Xenosaga



"Ye Shall Be As Gods."

Xenosaga is a series of three Eastern RPGs for the Play Station 2, all named after books written by Friedrich Nietzsche. They are, in sequential order, Der Wille zur Macht (The Will to Power), Jenseits von Gut und Böse (Beyond Good and Evil (no, not that one)) and Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra). Other games in the series include: Pied Piper, a cellphone game, Xenosaga Freaks, a Fan Service game also for the Play Station 2, Xenosaga I&II, a remake of Episode I and Episode II for the Nintendo DS, and A Missing Year, a Flash game describing the events between Episode II and Episode III. Unlike the main trilogy, these games have not been released outside of Japan.

There's also an anime based off the events of Episode I titled Xenosaga: The Animation.

Known for throwing around heavy amounts of religious symbolism, literary references and Techno Babble. Xenosaga is a sort of spiritual successor to its Play Station predecessor, Xenogears (In fact, it was originally going to be a prequel, with Xenogears itself being number five in a six-part series). There is also a Spiritual Successor called Xenoblade for the Wii. It's also notable for being one of the few RPGs to have a female lead.

In the distant future, mankind has colonized space, but Earth (or as it's referred to in the game, Lost Jerusalem) has disappeared from the map. The protagonist, Shion, is the head of the first R&D division of Vector Industries, and her team is developing an android superweapon called KOS-MOS.

Disaster strikes when the Gnosis, intangible (but deadly) beings from another dimension attack the ship. The rest of the story involves the Gnosis, the search for their source and the events that passed fourteen years prior on the planet Miltia - which of course has close ties to Shion's past.

Music for Episode I was composed by Yasunori Mitsuda. Music for Episode II was composed by Shinji Hosoe and Yuki Kajiura. Music for Episode III was composed solely by Yuki Kajiura.

"Margulis: What's one and a half billion people to us?"
 * A Billion Is A Statistic: For being a series that does like to go over the topics of What Measure Is a Non-Human? and the worth of human life itself, it's odd that the game barely made us care at all for the planet Ariadne, which was one of the reasons why the Woglinde was sent out; to search for said planet. Despite a brief mention here and there, it eventually gets lost in the crowd, so to speak. An in-game quote nicely summed this up:


 * A Boy and His X: According to a Yonkoma, the series can be summed up as "A Girl and Her Doll." It's actually kinda fitting.
 * Aborted Arc: The series has so much of these it hurts. When Soraya Saga posted on her blog some of the most important aborted arcs, the fanbase cried the series was Ruined FOREVER.
 * Absent Aliens: Though there are many non-human intelligences in the galaxy, it eventually turns out that they all have some connection to humanity.
 * Action Girl: Despite being an android, KOS-MOS definitely fits this. To a lesser degree, so do the other two female playable characters.
 * Agony Beam: whips this out within seconds of Shion telling him to go to hell.
 * All There in the Manual: The story of Xenosaga can be much better understood after reading the Xenosaga Perfect Guide.
 * Also Sprach Zarathustra: The subtitle for the third game. Ironically enough, the song itself doesn't appear in the game, but Monolith shaped objects do.
 * Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: One appears during the Final Boss fight in Episode I.
 * Ancient Conspiracy
 * And the Adventure Continues: Episode III ends with . This was probably the Sequel Hook for Episode IV.
 * And Your Reward Is Swimsuits: All three games.
 * Very useful swimsuits, though, in the first two games, which increase the amount of skill points you earn.
 * Animated Adaptation: The cleverly titled Xenosaga: The Animation.
 * Animation Bump: There are certain scenes in Episode I that are supposed to look better than the rest of the game (such as the prologue, whenever Kos-Mos uses her powers, and when you first see the Kukai Foundation, just for example). However it's not a horribly jarring transition and isn't completely noticable at times either. In Episode III, the use of CG cutscenes become this, being used mostly for action sequences in place of the in-game engine which handles conversations.
 * In-game engine cutscenes are also present in Episode I and Episode II, but are rarely used in comparison.
 * Apocalypse How: Lost Jerusalem is either somewhat a X or X-2 since the scale of the disappearance was never quite specified and the planet/system wasn't exactly destroyed but swallowed by a Negative Space Wedgie, its fate unclear. The same thing happened to Miltia, only to
 * Arbitrary Headcount Limit: Obvious, since it's a Role-Playing game. At least Episode II and Episode III let you switch out the characters at will (but not when characters die).
 * Also, ES battles could only have two of the craft on the field during Episode II, while the AGWS in Episode I and the ES battles in Episode III were kept at three.
 * Artificial Human: the URTVs, KOS-MOS, and Realians.
 * Art Shift: Goes from "anime-esque" in Episode I to semi-realistic in Episode II then to a hybridization in Episode III.
 * Ascended Extra: The Professor from Episode I to Episode III.
 * Ascend to A Higher Plane of Existence:  but he's too meddlesome to stay. Also,
 * As the Good Book Says...: Albedo in Episode I. Joachim Mizrahi also tends to quote the Bible several times through the series. . Momo just reads the inscription that was on a stone right before their fight with   in Episode III.
 * Automated Automobiles: They have them but they're just for normal driving.
 * Awful Truth: What Shion's initial reaction to her parent's death was and what it did was kept secret from her for fifteen years for a good reason.
 * There's even a track in Xenosaga III fitting called "The Harsh Truth."
 * Back From the Dead:  Also,   and.
 * Back Stab: In Episode III, attacking a surprised enemy has a greater chance of critical damage. Some characters also get skills that spin the enemies around for their attack.
 * Badass Normal:
 * Jin, who is a Master Swordsman and the only truly "normal" playable character.
 * also qualifies at the end of Episode III, he stands up after taking three blasts that would have killed any normal person, and in the ending sequence kills a Gnosis single-handedly. He kills it with a gun, but not by shooting it. He bludgeons it to death using the butt of the rifle, and then shoots it in the face. For emphasis. It also qualifies as his Crowning Moment of Awesome
 * Bald Black Leader Guy: Representative Helmer is the leader of Second Militia.
 * Barehanded Blade Block: Jin, during the fight with Margulis in Episode II.
 * Bare Your Midriff:
 * Over the course of the series, Shion goes from a mini-skirted uniform to a positively Stripperific display of tummy.
 * KOS-MOS gets in on this with her first costume in the final game.
 * Played with in one of KOS-MOS's powerful attacks from the first game. At first it seems like her costume is coming off to reveal midriff, then it's revealed that under her costume is merely a giant energy cannon.
 * Barrier Change Boss: The Final Boss of Episode III has one element that he's weak to that keeps changing.
 * Because Destiny Says So
 * Batman Gambit: Despite being one of the most unstable characters, Albedo has proven to be one of the most clever characters in the entire game.
 * Belly Of The Space Whale: The Cathedral Ship-type Gnosis that temporarily engulfs the party in Episode I.
 * Betting Minigame: Episode I had a Casino where you could play poker and play with slot machines. In addition to all of the character portraits offered as extras to cash in your coins on, one of the prizes is also a Game Breaker, Bravesoul (and other items like it).
 * Beyond the Impossible: How many more religious references can get thrown in the game? How much more is there to learn about the main characters? How much more epic can the space battles get? How much more big and powerful can the robots get?  This series does a lot of this.
 * BFG: Most of KOS-MOS's weaponry, which include a giant shoulder-mounted railgun with a barrel double to triple her height and a triple-barreled gatling gun (times two!). Even crazier is the Naglfar that the Gad/ES Joseph can summon out of literally nowhere, which has a barrel that's at least three times the mech is tall.
 * BFS: Averted with Jin and Margulis, who use rather normal-sized swords (a katana and a straight, double-edged sword respectively). Played utterly straight with their respective ES's, which use or can use swords double their heights.
 * Big Bad: While there are many pretenders to the throne, does more horrible stuff in the last few hours of Episode III than the rest of them manage in the entire trilogy.
 * Big No: Done by Shion both as a child and as an adult to horribly catastrophic consequences.
 * Big Screwed-Up Family: The Yurievs.
 * Father Dimitri is Really Seven Hundred Years Old and has been jumping from body to body to stave off his fear of death and is currently inhabiting the body of his "son", Nigredo/Gaignun.
 * Mother nowhere to be seen, literally described by Jr. as a bunch of random surrogates with "healthy ovums".
 * Big brother Rubedo, aka Jr. is trapped in the body of a 12 year old boy, and if that wasn't bad enough the love of his life has been recreated as a plasticky Artificial Human and he has to live out his life posing as the son of his younger brother.
 * Little brother Albedo used to be a rather happy-go-lucky child... with very mild touch of the crazy, only to go off the deep end when he realizes he is immortal while his dear brothers are not. Later he makes direct contact with U-DO, and well... You know the rest.
 * Little sister Citrine was raised simply to be a genetic stabilizer to prevent the URTV cell culture from degenerating with every new round of cloning. She starts out simply as a Creepy Child, then drops out of the story for 14 years and appears in Episode III as a full-blown sociopath and acting as the point-woman for her "father" Dimitri.
 * Baby brother Nigredo, aka Gaignun appears to be the most normal of the bunch; he's rich, beloved, stylish, and hangs out with two beautiful female companions all day long... However, as mentioned above he constantly battles for control of his own body with his parasitic father and his actual role in the URTV project was to kill his beloved brother Rubedo should he ever go berserk.
 * And then there's the 665 other URTVs who between them shared a collective consciousness and were nothing but automatons.
 * Bishonen: chaos (no capitalization needed) and, to a lesser degree, the kid URTVs.
 * Bittersweet Ending: At the end of it all
 * Blade On a Stick: ES Reuben and Joesph use polearms. So does Pellegri when she's on foot.
 * Bleached Underpants: Chocolate Shop (most commonly known as Choco), the artist of several mechas, KOS-MOS first design and the Vector logo in the first episodes and the main character designer in Ep. III, is a known hentai artist, which explains the Stripperific outfits for the female protagonists.
 * Block Puzzle: You'd think after a while your characters would figure out a better way to move blocks around.
 * Body Surf:
 * Bonus Boss: Several per episode.
 * Boobs of Steel: KOS-MOS and T-elos. Not just an Incredibly Lame Pun--they are stronger than many Humongous Mecha, and (at least when KOS-MOS is in her final form) are the most pneumatic cast members.
 * Boss Banter:  is the most notable example.
 * Boss Remix: The theme Promised Pain for the Final Boss in Episode III is a vocalized version of a track previously heard.
 * Bowdlerized:
 * Removing the blood in Episode III. Why was that so bad?
 * There's also scenes of Albedo menacing MOMO on The Song of Nephilim in Episode I, which were made even more disturbing when they were censored. The original version has him whip out a knife and cut his arm and head off (complete with copious amounts of blood). In the censored version he physically tears his arm and head off his body (complete with various bone-crunching and flesh-tearing sounds).
 * In Episode II, yet another scene with Albedo was altered in which he displays his newly-discovered regenerative powers to Jr. and Gaignun by blowing his own head off. In the Japanese version, he does it with a hand gun, while in the English version he does it with a ball of purple energy.
 * Boy Meets Girl: Played with and subverted between Shion and Kevin: Shion meets Kevin as a child; he dislikes her simple and naive attitude, and she's too young to have an opinion of him. Eventually, Kevin learns to love Shion, and they have a budding relationship together as two scientists and two lovers. But then, Kevin dies.
 * Break Meter: Episode II has the first direct example of this trope in an Eastern RPG.
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall: The U.M.N. database in Episode I tends to do this time to time. One example is an outright apology that the player couldn't see Jin "in action" during that Episode. Also, the e-mail advertisements of other Namco games in Episode I are clearly for the player despite how much the game tries to make it an actual part of the in-game universe.
 * Brick Joke: That BFG your E.S. Asher tosses away in Episode II nearly kills someone in your party in Episode III. chaos promptly apologizes for it.
 * Butt Monkey: A lot of the cast. Allen and Miyuki stand out for comedic reasons; everyone else is drama. Shion and Jin especially.
 * Calling Your Attacks
 * Chase Scene: There were a couple throughout the series, the most notable being the car chase early on in Episode II which was one of the few highlights of the game for many.
 * Chaos Architecture: Played straight between I and II but averted between II and III. In the former case, it's partially justified with respect to the Kukai Foundation which was rebuilt after a large Gnosis attack (other areas have no such explanation). III reuses a lot of assets from II with minor cosmetic changes.
 * The residential area of the Durandal is unavailable in II but changes radically between I and III.
 * Chekhov's Gun: Shion's Glasses. She doesn't actually need them for seeing, and explains in Episode III that they record and analyze visual data. Also
 * Chekhov's Gunman:
 * moves the plot along a little at the beginning, falls off the face of the story for 15~20 hours, then suddenly reenters it for one scene with vital aid for attacking.
 * Also,  from Episode III is first seen as   in Episode I.
 * The Chessmaster: Wilhelm, and several others to a lesser degree.
 * Child Soldiers: The URTVs.
 * Christianity Is Catholic: Ormus has Inquisitors, Cardinals, a Pope in the Japanese version and very Catholic vestments. More puzzling because their theology is a mix of Gnostic or Cathar, and Zoroastrian. Considering the game is set around 4000 years in the future, this may be a case of Future Imperfect. And there is the fact that Ormus was founded by no one other than as another venue of manipulation.
 * Church Militant: The Ormus religion has its own fully developed military-industrial complex. They have a Navy, an Army, weapons research facilities, covert research into exotic physics...
 * Climax Boss: Quite a few boss battles are this.
 * Collectible Card Game: An in-game example, Xenocard was a minigame in Episode I that was actually fully featured and had things like booster packs and its own set of rules. And for those very reasons, it was insanely addictive.
 * Combination Attack: Episode II tried to play with this; it was Awesome but Impractical and you could have easily delt as much damage with solo attacks in the time it took to set up one Double Tech. Some of those are pretty funny, however, and some others serve as Ship Tease.
 * Commonplace Rare: Since Episode II doesn't have shops or a money system at all it could take hours of Level Grinding just to find something like a Bio Sphere.
 * Compensating for Something: Shelley Godwin implies that this is precisely why Jr. is so fond of his gunslinger heroics.
 * Continuity Nod: During Episode III, a throw away cutscene happens when the characters are escaping Laybrinthos  As they're escaping, the remains of a robot come tumbling down to earth, almost hitting the party. It turns out to be one of the robots that chaos and Canaan shot down during the opening cutscenes of Episode II. Especially made obvious, since chaos apologizes for it when it crashes.
 * If you look closely at the overworld map on Miltia in Episode III, you can see areas you travel through during the Old Miltia of 14 years ago sequence of Episode II, specifically the Toys Universe store and the area where you fight Margulis.
 * Continuity Reboot: To Xenogears, according to Word of God.
 * Converging Stream Weapon: The Rhine Maiden, a converging wave-motion gun comprising the Dämmerung and three smaller vessels in formation.
 * Corrupt Church: Ormus, though the moral outlook on the series does provide them a defensible case.
 * Counter Attack: Jin has an entire section of his skill tree supposedly devoted to it.
 * Cloning Blues: Subverted by Jr. and Gaignun, as they are involved in the founding of an independent space colony for wayward genetic experiments to eke out a peaceful living. Played entirely straight with Albedo.
 * Creepy Child:
 * They don't get any creepier than Kid Albedo.
 * Plus there are the other 665 standard-unit URTVs. Especially
 * Cross-Dressing Voices: Jr. is voiced by Bridanne Siddall. In a much more minor example, Wendee Lee voiced kid Gaignun in Episode III.
 * Crowning Moment of Awesome: So freakin' many. How about  It's complete with Mitsuda's very own take on Ride of the Valkyries.
 * Crowning Music of Awesome: It has its own page
 * Crucified Hero Shot:  during Episode I has one of these, albeit it briefly.
 * Cryptic Conversation: Several characters resort to this, worst offender being Nephilim. She gets called out on it at one point.
 * Cutscene: So many, that DVDs which show all the cutscenes that all span more than 3 hours per game are available.
 * Cutscene Incompetence: Everyone loves standing around while they watch some of their comrades getting badly beaten or Mind Raped. Particularly prominent in the first KOS-MOS vs. T-ELOS fight in Episode III. Quite an odd case, since the game has a lot of Cutscene Power to The Max. Also, chaos, who's supposed to
 * Cutscene Power to The Max: Deals it out in spades, almost all of the characters are infinitely more powerful in cutscenes than actual gameplay. This applies to any story related bosses as well. Unfortunately,
 * Damage Sponge Boss: Played straight in Episode III, not as present in the other games.
 * Dating Catwoman: Jin and Pellegri.
 * Death Seeker:
 * Definitely Just a Cold: Shion tries to pass off her fainting spells as "nothing" and just fatigue.
 * Did Not Do the Research: A culinary example. In Episode 2, Jin orders curry at the Moby Dick cafe, and orders it extra spicy. A bowl of red curry is delivered. Anyone who's eaten Thai food knows that if you want screamingly, mind-blowingly, hallucinogenically spicy, you order green curry. ...And then you mention within earshot of the chef that the place down the street makes it hotter.
 * Didn't See That Coming: Big Bad  is about to win! Everyone is where they need to be! The MacGuffin is within reach!
 * Die, Chair, Die!: Used quite a bit in the series. Items, chests, and even enemies can pop out of what you can destroy.
 * Disability Superpower: Abel, an autistic boy in the care of Juli Mizrahi and the SCOCE,
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: The enemies Striborg/Svarozic/Perun which appear in all three games have a giant crotch-bulb-thing. Which it thrusts at you when it's casting a spell.
 * Dressing As the Enemy: Shion and Allen do this to infiltrate Labrynthos during Episode III.
 * Drill Sergeant Nasty: Episode I had one of these, complete with him physically abusing his men for "slacking off". He also appeared briefly in Episode II when you fight the Naglfar Cannons in the Sunken City.
 * Dual Boss: The Richard and Hermann battles.
 * Dual-Wielding: Jin does this briefly during Episode III in the Florentine style.  Also, one of the Gnosis types can do this with two BFS's.
 * Orgulla does this as well, wielding both a regular sword and a Laser Blade.
 * Duel Boss: The final battle between Albedo and Jr. in Episode II is a one-on-one fight, but
 * Dummied Out: Lots of things have been left out of the main three games. Ep. I had 50% of the original story dummied out because they ran out of time. The player would also find powerfull spells that would be available later in the story and ended up being recycled for Ep. II. Ep. II has the entire shop system still in the data, but it got removed because they ran out of time (again). Ep. III has swimsuits for the three Guest Star Party Member.
 * Dying Moment of Awesome:.
 * Early Bird Boss: The battle with Margulis on Pleroma in Episode I is this to the point where it's considered a Hopeless Boss Fight by the game itself. He's still very beatable though.
 * Early Installment Weirdness: Tech Points, Ether Points, and Skill Points were limited in scope from their appearance in Episode I. The fully featured card game, mech fighter, casino games and drilling game never returned either. The score was composed entirely by Yasunori Mitsuda, and the story of the game (due to Development Hell and Executive Meddling) had closer resemblance to the original script than the other two games (look at the entry on the What Could Have Been page for more info)
 * Earth-That-Was - Humanity abandoned Earth some 4,000 years prior to the start of the plot after it and the rest of the Milky Way galaxy disappeared from known space. It has since become known as "Lost Jerusalem", and.
 * Eldritch Abomination: The Gnosis. These creatures defy physical laws almost as a matter of course, have a terrifying appearance, and, until the discovery of the Hilbert effect (which pulls them into our dimension fully, allowing us to attack them) were completely incapable of being harmed but could kill us at their whim.
 * Enemy Scan: The "Analyze" spell in Episode II and the Analyze Ball in Episode III.
 * Everything Is Online: Through the UMN, all of reality is online and hackable, and bodies, souls, and data are somewhat interchangeable. Justified Trope--.
 * Exact Time to Failure: The Timed Mission to escape the Ormus Stronghold in Episode II. If you don't complete it within the time limit, you will die!
 * Executive Meddling: Numerous - the main brains behind the series were axed by the time the third game came out. The radically different Episode II was a result of this trope as well, which pretty much led to the series being reduced from six games to three. Ironically, the third game seems to be the most true to its spiritual predecessor and is generally regarded as the best in the series.
 * Expy: Numerous 'Saga cast members have 'Gears counterparts, most notably Jin. He's a bit of a subversion, though. Despite their superficial resemblance, Citan was a hyper-competent borderline Canon Sue with a beautiful wife & daughter & successful practice as a town doctor. Jin is a layabout who washed out of the medical profession, had a lousy relationship with his family the only woman he ever loved wound up trying to kill him. He's still a Badass, though.
 * It goes beyond just the human characters. Episode III pits you against the Super Robot Omega-Universitas and its more powerful transformation Omega-Id, which are more or less direct copies of Fei's gear, the Weltall, right down to the fighting style.
 * Fan Service: The girls swimsuits. There's also Xenosaga Freaks, a whole disc full of it.
 * Fantastic Voyage: The interior of Abel's Ark and the Cathedral Ship.
 * Faster-Than-Light Travel
 * Faux Symbolism: It's difficult to tell how much is gratuitous and how much is really symbolic given the themes and plot.
 * Fetch Quest:
 * Several in Episode II.
 * Fighting Your Friend:  It's too bad no one in this game can do a Bright Slap.
 * Filming for Easy Dub: Used more often in Episode II than anywhere else. At least one cutscene on each disk has a lot of monologue or scenes (such as flashbacks) that don't need animated mouths.
 * This is in direct contrast to Episode III and even more to Episode I where the camera would often be focused directly on the character's face when they were thinking or
 * Final Boss: One in each Episode.
 * Finishing Move: Xenosaga 3 shells out extra experience and gold for killing any enemy with a special attack. This is pretty necessary if you hope to keep up with the level curve.
 * Fission Mailed:
 * Flunky Boss: Different types of them too.
 * Forced to Watch: forces Shion to watch KOS-MOS turn against her while at the same time forcing  to watch as he tortures Shion.
 * Foreign Language Title: All three games have German subtitles that draw on Friedrich Nietzsche.
 * Franchise Killer: The series was meant to span six games (not counting spin offs)... Episode II sure fixed that.
 * Especially for European fans, as no one was gutsy enough to bring it over after the failure that was Episode II, both the game's fault and due to sloppy handling of the game's release in Europe; they did not release Episode I, unanimously declared to be a better game, and then they missed out on Episode III, which is arguably as good as if not better than Episode I.
 * Fun With Acronyms: A few, including MOMO (Multiple Observative Mimetic Organicus) and KOS-MOS (Kosmos Obey Strategic Multiple Operation Systems)
 * Gambit Pileup: The number of plots and counterplots is simply staggering.
 * Gambit Roulette:  He is a veritable Gambit Croupier.
 * Genius Cripple: Dr. Sellers. It's not readily apparent that he's a paraplegic until he's seen in person in Episode II. Episode III reveals he's in a wheelchair because.
 * Genius Ditz:
 * Shion, in the first game especially, is shown as a incredibly smart scientist who can't read people for jack, is generally clingy to people, and can never figure out where to go next without help from someone else. Made even more apparent in Episode III, perhaps due to Flanderization.
 * Miyuki is also this. She designs Shion's weapons and they're incredibly powerful and well-made. However, perhaps due again to Flanderization, her nature to make mistakes and screw up constantly is shoved into the light in Episode III.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar:
 * In Episode III, the translators apparently decided to have some fun with the dense in-game Database. Albedo's entry refers to him as "a Cunning Linguist".
 * The Ma belle peche sequence, featuring a guy who decapitates himself (with a knife or with his bare hands) in front of a preteen girl. Oh, and that's not even mentioning the blatant rape subtext of the scene or the one after this one.
 * Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: The Final Boss of Episode I.
 * Global Currency:  Except in Episode II, which doesn't have a money system at all.
 * Gnosticism: The entire series, and even moreso its spiritual predecessor Xenogears, are heavily influenced by the Gnostic religion. Proper names and even the overall mythology of the series reflects Gnostic cosmology.
 * Go Mad From the Revelation:
 * This is the reason transporting organic matter across the UMN is banned by the Federation: every human test subject that rematerialized on the other side (most didn't) came back as a basket case (if not also physically deformed)..
 * Hearing the Song of Nephilim also causes certain Realians to go mad with homicidal rage.
 * Albedo also went crazy(er) when he made contact with U-DO.
 * God in Human Form:
 * God Is Evil: U-DO is believed by Dmitri Yuriev to be the eventual destroyer of the universe..
 * God Mode:
 * Good luck ever damaging Shion or Jr. again once they have Phantom Fly!
 * If the bosses can survive longer than the 3 rounds KOS-MOS can keep Blood Dancer activated, then you're doing it wrong.
 * Goldfish Poop Gang: Richard and Hermann are played up as this.
 * Good Foundation, Evil Organization
 * Good Samaritan: This is the basis for a series of small sidequests, most involving some sort of Fetch Quest or Mini Game, in Episode II. It's even called The Global Samaritan Organization.
 * Gratuitous English: CAUTION! I AM A BOOZER! BANZAI! BANZAI!
 * Gratuitous Foreign Language: Doctus, and her Latin interjections. See also Foreign Language Title.
 * Gratuitous French Phrases: Three words: "Ma belle peche!"
 * Gratuitous German: Quite a bit of German words appear in the script; especially when Wilhelm is involved. Also, the titles of Episodes I, II, and III as well.
 * Grey and Grey Morality: At the beginning of Episode III, Shion and Miyuki are working for
 * Guest Star Party Member: Virgil, Canaan, Miyuki, and Allen. Also, Mary Godwin and a random soldier (called Soldier) in their AGWS for one part of Episode I.
 * Guns Akimbo:
 * Jr.
 * Also, KOS-MOS counts when she dual-wields her triple barreled gatling guns.
 * Hall of Mirrors: Combined with The Mirror Shows Your True Self and Mirror Monster. During Jr.'s face off with, he finds himself in a Hall of Mirrors. At first, the mirrors shows the reflection of Jr.'s telling him to kill the other guy. Then, the reflections change to show the other guy, telling Jr. the same thing. Then, Jr. shoots a mirror, to no real effect, since the other guy was never even in the room to begin with.
 * Hammerspace: Justified: Weaponry (and other similar items) have been converted from matter to information and are stored on the UMN until they're needed, at which point they're rematerialized in normal space.
 * Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: Since many of the bosses can't be defeated by just fighting them and you get a game over every time you lose, a good portion of boss battles turn out to be this.
 * The Heartless:
 * Heroes Gone Fishing:
 * In Episode I, there is indeed a sequence where Shion goes fishing on the Kukai Foundation.
 * Ditto in Episode II. Made particularly aggravating because how many times you fish in this game will end up determining which "kind" of Erde Kaiser you get in the game (read: Guide Dang It).
 * Heroic BSOD:.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: Several.
 * Twice in the anime adaptation. One is played so straight, it may qualify as the most powerfully staged one in the history of anime; the other one is subverted just as powerfully.
 * Hopeless Boss Fight: The boss battle with Margulius on Pleroma is supposed to be this, but it's very possible to win against him if you know what you're doing.
 * Hot-Blooded: Jr. and Albedo, especially when it's about fighting each other.
 * HP to One: Citrine, the number is 666 instead, but it's immediately followed up by an attack that does 666.
 * Humongous Mecha: No surprise there.
 * The UMN Is A Scary Place: U-DO and Gnosis lurk in the depths of the do-everything network.
 * I Let You Win: The last battle with  in Episode II.
 * I Thought Everyone Could Do That!: Albedo's first thoughts about his regeneration. Boy, did he go off the deep end when he found out the truth...
 * Idle Animation: In Episode III each playable character has one (in example, Shion jumps and Kos-Mos looks around) they perform when they're idle. Episode I also had idle animations for some of its in-game engine cutscenes where someone other than your player character is talking (for example, while Shion would talk to Luty, player character Junior would sit nearby, cross-legged and stretch).
 * Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Happens once early on in Episode I. Shion, trying to get back to the lab on the Woglinde during a Gnosis invasion, is fired upon by a squad of A.G.W.S and Realians. Each bullet misses her completely, despite everyone using automatic weapons.
 * In a Single Bound: KOS-MOS and T-elos, they even end up running on the walls and ceiling.
 * In Name Only: Xenosaga was originally thought to be a remake/a complete overhaul of the supposed Xenogears series, but aside from some Expies and some similarities, it doesn't really connect with it at all. Also, Xenoblade was originally thought to be a continuation of Xenosaga when its name was announced. It turned out to be Nintendo's way of honoring writer Tetsuya Takahashi, who wrote all three series.
 * Inexplicable Treasure Chests: Plenty. Some even come out of the objects in the environment when you destroy them.
 * Invulnerable Civilians: Inverted, most NPCs you encounter in populated areas will die sooner or later at some point in the game.
 * It Seemed Like a Good Idea At The Time: Digging up the Zohar, trying to send unprotected humans through the UMN, you name it.
 * It's Up to You: Helmer just can't do anything himself.
 * Jigsaw Puzzle Plot: And HOW! Probably the biggest example in the entire genre... if not the entire medium.
 * Journey to The Center of The Mind: "Diving" into the "subconscious domain" of many cast members is half the plot. Notably, Shion and co. delve into both Sakura and KOS-MOS's minds (though the latter becomes a general mindscrew-slash-flashback).
 * Judge, Jury, and Executioner:.
 * Kung Fu Jesus:  is almost a textbook case. Not actually Jesus himself, but apparently he's the one behind the miracles.
 * Laser Blade: Ensemble Darkhorse Orgulla has one of these. Be sure to pay attention to it during the boss battle with her.
 * Last-Minute Hookup:
 * Last-Name Basis: Everyone but Febronia calls Virgil either "Lt. Virgil" or "Virgil," his first name being Luis.
 * Lazy Backup: In Episode I the player could only have the three characters that they set as combatants battle. When they die, it's game over, even if the other three characters are also there with them. In Episode II and Episode III, they can switch characters out, but only if they're not dead and don't have status ailments. Of course, in all three games, the player can switch them to their hearts content out of battle.
 * Leitmotif: Quite a few characters have their own theme song and, in most cases, it's named after them. Notable examples are Albedo, Sakura, and Nephilim. Songs can be heard here: Albedo, Sakura, and Nephilim.
 * Let's Split Up, Gang!: During the Encephalon dive in Episode I, the party splits into two to explore. Also, in Episode III, there's a Secret Dungeon that's just a bunch of rooms with puzzles based off of this concept. Both times they didn't have much of a choice, though.
 * Level Grinding: Of course, Your Mileage May Vary at exactly when and how much is needed, but there are points where it's needed.
 * Likable Villain: Virgil (after some Character Development) and Pellegri.
 * Literary Allusion Title: The sub-titles of all the games are, as noted above, references to books by Nietzsche. In the original German. And then there's Pied Piper.
 * Loners Are Freaks: Lo' and behold!
 * MacGuffin Delivery Service:
 * Made of Explodium: Mechanical enemies generally explode and disappear when killed. In the first two games, a shower of blood accompanied any human deaths.
 * Magic From Technology: Ether.
 * Magitek: The UMN is a Subspace Ansible network, also responsible for many of the Ether effects mentioned above, as well as teleportation and Faster-Than-Light Travel.
 * Malevolent Masked Men: The Testaments are this; they're even referred to by the color of their robe and mask. While portrayed as just mysterious masked men in the beginning of the series, by Episode III, they're definitely antagonists.
 * Meaningful Name: Where does one even begin? There's Kos-mos, chaos, and T-elos; Nephilim, as well as the name of the Zohar Emulators and the E.S.'s. Also, Gaignun's name comes from the horse in The Song of Roland. Horses are generally used as a means of transport. What does Gaignun provide? The Durandal and, by extension, the Elsa. The characters' main means of transport throughout the series.
 * And as a much more direct example that reveals a character's secret: Roth Mantel
 * Memento MacGuffin:
 * Mind Rape:
 * Albedo does this to  at the end of the first Episode to recover the Y-data. Bits of the scene were removed in the NA version because it, well, looks a lot like rape. , Albedo says, "I bet she'd like it if you did it" to Jr., solidifying the aforementioned event as rape.
 * Also, the usual consequences of contacting U-DO would qualify.
 * Mind Screw:... A big one.
 * Mini Game: Each of the three episodes has their own sets. Highlights include Xenocard from Episode I, which is a fully featured TCG and a puzzle game of sorts in Episode III, called HaKox, where you move blocks to make sure the characters make it to the end of the level. Episode I also had an arcady mech shooting game.
 * Mini Boss: It can be hard to discern these fights and actual boss fights at times.
 * Morton's Fork: Voyager offers one of these to Jan at the end of Pied Piper. He takes a third option.
 * The Mothership: The Gnosis Cathedral Ships for, you guessed it, the Gnosis.
 * My God, What Have I Done?: Pretty much how Shion reacts when she realizes that
 * My Rules Are Not Your Rules: In regards to boosting, at least, because the enemies can boost over you, no matter what. Did you boost first? Too bad! The computer decided to override you and boost itself! And you cannot override the computer! This naturally includes bosses too, where boosting could be very crucial. This can lead to the boss attacking three times and leaving you almost dead with sometimes only one chance to heal yourself between turns.
 * Mythology Gag: The series natrually references Xenogears quite a bit.
 * Nanotechnology: A background element to the story. It's the go-to explanation for everything from every from how Ethers/Techs work to how come there are so many habitable planets in the universe to why does everyone have such Impossibly Clean Clothes?
 * New Neo City: The series employs a variation of this when it comes to naming places after other places. A numerical designation is attached to the new settlement. Examples include Second Miltia and Fifth Jerusalem. Earth-That-Was is know in-universe as Lost Jerusalem.
 * It's never explained what happened to Second Jerusalem through Fourth Jerusalem.
 * No Budget: Episode III seemed to suffer from this. Full CG cutscenes were used only for action scenes, many actors were reused in the dubbing, some cutscenes have extensive slowdown and there were more than a few questionably translated lines. This game was also made during the time that Namco was being bought by and merged with Bandai, so money was likely spread more thin than usual.
 * No Export for You: Xenosaga I&II, Pied Piper, Xenosaga Freaks, and A Missing Year.
 * No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup:
 * Kevin took the plans for KOS-MOS to his grave, so in order to continue his work, Shion had to reverse-engineer the prototype
 * However,
 * The Federation, meanwhile, has most of Joachim Mizrahi's works on file (except for the Y-Data) and produces several Ω's and Merkabahs, even making some improvements between versions.
 * Noodle Incident:
 * What happened between Margulis, Jin and their master (who was also Jin and Shion's grandfather). Jin states that Margulis "betrayed" their master, but it's never stated if he meant betraying his principles, he killed him or otherwise.
 * What happened at Miltia starts off as this, but we eventually learn what occurred there.
 * Now Where Was I Going Again?: Averted, the series is pretty linear in itself and the two sequels include story digests that point you in the right direction.
 * Numbered Sequel: Episode I, Episode II, and Episode III all have numbers in their titles.
 * Off-Model: The aforementioned Animation Bump in Episode I sometimes resulted in the bumps overlapping with the reular CG cutscenes, as Kos-Mos was really the only character to recieve said bump.
 * Old Save Bonus: Xenosaga II gives the player bonus skill points and KOS-MOS and Ziggy's swimsuits, all excellent incentives. Xenosaga III, however, just gives you a Vector Uniform that changes Shion's appearance.
 * Ominous Latin Chanting: Some feature Latin that's more upbeat and action-y, but other songs in the series fit this trope better; for example, the song Testament
 * One Game For The Price Of Three: The series consists of three separate games, of which only Episodes I and III are long enough to qualify as full-length RPGs. Episodes I and II were originally intended to be a single game which was subsequently split in two. The so-called "8 Minutes and 8 Seconds" trailer for Episode I showcased events such as Jin and Margulis's sword duel and the activation of Proto-Ω--two events which occur near the climax of Episode II. The combined Episodes I&II were later released as a Nintendo DS game, which never made it out of Japan.
 * Once Per "Episode": Quite a few.
 * KOS-MOS gets a frame upgrade.
 * The Elsa has a dramatic escape sequence.
 * KOS-MOS stays behind to save everyone, who has conveniently forgot that she's a robot and can be rebuilt.
 * Finding and unlocking Segment Addresses, usually related to...
 * Building Erde Kaiser (first two episodes; in the 3rd, you just find all three previous robots) or fighting Erde Kaiser (last two episodes).
 * Wilhelm makes vaguely prophetic proclamations.
 * One or more members of the party put on a swimsuit.
 * The party explores someone's subconscious through Encephalon dive, which is a mild example of a Marathon Level (they have save points, but they're pretty long levels for a maingame segment).
 * Fight against Margulis.
 * Albedo dies.
 * One-Scene Wonder: Orgulla is given a lot of characterization for the one boss fight you have with her and the cutscene before and after said fight, only to never be seen ever again. It's probably what made her such an Ensemble Darkhorse.
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Between Jin and Margulis, as well as between Rubedo and Albedo.
 * Justified in Rubedo (Jr.)'s case, since due to his power, he IS the only person who can kill Albedo for good.
 * Only One Name: chaos, Margulis, Pelegri, Sergius, Heinlein, and Sellers. Meanwhile KOS-MOS and T-elos are simply product designations, and MOMO's legal name is MOMO Mizrahi.
 * Out of Focus: Unfortunately, it seems every party member aside from Shion, Jr., and KOS-MOS is gradually forced out of the spotlight, especially in Episode III.
 * Palmtree Panic: Pedea Island in the beginning of the third game, which really contrasts with the whole futuristic outerspace setting of the series.
 * Pals With Jesus:
 * Player Headquarters: The Elsa.
 * Plot-Relevant Age-Up: This was supposed to happen to Jr. at some time in the series, but eventually got scrapped.
 * Preexisting Encounters
 * Puzzle Boss: Most of the bosses in Episode I and Episode II. Plus, they were pretty damn original too.
 * Puzzle Reset: Most of the puzzles in each dungeon have a reset button if you mess up.
 * Quad Damage: Quite literal in Episode III's Blood Dancer ability.
 * Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Your party consists of an android, a Super Prototype artificial human, a cyborg, a different type of artificial human clone, a samurai, a Genius Bruiser martial artist Hot Scientist, and.
 * Reactor Boss: The Final Boss of Episode I is born from the reactor thanks to.
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old:
 * Jr., and as later revealed,
 * According to the ingame encyclopedia, medicine has advanced to the point where everyone lives for hundreds of years.
 * Recurring Boss: Albedo, Margulis, and Pellegri. You're guaranteed to fight them at least once per game.
 * Redemption Equals Death:  however,.
 * Remember the New Guy: Doctus. In all fairness, the web-based side story that properly introduces her in advance of Episode III was never released state-side... officially.
 * The E.S. robots in Episode II. They are relevant to the plot, but they appeared out of nowhere. Albedo's E.S. Simeon is featured prominently throughout Episode I, and while the game's onboard encyclopedia hints that there's something out of the ordinary with it, it's not confirmed to be an E.S. until Episode II.
 * Remote Body: Doctus, again. It's revealed in A Missing Year that she constantly uses android doubles.
 * Replacement Goldfish: A few of them.
 * Meanwhile,.
 * Somewhat subverted as well, as.
 * Another example is at the end of Episode II when
 * Retool: Due to Episode I not selling exactly how Namco wanted it and many staff changes, as well as the desire to make Episode II more mainstream, that Episode had a retooled battle system, new script writers, a new composer, and only told a fraction of a story (Disc 1 can be completed in 6 hours without skipping a cutscene), compared to Episode I which had a lot of plot (and was on one disc). Strangely, they still managed to keep the Story to Gameplay Ratio about the same.
 * Revive Kills Zombie: The most common way people kill the Larva Doll and Larva Face monsters is by healing them, however you can also use Kos-Mos' Gate Ether on them as well, which is actually more helpful because when used on the Larva Doll, they get killed instead of turning into Larva Face.
 * Rewarding Vandalism: All kinds of goodies pop out of destructibles, including entire treasure chests. Lampshaded by a police officer NPC in Episode I, who states she's investigating the destruction of vending machines in the area.
 * Ridiculously Cute Critter: Shion's prefered avatar when using the UMN is cute white bunnie character who shows up in numerous parts of the games. It generally doesn't serve any terribly important purposes, but it does represent the Save-states on the PS 2's memory card.
 * Ridiculously-Human Robots:
 * The Realians. They range from emotionally vacant servants (The Kirschwassers, Canaan, and most "Weapons-Grade Realians") to being nearly indistinguishable from humans (MOMO, Febronia).
 * KOS-MOS also falls into this trope..
 * Robo-Family: MOMO's relationship with the Kirschwassers who preceded her is akin to sisterhood.
 * Sad Battle Music: The battle between KOS-MOS and T-ELOS in the third installment. While their previous battles were accompanied by intense music, their final confrontation has the melancholic "Hepatica" playing.
 * Satan Is Good: The Antichrist's sole purpose is to ensure the survival of our universe.
 * Say My Name:
 * UZUKIIIIIIIIII!!!
 * ALBEDOOOOOOOOO!!!!
 * KOOOS-MOOOS!!
 * U-DOOOOOO...
 * VOYAGEEEEEEEEERRRR!!
 * Screw Destiny: The final, CMOAish decision of the characters--to find their own way to save the universe.
 * Sealed Evil in A Can: Proto Omega, once under Ormus control.
 * Secret Identity:  have these. Even though each identity is eventually made known to the heroes, everyone else has no idea who they are. Also,   disguises himself as a scientist named
 * Shattered World: The Floating Landmass/Rennes le Chateau from Episode III is thought to be a broken piece of . However, no one seems to live on it.
 * Shirtless Scene: Kevin, of all people, had one of these in a oh-so-suggestive scene with Shion, and that shirt seems to be the only thing that Shion is wearing other than panties.
 * Shooting Superman: Many mooks and red shirts keep shooting at gnosis even when it's clear that they are Made of Air. Possibly justified; the anime suggests that when a Gnosis attacks something, it has to momentarily become solid.
 * Shout-Out: Episode III is littered with subtle and overt nods to Xenogears. One of the bosses in the third game is Welltall, which later changes to a red Weltall-Id.
 * Shout Out to Shakespeare: Jr and Albedo.
 * Shout-Out to The Usual Suspects: In Episode I's database, it's mentioned that, in the official records, Gaignun is listed as the heir to the industrialist Soze Kukai.
 * Also, Jr.'s first lines in Episode I are a direct quotation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
 * The Bakery Smile on the Kukai Foundation uses Pac-man on their bakery sign as a sort of border.
 * There's a Shout-Out for Antigone/ the Oedipus cycle: One type of Mooks (Vive II Prototype) has two beam attacks. One's called Antigone, the other is Ismene. Interestingly, you find this type in the Ormus Stronghold in Episode II.
 * The hand grenades used by Margulis' Humongous Mecha are identical to those used by the Zaku II in the original Gundam series.
 * Mai Magus and Leupold in Episode III are a homage to Maria and Seibzehn from Xenogears.
 * Proto Merkabah and the incomplete Merkabah are reminiscent of the Death Star and Death Star II.
 * Professor Haksheen White is like Dr. Light/Right from Mega Man.
 * Ziggy is nothing like Ziggy Stardust though.
 * The Zohar is a giant monolith. This reference is shared with Xenogears.
 * Sellers is a dead ringer for Dr. Strangelove (the character), portrayed by, whaddayaknow, Peter Sellers.
 * MOMO's bow in Episode II is labeled (in the official renders) as being made by Legolas Manufacturers.
 * One of the guns you can buy for Jr. in Episode III is called the Legacy of Zara.
 * Sidetracked By the Golden Saucer: Xenocard. And Hakox.
 * An in-game example. Remember when MOMO and Ziggy were being chased and Shion saved them in the Elsa? That's all from the experience she gained from the crane mini-game.
 * Smoking Is Cool: Captain Matthew's cigarettes spew a LOT of smoke for no adequately explained reason. Maybe they're the opposite of smokeless cigarettes?
 * Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Their durability increases much faster than their levels too.
 * SPACE Is Just Awesome: The scene where Nephilim takes you through space and shows you  is just full of this. Complete with the characters literally standing on nothing yet still attatched to the ground and the background detail showing many planets, cosmos, and stars compared to the rest of the space scenes in the game, which just show some stars. It looks, well, awesome.
 * Space Is Noisy: Played straight, but subverted occasionally
 * Space Whale: The Gnosis Cathedral Ships.
 * Spanner in The Works:
 * Split Personality:
 * Orgulla shows this. Too bad she was a One-Scene Wonder boss, though.
 * Also,  has this, but it's not exactly the same...
 * Stable Time Loop: According to supplemental material in the third game,
 * Stalker With a Crush: Albedo to Jr., again. Boy, is it obsessive!
 * Also with Kevin in regard to Shion. When she goes somewhere, there's a good chance he'll be somewhere near by...
 * Starship Luxurious: Most of the ships, especially those owned by the Kukai Foundation, are very guilty of this. Justified, since in-game information on the Elsa says it was converted from a luxury cruise ship. The Durandal, meanwhile, is not only the Kukai Foundation's flagship, but when docked it's also the Foundation's home office and engine. As for the Dämmerung, it's Vector's company HQ, and Vector pimps out everything they make. (See: the MWS, Miyuki's answer to a can of mace and a rape-whistle.) It's also of a size that it legally qualifies as an artificial planet. Considering the Dämmerung has a graveyard and a thriving metropolis in it, it probably wouldn't be a far stretch to say that it also has a farm somewhere in it to make it more self-sufficient. Well, when your ship is about 1000 square km--about the size of the nation of Lebanon--I'm sure you can fit a farm or two in there. An entire dungeon mid-way through Episode II consists of a trip through the Dämmerung's interior.
 * Stock Sound Effects: Definitely noticable in Episode II, which includes the WOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH of a spaceship flying by that's been heard in a million places before.
 * Story to Gameplay Ratio: Very high. Cutscenes can run upwards of twenty minutes, then lead straight into another one. As a pre-order bonus for the second game, a DVD of the first game's cut scenes was offered to get new players up to speed on the plot. The disc runs upwards of four hours. Impressive enough-- until you realize that it omits a hefty chunk of the 'non-essential' scenes. Left in, it probably would have become a (prohibitively expensive) DVD set. When you reach the last dungeon in Episode I and are able to revisit all the areas you had been to, it's surprising to find out that you had only been to two ships, two resting areas, and about a handful of dungeons.
 * A YouTube user decided to put up every cutscene and compile them into a long movie. Episode 1 is seven hours and nine minutes long. Episode 2 is just under four and a half hours. Episode 3 is almost NINE HOURS.
 * One gets the impression that somebody remembered how well the cutscene-and-dialogue second disk of Xenogears worked out when they were running short of money and time, and decided to make a series entirely in that style.
 * Stripperific:
 * Both androids turn up the sex appeal in Episode 3.
 * Shion's outfit gets more stripperific with each installment.
 * Suddenly Voiced: The Professor and Scott, his assistant, are suddenly voiced and given decent roles in Episode III, when they were only present mostly in the Erde Kaiser sidequests (and spoke through text boxes) in the previous games.
 * Suicide By Cop:  If you really want to get down to technicalities, then.
 * Summon Magic: This is how you call the Erde Kaiser(s) into battle.
 * Super Prototype: MOMO is this for 100-series Realians, having stronger and unique abilities, including.
 * Super Robot / Combining Mecha : Erde Kaiser, gained via a subquest presented in episodes full of bizarre dialogue, and completely at odds with the entire rest of the universe.
 * Super Soldier: Combat Realians, the URT Vs, and  count.
 * Super Weight: Has its own diverse entry on the page.
 * Swiss Army Gun: Shion's weapon does about everything but make breakfast for her.
 * Take Your Time: Well, duh. It's a JRPG.
 * Techno Babble
 * The Unfought:
 * Out of the many antagonists in the series, only  are not fought in battle. Yes, even the Mad Scientist and the Evil Priest are fought... outside of any A.G.W.S. or E.S., for that matter.
 * You also never encounter two of the E.S. in battle,.
 * A minor example, but you never fight the giant whale-shaped Gnosis which are seen in cutscenes, unlike all the other species that do appear as regular enemies.
 * Theme Naming:
 * Albedo, Rubedo, Nigredo and Citrine (feminized from Citrinitas) are all stages in the psychological process of alchemy described by philosopher C.J. Jung.
 * The E.S. units are all named after Jacob's children (from book 1 of The Bible). Or the Twelve Tribes of Israel, which is the same difference.
 * Mary and Shelley Godwin, Gaignun's aides and former science guinea pigs, are both named for the author of Frankenstein.
 * KOS-MOS and T-ELOS, named for the Greek words meaning "order" (as in structure) and "purpose." Further theme naming between KOS-MOS and chaos.
 * Yet more--most of the female characters are named after flowers/plants. Shion (a type of daisy), KOS-MOS (Well, cosmos, a type of aster), MOMO (peach), Sakura (cherry blossom), Juli (a Germanised version of "Yuri", Japanese for lily).
 * The Zohar Replicas are named after the twelve apostles of Jesus.
 * Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Almost played straight by a Gnosis at the end of Episode III
 * Timed Mission: One: The escape from the Ormus Stronghold in Episode II is timed, since it was just rigged to blow.
 * To Become Human:
 * Inverted with Ziggy. Ziggurat 8 ("Ziggy" for short) wants to remove what is left of his humanity by replacing all of his organic parts with mechanical ones.
 * MOMO counts as this. In a flashback, Joachim Mizrahi is heard telling her that if she does good deeds she could become human (or, in his words, "become my Sakura").
 * Token Minority:
 * Helmer and chaos. Helmer is probably of African American descent and chaos is most likely Jewish. Makes sense for the latter since
 * Shion and Jin Uzuki, and Juli Mizrahi are Japanese, while Joachim Mizrahi is Ambiguously Jewish, and Mary Godwin is southern American. How these nationalities/ethnicities are still around and distinct 5,000 years into the future is anybody's guess, but nobody in-universe seems to notice or care.
 * Trademark Favorite Food: Shion and Jin apparently love curry. In fact, they both cook it, and most food scenes in the series involve curry, be it a regular dinner or a Your Favorite type of scene.
 * Tragic Keepsake: The pendant Kevin's mom gave to him. His glasses and pendant to Shion as well.
 * Tragic Monster:  Also doubles as That One Boss for many players.
 * Turns Red: All Bosses in Episode III become more powerful as their health bars decrease. It's usually accompanied by some verbal cue from the enemy as well. Secret uber-boss Ω Universitas literally turns red when it becomes Ω ID.
 * Unusually Uninteresting Sight: The kid gunslinger and the samurai cosplayer (or, in III, the guy in Chinese robes still carrying a katana) really should inspire more comment. You'd also think someone should comment on the 100-series with the non-standard palette.
 * Unwitting Pawn:
 * Used to Be A Sweet Kid: Subverted to hell and back: was a rotten, duplicitous little bastard even as a kid. Heck, he used to be a bad kid by comparison because at least he was a lot better at hiding it as an adult.
 * Don't forget Albedo! Granted, he hated Sakura Mizrahi with a passion, but that was only because he had the hots for Jr. He really was a sweet, lovable kid, minus the touch of crazy, of course. Said statement is especially proven true in his scene with Jr. when he finds out not everyone can blow off their own heads for fun like he could.
 * Viewers Are Geniuses: You need either multiple degrees in physics, religion, philosophy and psychology or access to the internet to decipher some of the game's symbolism. Alleviated somewhat by including an in-game database (which they removed in Episode II for no real reason) that explains a lot of the facts and also keeps profiles of characters.
 * Victory Pose: At the end of every battle the heroes win, they do a victory pose. Often accompanied by a line of some sort by the character who gave the last hit.
 * Wave Motion Gun: Richard summons one during a boss fight with him while you're inside mech suits within a massive space station. His partner tries to get him to stop, but he unleashes its full power and fully blows a hole straight through the station's bulkhead.
 * What Could Have Been: A grand majority of the series was eventually edited out. On top of the series originally being six titles long, the What Could Have Been page itself mentions that the series took up Chapters 2 and 5 of the original ideas, with Chapter 1 being the prologue scenes to Episode I. There's also a list on a Xenogears fan forum (spoilers beware) of things that could have been but were either put in later in the series or scrapped altogether when Soraya Saga left. For example, Jr. was supposed to grow up and have his adult form available in battle, as well as something called "Gaignun vs. the Zohar Emulators."
 * Several potentially awesome scenes were removed from the scripts of all three games, some being added in later, but not when they were originally supposed to be; and some were completely forgotten about. The most obvious example being the fight between Jin and Margulis, which was in the trailer for the original game but ended up being in Episode II. Another being a potential plot where KOS-MOS eventually got strong enough weapons to destroy a planet, which Shion was supposed to prevent. Also, chaos, the
 * What Happened to The Mouse?: What happened to everybody in the prologue of Episode I?
 * They all died... over six thousand years before Shion was even born... While this is technically true, it doesn't explain what actually happened. Over the course of the series we learn about  but that doesn't explain what happened to the people that found it. Did they assist in experimenting with the Zohar? They were never mentioned again in the story, leaving the question, why did the developers even bother to fully flesh out the scene in the first place?
 * What Measure Is a Non-Human?: This is mulled over repeatedly, both by the characters and in the game Database, suggesting that Realians and androids may have individuality, and perhaps even souls, but are still largely and legally regarded as company property. Some combat types are given backdoor programs designed to incur explosive self-destruction, or trigger large waves of violent Zombie Apocalypse-like berserker riots. This causes much angst and flashback trauma on the part of protagonists and antagonists alike.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: Albedo, chaos, and Wilhelm.
 * Wicked Cultured: Albedo may be insane, but he's also one of the most learned characters in the series. Wilhelm also falls into this trope.
 * Womb Level: The Cathedral Ship is an odd example. It has some very organic looking parts mixed in with buildings and crates.
 * World Limited to The Plot: Episode I unintentionally invokes this in its physical world. It doesn't do a very good job of selling its scale. The story'' is a rich environment with large organizations with a developed culture and history, but the actual environments one plays within feel very constricted, most of the game lacks background music or dynamic ambiance, and the virtual reality recreations of every game area (complete with unopened chests) really brings this trope to mind.
 * Worthy Opponent: Margulis, to Jin.
 * Xanatos Gambit:
 * You Are Not Alone: Subverted in Episode III. Everyone keeps trying to tell Shion that they're there for her, but she keeps rejecting it. Where's Bright when you need him?
 * You Are Number Six: There are 669 URT Vs that are all named by production number, including the variants, with Rubedo being number 666. Also, the 100 Series Realians.
 * You Can't Fight Fate: During Episode III, Shion tries to change her parent's death while time traveling.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: The 100-series Realians and KOS-MOS have blue hair, MOMO has pink hair, and Shelley has Purple. Perhaps justified in that they were all artifically created.
 * Your Mind Makes it Real...In the Future!: Used as a plot device to explain  Also used for (or at least implied) why KOS-MOS stayed repaired once the characters returned to the real world after the spoiler happened. Considering that the UMN and Encephelon dives actually , this may be justified in part or in whole.
 * It may also explain why items obtained in the Encephelon carry over to the real world, but that's probably just grasping at straws.
 * Xanatos Gambit:
 * You Are Not Alone: Subverted in Episode III. Everyone keeps trying to tell Shion that they're there for her, but she keeps rejecting it. Where's Bright when you need him?
 * You Are Number Six: There are 669 URT Vs that are all named by production number, including the variants, with Rubedo being number 666. Also, the 100 Series Realians.
 * You Can't Fight Fate: During Episode III, Shion tries to change her parent's death while time traveling.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: The 100-series Realians and KOS-MOS have blue hair, MOMO has pink hair, and Shelley has Purple. Perhaps justified in that they were all artifically created.
 * Your Mind Makes it Real...In the Future!: Used as a plot device to explain  Also used for (or at least implied) why KOS-MOS stayed repaired once the characters returned to the real world after the spoiler happened. Considering that the UMN and Encephelon dives actually , this may be justified in part or in whole.
 * It may also explain why items obtained in the Encephelon carry over to the real world, but that's probably just grasping at straws.