One of the main points of contention Xenogears' critics will bring up is the game being released in a state of not being entirely finished. Disc 2 being made up of mostly narration and Evangelion eps 25-26-esqe dreamlike cutscenes is a common point of contention when addressing this game's strengths and shortcomings. Just as every artistic medium is defined by its limitations, video games are no different. Even still, Xenogears is a special case. One of the main questions the game poses is what it means to be complete. Although this is mainly to be applied the main character Fei and his arc of finding his purpose by forming meaningful human connections, given the game's own status as a not fully realized vision makes the message all the more profound.

If there's one question that Xenogears has made me ask more than anything else, it's about the point when a piece of art becomes complete. How complete do you need to be to feel like a "whole"? A defining aspect of Gears is its stance on this topic: we aren't defined by our own journeys so much as how we affect the lives of each other.

Many may see disc 2 as unsatisfying, but the way I see it it's the brightest shining aspect of what makes Xenogears as good as it is. This game tells a front to back story, and I haven't even addressed the fact that I think this might be the best individual story I've ever experienced in a single video game! Not to mention the amazing character arcs of Fei and Elly. People throw around the term "this speaks to me on multiple levels" a lot but this is especially true to me with Xenogears.

As the game says, it's okay to not feel whole. Eventually as time marches on, we affect the lives of others and find meaning in the various human connections we form in our lives. And that gives us meaning just as much as any aspect of ourselves. Just as people are defined by the bonds we make, the people we meet, and the love we share, I think Xenogears has a somewhat similar journey.

A big reason I was interested in this game as I've been is because of how much I've heard it inspired modern JRPGs. With them being my favorite genre of game, combined with my fascination with works of fiction that inspired other pieces I so dearly enjoy made Xenogears a must play for me eventually. I'm so happy I did. Seeing this game's legacy retroactively makes me think this is the "complete" form of Xenogears: leaving such a legacy on the entire genre in the 24 years since its release.

Video games are a unique artform. The relationship between creator and consumer is an especially gray line here with many of the highest names in the industry describing themselves gamers just as much as game creators. Games, being as big of an art form as they are, cannot be created by one person (maybe in some instances but definitely not something like Xenogears for the purposes of this thought). Creators constantly build off one another, using aspects of someone else's creation for their own works, thus creating a living legacy for the original piece. Given how much inspiration others have found in the storytelling, character writing, and worldbuilding of Gears, I think it's safe to say it has about as impactful of a living, active legacy as just about any game in the genre.

Xenogears defines what it means to be a video game. Despite the fact that it's not a fully realized vision, you cannot argue the impact its had on everyone who's come into contact with it. Knowing this, is there really anything that truly needs to be changed about it? Although it's admittedly imperfect, flawed, whatever you want to call it, the lasting impressions it leaves on everyone give the game as much of a purpose as if it was truly finished.

So is Xenogears "whole"? I think so at least.

Just wanna let ppl kno that I ain't proof read this shit, i just got bored and wanted to write sumn about Final Fantasy 6.
The game is pretty ok I think.

In like 2020, I finished Final Fantasy 7 and I was like "Wow this game is really THAT good!". My knowledge of Final Fantasy before FF7 was that there are a shit ton of games + me dropping FF13 when I was like 12. I deadass didn't know anything about Final Fantasy 6 until I downloaded a random emulator and ran it up. Yes, not even the elitist discourse surrounding the game lmao. When I saw the intro scene, I was immediately locked in.

I am a big sucker for pixel art and FF6 displays the beauty of it to its very core. I was like "damn they really put they entire meat into this game". Little did I know that was basically the philosophy of how the game came to be. A giant effort for Square's last Nintendo FF game.

Not even just the art, the MUSIC? Oh my god, some of the best shit I've ever heard. I think its corny but I really do understand the comparisons of the music essentially being the equivalent of "Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel with crayons". No amount of covers, remasters. or rearrangements will beat out the OG SNES soundtrack for me cause of this alone.

The gameplay is turn based greatness at it's finest. I really love the esper system and how you can essentially build up anyone to use magic. Despite how cool the esper system is, I gotta admit it's flaws. Summons in this game are either useless at worst or kinda good/situational at best. Does not really help them fuckers have a 1 time use. Another thing, despite how fun the game is, it is admitely pretty easy, even without grinding because magic is THAT broken. Having characters have their own identity and battle gimmick is cool but "Me when I spam Ultima and win". Even physical built characters are better off learning magic, which kind of sucks but not to the point where it ruins the game for me. It's pretty straightforward even without it I would say. Speaking of characters, I GOTTA mention the gang of 14 bozos you play as.

FOURTEEN NIGGA? I was expecting like 6, maybe 7. When I found out how FF6 handles its story by incorporating a large cast of characters, I was overjoyed. There was a game I played in recent memory that I overall enjoyed, but was dissapointted due to how weak the story overall was and that game was Octopath Traveler 1. Idk why they made a game with 8 characters and they decided to make 3 of them interesting and basically none of them connect to the central plot in any way. Final Fantasy 6 was my answer to a cool RPG that handles multiple playable characters. Sure some characters in the story definitely get way less than others (Strago, Relm, one or two more characters arguably) and one kind of does not really matter (I still love you Gau), I think the fact that the cast comes together in multiple ways throughout the story is empowering to me, especially with the 2nd half of the game.

The story is something I never really experienced before. I was 15-16 when I played it initially and that game exposed me to things I never thought a game in the damn 1990s would ever show. Niggas bought games back then and expected to beat them in like 8-12 hours, mot a 30+ hour epic. The conflict with the empire and the dystopian regime the world is under, the motivations that give our little pixelated heroes life in the 2nd half of the game, the opera scene, oh man the opera scene. I was NOT expecting to see anything like that in a SNES game, just like how I wasn't expecting to see anything like "the" celes scene in the 2nd half of the game. Looking back after playing every final fantasy game (except 12, soon...), this is still my favorite scene in the game because I've genuinely felt the same way in life without going too much into detail. I never thought I would see a lot of things in FF6, and this probably was the biggest thing. Emotions were high and the musical leitmotif of her theme in the background definitely didn't help me from NOT tearing up, but it did help me personally.

It was a surprise, a surprise out of nowhere from a game that I had very minor expectations of that there always is hope in the absolute worst of the world. It's corny, its generic, but I genuinely was touched by how scenes like this as well as other scenes in the darker half of the game display hope, display love, display life. It feels like the game always reminds me of these things....because I can't stop playing it. Hell, I couldn't stop playing it then, and I sure as hell can't now.

I am really shit at sitting down and playing games, especially when I am 21, broke, and stupid. I would say overall, I am NOT a critical person, but it takes a decent bit for a game to make me sit down with it for multiple hours and FF6 is one of a handful of games that won me over. When was the last time you sat your ass down and played a game for hours, slept and thought to yourself "Damn I can't wait to play <insert mid here> tomorrow"? Because that feeling is the best and FF6 was so good upon my first playthrough, I just felt this way after every session. Beat that game in like a WEEK. Matter of fact, FF6 is so good that I just....keep replaying it. Every year or so, I just pop it in and play it start to finish. It's like therapy for weird niggas cause that shit is usually too expensive. But I genuinely feel empowered playing it and I doubt that will ever change.

TL:DR
I could go on more about the story and the funny clown being an amazing. memorable, and nihilistic villain or the funny train Supplex or some shit, but Ill be honest I wrote this review purely out of BOREDOM. I AM BORED AS FUCK and I am kinda also bored of just passing off things I like/dislike/am mixed on as just "It was goated", "it was ASS", or "It's ok". Sometimes you're passionate about something and have to yap somewhere, so I chose to yap here. I don't give a fuck about objectivity or none of that shit, i just wanted to make a personal lil essay on why I think Final Fantasy 6 is an awesome game. Free thinker opinion I know, but who gives a fuck about what people think? I sure as hell don't