The story is sophisticated in telling, ambitious with an enormous scope. All else is solid enough to impress.
The storyline is easily the most impressive part of Xenogears. I don't even know where to start- it concerns so much. The initial focus is small, but it becomes pretty clear early on that the writing is distinctive. The main character is a young man named Fei, three years ago he showed up in a quaint little village and was suffering from amnesia. But a stream of odd events has him gradually finding out bits and pieces of what will be his very important role in the world. As such, the storyline expands far from this until it is almost overwelming. He eventually finds himself the company of eight companions, each of which are diverse and play their own important role in the tale. The world is one far in the future. So far that features like data terminals, androids, and giant mecha are quite nearly ancient relics and the world Fei resides in almost looks midieval, with strong tracings of the technologically advanced past. There are just a smattering of towns across the world. A small number of cities, most people living simple lives, depending upon their own meager chores and the offerings from nature. But cultural wars are already being waged, and grandiose mysteries brewing below the surface. This is one of the few games that makes use of biblical references, but the religion told of in this story has it's own view of the afterlife. And the world is not necessarily tied to ours. Speaking of mortality, science also finds a great part in this story. Ultimately this is one in the Sci-Fi genre. But there are also hints of romance and looks at the history of our various characters, that have an impressive level of psychological intricacy. Everything helps to shape the world that colors this storyline. But that is merely of setting and light analysis of circumstances, the real storyline involves the struggle. While saving the world may seem to be no big surprise, the enemies you are fighting are quite interesting. There are some spectacular plot twists here, as well as some disturbing moments Speaking of emotional involvement- I can name at least one part where I almost felt nauseus (Krelian's Lab anybody?) and another moment where I laughed (All the chu puns. Yes I know I can have a lame sense of humor..) but above all, the secrets waiting to be revealed, the heaps of tension that plagues the world- it all helps make the multi-faceted storyline all the more successful. The writing.. except for a couple of iffy translation decisions that were easy for me to overlook.. it's markedly sophisticated. Serving to be a first for many gamers who could enjoy a game that can simultaneously serve as a good novel. Thankfully the gameplay is sound, but I'll get into that a bit later. Now I've been going on quite far into what makes this tale impressive, but I surely don't think it's perfect. In fact, I had come to love several a storyline even moreso that didn't have such laborously well thought-out settings and situations because just as much as I care for the storyline, the characters are also very important. Sadly, that same level of effort doesn't seem to carry over -completely- in terms of characterization. Not everything about this area is bad, so I'll start off with the good. There are a large enough cast of characters. 8 party members in all. They are mostly diverse characters- and there are good ideas regarding their core personalities and small back stories. The enemies and side characters that come to life often have these same qualities. The lengthy cut-scenes involve a long-winding script- but I always felt like the chatter was moreso about the events that surrounded these characters (the storyline that I mentioned so much about) and less about themselves. As a result, I was not able to really get involved with the characters as much as I would have liked to. Then again that is alot to ask for, as a big storyline plus characters just as big could very well equate to a game that is too overbearingly long. Xenogears will already be way too long for many gamers, but I'll get into that later. I'll cover one last thing about the storyline before moving onto the next topic- I liked a great deal of what went on. The flashbacks were often intruiging, the pay-off regarding Fei's past was affective. This area (Storyline + Characters) averages out to stellar overall, which is really something considering my general indifference torward Sci-Fi. Chances are you'll like it even more if you've an interest in that genre. Graphics
In towns and dungeons alike, fully rotatable 3D backgrounds are present. Not unlike FF7, more than up-to-par with other games at that time. Now it doesn't quite age as well, with the sometimes jarringly blurry pixels. Characters are rendered with sprites and portraits. The portraits are very well drawn, just a bit too small. Also while there are multiple portraits to fit different situations, there are too few considering the tension that surrounds the storyline. Sprites are not very detailed, but this depends on the range of view. They actually look pretty okay from a birds eye view, but sometimes they are zoomed up close and look awful. Ah well, at the time it was nothing out of the ordinary. There are a few cgs and anime cut-scenes here and there. They are all well done, but too few to have a giant impact on the visual experience. Overall this area is above average. Sound
The music on the other hand is really quite something. Even though it doesn't often match up to my tastes- I tend to take a shine to energetic and catchy music- Xenogears usually has a low-key, dramatic, and consistant approach. It fits with the game perfectly. I'm quite confident about the effort put into this area. There were still several pieces that very much stood out- soft and profoundly sad ones, downright oppressive ones to almost overblow the more dangerous areas. The original voice-acting is kept intact for the battle system sound effects. There are also a few moments of voice-acting during cut-scenes but these are so very few and utterly short that they become inconsequential. Gameplay Xenogears has two battle systems rolled into one game. First is the usual hand-to-hand combat- turnbased with random battles and everything else that the standard rpg battle system had at the time. Except for one major thing.. attacks are not carried out with a single push of a button. Rather, there are three levels of attacks. Heavy ones, standard ones, and light ones. They are mapped to different buttons and experimenting with different combinations will pull off special attacks that do far more damage. The amount of attacks you have at your disposal varies depending on how well you are leveled up. There are a list of different attacks you can collect, but without any hints it's a game of trial and error as to whether you are doing the right combinations.
The other battle system is very interesting- both in terms of play and visuals. It involves your characters piloting giant mecha and fighting against likewise enormous creatures. While both systems have alot of technical similarities, there are some key differences that make playing each one different. For instance, the inclusion of fuel- it is just as important as HP and depletes with every action you take. At more difficult parts of the game, conserving fuel and finishing battles quickly becomes a factor. These gear battles take up the majority of the game, and require a few more tactics and timing than the other more general battle system. When you level up and upgrade your equipment, both your characters and their mecha come into play. Now you might be thinking (does this mean I have to work twice as hard to keep everyone up to stat?) Well in my experience, this was not the case. Going at the general pace of the game, I usually earned more than enough gold and experience to to make it through. Things balance out pretty well. Only some boss battles and a few events that leave you relying on a couple characters at a time will leave you occasionally grasping at straws. But the usual having enough items / saving often / and getting a total grip on the system is enough to get you through. There are a few tricky dungeon layouts, but overall the difficulty level varies from easy to medium. Harder than, say, Final Fantasy games- but still manageable.
The idea of having two battle systems is great. At the time of this game's release, there weren't too many rpgs that looked to compete. In other words, this game had robust and entertaining systems. I say 'had' because in this day and age, so many advancements have been made that renders this system obsolete. I found the appeal of different button combinations to be limited, but that is really just a conflict of preference- many are able to quite enjoy the system. Another game series- Legaia- has a similar approach. But being able to switch between two different systems made for some fresh variety, and other aspects of the gameplay helped me put up with my disinterest in the mechanics of the battle system. The aforementioned great storyline, and the dungeons themselves being solid in design with some slight platforming elements. The game largely goes down a linear path of gameplay. You visit a town, dungeon, another town, another dungeon- with cut-scenes sprinkled in (In Xenogears case, these are very often and depthy) and a couple side quests to divert one's attention. You are quite quickly given a ship to travel the world map in, it serves as your base of operations so to speak. There are many more dungeons than there are towns, and whilst the dungeons are too often made up of "Run down these corridors to get from point A to point B..) there are many an opportunity to do some strategically timed jumps. Dungeons are usually diverse and littered with treasure, encouraging the player to explore. The game's entirety is shockingly long. Firstly, if you're the type to speed through games without tinkering with too many of the finer details- you'd still spend at least 60 hours. The average rpger who tries to take a crack at everything but doesn't prolong their exploration will probably clock in at 100 hours. Myself, being utterly slow at these things, clocked in at 114 hours. There are a handful of secrets in the game- dungeons that aren't spoken of, tiny mini-games, events, and items to seek out, most of which are situated at the end of the game. They are not enough to take over the game (example of such a feat- Final Fantasy IX) but some are really worth checking out. (The lighthouse with Emeralda's back story comes to mind.)
Pros - Superior storyline, well written and multi-faceted. Great OST. A rather long game. Controls, exploration, all pretty good but a bit vague. Particularly considering just how enormous the storyline is.
Mixed - Can be too long for some. While I had mixed feelings about the battle system, seeing as how I could play them for a whole 100 hours, I'm guessing that the Squaresoft shine made it easier to get into than it otherwise would be. Cons - Disc 2 feels very rushed. I honestly flinched at how much content was "compressed" so to speak. However around the last half of that disc things started getting amazing again. The dungeons grew longer, the world map was back, and it was all well. Major problems with balance. (Too much story, too many gear battles around the end.) But not enough to keep it from getting high marks.