Have to agree with complich8. The games are just far too pretentious for their own good. If you want a good and mature story combined with excellent gameplay I suggest you look into the Shin Megami Tensei games instead. Xenosaga should have been a lengthy CG movie from the very start.

So yeah, screw the sub par gameplay and that horrific anime they made which managed to kill off absolutely everything that was good about the games without improving anything.