I have to give the game a ton of credit for now containing what is probably my favorite side-quest ever. The entire sequence under the Lighthouse was awesome beyond words. When I got off that elevator, I was absolutely not expecting the place to look like that. I was anticipating another large laboratory-like structure like where you originally found Emeralda. All of the backstory on Kim, the entire structure of the place and the reward for completing the side-quest have made it my absolute favorite extra quest in any RPG I've ever played. I was extremely pleased with it.

Honestly, I wish more developers would take those kinds of things into account. Something as relatively simple as a "costume change" can be a huge thing to a gamer. Granted, Emeralda didn't recieve much beyond a cosmetic alteration, but it completely altered my opinion of the character. As a child, I thought she was alright. Much better than Maria or Chu-Chu, but still a fairly neglected character for me. After transforming her, though, I kept her in my party the entire rest of the way through the game. Something that seems as miniscule as that can actually have an extreme impact on the way a player percieves the game.

Anyway, I'm definitely going to have to play Xenosaga at some point. And I agree, a remake of Xenogears would most likely be unfathomably awesome. Hopefully they'll do something with the game once the 5th episode rolls around. If not a full-remake, then maybe something like re-releasing it as a special edition.