kenshin-guy's Full Review: Xenogears for PlayStation 1
I have been trying to write a review on Xenogears for the longest time but every time I go to the keys, I go blank. I don't have any idea why. Maybe it's because of the pressure? You see, Xenogears it the best game I've ever played hands down. Xenogears is the God in the Role Playing Game Genre. To deny it is to be imperfect. But anyway, I'll try to start this.
I remember it like it was yesterday...
I had heard so much news about this game called Xenogears. Cheers of joy and celebrations of characters and storyline that no one else had ever seen. Praises sang loud from the east coast to the west coast. But, you see, I didn't have the game. So I did what any self respecting gamer would do. eBay. My friend said I'd be lucky to pick the game up for anything less than $65 and I went in with a passion to play and bid like no one else had ever seen. I scanned the auctions for hours, looking for a deal. I saw $80 there, $70 here, and then I found a nice chap who gave me a deal. It was around 3 o' clock in the morning in my house when sirens of my yelling brought the house about. I had won the auction with a bid of $53. 4 Weeks shipping, I couldn't wait. Every day I waited for the UPS guy to come. Anticipation nearly killed me but around the 4th week I got my game, ran upstairs, loaded it into my Playstation 2 and thus began my quest. Now, a thought came into my head. I had never played a demo, seen a clip, or done anything with this game. I just knew it was praised, was I a fool to buy this game so fast? Well, after beating the game, I came to a conclusion. Xenogears Was The Best Purchase I Have Ever Made. But enough of my love story with it, lets gets down to business.
Some of you may be wondering why I had to buy the game off eBay. Well, the game is extremely rare in the United States and anywhere outside of Japan so I've heard. I can see why. The game's plot has some extremely religious themes, and it's very apparent when they use them. The game doesn't bash or try to undermine any religion, it's just that the game's plot is heavily developed around some religious figures and holy people. For instance, there's death of God and talks of Resurrection of God. I guess Square didn't want the risk of getting their games criticized over such a dumb reason. You see, in Japan, there's many shows, anime, games, manga that revolve around God and killing religious themes so I guess it's common to them. In the US I guess we're a little more strict. There's a religious group in the games called the "Etones" that are in a way like a catholic cult of sorts but I being Catholic didn't really mind because as people should understand more often, IT'S A GAME! Most games are not meant to be taken as a front or some serious religious expose. So I guess it should go without saying that while this is a very serious game for a gamer to play, you should not try and look into the religious themes and happenings too much.
Also, if you're into Japanese Animation you might find extra pleasure in this game. You see, piloting a giant mecha robot called a "gear" takes up a good part of the game. In most Anime there's some giant robots of some kind, think Gundam, Big O, or Neon Genesis Evangelion. It's not much different than the designs in those series.
But anyway...lets get this review started
The Storyline/Plot
Xenogears is just massive. Let me put it this way, take your favorite game. Whether it may be Final Fantasy 7 or Super Mario Bros. 3. Take that game and multiply it by 10 and you'll have Xenogears. Xenogears is like the Sun in the Video Games Universe. Every game revolves around this game. I can't even begin to explain how big it is. Let me put this way. An average RPG game takes around 30 hours to complete. For people I know it, takes around 70+ hours to complete this. A friend of mine took 10 hours just figuring out the final dungeon.
I'll try to explain the story without giving too much away...
You control a man by the name of Fei Fong Wong. As Fei you are abandoned by your parents and left on a doorstep in a small town called Lacan. You have hardly any memory of your past and now you're trying to live a nice life again. One day, out of nowhere, a group of "gears" attack Lacan. Fei sees everyone around him getting hurt and he can't stand it. He races back into town to find a friend when all of a sudden a gear falls and Fei sees there is no pilot in it. So of course Fei jumps inside and starts to fight the other gears but while he is attacking, one of his friends get shot, along with his newly wedded wife. Fei fights some more enemies and then all he can remember is being woken up and having everyone in Lacan questioning him. Only his genius friend Citan is there to stick with him. He is searching for answers, to why Gears attacked his village, why he felt he HAD to get into that gear, why everything, why he was abandoned. Fei befriends Elly in the Blackmoon Forest outside of Lacan, a girl whom is a high ranking officer of the company that is responsible for sending those gears to Lacan. So together with Citan and Elly and plenty of other friends, Fei goes off looking for answers. Only he finds that things are not what they seem and that there's always a higher order. In time Fei ends up as a fighting trying to save the world even though he is against it in so many ways.
Every character in the game is extremely well developed. They all have two sides to them it seems. Their real self and their shadow. A lie and truth as it seems. Everyone has a truth exploited about them and when it is done you see them in a whole new light. There's catch-22's everywhere and strange occurances that even Haley Joel Osment can't see. Even the most aged veteran gamer will be surprised at what happens in the game. And not all of these things happen in the end. Disc 1 is a very big disc that holds a lot of the story. It leads into every character's story and by the end of disc 1 you'll be in a sea of many emotions over what to do. It's amazing.
The Graphics
One who plays games currently may pick up Xenogears and be absolutely disgusted with it's graphics. This person is shallow. You see, Xenogears was made between 1997-1998 so it's graphics aren't going to be anything spectacular. Back in 1997, this game was considered graphically excellent so that's how I will grade it.
Each character is very beautifully illustrated. The character design for Fei is vibrant and shimmering in whites and blues. He is designed the way that he should be, tall, not too strong and common. Because his character is supposed to be the normal Joe. It shows on the game screen as well. The sprites that are used to navigate around are nice even though they may be a little pixelated.
The characters all had their cute little animated expressions that were nice and decorated in a standard RPG fashion. They moved at a nice smooth framerate and rarely did anything skip. The stalactite cave was very well done with the combination if dark blacks, deep browns and total darkness in some places. Other places in the game that were beautiful well, they were all great but the city of Shevat was extroadinary. Shevat is a floating city that is very animated with beautiful reds, violets, warm bright hues and pleasant blues. It's easily one of the nicest cities in any RPG I've played.
In the battles, sometimes on deathblows your character moves very fast and there's shadows of where he/she just was. The graphics make a dark crimson outline of the character and it looks very Matrix-esque cool.
There's several anime cut scenes in the game too. There's a few CG scenes. Now, this is back in 1998 so don't expect Final Fantasy 8 quality, but nonetheless they look amazing. The anime is a nice change from the usual computer generated scenes. I'm glad to see them used in a game of this stature. The anime is crisp and well animated and there's a few scenes that I will never forget! The only complaint is the dubbing in it. It's horrid. The voices come on before the people speak and end before/after they talk! It ranks up there with the worst Dubbing ever. Oh well, there's plenty of good things to make up for it. :)
On my Playstation 2 the graphics were improved greatly.
The Sound
The sound, if it were a woman, it'd be Mandy Moore. Mandy Moore being my dream girl of course so replace that with whoever is your dream girl. But that's besides the point. What I'm trying to say is, Xenogear's music is Beautiful, tender, heart-warming and sweet. It's amazing on all levels. In other games I usually drone the sound out but I couldn't this time it was that good. It's got a peaceful presence to it that I can't really explain, it's soothing and soft but at the same time rings loud and hard in my ears.
Most notable pieces are "Stars of Tears" which is played throughout the beginning mostly. The Dazil and Aveh themes like "Aveh Ancient Dance". All of the pieces have their moments in the game where they really stick with you, whether it's the gentle beats of the music in Nisan or the upbeat bars in Shevat, you'll not be disappointed.
The sound also picks up in the subtle noises during the gameplay also. There's small little almost cliche things that really bring out the energy and work that was put into this game. The sounds of the gears fighting and the walking sounds they make sound extremely on cue and done well. The noises that the gears exert when they fight and move sound very real and as if it were really happening. I have surround sound speakers and when the gears moved, my walls actually shook! YEAH! That's what I call sound!
The Gameplay
The gameplay is very fun actually. Many of you think RPGs only have the Active Time Battle system in Final Fantasy series well, you're wrong. Xenogears utilizes a totally new system of gameplay for this game. It makes the game more fun and innovates more room for replay value.
You have the choice of performing either a A)Weak Attack, B)Normal Attack or C)Strong Attack. If you perform a weak attack you can build up your attack until you can perform a 'Deathblow', an attack that inflicts major damage to your enemy. This applies to gears as well. In your gear it's the same system and the same thing for deathblows.
This kind of system makes me want to go into those long tedious battles. The system is fun and it's one that stands out from the crowd.
Standard RPG fair also applies. Talking, running, walking, buying goods, weapons buying and selling. All done by talking to the townsfolk. I like the ability to jump I was given. In most RPGs there's no option to jump and in Xenogears you're able to. It takes exploring to a new level and it's much more fun to jump and run through towns that it is to navigate through them in a boring manner.
The Fun Factor The Fun Factor in this game is through the roof! I can't begin to explain how much I was drawn into this story! As i stated above, the story is just massive and you get intrigued in one thing and you are sucked in to it's immerse universe! It's a simple thing to go into battles but XG's system makes it more fun and innovative to go through every time I play.
The game is so large that you can find many things to do to make it fun. Using the Jump method to stay on top of people's heads is fun and it's stupid! The smallest things give you pleasure! There's many people in each city and town and they're all unique and different. Everyone has something new and important to say and lots of them are humorous. You'll definetily have a ball playing this!
Average Game Time
If you rush through, maybe 50+ hours. If you go through everything, a good 70+hours. It's worth it to figure everything out, I promise. The dialogue is a little slow but it's gives good time to think and decipher everything the characters do.
Where can I Get My Hands on This Masterpiece?
Try the old bargain bins at video games stores or Wal-Mart. eBay, Yahoo Auctions and many other game plaza have them usually. If you can find a copy, pick it up! You won't see another I'm sure! Any price within $70 is good as I said earlier
Overall Xenogears is the best RPG out on the market to get now and probably for a very long time. Do yourself a favor and pick up this gem. It's worth any gamer's money to buy a masterpiece like this. This game has everything, developed characters, good graphics, amazing sound, fun gameplay, and in the end, you'll walk away feeling great and when you're done doing that, you'll go back for another time through. Pick This Up!
Of Course That's Just My Opinion I Could Be Wrong
~Kenshin-Guy
Xenogears provides the elements that made Final Fantasy VII popular, and adds original features such as giant fighting robot action, dramatic hand-dra...More at eBay
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