State of the Arc Podcast

After finding herself transported to Miltia 15 years in the past, Shion finds the rest of the group and investigates the area to find out what happened. Along their way, they come across Virgil engaged in combat with U-TIC realians. Seeing that he is badly injured, they decide to help him despite knowing he is the Blue Testament. They soon find an old church where they meet Febronia with a young Shion and Kevin. Febronia offers to be an organ donor to save Virgil’s life, and an emergency operation is conducted to rescue him. After the operation proves to be a success, Virgil, who has a deep prejudice towards Realians, gets to know Febronia and begins to reevaluate his views. Meanwhile, the group reconvenes with the crew of the Elsa to discuss their current predicament. The professor reveals that unless they can find a sufficient power source, it will be impossible to return to their own time. Allen also reveals to Shion that KOS-MOS’s black box has been damaged beyond repair, and without the help of Kevin, her original creator, she will never reawaken. Shion, despite warnings from Allen and the others about meddling with the past, decides to go into the city and discovers key truths about Joachim Mizrahi and the Zohar project that led to the disaster on Miltia. Most importantly, she learns that her father, Margulis, and Mizrahi were attempting to control the Zohar through experiments performed on both her mother and herself. She also learns that Kevin was a key member of Mizrahi’s team and finds baseline designs and code for KOS-MOS that allow the Elsa’s crew to repair her. As Allen and the professor work on reviving her, the ship is attacked by Voyager, who is beaten back by a redesigned KOS-MOS. With KOS-MOS repaired, the group then focusses on finding a sufficient power source to return to their own time and settle on conducting an operation to steal the vessels of Anima stored in the U-TIC secret base of Labyrinthos. While conducting the mission, Shion learns that U-TIC, under Kevin’s supervision, had developed the combat Realians that slaughtered all the people of the city and killed her mother during the Miltian Conflict. As the group attempts to escape with the vessels of Anima, Shion realizes that her mother is being transferred to the treatment facility where she will eventually be killed and decides to go after her rather than escape. Though the group wants to help her, they are overwhelmed by U-TIC forces and have no choice but to retreat. Shion is then confronted by the Red Testament, who reveals his true identity as Kevin Winecott. Shocked by this revelation, Shion freezes up and is captured by U-TIC.

Well, well, well... you don't a much stronger start to a game than that! Xenosaga III REALLY impressed me in its opening act. This is by far the most polished product of this trilogy, and we're excited to share our incites with you on all the great symbolism and strong setups here. Following her resignation from Vector, Shion teams up with Scientia to investigate the company’s secrets while Allen takes her place looking after KOS-MOS. Meanwhile, Canaan, Jr., Jin, chaos, MOMO, and Ziggy investigate a landmass floating through space that originated from Lost Jerusalem. Margulis attacks them in response, and the landmass is swallowed up in an inverted pocket of hyperspace, which the Elsa also falls into. Meanwhile, Shion visits Allen and sees a demonstration of two new weapons for fighting the Gnosis—T-elos, a battle robot meant to replace KOS-MOS, and Omega, a mech created from the remains of the Proto Omega and piloted by Abel. After the test, T-elos' creator, Roth Mantel, informs Allen that KOS-MOS will be scrapped in favor of T-elos. Because KOS-MOS's weaponry is the only way to break into the hyperspace pocket and save the Elsa, Shion leads the group into the facility and rescues KOS-MOS, guided at one point by Abel. Nephilim visits Shion frequently during this time, and Shion begins to experience a series of blackouts where U-DO contacts her. These events are observed by Wilhelm, who is working with the Testaments to find Abel his Ark. Entering the hyperspace pocket, the group finds the Elsa and investigates the area, encountering both Albedo and Virgil and learning that the Vessels of Anima powering their E.S. mechs are critical to the Testaments' plans. They are then confronted by Mantel—who reveals himself as the Red Testament—and T-elos. T-elos nearly kills KOS-MOS, but Shion's pendant activates and seemingly transports the group to the planet Miltia fifteen years in the past.

Rather than taking advice from a Chad philosopher like Diogenes, we'll instead be diving into the deep end of virgin Friedrich Nietzche's thoughts. This is essential if one wants to understand the underlying meaning of Xenosaga, particularly this final entry in the series.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is a monumental work of art. Both the book and the film. The movie came out in our early teen years and we read the books shortly thereafter. In this podcast, we attempt to understand and explain some of the differences between the book and the film, as well as where the film really shines and where it may fall short. We hope you enjoy this podcast, it was a blast to produce. J.R.R. Tolkien is a beast. Time Codes: 1. Intro (0:00) 2. Foreword (1:00) 3. Prologue (13:38) 4. Galadriel's Mirror (36:33) 5. Prometheus or Lucifer (48:58) 6. Bilbo and Gandalf (57:57) 7. "You want it for yourself!" (1:19:47) 8. The Road Goes Ever On and On (1:27:22) 9. Frodo Gets the Ring (1:36:24) 10. The Eucatastrophe (2:04:53) 11. Being Grounded in the Shire (2:13:39) 12. Gandalf and Saruman (2:18:39) **We’re Now On Spotify**: https://open.spotify.com/show/4gIzzvT3AfRHjGlfF8kFW3 **Listen On Soundcloud**: https://soundcloud.com/resonantarc **Listen On iTunes**: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/state-of-the-arc-podcast/id1121795837 **Listen On Pocket Cast**: http://pca.st/NJsJ Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/resonantarc Subscribe Star: https://www.subscribestar.com/resonant-arc Twitter: https://twitter.com/resonantarc Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/resonantarc Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/resonantarc TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@resonantarc

Today, we'll be covering the story of how Shion finally got fired from Vector. While Jin Uzuki investigates Gnosis Terrorism—a new phenomenon in which Gnosis under a person’s control attack high-population centers—he finds a mysterious young Realian girl being taken care of by the Subcommittee on Close Encounters and Juli Mizrahi. The Subcommittee lab is attacked, and an agent named Doctus, who was sent by an anti-UMN organization called Scientia, kidnaps the Realian girl. Jin and Shion pursue Doctus to a Scientia vessel and are caught. The Captain of the vessel attempts to explain the situation to them, revealing the dangers of the UMN and Vector’s role in funding the research that led to the events on Miltia 14 years ago. As Scientia conducts an analysis on the Realian girl, a power awakens in her, and Shion is rendered unconscious as the Realian disappears from the lab. Jin works with Doctus to conduct an encephalon dive into Ars Nova, a top-secret area of the UMN sealed by Vector. There, Jin confronts Grimoire Verum, the father of Nephilim and the orchestrator behind the recent Gnosis attacks. Grimoire attempts to use the Realian as a vessel for his daughter’s consciousness, but the Realian girl rejects her memories, and the song of Nephilim turns her into a Gnosis. Grimoire’s consciousness is destroyed, but Shion is able to help the Realian regain her memories, calling her by her true name, Almadel. It is revealed that Shion’s father had experimented on Almadel, and Shion had befriended her and tried to comfort her in her distress. This also unlocks repressed memories for Shion. Almadel then realizes that she must sacrifice herself to stop the Song of Nephilim from resonating throughout the universe. Shion has an emotional breakdown in response but is roused and comforted by Jin. As a result of this incident, Shion is demoted within Vector, but due to her conflicted feelings about Vector’s involvement in all of this and their attempted coverup, she leaves Vector without saying goodbye to KOS-MOS and joins Scientia.

Today, we're bringing on an amazing panel of guests, including TJTheEmperor, Keith Comito, and David Garcia Abril, to discuss the execution of Xenosaga II's story and gameplay, what it was like playing this game for European audiences, how changes to voice direction made a big impact, and the philosophy of life extension.

After three weeks of consideration, it is now declared by law, by the authority vested in Resonant Arc, that Xenosaga Episode II is, indeed, good.

Despite attempts by many of you to convince us otherwise, we still really like this game! While visiting her brother, Jin, Shion blames his absence for the deaths of their parents during the Miltian Conflict. Meanwhile, during a procedure to analyze the Y-Data MOMO possesses, a virus implanted by Albedo activates, and MOMO fragments her own personality to keep Mizrahi's data secure. Shion, Jr. and the rest of the group initiate an encephalon dive to enter MOMO's subconscious and save her. During this period, Jr. reveals that he and his brothers were part of an experiment by Dmitri Yuriev: Yuriev's wish was to create an existence that would neutralize U-DO. The three of them were close, but Albedo became despondent when he discovered his immortality was unique to him, meaning he would outlive his brothers. During an experiment, Jr. breaks the circuit containing a portion of U-DO, resulting in everyone except himself, Albedo, and Gaignun being killed. After being touched by U-DO, Albedo goes insane while Gaignun remains unaffected. As they save MOMO, Albedo hacks in and tricks MOMO into releasing the decoded Y-Data to him, and using that data, Albedo opens the way to Miltia. With Miltia accessible, the Federation, U-TIC, and the Immigrant Fleet fight each other for control of the Zohar hidden on the planet.

Today we'll be turning the entire Xeno fanbase against us by defending Xenosaga II's character redesigns and story. This game is actually pretty good! Xenosaga Episode II opens amid the Militian conflict, fourteen years before the events of Episode I. Canaan and chaos are sent on a mission to investigate what is happening there and discover that Realians are being driven insane by the "Song of Nephilim." After finding themselves ambushed, they are rescued by Jin Uzuki, who has stolen data implicating those who used the Song. After fending off an attack by Margulis, Jin transfers the data into Canaan's mind for safekeeping. Fourteen years later, the key to unlocking that data remains on Miltia. Now stationed at Second Miltia, Canaan is assigned to protect the crew of the Elsa. Upon arrival, Shion reluctantly hands KOS-MOS over to Vector officials while instructing Allen to keep an eye on her. Ziggy prepares to escort MOMO to have the data implanted in her by Joachim Mizrahi retrieved. During her stay, Shion receives a vision from Nephilim, asking her to help Cecily and Cathe as promised. On Second Miltia, MOMO, Ziggy, chaos, and Jr. are attacked by U-TIC agents in powerful mechs, and they are only able to fend them off due to Canaan’s intervention. Meanwhile, Shion has an uncomfortable reunion with her brother, Jin.

Set 100 years before the events of Xenosaga Ep.1, Xenosaga: Pied Piper tells the story of cyborg Ziggurat 8 in his former life as human counter-terrorist agent Jan Sauer working for the Galaxy Federation. It centers on Sauer’s team as they track a serial killer known by the hacker alias "Voyager," who stalks and murders his victims, mostly children, inside the U.M.N., or Unus Mundus network, a universe-spanning virtual reality internet. The squad is deployed to the planet Abraxas to investigate these murders and bring Voyager to justice. As Jan carries out his investigations, he meets Dr. Sharon Rozas, and over time, the two fall in love and get married. As Jan's investigation gets closer to unveiling Voyager's identity, it becomes clear that high-ranking officials in the Galactic Federation are connected to Voyager and attempt to shut Jan and his team down. After escaping arrest and finally unveiling Voyager as Erich Weber, a member of his own team, Jan is forced to watch Sharon and her son murdered in front of his eyes and chooses to take his own life rather than be used by corrupt higher powers or be killed by Voyager. His body is reclaimed and recycled, which leads to him becoming the cyborg Ziggurat 8.