Random ass question. What's everyone's opinion on Albedo?

Clouded Veil

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Apr 11, 2022
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Hot piece of work? Or just an red obsessed wacko? I never hear alot of people talk about him lol He's gorgeous.
 
Hmm, it's true that he's a madman, but I also like him in a certain way, well, I can't tell why, I always feel that he is handsome sometimes, especially when he is crazy!
However, with normal thinking, he should be a big bad guy, especially when he is bullying MOMO, how dare he!
 
He may not be one of my favorites, but I definitely understand why he's popular and why so many fans relate to certain aspects of his story. It does seem like he's one of the more recognizable Xenosaga characters both within and outside the fandom, second only to KOS-MOS (maybe tied with T-elos but Albedo might be into that if you know what I mean ldjkgdgflkj).

Also hella impressed with Crispin Freeman's performance in the English version. I'm embarrassed by how long it took me to realize that he and Gaignun are voiced by the same guy.
 
In some ways I kinda disliked how his popularity overshadowed others. I always wondered if EP2's total neglect of Shion and focus on Jr is a response to Al's popularity.
And speaking of 2, while it is ultimately not Albedo's fault he ended up as insane as he did, it struck me as a bit too much to have all the girls he murdered coming to take him to Heaven. Trying way too hard, game.

In spite of all that, his role in EP1 was perfect. His scene with MOMO is something you'll never see again in JRPGs. I knew Xenosaga was bold and something special back then but the next 20 years of playing JRPGs has proven to me just how unique it was. Between the writing, Crispin Freeman's voicework and Mitsuda's terrifying operatic theme, Albedo is justly unforgettable in the history of JRPG villains.
 
In some ways I kinda disliked how his popularity overshadowed others. I always wondered if EP2's total neglect of Shion and focus on Jr is a response to Al's popularity.

I didn't mind so much that XSII focused less on Shion in the context of the rest of the series, since imo XSIII's focus on her more than made up for it, but Albedo did kinda steal the show in II, for better and/or worse. ;P I thought the URTV backstory was interesting and it went a long way toward explaining his motives (in a "cool motive, still murder did horrific things to Jr. and MOMO and their various siblings" kind of direction), but I do wish it had been a little less exclusively Albedo-centric and that we got to see more of the impact on, say, Jr. and Gaignun (and Citrine!) growing up in the fallout of all that, or on MOMO and Juli after the dive into MOMO's subconscious and all the Sakura stuff.

I also have to wonder to what extent the focus might have shifted between Soraya Saga's and Takahashi's work on the original script for XSII vs. the revisions after Soraya was dismissed from the project. There's a list somewhere, in Soraya's own words, of the parts she wrote for XSII and what got removed or changed in the final version, and it seems like her vision for Albedo might have been different too.