an article by Neosmith
I’ve already discussed that Hashi didn’t have a clear grasp of the specific goals and motivations of his main characters and I now wish to return to my other claim - that Hashi did not know what storyline to specifically focus on in the Woglinde chapter and in Episode I as a whole. What evinces this is that Episode I bombards the viewer with an overabundance of superfluous plotlines, characters, concepts, ideas and other narrative elements that all vie for the audience’s attention, distracting viewers from the relevant and important elements.
As such, the difficulty of understanding Episode I’s narrative, given its random plot progressi-on and vast array of unmotivated and illogical character behavior, is compounded by excess. To prove all this, I will analyze the role of the OZs and the ZEs in the game and point out how inefficiently the ZEs function in driving the narrative forward, ultimately constituting excessive elements that the story does not need. So, the first question that I want to tackle is: what is the Zohar? Or rather, what is the ‘function’ of the OZ and the ZE in the story of Episode I?
Even though the narrative is supposed to revolve around the Zohar, over the course of Episode I, the player never has a clear idea of what the OZ and its Emulators are or why anyone wants them. Obviously, the very fact that a lot of people, such as the U-TIC members and the APs (Anonymous Politicians) want them conveys that these are all objects of seemingly great importance. Where they come from, what their origin is are probably irrelevant details. What appears to be important is the fact that people WANT them, and so they serve as the catalysts for the story. In this sense, we can say that the OZ and the ZEs fulfill the function of the McGuffin(s). What is a McGuffin? To give you an understanding of it, I will quote Terry Rossio and Ted Elliot’s Screenwriting Column 32: Plot Devices:
This is Alfred Hitchcock's term for, 'The item of importance that everyone wants, upon which the plot turns.' The classic example is the 'microfilm' from NORTH BY NORTHWEST. Does anything ever really happen with the microfilm? Not really. It is truly a just plot device, something to help organize the events of the movie. The microfilm is the MacGuffin. A slightly different example are the 'letters of transit' in CASABLANCA. There, the MacGuffin had an actual story function -- by possessing the papers, you can safely get out of town. That added function is nice, but it was Hitchcock's idea that the MacGuffin could be just about anything, and it didn't have to have a function other than simply being of value.
This quote nicely summarizes the idea behind the McGuffin and its role as a PLOT DEVICE. It doesn’t necessarily have to have a function in the story, as long as it spurs the main characters of the story towards action. However, the issue with utilizing the McGuffin is that either the screenwriter must make clear as to what the general story function of the McGuffin is and/or what the personal stakes of the characters are in relation to the McGuffin, as in why it is personally important to the main protagonists or how it is related to their personal interests. For example, in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Ark of the Covenant is the titular McGuffin, but one understands both its personal sense of its importance to both the character of Indiana Jones and the general plot sense.
In the general story function sense, the Ark is a weapon of great power that could help its wielders subjugate the world. That is why the Nazis want it and why Jones goes on a mission to find it before the fascists do. For Jones personally, it represents an ancient relic that belongs in a museum, an object of fortune and glory. But more than that, it has a direct influence on the development of his love story with Marion Ravenwood, who possesses the key element to finding it, making her a target of the Nazis.
The personal level of the characters here outweighs the greater story sense of the McGuffin in terms of importance. In the aforementioned North by Northwest, what ultimately mattered was the romance between Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) and Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint), not the microfilm, although it was via importance to the villains instrumental in bringing the two together as a couple.
The problem with the OZ and the ZEs of Xenosaga is that they neither serve a concrete story function that has outcomes in the narrative, nor do they have any connection to the personal levels of the characters. All throughout Episode I, we never really understand neither the reasons for anyone’s interest in the OZ and the ZE. Added to which, a good deal of the characters -Shion, KOS-MOS, etc. - clearly don’t express any interest in them, personal or otherwise.
Take the very first scene in the Federation Parliament. Here we have a bunch of anonymous characters, whom we don’t know and don’t care about, demanding the ZEs, again for reasons that completely elude us. We don’t know even what planets and/or nations these characters are supposed to represent. Who are these people? What do they or the planets they represent want with the ZEs? Will they provide clean, free energy to an entire planet indefinitely? Will they help save the economy? Will they bring world peace? These are again vital motivational questions that Episode I avoids answering. It’s one thing to keep up the mystery of what exactly the ZEs are, where they come from and how they work, but it’s another to not know what their importance and significance is to the story and characters. If the characters don’t care about the OZ or the ZEs or have any related personal connections to them, why should the audience care?
How does one expect them to be at all invested in the storylines regarding the Zohars when there is nothing concrete, personal or even remotely relatable to anchor the viewer in them? Even when it comes to the characters that do want the ZEs, there are still a lot of motivational and logistical questions that arise, such as: “What is the difference between the Zohar and the ZE? How are the ZEs created? Why can’t anybody make more of them? What is the material are they composed of? Is it nanotechnology? Why is it that when the characters have the perfect opportunity to ask Jr. any of these questions, they never bother to do so?” Another issue to consider here is that of redundancy.
One might understand that the Zohar would have tremendous importance if it were the only Zohar in the Universe. But this importance comes into question when one learns there actually are at least 12 more Zohars out there. More specifically, not only is the presence of so many Zohars redundant, but it also diminishes the actual importance of the Original Zohar. And so another question arises: “What does anyone need the OZ for when there are so many ZEs in the custody of Kukai?”
Now, let’s take a look at exactly what storylines bare a connection to the ZEs and contrast this with the ones that don’t. To illustrate this, I have set up a table {Figure 1}, which divides most of the plot threads in the game from the Woglinde chapter onwards into two major categories per the set up in the Woglinde storyline - namely, those connected most prominently to the KOS-MOS/Journey to Second Miltia story arc and those connected to the ZE arc. This is by no means a complete listing, as it would be rather difficult to highlight every single plot thread, but it should give an approximate picture of how the two Main Story Arcs of the game develop.
| KOS-MOS/Second Miltia | ZE | ||
| Primary Thread | Project KOS-MOS/Second Miltia Journey/Project Zohar | ZE Recovery | |
| Secondary threads | Lt. Virgil | Shion’s visions | |
| Combat Realians | Shion’s potential superpowers | ||
| Kevin /The Incident | Cherenkov/Margulis | ||
| UMN Encephalon problem | Nephilim | ||
| Shion and Allen romance | Cherenkov’s crew | ||
| Shion’s reports | Ariadne Vanishing Investigation | ||
| KOS-MOS Auto-Activation/The Gnosis | |||
| The Elsa/Elsa Crew | Jr./Kukai Foundation | ||
| Chaos | U-TIC Battleship | ||
| Momo, Ziggy, Juli, Joachim, etc. | Cathedral Ship/Gnosis Transformation | ||
| Momo kidnapping | Link Experiment/U-DO | ||
| Y-Data | Encephalon Memories | ||
| SOCE | Parliament Upheaval | ||
| U-TIC | |||
| Plans 31 and 401/Kukai conspiracy | |||
| Song of Nephilim | |||
| Proto Merkabah | |||
From an examination of this table, several things become apparent. First, the main ‘story arc’ in Episode I in terms of just where the story is taking us is the Second Miltia Arc. That’s where all main characters - Shion, KOS-MOS, Momo, Ziggy, etc.- are ultimately headed from (approximately) the game’s beginning, and that is where the game ends. Second, the Second Miltia arc develops parallel to the ZE arc and has considerably little overlap with it. As I will illustrate, however, the ZE arc is composed of a series of self-contained side-stories that are tangential to the main narrative and that following their completion are virtually forgotten about. The result is that practically every time the game raises any thread connected to the ZE arc, the narrative veers to the side instead of progressing forward.
Let’s take a look again at the Woglinde storyline. The biggest connection plot-wise that occurs between the two arcs at this point is that the ZE summons the Gnosis, triggering KOS-MOS’ inexplicable auto-activation. Now, the problem here is that really the causal link between these two events is rather weak. What I mean is there is really no need for the ZE to be present on board for the Gnosis to attack and hence for KOS-MOS to awaken. So if one were to excise the ZE from the Woglinde chapter, then practically none of the other threads from the main KOS-MOS/S.M. arc would really be affected at all. The Gnosis could still attack the ship, KOS-MOS could still activate and Shion and co. could escape.
Certainly, the events that transpire in the context of the ZE arc here set up the U-TIC Battleship and related Ariadne/Cathedral Ship storylines. But unfortunately, both storylines lead nowhere. Jr.’s foray into exploring the U-TIC Battleship ends with the ship’s utter destruction, leading to a dead end. And as I’ve pointed out earlier, neither the Dock Colony, nor the Cathedral Ship have any real consequences story or character-wise. Following his rendez-vous with the other main characters in the aftermath of the Cathed-ral Ship incident, Jr.’s investigation into the disappearance of Ariadne is completely dropped, with only minor references to the Planet’s vanishing in the conversations between Gaignun and Helmer.
Nobody connects the dots that Ariadne was the Cathedral Ship, despite having enormous amounts of evidence and Cherenkov’s status as a U-TIC double agent is never uncovered, nor does it play into any of the key story events. Notice also that the moment that Ziggy, KOS-MOS, Chaos, Shion and Momo are back on the Elsa after escaping the Cathedral Ship, nobody ever mentions neither the Gnosis ship, nor Cherenkov ever again, despite so many people being concerned about his well being earlier. So it becomes almost as if the other characters pretend he never even existed and that the Cathedral Ship adventure didn’t happen. (Although Shion does seem to recall at the very least Cherenkov’s transformation into a Gargoyle.) So Jr. apparently never learns of their trek through the giant Gnosis or of Cherenkov’s final words regarding the Woglinde’s manipulation. So all these plot points are rendered obsolete in the context of the game’s overarching narrative.
One could argue that all of this contributes to the Kukai Conspiracy thread. But the problem is, this thread is again heavily episodic and inconsequential. First, the Kukai Foundation is accused of treason. Then, the main characters prove this is not the case and everyone’s back to a status quo. Theoretically, there should be some outcome from this on the political level, but the game never develops this idea any further beyond some conversations between the main characters. We never see just what exactly KOS-MOS’ AAA data is supposed to accomplish or what effect is has on the Federation Parliament. So all those ideas raised regarding the possibility of there being U-TIC agents in the Federation lose their significance and the points made are never explored.
Perhaps the lone exception to this is the ‘Encephalon Dive’ that occurs partway through this thread. Unfortunately, much like the Cathedral Ship, this is another scenario that occurs with no causal precedent and is forced on the main characters. Certainly, this is a far more substantial chapter than Cathedral Ship, as it does in fact have direct connections to the main characters and finally develops some motivation for Shion Uzuki. But what this signifies is that really the only reason for the overly convoluted and downright preposterous ‘Kukai Conspiracy’ thread is simply to get the main characters into the Encephalon. And yet, this scenario could’ve very well happened at pretty much any point earlier in the story, with the only necessary excuse being that Shion (and maybe Jr.) would have to revisit KOS-MOS’ subconscious domain.
So, really, why here? Why now does the Encephalon have to inexplicably crop up in the story, when its scenario has really nothing to do with the crisis the main characters are facing? Really, the most significant narrative action that occurs thanks the ZE arc is that Shion, KOS-MOS and the others finally cross paths with Jr. But this is another action that could’ve very well happened under different circumstances, such as with Jr. taking part in either the KOS-MOS or Momo threads, as opposed to hunting for the ZE. What we have then is that while both Arcs could individually anchor several chapters’ worth of material, they wind up at cross-purposes when placed side by side. Every time the game is about to move forward on the Second Miltia front, another episodic ZE-related tangent materializes to interrupt it. This ultimately renders every single thread connected to the ZE Arc largely irrelevant and excessive.
As opposed to developing either of these arcs in concrete detail, Hashi thus pulls the story into too many different directions, which illustrates a lack of confidence on his part over which story to actually tell. In other words, he has too many stories to tell he tries to tell them all at the same time and fails to tell any one of them successfully. As a result, the audience winds up having to keep in mind so many disconnected story threads, characters and related in-game terms at the same time that it gradually loses track of the threads that actually matter, unable to tell disentangle them from the mess of relevant and irrelevant story information that the game cobbles together. If you add to that the fact that over half of the game’s characters constantly act mysteriously or out of character, then it’s no wonder that people would have difficulty comprehending the plot.
In all honesty, Hashi’s approach to storytelling is highly reminiscent of a garrulous intellectual, who instead of providing a straight and concise answer to a simple question will instead go into elaborate detail about everything that is tangentially related to the answer, but not the answer itself. He will describe in-depth an entire history and subject matter that surrounds the information you want to know without actually telling you what you want to know, so much so that by the end of the conversation, the original point he wanted to get across has gotten completely lost in the shuffle of all the other information he communicated.
I find that a quote from Sherlock Holmes in the “The Naval Treaty” aptly encapsulates my thoughts on this matter: “The principal difficulty in your case… lay in the fact of there being too much evidence. What was vital was overlaid and hidden by what was irrelevant. Of all the facts presented to us, we had to pick just those which we deemed to be essential, and then piece them together in their order so as to reconstruct this very remarkable chain of events.” (The Complete Sherlock Holmes, vol. 1, p. 540)