I hated my time with this game for like 35 hours
It's filled with so many bad game design decisions, extremely bad pacing at the start after the intro segment and the game absolutely never tells you where to go throught all of it, gears combat is a fucking unfun mess, like half the cast only has 1 moment to shine and never again, disc 2 completely changes the entire gameplay structure to the point it's a visual novel without even the visual part it's just scrolling text, there aren't that many music tracks so you're stuck hearing the same tracks over and over again that have some annoying segments in them.
And even then.
After all of this.
It is still.
The Perfect Work.
It's filled with so many bad game design decisions, extremely bad pacing at the start after the intro segment and the game absolutely never tells you where to go throught all of it, gears combat is a fucking unfun mess, like half the cast only has 1 moment to shine and never again, disc 2 completely changes the entire gameplay structure to the point it's a visual novel without even the visual part it's just scrolling text, there aren't that many music tracks so you're stuck hearing the same tracks over and over again that have some annoying segments in them.
And even then.
After all of this.
It is still.
The Perfect Work.
an incrediblly ambitious project of a video game in terms of the storytelling. i enjoyed every minute of it despite some of the frustrating dungeons. it really intrigued me instantly at the first hour of the game. some of the lines that were carried by the characters really captured my heart and somewhat felt relatable to me, personally. it's very unfortunate that they weren't able to finish up the 2nd disc the way they wanted to, but the story was still peak. reading "perfect works" after beating this game makes so much sense that they weren't able to fit the whole arc into one game.
it alright
Peak. In every sense of the word, one of my favorite stories ever told
Crazy how Disc 2 has this reputation of being a massive fumble and it’s the best part of the game.
10/10
10/10
"Are you strong?"
I'm like Citan the way I lie too easily.
Peak fiction 🔥🔥🔥 best story I've experienced in any game hands down and Fei is my favorite fictional character of all time
Probablemente, el mejor JRPG de su generaciĂłn (con permiso de Final Fantasy IX). Una historia absolutamente sublime, con un mundo, mitologĂa y desarrollo de personajes jamás visto en un videojuego hasta el momento.
Supera con creces a sus sucesores Xenosaga y Xenoblade sin desmerecerlos.
Supera con creces a sus sucesores Xenosaga y Xenoblade sin desmerecerlos.
GIVE US A REMAKE WITH THE 2ND DISC AS INTENDED AND THIS IS 5/5
liberaram a cracolândia
This was actually one of the best games I've ever played.
The start of the xeno series is still one of the greatest stories of any medium and is so thematically rich, has so much to tell and is told with such style that is a life changing experience and a must play
Sometimes playing this game is actual torture, but it's absolutely worth it for the experience. Loved it and loved seeing how much the Xenoblade games draw from it.
I love a game that aims way higher than it's weight class and leaves you dumbfounded for a bit, but in a good way
Xenogears is a game that’s reputation precedes itself. Intimidating, yet fascinating. A game truly greater than the sum of its parts (a characteristic I find most great games share in common). The term “flawed masterpiece” was practically tailor made for the likes of Xenogears. Because while it’s a tour-de-force in storytelling, its shortcomings are numerous, and I’m not just talking about the obvious suspect, either.
Xenogears, being a Squaresoft PS1 JRPG, was born in what could be considered the genre’s golden age, within the walls of the genre’s greatest champion. The pedigree brings about a lot of expectations, which I think it mostly fulfills. But you can tell that this game is the work of less experienced game designers than the ones upper management at Square tasked for the Final Fantasy series. I don’t want to come across as too harsh, because the gameplay of Xenogears is a cut above your typical JRPG battle system, especially for the time, but it’s rough around the edges, without a doubt. The fighting game-esque “deathblow” mechanic isn’t ever properly explained to the player, and while it’s possible to futz around in the dark and stumble into learning these powerful moves, it doesn’t go far enough in readying players for the challenges ahead. I spent a decent amount of the early game just spamming the deathblows I had learned by accident; Something which rewarded me in the short term, but would’ve screwed me over hard if I hadn’t had the idea to consult a guide before the going got really tough. It’d be one thing if I understood what I was doing to be a short term solution, but I didn’t. Which is the part I find should’ve been the game’s responsibility to teach me about. Something I think the game did tremendously well though, was portraying the scale and power of the Gears. On foot combat I found to be the more interesting of the two sides of the battle system, but there’s something to be said regarding the sheer number inflation that occurs when piloting a gear. Wailing on these massive creatures and doing thousands of damage while barely being able to crack four digits on foot feels tremendous. Gears are devastating, which the game constantly portrays to the player.
Visually, Xenogears is almost this perfect marriage of two-dimensional characters in three-dimensional environments. It’s a look that surely wowed players back in the day, and has come back around to being incredibly appealing in a whole new way. This look was supposedly a compromise, after it proved difficult to get a fully 3D game the scale of Xenogears off the ground. As far as compromises go, this was a fair one. I feel as though any push further towards 2D would’ve sacrificed too much of the gravitas that accompanies the Gears. Still, there’s a lot about the “feel” of Xenogears that slowly got on my nerves as I played. Text speed is much too slow, which made me apprehensive to talk to many NPCs the further and further I proceeded through the game. God forbid I had to replay a lengthy cutscene due to a boss wipe. If I ever play this game again, I’ll most certainly employ the “fast text” cheat 100% of the time. I’d probably shave at least an hour off my playtime if I did. Many other aspects about Xenogears feel sluggish. The less said about the platforming, the better, so this is all I’ll say about it. No, I think the bigger culprit to my frustrations playing Xenogears have to be the random encounters. Complaining about random encounters might just be the biggest canned criticism of the JRPG genre, so let me attempt to get in front of the eyerolls and say I don’t hate the concept in the slightest. I’m far from some radical that thinks all RPGs should do away with them. They’re a mechanic that can be done well, or done poorly, like anything else put in a game. That said, I’m sympathetic to those who dislike random encounters, and certainly wouldn’t give them Xenogears to try and change their mind. Xenogears has one of the most egregious random encounter systems I’ve ever experienced. If you ask me, the key to preventing frustrations with random encounters requires at least one of two things: infrequency, or speediness. AKA, if you’re gonna have a high random encounter rate, you need to get the player in and out of the battle quickly. Battles shouldn’t require too much character management, and should be done under a minute, to choose an arbitrary time. Inversely, if you want the player to think and strategize throughout these fights, then they shouldn’t be occurring every seven steps or so, to choose an arbitrary number. Xenogears is the worst of both worlds in this regard. Random encounters take a decent amount of time whenever they occur, and they occur often. I think a decent litmus test for knowing if a JRPGs random encounter system is poor, is if the player fears navigating a dungeon outside of the bare minimum, which is a feeling I definitely had playing through Xenogears. The biggest joke of all though, is that the game has a bit of a delay between deciding a random encounter will happen, and actually putting the player through said encounter. This results in having to fight battles as they’re leaving a room, or opening a chest. I don’t think I’ve ever played a game that’s done that before, it was very strange, and very frustrating.
This whole time I’ve avoided talking about the narrative, and that’s because I sorta feel out of my depth discussing it. While playing the game, I would frequently tune into Resonant Arc’s discussions on the story (seen here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJCH8faf6GaxQ_7bA7cD0lROu3yMRmwh5).
Which kept me grounded and able to keep up with many of the complex ideas the game throws at the player. It’s a fantastic story, held back by things mostly out of its control. Like the translation, which feels stilted for much of the playthrough. It’s hard to put too much blame on Richard Honeywood, the translator, after knowing the behind the scenes story, but regardless, the conditions surrounding Xenogears localization resulted in the translation suffering. The big elephant in the room, however, is the infamous “Disc Two”, a turn in the structure of the game which sees much of the story progress via abstract narration of events rather than the more typical structure of disc one where we play through the events as they happen. While this surely shocked players back in 1998, these days its reputation precedes itself; I knew what I was getting into beforehand, so I wasn’t completely blindsided by this shift. I wouldn’t go so far as to defend this change as a good thing, mind you, but with how much of the story is covered by this second disc, it’s clear that if the “true” vision of Xenogears was to ever be realized, we’d be dealing with an incredibly bloated game that would’ve taken years to finish. I think I agree with Tetsuya Takahashi when I say that it was better to finish the story then and there. At the very least, it sticks the landing. The truncated narrative of disc two also means that the amount of monotonous futuristic hallway dungeons is kept to a minimum. Although a few still managed to sneak their way onto it.
To borrow a phrase, Xenogears is: “...the type of game that relieves my fears”. A collaboration between a team in way over their heads. A project that should’ve completely buckled under its own weight and resulted in a mess few could find enjoyment in. Instead, it’s proof that vision can shine through even the roughest of circumstances. I hope that one day I can make something that’s even a quarter as profound as something like Xenogears. Which I would recommend to anyone into JRPGs who hasn’t played it, despite the game’s numerous flaws (many of which could be remedied with some simple number tweaks, or a tasteful remaster, perhaps). It requires a lot of patience, but it rewards that patience in spades.
Xenogears, being a Squaresoft PS1 JRPG, was born in what could be considered the genre’s golden age, within the walls of the genre’s greatest champion. The pedigree brings about a lot of expectations, which I think it mostly fulfills. But you can tell that this game is the work of less experienced game designers than the ones upper management at Square tasked for the Final Fantasy series. I don’t want to come across as too harsh, because the gameplay of Xenogears is a cut above your typical JRPG battle system, especially for the time, but it’s rough around the edges, without a doubt. The fighting game-esque “deathblow” mechanic isn’t ever properly explained to the player, and while it’s possible to futz around in the dark and stumble into learning these powerful moves, it doesn’t go far enough in readying players for the challenges ahead. I spent a decent amount of the early game just spamming the deathblows I had learned by accident; Something which rewarded me in the short term, but would’ve screwed me over hard if I hadn’t had the idea to consult a guide before the going got really tough. It’d be one thing if I understood what I was doing to be a short term solution, but I didn’t. Which is the part I find should’ve been the game’s responsibility to teach me about. Something I think the game did tremendously well though, was portraying the scale and power of the Gears. On foot combat I found to be the more interesting of the two sides of the battle system, but there’s something to be said regarding the sheer number inflation that occurs when piloting a gear. Wailing on these massive creatures and doing thousands of damage while barely being able to crack four digits on foot feels tremendous. Gears are devastating, which the game constantly portrays to the player.
Visually, Xenogears is almost this perfect marriage of two-dimensional characters in three-dimensional environments. It’s a look that surely wowed players back in the day, and has come back around to being incredibly appealing in a whole new way. This look was supposedly a compromise, after it proved difficult to get a fully 3D game the scale of Xenogears off the ground. As far as compromises go, this was a fair one. I feel as though any push further towards 2D would’ve sacrificed too much of the gravitas that accompanies the Gears. Still, there’s a lot about the “feel” of Xenogears that slowly got on my nerves as I played. Text speed is much too slow, which made me apprehensive to talk to many NPCs the further and further I proceeded through the game. God forbid I had to replay a lengthy cutscene due to a boss wipe. If I ever play this game again, I’ll most certainly employ the “fast text” cheat 100% of the time. I’d probably shave at least an hour off my playtime if I did. Many other aspects about Xenogears feel sluggish. The less said about the platforming, the better, so this is all I’ll say about it. No, I think the bigger culprit to my frustrations playing Xenogears have to be the random encounters. Complaining about random encounters might just be the biggest canned criticism of the JRPG genre, so let me attempt to get in front of the eyerolls and say I don’t hate the concept in the slightest. I’m far from some radical that thinks all RPGs should do away with them. They’re a mechanic that can be done well, or done poorly, like anything else put in a game. That said, I’m sympathetic to those who dislike random encounters, and certainly wouldn’t give them Xenogears to try and change their mind. Xenogears has one of the most egregious random encounter systems I’ve ever experienced. If you ask me, the key to preventing frustrations with random encounters requires at least one of two things: infrequency, or speediness. AKA, if you’re gonna have a high random encounter rate, you need to get the player in and out of the battle quickly. Battles shouldn’t require too much character management, and should be done under a minute, to choose an arbitrary time. Inversely, if you want the player to think and strategize throughout these fights, then they shouldn’t be occurring every seven steps or so, to choose an arbitrary number. Xenogears is the worst of both worlds in this regard. Random encounters take a decent amount of time whenever they occur, and they occur often. I think a decent litmus test for knowing if a JRPGs random encounter system is poor, is if the player fears navigating a dungeon outside of the bare minimum, which is a feeling I definitely had playing through Xenogears. The biggest joke of all though, is that the game has a bit of a delay between deciding a random encounter will happen, and actually putting the player through said encounter. This results in having to fight battles as they’re leaving a room, or opening a chest. I don’t think I’ve ever played a game that’s done that before, it was very strange, and very frustrating.
This whole time I’ve avoided talking about the narrative, and that’s because I sorta feel out of my depth discussing it. While playing the game, I would frequently tune into Resonant Arc’s discussions on the story (seen here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJCH8faf6GaxQ_7bA7cD0lROu3yMRmwh5).
Which kept me grounded and able to keep up with many of the complex ideas the game throws at the player. It’s a fantastic story, held back by things mostly out of its control. Like the translation, which feels stilted for much of the playthrough. It’s hard to put too much blame on Richard Honeywood, the translator, after knowing the behind the scenes story, but regardless, the conditions surrounding Xenogears localization resulted in the translation suffering. The big elephant in the room, however, is the infamous “Disc Two”, a turn in the structure of the game which sees much of the story progress via abstract narration of events rather than the more typical structure of disc one where we play through the events as they happen. While this surely shocked players back in 1998, these days its reputation precedes itself; I knew what I was getting into beforehand, so I wasn’t completely blindsided by this shift. I wouldn’t go so far as to defend this change as a good thing, mind you, but with how much of the story is covered by this second disc, it’s clear that if the “true” vision of Xenogears was to ever be realized, we’d be dealing with an incredibly bloated game that would’ve taken years to finish. I think I agree with Tetsuya Takahashi when I say that it was better to finish the story then and there. At the very least, it sticks the landing. The truncated narrative of disc two also means that the amount of monotonous futuristic hallway dungeons is kept to a minimum. Although a few still managed to sneak their way onto it.
To borrow a phrase, Xenogears is: “...the type of game that relieves my fears”. A collaboration between a team in way over their heads. A project that should’ve completely buckled under its own weight and resulted in a mess few could find enjoyment in. Instead, it’s proof that vision can shine through even the roughest of circumstances. I hope that one day I can make something that’s even a quarter as profound as something like Xenogears. Which I would recommend to anyone into JRPGs who hasn’t played it, despite the game’s numerous flaws (many of which could be remedied with some simple number tweaks, or a tasteful remaster, perhaps). It requires a lot of patience, but it rewards that patience in spades.
I won't give this a lower score because I truly appreciate the effort that went into developing the world of Xenogears. It's hard to get a coherent message from the total mess of themes that the scenario delivers, and the combat system is surprisingly shallow, often feeling like a mere formality...
But yeah, it's cool to see the results of Takahashi's obsession with psychology, philosophy, religion and mecha anime
But yeah, it's cool to see the results of Takahashi's obsession with psychology, philosophy, religion and mecha anime
Ambitious and layered narrative that is hindered by a poor English localization, a soundtrack that is far too short, a disc 2 with pacing and presentation issues, bland dungeon design, and combat that feels good but soon becomes trivialized by a lack of depth in its systems. How the game became flawed is no secret. Rather than contemplate what could have been, I am instead appreciative of its delightfully complex narrative framework that would be put to good use in future games.
Insane roller coaster of pacing. This could arguably be the best jrpg ever made if the back half didnt have to get condensed into a picturebook. Still peak tho and very funny in retrospect how many elements of this and other xeno games keep getting brought back.
Much like with Xenoblade, Xenogears was one of the first RPGs I tried playing. I initially picked it up shortly after beating FF7 and I remember loving it back then though I only got up to the stalactite cave. Now that I've beaten it, my thoughts on it are much more complicated, the game was a real rollercoaster and I'm still trying to process how exactly I feel about it.
Upon replaying it again now, it's clear to me why I dropped it back then. Its all down to the narrative and how intimidating it can be at times. Right from the opening cutscene, you are assaulted with questions and for every one that gets vaguely answered, you get like 3 more. Using enigma codes to push the player to keep going on so they can figure things out isn't a bad thing, but I think Xenogears crosses a line where it just became disheartening for me at points with how little of the narrative I felt I had a good grasp of. The worst parts for me are the early scenes with the Gazel Ministry with how terms that haven't been explained to the player yet get flung around constantly and it reached a point where I was mentally checked out during these scenes. The story can feel extremely daunting at times and I initially wasn't too keen on it, but as I progressed through it and more of it started to make sense, it ended up really gripping me. I can't help but admire just how grandiose this narrative manages to be and the wide range of topics it tackles is something to behold. Slavery, warfare, psychology, mysticism, gnostic imagery, nature of humanity and God and so much more. I beat the game but I only scratched the surface of what all the symbolism and motifs mean because it feels like every dialogue exchange and every area is so meticulously crafted and filled with purpose. Despite covering such monumental subject matter, I think Xenogears is equally strong when it focuses on the smaller scale character moments. From Fei telling Elly how he acts the way he does not because he's "heroic" but merely so he can find a place of acceptance, to Maria talking about what Seibzehn represents to her and how her memory of her father is gradually fading. Scenes like this are so powerful, but are few and far between since they get buried under the rubble which are this game's larger themes. Still, whether its focusing on the small stuff or the big stuff, Xenogears' narrative is quality throughout once you start piecing things together. The only area where the story can feel a little questionable is in its handling of the core cast. Fei, Citan, Elly and Bart are all great, playing a role in the story that remains relevant for the whole game, but the same can't be said for the others. Billy and Maria gets introduced in an area, and their entire arc is resolved in that area, afterwards they just sort of hang around and help out but never really feel important. Rico and Emeralda don't even get the luxury of having anything that resembles an arc and they can be taken out of the plot entirely without anything being lost really. I still like these characters, particularly Billy, but this shift to having a more episodic approach in the middle of the game does create a disconnect between the care that went into integrating the first 4 party members and the ones that come after. Also, to me, this game just looks beautiful, the blend of sprites for human characters and 3D models of the Gears works really well and a lot of the cutscenes in this game make me forget this is a PS1 game, particularly Weltall IDs introduction.
All the games cutscenes are beautifully punctuated by the soundtrack. Talking about music is just something I rarely do when reviewing games because I don't think I have the ability to properly put into words what makes an OST good or bad, but what I can say about Xenogears' OST is that it makes you feel things. Yasunori Mitsuda does a wonderful job at elevating the emotions of a scene with his music here and it is easily his best work imo. It's not always perfect though, the music always sound great, but the number of tracks is quite low for an RPG of this length so some tracks end up getting really worn out and there is even the occasional instance where the music doesn't quite fit the scene, or is completely in contrast to it. Luckily, this issue doesn't occur too often.
So in terms of story, graphics and music, this game is beyond incredible, but the problem is just about everything else. This game is insanely uneven. Anything gameplay related plays second fiddle to the games story. The combat is okay at best, it's split into two parts, one where you control human characters and one where you use the Gears but both are extemely simple. There's no strategy involved to either, around 95% of gear battles can be won by turning on the booster function and spamming deathblows on the enemy and human fights are also won via constantly using deathblows and occasionally healing. There is some fun to be had just from how cool deathblows look and using the Combo function to decimate enemies is satisfying but for a 60 hour game, the actual gameplay here feels shallow. It has also got a lot of things that irk me, switching out party members is a little annoying with it usually requiring you to go back to the Yggdrasil every single time, certain characters leave the party for long stretches of time so getting their deathblows is just not worth it and the game makes no attempt at explaining how exactly you're meant to unlock new deathblows, levelling up here feels almost pointless since human fights are too easy and Gears' stats are dependent entirely on their equipment. Honestly, the only time I really loved the gameplay was in Nortune, where the game randomly turns into a 3D Fighter, other than that, the actual RPG elements of this game are underwhelming. Then there are the dungeons, Xenogears' cutscenes can often feel like never-ending dialogue dumps so, to balance this out and not make gameplay feel like an afterthought, the game's dungeons are designed to take as long as possible by being structured like mazes that are exhausting to get through. Except, this isn't a solution, it just makes gameplay sections in this game feel like a chore at points, with the worst offenders for me being the final dungeon, the solaris elevator shafts and the platforming required in Babel Tower. Not every area has a dungeon required to progress, like the section on the Thames which only has like 2 battles total and the rest is all dialogue but this brings me to another issue, pacing-wise, this game is all over the place. Xenogears never reaches a state of equilibrium between its gameplay and narrative so the entire experience feels lop-sided and anytime I had to play the game instead of read it, I just wasn't as interested. Also, there's like no side content here, the only time the game opens up is right at the end and even then, there isn't much to do.
Then there's Disc 2 and it is a little tragic, the fact that a game that up until that point paid so much excruciating attention to detail is now relegated to having to give a rough summary of events followed by a battle at the end is a real shame. It's not all bad though, there's still striking imagery to be found and it does have my favourite part of the game, that being the backstory of ID and "The Coward". I like also like how it's presented with the pendant swinging back and forth while a character narrates, it's oddly relaxing. The fact that this disc is so light on the gameplay is something I'm actually fine with since the story is the best part of this game anyway. A lot of plot threads from Disc 1 end up being either abandoned or rushed through but I'd still say I enjoyed this part of the game almost on par with the first one, which only makes the fact that it's unfinished sting more because I can't even fathom how incredible this story could've been had it been completed.
I complained about a myriad of things here, and I don't think I'm really wrong in doing so either. Xenogears is a fractured, uneven, and incomplete mess but beyond all that, it's also a game with so much passion poured into every pixel that I can't help but ultimately respect and enjoy it even if it took a long time for me to feel this way.
Upon replaying it again now, it's clear to me why I dropped it back then. Its all down to the narrative and how intimidating it can be at times. Right from the opening cutscene, you are assaulted with questions and for every one that gets vaguely answered, you get like 3 more. Using enigma codes to push the player to keep going on so they can figure things out isn't a bad thing, but I think Xenogears crosses a line where it just became disheartening for me at points with how little of the narrative I felt I had a good grasp of. The worst parts for me are the early scenes with the Gazel Ministry with how terms that haven't been explained to the player yet get flung around constantly and it reached a point where I was mentally checked out during these scenes. The story can feel extremely daunting at times and I initially wasn't too keen on it, but as I progressed through it and more of it started to make sense, it ended up really gripping me. I can't help but admire just how grandiose this narrative manages to be and the wide range of topics it tackles is something to behold. Slavery, warfare, psychology, mysticism, gnostic imagery, nature of humanity and God and so much more. I beat the game but I only scratched the surface of what all the symbolism and motifs mean because it feels like every dialogue exchange and every area is so meticulously crafted and filled with purpose. Despite covering such monumental subject matter, I think Xenogears is equally strong when it focuses on the smaller scale character moments. From Fei telling Elly how he acts the way he does not because he's "heroic" but merely so he can find a place of acceptance, to Maria talking about what Seibzehn represents to her and how her memory of her father is gradually fading. Scenes like this are so powerful, but are few and far between since they get buried under the rubble which are this game's larger themes. Still, whether its focusing on the small stuff or the big stuff, Xenogears' narrative is quality throughout once you start piecing things together. The only area where the story can feel a little questionable is in its handling of the core cast. Fei, Citan, Elly and Bart are all great, playing a role in the story that remains relevant for the whole game, but the same can't be said for the others. Billy and Maria gets introduced in an area, and their entire arc is resolved in that area, afterwards they just sort of hang around and help out but never really feel important. Rico and Emeralda don't even get the luxury of having anything that resembles an arc and they can be taken out of the plot entirely without anything being lost really. I still like these characters, particularly Billy, but this shift to having a more episodic approach in the middle of the game does create a disconnect between the care that went into integrating the first 4 party members and the ones that come after. Also, to me, this game just looks beautiful, the blend of sprites for human characters and 3D models of the Gears works really well and a lot of the cutscenes in this game make me forget this is a PS1 game, particularly Weltall IDs introduction.
All the games cutscenes are beautifully punctuated by the soundtrack. Talking about music is just something I rarely do when reviewing games because I don't think I have the ability to properly put into words what makes an OST good or bad, but what I can say about Xenogears' OST is that it makes you feel things. Yasunori Mitsuda does a wonderful job at elevating the emotions of a scene with his music here and it is easily his best work imo. It's not always perfect though, the music always sound great, but the number of tracks is quite low for an RPG of this length so some tracks end up getting really worn out and there is even the occasional instance where the music doesn't quite fit the scene, or is completely in contrast to it. Luckily, this issue doesn't occur too often.
So in terms of story, graphics and music, this game is beyond incredible, but the problem is just about everything else. This game is insanely uneven. Anything gameplay related plays second fiddle to the games story. The combat is okay at best, it's split into two parts, one where you control human characters and one where you use the Gears but both are extemely simple. There's no strategy involved to either, around 95% of gear battles can be won by turning on the booster function and spamming deathblows on the enemy and human fights are also won via constantly using deathblows and occasionally healing. There is some fun to be had just from how cool deathblows look and using the Combo function to decimate enemies is satisfying but for a 60 hour game, the actual gameplay here feels shallow. It has also got a lot of things that irk me, switching out party members is a little annoying with it usually requiring you to go back to the Yggdrasil every single time, certain characters leave the party for long stretches of time so getting their deathblows is just not worth it and the game makes no attempt at explaining how exactly you're meant to unlock new deathblows, levelling up here feels almost pointless since human fights are too easy and Gears' stats are dependent entirely on their equipment. Honestly, the only time I really loved the gameplay was in Nortune, where the game randomly turns into a 3D Fighter, other than that, the actual RPG elements of this game are underwhelming. Then there are the dungeons, Xenogears' cutscenes can often feel like never-ending dialogue dumps so, to balance this out and not make gameplay feel like an afterthought, the game's dungeons are designed to take as long as possible by being structured like mazes that are exhausting to get through. Except, this isn't a solution, it just makes gameplay sections in this game feel like a chore at points, with the worst offenders for me being the final dungeon, the solaris elevator shafts and the platforming required in Babel Tower. Not every area has a dungeon required to progress, like the section on the Thames which only has like 2 battles total and the rest is all dialogue but this brings me to another issue, pacing-wise, this game is all over the place. Xenogears never reaches a state of equilibrium between its gameplay and narrative so the entire experience feels lop-sided and anytime I had to play the game instead of read it, I just wasn't as interested. Also, there's like no side content here, the only time the game opens up is right at the end and even then, there isn't much to do.
Then there's Disc 2 and it is a little tragic, the fact that a game that up until that point paid so much excruciating attention to detail is now relegated to having to give a rough summary of events followed by a battle at the end is a real shame. It's not all bad though, there's still striking imagery to be found and it does have my favourite part of the game, that being the backstory of ID and "The Coward". I like also like how it's presented with the pendant swinging back and forth while a character narrates, it's oddly relaxing. The fact that this disc is so light on the gameplay is something I'm actually fine with since the story is the best part of this game anyway. A lot of plot threads from Disc 1 end up being either abandoned or rushed through but I'd still say I enjoyed this part of the game almost on par with the first one, which only makes the fact that it's unfinished sting more because I can't even fathom how incredible this story could've been had it been completed.
I complained about a myriad of things here, and I don't think I'm really wrong in doing so either. Xenogears is a fractured, uneven, and incomplete mess but beyond all that, it's also a game with so much passion poured into every pixel that I can't help but ultimately respect and enjoy it even if it took a long time for me to feel this way.
#1
The Goat
So if you dont like the words, peak fiction, goat, raw, fire, click off the video. cause im abouta use those words like 57 times
The Goat
So if you dont like the words, peak fiction, goat, raw, fire, click off the video. cause im abouta use those words like 57 times
Xenogears: A masterpiece of role-playing
Xenogears is a role-playing game released in 1998 for the PlayStation. It was developed by Tetsuya Takahashi, Yasunori Mitsuda and Masato Kato and published by Square. The game tells the story of Fei Fong Wong, a young man who no longer remembers his childhood.
An incident causes him to become involved in a conflict that will change not only the world, but possibly the fate of all life.
Xenogears' story is one of the best things about the game.
It is extremely complex, profound and full of philosophical questions.
Tetsuya Takahashi draws on Nietzsche, Faust and Co.
The game covers themes such as religion, technology, freedom and human nature.
The characters in Xenogears are also very well developed.
Fei is a likeable protagonist who develops into a strong and confident man over the course of the game. The other characters are also interesting and diverse. They all have their own stories and motives that help enliven the world of Xenogears.
Xenogears' graphics are still impressive for a game from 1998. The game features a beautiful world with detailed environments and characters. The animations are also very good.
The music from Xenogears is still one of the best the games industry has to offer. The soundtrack was composed by Yasunori Mitsuda and is an absolute masterpiece. The music is emotional in every scene and fits the story and atmosphere of the game perfectly.
Overall, Xenogears is a role-playing masterpiece. It offers a complex and deep story, well-developed characters, a challenging combat system, impressive graphics and beautiful music. Xenogears is a game that every RPG fan should have played.
For me one of the best role-playing games of all time.
-------------------
Xenogears: Ein Meisterwerk des Rollenspiels
Xenogears ist ein Rollenspiel, das 1998 für die PlayStation veröffentlicht wurde. Es wurde von Tetsuya Takahashi, Yasunori Mitsuda und Masato Kato entwickelt und von Square veröffentlicht. Das Spiel erzählt die Geschichte von Fei Fong Wong, einem jungen Mann, der sich an seine Kindheit nicht mehr erinnern kann.
Er wird durch einen Zwischenfall in einen Konflikt verwickelt, der nicht nur die Welt, sondern eventuell das Schicksal allen Lebens verändern wird.
Die Geschichte von Xenogears ist eines der besten Dinge am Spiel.
Sie ist ĂĽberaus komplex, tiefgrĂĽndig und voller philosophischer Fragen.
Tetsuya Takahashi bedient sich hier bei Nietzsche, Faust und Co.
Das Spiel behandelt Themen wie Religion, Technologie, Freiheit und die Natur des Menschen.
Die Charaktere in Xenogears sind ebenfalls sehr gut ausgearbeitet.
Fei ist ein sympathischer Protagonist, der sich im Laufe des Spiels zu einem starken und selbstbewussten Mann entwickelt. Die anderen Charaktere sind ebenfalls interessant und vielfältig. Sie alle haben ihre eigenen Geschichten und Motive, die dazu beitragen, die Welt von Xenogears zu beleben.
Die Grafik von Xenogears ist für ein Spiel aus dem Jahr 1998 immer noch beeindruckend. Das Spiel bietet eine wunderschöne Welt mit detaillierten Umgebungen und Charakteren. Die Animationen sind ebenfalls sehr gut.
Die Musik von Xenogears gehört bis heute zum besten was die Spiele Industrie zu bieten hat. Der Soundtrack wurde von Yasunori Mitsuda komponiert und ist ein absolutes Meisterwerk. Die Musik ist in jeder Szene emotional und passt perfekt zur Geschichte und Atmosphäre des Spiels.
Insgesamt ist Xenogears ein Meisterwerk des Rollenspiels. Es bietet eine komplexe und tiefgründige Geschichte, gut ausgearbeitete Charaktere, ein herausforderndes Kampfsystem, beeindruckende Grafik und eine wunderschöne Musik. Xenogears ist ein Spiel, das jeder Fan von Rollenspielen gespielt haben sollte.
FĂĽr mich eines der besten Rollenspiel aller Zeiten.
Xenogears is a role-playing game released in 1998 for the PlayStation. It was developed by Tetsuya Takahashi, Yasunori Mitsuda and Masato Kato and published by Square. The game tells the story of Fei Fong Wong, a young man who no longer remembers his childhood.
An incident causes him to become involved in a conflict that will change not only the world, but possibly the fate of all life.
Xenogears' story is one of the best things about the game.
It is extremely complex, profound and full of philosophical questions.
Tetsuya Takahashi draws on Nietzsche, Faust and Co.
The game covers themes such as religion, technology, freedom and human nature.
The characters in Xenogears are also very well developed.
Fei is a likeable protagonist who develops into a strong and confident man over the course of the game. The other characters are also interesting and diverse. They all have their own stories and motives that help enliven the world of Xenogears.
Xenogears' graphics are still impressive for a game from 1998. The game features a beautiful world with detailed environments and characters. The animations are also very good.
The music from Xenogears is still one of the best the games industry has to offer. The soundtrack was composed by Yasunori Mitsuda and is an absolute masterpiece. The music is emotional in every scene and fits the story and atmosphere of the game perfectly.
Overall, Xenogears is a role-playing masterpiece. It offers a complex and deep story, well-developed characters, a challenging combat system, impressive graphics and beautiful music. Xenogears is a game that every RPG fan should have played.
For me one of the best role-playing games of all time.
-------------------
Xenogears: Ein Meisterwerk des Rollenspiels
Xenogears ist ein Rollenspiel, das 1998 für die PlayStation veröffentlicht wurde. Es wurde von Tetsuya Takahashi, Yasunori Mitsuda und Masato Kato entwickelt und von Square veröffentlicht. Das Spiel erzählt die Geschichte von Fei Fong Wong, einem jungen Mann, der sich an seine Kindheit nicht mehr erinnern kann.
Er wird durch einen Zwischenfall in einen Konflikt verwickelt, der nicht nur die Welt, sondern eventuell das Schicksal allen Lebens verändern wird.
Die Geschichte von Xenogears ist eines der besten Dinge am Spiel.
Sie ist ĂĽberaus komplex, tiefgrĂĽndig und voller philosophischer Fragen.
Tetsuya Takahashi bedient sich hier bei Nietzsche, Faust und Co.
Das Spiel behandelt Themen wie Religion, Technologie, Freiheit und die Natur des Menschen.
Die Charaktere in Xenogears sind ebenfalls sehr gut ausgearbeitet.
Fei ist ein sympathischer Protagonist, der sich im Laufe des Spiels zu einem starken und selbstbewussten Mann entwickelt. Die anderen Charaktere sind ebenfalls interessant und vielfältig. Sie alle haben ihre eigenen Geschichten und Motive, die dazu beitragen, die Welt von Xenogears zu beleben.
Die Grafik von Xenogears ist für ein Spiel aus dem Jahr 1998 immer noch beeindruckend. Das Spiel bietet eine wunderschöne Welt mit detaillierten Umgebungen und Charakteren. Die Animationen sind ebenfalls sehr gut.
Die Musik von Xenogears gehört bis heute zum besten was die Spiele Industrie zu bieten hat. Der Soundtrack wurde von Yasunori Mitsuda komponiert und ist ein absolutes Meisterwerk. Die Musik ist in jeder Szene emotional und passt perfekt zur Geschichte und Atmosphäre des Spiels.
Insgesamt ist Xenogears ein Meisterwerk des Rollenspiels. Es bietet eine komplexe und tiefgründige Geschichte, gut ausgearbeitete Charaktere, ein herausforderndes Kampfsystem, beeindruckende Grafik und eine wunderschöne Musik. Xenogears ist ein Spiel, das jeder Fan von Rollenspielen gespielt haben sollte.
FĂĽr mich eines der besten Rollenspiel aller Zeiten.
xenogears is, at it's core, a game that feels incredibly ambitious; trying to be something so much more than it's able to be, in a way that almost circles back into covering up all the glaring flaws attached to it. this game has... quite a few issues; but i can't really say any of them really hurt my experience with it.. maybe even the opposite..! no matter how tedious, how confusing, how silly it got.. i really can't look back on this game with anything but a big ole smile.
Gameplay wise the game suffers from the full PS1 RPG jank package: Shit combat, shit dungeons, and being terribly sluggish in all aspects of design. Best played with cheats and some sort of turbo mode.
Where the game shines is definitely in its narrative, delivering a unique and incredibly ambitious story that mishmashes philosophy, psychology and religion in a dense and complex sci-fi package that gives plenty to think about. This ambition however can also be considered its greatest narrative flaw: Xenogears is clearly chock-full of "things I find cool!" by Takahashi, lifting cues, plot points and inspiration from plenty other mecha anime and similars, leading to a bloated cast that at times often feel like they are just there to deliver a cool scene and never do anything else for the rest of the game. A more focused cast and character writing would've definitely improved the overall package, as I feel like the game would've definitely benefitted from spending less time on side adventures in Disc 1 and instead spaced the writing regarding main duo Fei and Elly more evenly across the game, as, while they are strong and interesting characters, the meat of their characters is almost entirely relegated to the already infamous Disc 2.
Still, god damn you can't help but respect this game's ambition. Shot for the stars and landed on the moon, but in a time where even now-legendary entries like the PS1 FF entries rooted themselves firmly in the Earth, Xenogears sure as hell is a work deserving of respect. The team set out to deliver an age-spanning sci-fi epic about humanity living under the yoke of its own societal and personal constructions; and while realistic development constraints and, let's face it, the immaturity of the dev team as writers and game designers made the end result a fairly janky game, it definitely deserves to stand as one of the greats of the genre.
God damn that final dungeon sucks though, jesus christ.
Where the game shines is definitely in its narrative, delivering a unique and incredibly ambitious story that mishmashes philosophy, psychology and religion in a dense and complex sci-fi package that gives plenty to think about. This ambition however can also be considered its greatest narrative flaw: Xenogears is clearly chock-full of "things I find cool!" by Takahashi, lifting cues, plot points and inspiration from plenty other mecha anime and similars, leading to a bloated cast that at times often feel like they are just there to deliver a cool scene and never do anything else for the rest of the game. A more focused cast and character writing would've definitely improved the overall package, as I feel like the game would've definitely benefitted from spending less time on side adventures in Disc 1 and instead spaced the writing regarding main duo Fei and Elly more evenly across the game, as, while they are strong and interesting characters, the meat of their characters is almost entirely relegated to the already infamous Disc 2.
Still, god damn you can't help but respect this game's ambition. Shot for the stars and landed on the moon, but in a time where even now-legendary entries like the PS1 FF entries rooted themselves firmly in the Earth, Xenogears sure as hell is a work deserving of respect. The team set out to deliver an age-spanning sci-fi epic about humanity living under the yoke of its own societal and personal constructions; and while realistic development constraints and, let's face it, the immaturity of the dev team as writers and game designers made the end result a fairly janky game, it definitely deserves to stand as one of the greats of the genre.
God damn that final dungeon sucks though, jesus christ.
An absolute masterpiece. I don't care that they ran out of a budget while working on disc 2, the story and journey of this game is an absolute joy. The first time I played it, I cannot possibly describe how intensely I felt about the appearance of id in the desert.
It delves deep into philosophy, religion and man's place in the world. It's a fascinating game that every fan of JRPGs should go out of their way to play. Just go in knowing the disc 2 experience won't match your disc 1 journey. It's like they press fast forward on anything. From the time you put down the controller in disc 1 to when you finally get to go back to the open world in disc 2, you will be stunned by how much the game world has changed.
It delves deep into philosophy, religion and man's place in the world. It's a fascinating game that every fan of JRPGs should go out of their way to play. Just go in knowing the disc 2 experience won't match your disc 1 journey. It's like they press fast forward on anything. From the time you put down the controller in disc 1 to when you finally get to go back to the open world in disc 2, you will be stunned by how much the game world has changed.
Fantastic character writing, narrative, combat mechanics, pacing make this an incredible adventure experience.
This is a fascinating game to me, good and bad. It's got good but not particularly balanced combat and it frankly isn't well constructed with regard to the disc 2 budget cuts. However, it is so incredibly ambitious to the point where I can't help but respect it. All the presentation elements kind of carry this game when the rest of it falls off in the second half.
It's too good
One of the best game ever produced, hands down. So many plot twists, philosophical and religious themes, and memorable characters. By the end of the game, it will leave you proud and deeply satisfied. However, the game is not complete, as the cost spiral out of control during development, they have to chop from 4 discs to 2 discs with a lot cut content, but it is still a game worth your time.
This game is almost as long as a xenoblade game, and it really surprised me how the series was able to maintain the longevity in it's titles since the beginning. The story goes hard, it's just that Xenogears tackles a lot of themes within it's story ranging from oppression, psychological trauma, neglect, greed etc etc; never really giving you the time to appreciate one aspect of the story, I wouldn't say it has fast pacing, opposite really, but it never really focuses on one key element but with that being said I could go on and on about it's themes but I want to keep my review short. There were times where I really connected with the game and times where I was completely zoned out since the game is super text heavy and most of the time has the approach of "tell, don't show" which is a bummer. Overall it surely was an experience, I raged over this game, had fun with the game and it took a shit ton of time. It is a miracle that this game even exists, Takahashi was onto some shit back in the 90s I swear.