Xenogears - Retrospective Review and Analysis 

More budget allows a more flexible deadline.

Still a management problem

Adding to this, Square Soft had a policy at the time which required all games to be released within a two year timeframe. This is what prompted their suggestion to end Xenogears during the Solaris arc. In retrospect, that may have worked if Xenogears received a sequel but I cannot exactly fault Takahashi for wanting to finish the game how he envisioned it.

tbh it really did look a lot like the game was built around the idea of solaris being the end, then the second disc's content was added on with less budget/time/care, really.

Thank God they never stopped at that point. It would have been immensely unsatisfying.

And a direct sequence.

Now that the Switch is a very relevant system, I imagine that Xenogears MIGHT get a remake, or at least ported to Switch, especially if Xenoblade DE does very well.

Eric Gerwatowski I feel like they would ruin it tbh

I agree

@@Hammy900 I got a question is xenogears and xenoblade connected somehow?

Well I guess you didn't play that many JRPGs did you

@@samt3412 The fuck you talking about?

@@Weehawk no, it's just that a LOT of JRPGs involve killing God at the end. It's kind of a meme at this point

@@KingNekodom bro BRO B R O

@@samt3412 well in the 90s when this game came out, pretty sure it was the first of it's kind

Niki Wonoto njir. org mana lu kok demen xenogears. ane kira d indo tdk ada yg suka xenogears

What about Planescape Torment? Just started playing that game so idk.

The thing is, this game is beautiful because of how much lore they gave it when the game came out and after it came out. The book "perfect works" is a rare item and I'm trying to get my hands on it. You realize how many libraries don't have this book? All of them.... Lol I've played this game twice. Beat it once only. When I was a kid I made it very far but it never caught me for it's story, it was the varied combat between the button mashing and humans to gears. There were two different combat mechanics and you had to learn both. As I grew older I had a conversation about the Xenoblade and xenosaga games and how well their stories can fit in with the 6 part book that works it's way towards Xenogears premise. It prompted me to go back and play the game again. Used my credit card, bought it on the ps store and sat at home and played for 89+ hours. Then the story hit me. I never knew how deep the game was until I played it. A game that touches upon humanity, spirituality, religion, war, pedophilia, abandonment, and love, it does it really well without completely falling flat on any one topic it throws at you. Disc 1 was a galore of exploration and combat leveling and disc 2 was a virtual novel. It was text after text of exposition and it let you in on the ways of life on an abandoned planet that's torn with war and greed and everything in between (personal stories of love, abandonment, etc). Honestly the sudden change of gameplay worked for me, it's like taking a break from all the drama and fights that were happening in disc 1. The music was beautiful no matter what anyone says. Mitsuda getting Joanne Hogg to sing a thematic epic with her beautiful and angelic voice is genius. Fei Fong Wong saving Elhaym Van Houten in the end and Krelian sacrificing himself to Deus to delay the consumption of "lambs" was the perfect way to end it. Though I think the game could have done without Chu Chu.

Miraj did you end up liking Planescape: Torment? I actually tried playing it for the first time directly after completing Xenogears and I personally wasn't enjoying it at all and gave up. I plan to approach that game and give it another shot in the future but I might need to be in the right state of mind for it.

I took a break from it as well, Im playing all the modern CRPG's first before playing Planescape again. The game can be a little confusing as where to go. However so far the game is damn good(The plot of the Main quest unbelievable.) I recommend you levelling up Wisdom max, then Charisma and Intelligence, because the game is about dialoges and choices, not fighting.

Thanks, Layton! I appreciate you taking the time to comment!

yes i second this, amazingly well done

This soundtrack was one of the best of its time his contribution made him immortal.

And then he gave us the incredible tracks in Soul Sacrifice

truly the GOAT!

JB TV For real. Why square has no love for them is beyond me...

Right there with you, bud. Their absolute best.

JB TV SAME. Xenogears takes first but they are both masterpieces in character driven storytelling and human at their core. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

I like you

+1 to Final Fantasy Tactics. I have Xenogears (only just bought it) but still haven't played it yet. Im waiting until I have no distractions so I can enjoy it

Wait what? :D I started watching the discussion videos yesterday and was going to ask when the Review is coming out. Can't say your reviews aren't well thought out.

Ive only played this game to the start of the second disc but I liked what I experienced and wanted to complete this game. I heard a number of times how complex and thought provoking this game is. This review details both the issues and strengths quite well while not spoiling the story and I really appreciate that. It sounds like Xenogears is one of those shining examples of why there are video games worth playing despite the amount of time it takes to go through them. A lot of games are entertainment only and although there might be a few benefits to them there are much more worthy pursuits in real life. This though is one of those games that is worth spending time on because it has the potential to change you and give you an experience that you can get in few other places plus it can carry over into enhancing your life. Im typically not into mech games but this seems to go beyond mechs. Awesome job Dark Pixel!

Awesome review as always, good job mike :D

Sadly under a politically correct company like Nintendo even in collaboration with SE a remake of a game like this without cut out content will never be a reality. I wished that Monolith Soft had been a freelancer company.

+LordKaiser003 I don't know man, if Mad World and No More Heroes can be Nintendo exclusives I don't see why Xenogears couldn't work. I really don't think it's that controversial to be honest.

20 years???? 😲 this was my first jrpg ever... And I still haven't found another jrpg that make feel... well... the way this game did... an amazing experience

Xenosaga is also pretty tear-worthy. Beat all of em blind in 2018 and nothing has made me feel like this for a long, long while besides other Xeno titles.

BlueHokage Are you strong?

How odd, I've never seen someone spell Grahf's name like that before.

The music... while you fought ID was haunting

I remember the demo, played the shit out of it

@@blackishpariah Me too!

Yup, I remember playing the demo to pieces.

Brave fenced musashi was hard as fuck for 9 year old me. Like god damn

Remember you could pop i nthe demo disc, then switch the the game disc and it would play all the anime cut scenes or something.

Thanks guys! I really appreciate it!

Frito ever since that changed to square enix the quality has been going downhill. with ffxv being the worst ff by far imo

@@Jack_80 I have to say so far my opinion is that FFXIII is the worst FF game. While FFXV was a very disappointing story, I still found it very fun to play and has what I consider to be the best fishing mini game one can find.

Chrono Cross kinda bad tbh Edit: alright I tried playing it again and tbh it fucking slaps

Xenoblade too

I disagre. FF 7, FF12, FF8, FFTactics wail, Dragon quest series, and my favorite Tactics Ogre let us cling together are the best. These are worthy challengers perhaps but nothing beats TOgre and FF DQ combo and the world of Ivalice is the best world ever made

@@marciamakesmusic bad huh but got 10/10 by GameSpot hmmm

I fully agree man I have one I play and one unopened and one on my psvita.

I am agreed, probably having the full 6 episodes would have been the greatest thing ever

Donald Xavier well... im not sure if i still own my copy i would have to do some searching.. u want to sell me one?

I would also like to buy one and I. Dead serious.

you want to sell me one copy?

It should be 2 3 disc game easy

Me too. This game FUCKED ME UPPPPPP in all the best ways

Thanks! I'm really glad you're enjoying the videos! It means a lot that you are taking the time to reach out. It keeps us motivated to move forward!

Dark Pixel Gaming for real. keep it up, guys. you are onto something big.

We feel you bro.

that's cool you have your collection...mine its now but an ashes/dust including my ps2 and games..

i finally played it because of how amazing everyone kept saying it is and i had some fun with it but it's extremely slow paced and seems to often drag on for hours and hours. there is quite a bit that could have been cut from the story so they wouldnt have been so rushed in the end to finish it. i like a deep story but they overdid it in this game. also the combat is just doing the most powerful combo you have unlocked over and over until you unlock a new one. once you unlock the final one that's pretty much all you do, gets old after the first hundred times you do them. idk i got into the game but don't find it nearly as amazing as most people seem to.

@@Jack_80 You sir, are right. :) Pretty enjoyable game still tho. :)

have you play ?

So what you think of the game did you finish it?

The Drop Pod Cast I'm so happy you feel that way. This game has something I cannot explain. I love FF7, but Xenogears i truly wish had a remake with nothing different but graphics. Best wishes.

Remake? Where?

Yeah A remake with todays graphics n technology will be awesome

@@davidwu3328 i wish they would be remake it with the same style 2D

WE MUST NOT LOSE HOPE. REBELLIONS ARE BUILT ON HO.... wait wrong story.

Steve Rudzinski you have dreamed girl as your wife

Steve Rudzinski you sir have a great wife !

Perhaps have Monolith Soft work on it? Nintendo exclusive of course.

If they do that. I'd be buying Switch immediately.

What they should of done is split it into 2 games the first go around, if they do an in depth remake it'll probably need to be a trilogy .

***** Xenoblade isn't a bad game, but it didn't hook me as well as Xenogears did.

Its really something unique and special. From the story, and the attention to detail in all locations is something we dont find in other games. The music also is seriously one of the best soundtracks that drive the moments.

Which female character

@@kong.615 i'm gonna guess ellie. :) only a guess though, I really wana know now lol

Emeralda???

Billy?

Chu chu.

24th time! wut! What are your 3 favorite gears and characters to use?

I play Xenogears once once every year.

kitramsey5150 Well, they taught me not to attack people whom I've never met's parents. So, they were at least better than some.

yowza

LMAO

Me too man, me too.

Which is why you are a filthy peasant.

cptawesome i bought it on my ps3 in ps1 classics years ago for 5.99. got a pretty nice collection of ps1 games on my ps3 cheap

I respect your opinion but I have a rebuttal... CHRONO TRIGGER

@@notimeforcreativenamesjust3034 This is unfair. Chrono Trigger it's a Square Soft + Enix game. In other words, Chrono Trigger = perfection.

Vyse Legendaire try out xenoblade 2 then.

That's exactly what I was thinking when that scene played out. I was basically yelling gogo power rangers!

omg, I was singing gogo power rangers too!

i agree. i assumed that scene was supposed to be comedic because of how silly it was to couple it with that song. iirc they play the standard boss music after that, would have been cool to just continue playing this during the fight.

That's fine in and as of itself but the reviewer makes a good point in that they shouldn't have recycled Maria/Siebzehn's theme (which was also used for Chu-chu's transformation) for it. They should have given the 5 elements super robot its own "joyous" theme tune instead of using one already established as central to one of the heroes.

CrystalFist001 Can't blame em cuz aint Mitsuda almost dead composing for Xenogears? lmao They can't delay the game anymore so they just recycled some music and make disc 2 a visual novel.

Do you have a source stating that was the intention or is that your opinion on what the intention was? That music was used first in the scene with Maria, like I mentioned, so either it was written with the intention you're stating in the mech transformation--then reused for the other fight--or was intended for that scene and reused here. Either way, the game reuses music a lot, and I found that in a lot of cases it didn't entirely fit.

Resonant Arc just a thorough knowledge of Mecha Anime and its related tropes. Im kinda a mecha anime nut. I'm not arguing that the music isn't recycled. I'm simply stating that, contrary to your belief, the piece they recycled wasn't out of place, and was in fact used intentionally for a thematic purpose, a reference. It's basically a lampshade, inversion, and subversion of what that bright hopeful music normally represents. That entire mecha is basically one big shoutout combining super robots and the Braves Series ESP. Have you ever watched a super robot show in your life? Uplifting Heroic transformation music is pretty much ingrained with the genre. It's pretty obvious to anyone who's ever watched them. Go watch GaoGaiGar (part of the braves series), or at least it's final fusion transformation sequence, to see what I mean. This isn't the last time in the Xeno series that Takahashi referenced the Braves series, either. Erde Kaiser, in all it's forms throughout the Xenosaga games, is a references to them, most notably Exkaiser. XD