Xenosaga 2
Slightly more than 30 hours in, last level cleared…
It’s been a good run.
Interestingly, the game’s got a “postgame” — you load up your clear data, and you’re back at the point before the last level, with the stage open to you, but you can also “dive” into the stage and loot it (like any cleared stage), and, even better, you ALSO get access to … well, so far I’ve found about 5 new quests to do, and it seems like they’re spread across 3 or 4 new stages. So … there’s definitely a little bit of continued-play value here.
The game’s story is pretty good, as a continuation of xenosaga 1’s. For the most part, I’d say the game as a whole is pretty well balanced … I was about level 42 going into the last stage, 45 coming out of it, and while I had to definitely work at the final boss, and had a couple of close calls, I had more trouble with these crazy enemies hidden in destructible pillars (that have a ~3000 damage attack they do if you hurt them enough without quickly killing them outright … and “quickly killing them outright” is easier said than done).