testament on xenosaga 3?!! no wonder i got no clue who that guy is when he apeard, hes on a defrent game

[@ultimateshadeofwar]

Around 1:13:51 It's verdad, no verdade. A small correction from a native spanish speaker.

[@RodMateu]

They mentioned Portuguese as well, and in Portuguese it's verdade.

[@nobodyexceptme7794]

What the F**K! See this is why I follow u guys....had no idea this existed. Hell naw! Xenogears remake one day boys....one day.....

[@Scimarad]

Unfortunately you can't use quantum entanglement for communication. I'm not going to even attempt to explain why because my brain will implode if I try but it should be pretty easy to find an explanation.

[@SaberHazari]

I haven't played the game, unfortunately, also didn't watch the videos on youtube. I did read the script and the unfinished manga of it tho.