i would like to see neal chandran write one consisting of only harem adventure erogames

I think Xenosaga episode 1 had great WORLD BUILDING, but almost nothing in terms of narrative. It introduced fascinating characters and then did almost nothing with them--I watched it entirely online, and then played XS2 and 3, and found them to be, narratively speaking, much better games. I think Rob's issue is more with the fact that it spends so much time building up a conflict, and then when that conflict happens... "here's a thing to fight, okay end." Comparatively little happens in XS1 versus 2 and 3. Also, as the music guy, I must link to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zFLYzlSjm4 (XS2 spoilers)

I dunno-- as a movie, I enjoyed it, but I've always felt that if you're going to create characters, you can't just 'TELL' me who they are, you have to show me-- and I think XS1 sort of failed in that regard. They threw plenty of "this is who Ziggy/Jr./chaos" are because exposition, but had relatively little in the way of those characters actually doing anything that made me understand them as characters. It was enjoyable, but I think as a prologue chapter it could have done a lot more-- especially in light of how fantastic the character development and actual narrative "action" were in 2 and 3-- so much more happened in those games in terms of scope as compared to XS1.

I do agree that worldbuilding and character development are essential, though. I'd go as far as to say character development is the MOST important facet of any RPG story.