QUICK WORD OF WARNING: I was notified that around the 12:00 mark in the video, the flashing lights from the Deathblow animations may be a trigger to those who suffer from EPILEPSY/PHOTOSENSITIVITY. I appreciate the heads-up, as I can see how this may be a concern! Also, general thank-you to everyone who has watched & commented on this video :) The feedback I've received has been incredible. I'm glad to have made something that resonates with so many people.
@@absoluteego Do you with your condition just randomly watch RU-vid videos? I would classify that as monumentally stupid. Why don't you take any responsibility for your own actions that led you to this moment?
Okay, I've watched this video too many times to count (it became a "go-to-sleep" vid - a high honor) and I just *have* to mention the really awesome detail that Bart's eyepatch is always on the correct eye in his little text box portrait, regardless of facing. So they legit made two different text box portraits and used them *correctly* whenever the portrait changed sides of text box. Incredible. *Note: This is also true of Sigurd.
LOL bruh same!!!! i always found it a perfect video to fall asleep to/wake up hearing, his calm voice, the chill music, the deep subject matter, all beautifil lol
@Dominicn123 I like to start about 23 minutes into the video, because that's right about when the awesome desert-city music kicks in - and besides being my absolute jam, it's got a nice meditative vibe that really smooths you out. Though I will say, it does run the risk (at least for me) of later fucked-upedness invading one's nightmare and really messing with the vibe. Lawl. On more than one occasion I've had some of the darker elements make cameo "appearances" (well, more like dialogue or descriptions informing manifestations) within my nightmare. Certainly a wild ride.
I have found it to be my “last leg listen.” I’m a truck driver by trade, and I go home every weekend. My Friday run, just before I go home is 3 hours long. So I listen to this every week before my weekend during my last leg
Dude your scripting, writing, editing, delivery etc. are top-tier. Up there with the best that currently do it in this "genre" of video. And your first video on SotE is not even a year old. This channel is going places, I can feel it.
I just want to say, I know no other channel on this platform that treats old JRPG's with the same love, humor, and dare I say warmth that you do. You deserve ten times as many subscribers, at the very least.
1:36:26 "So this is the part where you tell me that if I equip her with two specific pieces of unreasonably expensive gear, I can make her the best character in the game or something" Actually, it's Chuchu (or Pip) that has something like that going on. Although Chuchu kinda sucks in the mech battles, there are consumable items that boost stats permanently when used on a character, and you can grind to get as many as you want. Thing is, if you load Chuchu up with these items until their stats are maxed out, then enter a mech battle with them, their stats in the mech battle actually scales with their on-foot stats, unlike the other party members. So they wind up doing several times the amount of damage everyone else can while using no fuel.
It's hard not to think of Xenogears, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Suikoden series, Final Fantasy series, FF Tactics, Tactics Ogre, Valkyrie Profile, etc.. when you think of the golden age of JRPGs. I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to play these masterpieces during my teenage years. Everything just felt magical back in those days..
Yeah, same here. And I've been trying to recapture that "everything felt magical" feeling ever since '01 to little success. Maybe teenage us just felt better? If anyone knows a way to make things feel magical (that isn't drugs), let me know.
@@sigma6656 I couldn't remember every one of them when I commented on this video (I'm getting old) but SO2 was one of my top 10 and it's prolly one of the most replayble JRPGs of all time. I've played SO2 at least 5x when I was a teenager. Such a masterpiece.
Dude, thank you for two things: 1. Taking the time to review a game that, when I originally played it in 1998 at the age of 15, I barely understood it but knew that I was being told a story that rivaled some of humanity's greatest epics. 2. Understanding and respecting the fact that, in order to even begin to properly understand Xenogears in its entirety, it requires 3+ hours to do so. Whenever someone asked me to explain this game, I merely asked them if they were free all day. Now I'll just redirect them to this video. Excellent work!
One of the best videos I’ve seen on Xenogears. As a 12 year old back in 98 this game blew my mind. I thought it was the greatest thing I’d experienced. I can now see the flaws of xenogears at 37 but the vision of the creators was huge in scope. Because of obvious circumstances it wasn’t able to be delivered and experienced at its full potential. Even tho it fell short, it still affected me so deeply that no other game had got me to a similar place and after a couple years of trying with each new Jrpg release, I ended up giving up on playing games completely. I went from Zelda: a link to the past to Secret of Mana to Breath of Fire 3 to Final Fantasy Tactics and lastly Xenogears. I wish I would of played Final Fantasy 7 before Xenogears. I played FF7 right after and tho I did like it I just wasn’t moved the same after Xenogears, and I wanted so badly to play FF7 since the moment I seen it on the shelves at the stores.
This is absolutely the same for me!! Because I played Xenogears before ever taking a crack at Final Fantasy seven, I felt it was more difficult to fully immerse myself, and be entertained as much as I was by the amazing Xenogears?!
@@emceeunderdogrising I was also 13 playing it for the first time and man, it was the first JRPG that I ever actually bought for myself and everything about it felt super special and genuinely authentic!
Hey, love your videos! Wanted to say - during the fight with Dan at the tournament, if you refuse to actually hurt him, he gets angry and throws Alice's wedding dress at Fei while running away. You get it as an item afterwards
Leave it to Majuular to unceremoniously drop a 3 hour long video on this massive, weird, if not charming game on a random Monday morning where I (hopefully) will be dealing with the last of this godforsaken flu. Thanks man! Appreciate the effort!
@@Majuular you ever play Vanguard Bandits/Epica Stellafor ps1 i would love to hear your take on the story and its kinda in theme with xenogears after a fashion :) though not in the destroying god time stuff and creation myth more robot fighting but medieval times!
As a JRPG veteran, it always blows my mind that Xenogears exists as a game. When you hold it up to what was out for it's time, it was so far ahead of the curve it's amazing. It shows in how well the game has aged. There's so much random little stuff in the game like how there's a weight system in the game and when I found out I spent way too much time at the fair eating random food to see how the characters would change appearances. It's a shame that Disc 2 looked like it needed more time to cook but even then I actually liked how things came out.
@@Starch1b2c3d4a There is a mirror at the fair and booths that sell food that you can use to change your character's weight. If you go over certain values the sprite appearance actually changes. So if you want to play the game as THICC Faye that's an option. By the Lahan village when you first go to Citan's house there is also a tree with a bird's nest egg. You can take the egg and give it to Citan's wife who will cook it for you. If you eat it, you also gain a lot of weight.
@@24hr-Gaming Each character's weight also appears in their status screen accessed from the game's main menu. Pretty amazing detail that shows some of the love that went into creating this game and its world!
I've been loving your channel lately man. You have a way to make deep analysis engaging and funny that's really rare to see. So many long-form video essay channels just blandly present information with stock music in the background but it's easy to tell that you actually love these games even if a review isn't entirely positive. Keep it up man!
Damn. after finishing this review, I got that exact same feeling of "emptiness" after I finished Xenogears the second time. (Second because I was too young to understand and appreciate everything on the first playthrough). It's a good feeling of emptiness mind you. Not the kind that just leaves you questioning your own self but the kind that makes you ask "is that it? is there more? I want more."
What an insane thing to make a 3 hours video on Xenogears, even insaner is to watch all of it, and insanely good it was. Congratulations and thanks dude, that was greatly put together and very pleasing.
@@Majuular I'd also be *very* interested in seeing you cover Grandia...though there are a massive slew of games I'd be happy about, so I'd rather that you focused on games/projects that interest you specifically.
Xenogears has been my all time favorite RPG for decades now. Originally I was drawn to the game for a simple shallow reason, I played a demo of it that came with a different Squaresoft game, and I thought the combat system was really flashy and cool. I wasn't mentally developed enough, or knowledgeable enough, to fully understand or appreciate what Xenogears does and what it has to offer. But even as a simple minded kid I could tell that Xenogears wasn't like any other RPG I had played. There has always been something special about it and it's never left my mind ever since I first played it in 1998. I would end up replaying the game multiple times just because I had a really strong desire to understand everything that happens more fully. Even without any knowledge of Perfect Works, the problems during game development, or any kind of knowledge of psychology, you can still fell that the game has such a deeper meaning within the story. It always felt so much bigger than what the PS1 could show.
Thanks for this. I got Xenogears after watching the first ten mins and this experience is as close to transcendental as I've come. Seriously - thanks. Rough part of life where I needed a place to dump my free time when that free time would otherwise be spent thinking myself sad. ...the "gasbagging" translation makes me think that an English person did some of the localization, or a Japanese who was taught English by a Brit, or Britishisms are used to create that quaint "RPG village" atmosphere. There's a ton of translation/transliteration errors and iffy localization in this game, so much so that there's full text translations of the game with LOADS of speculation as to what was "really meant". It's so interesting to me!! (edit i learned that a *single person* did this work. unbelievable, incredibly impressive!!!) The mistakes begin almost immediately lol. "Aveh" is probably "Av" which is a month in the Hebrew calendar but Japanese doesn't end words neatly on consonants that aren't an "n", the vowel sound on the end got put into English. Citan is probably shitan, sh'tan, which is Japanese for "rosewood". in the JP, the "Ethos" are straight-up named "The Church" which you can see might have been problematic in an American market slap-bang in the middle of the Satanic Panic's numerous ongoing trials. Being a localizer/translator in these early days must have been so mind-numbing, frustrating and confusing. Very limited internet and the developers or writers are rarely going to be able to explain what they meant by x or how a certain jumble of katakana should be spelled in English to properly represent whatever Sefirotic or Biblical thing it's named after.
This game has been hands-down my favorite since I first played it in 1997. My dog is even named Elly after Elhaym. One thing to note, the 2nd disk wasn't really rushed due to lack of planning, but due to the fact that their already small budget got slashed halfway through the development cycle. They fully intended for the 2nd disk to be as broad as the first, and even expected the title to span 4 discs total, but when he budget was cut severely they were faced with a conundrum. What they ended up with was a very divisive result that I personally find to be a very intimate moment with the most crucial cast members. I love the "plot chair" itself, though I agree that some segments were glossed over much too briefly. This was an excellent review of a game that has been a huge part of my life for 2-1/2 decades. Thank you for this excellent video!
11:00 And we see the first glimpse into Citan Uzuki being Xenogears' biggest bastard. "Oh, you are sick and wounded? Climb or die. You can't? Well I guess you didn't want to live that much."
"I don't have a problem with random battles, but every JRPG video I do I mention the random battles are too much" 😂🎉🎉 my favourite part of every video. Keep up the awesome 👍😎 content!
I love how long you spent giving the towns and the general ambient vibe of the game it’s due credit. Bledavik during the martial arts tournament is my gold standard for RPG towns from that era.
I was EXTREMELY skeptical about watching a 3 hour review on Xenogears. I have watched quite a few of these and most are literally 20 minutes to 30 minutes roughly. None of the reviews on RU-vid do this title justice. IMHO this is by far the very best story in the JRPG genre to ever be told. I am seriously impressed by the amount of work and research you put into this review and want to thank you for it. There is nothing that explains the story outside of Perfect Works better than this video. I myself had thought of making a very similar video, as this game I have most likely played 5 times or more over the years since I bought it all those years ago. I was in the 7th grade when this game came out, and it impacted me due to my curiosity of issues and topics presented in this story. I am so happy to see a video that actually did this title justice. Tysm for this
Loved the video. I played this game when it came out when I was 14 and had no frame of reference for any of the broader concepts/references outside of the Soylent System but now 24 years later, several play throughs, a physical copy of translated Perfect Works, and several video essays I still find more each time I watch one of these. A few notable references that were missed in the video were as follows. Miang and Elly: Miang’s name in the English script was mistranslated. Her name was supposed to be Myah and Elly’s full name is Elehaym which when reversed can be read as “Myah El’e” which means “Myah exists here” in Hebrew. That constant reincarnation of the wave existence’s “Mother” persona and Deus’ “Miang” as a genetic memory control for its rebirth. Kadamony - Kadamony is a reference to Adam Kadmon, the primordial man who had the light of god poured into it which birthed the universe and also led to the creation/shattering of the Sefirot which were divine channels meant to link heaven and creation where Adam is tied to Keter (the crown that exists within heaven at the top of the sefirot). Given the wave existence’s nature as light/energy and Krellian specifically citing that after the defeat of Deus and ascension of the wave existence that the path of Sefirot is open that there is a strong case for the Kabbalah as a major inspiration as well. Babel tower and the Eldridge - when the Eldridge ascends we see that a considerable portion of the vessel is missing from the area fore of the bridge (fun bonus fact, there is map data in the game files that had the full bridge layout with the captain’s watch). When you look more closely at the construction of Babel tower which is built almost 90 degrees off alignment with gravity and the fact that part of the platforming sections has you ascending through residential sections that mirror the opening cutscene which further reinforces that Babel tower is actually just a fragment of the Eldridge that fell to the planet with the rest of the wreckage mostly intact. That also explains why Fort Jasper can use the mirror to redirect its shots and why the tower has a mirror capable of that feat. that also means that Fort Jasper is a repurposed defense system from the Eldridge. Honestly the Xeno series is a SHOCKINGLY deep rabbit hole to crawl down where psychology and religion intersect and the game makes you stop and think about what is really important and why people are given free will and the burdens is brings. The depth of themes through the story and the emotional music by Yasunori Mitsuda (notably far away promise/small of two pieces and Intangible Treasure) really solidified in my mind that video games could tell a story as complex and mature as any other media. The game is a hot mess in some ways but the passion for the project really carries through and as much as I’d love a remake to clean up things like the cut content on disk 2 I also fear that it would lose some of the charm and overall impact that cemented it so firmly as a cult classic and carries it forward so well.
I've started rewatching videos on this channel. I'm not sure what it says about me. But it definitely says there's something special about the way you craft a review/retrospective.
It's been 24 years since I first experienced Xenogears, and I still think about it with alarming frequency. Going through this incredibly well-presented and through breakdown of how many concepts the game ambitiously juggles reminds me of why. Even at three hours, there's a lot of content and plot elements that get skimmed or skipped over for time constraints. I'm glad this is the case, because after finishing I definitely feel like starting another playthrough of the game. Thanks so much for this video Majuular, seeing someone who didn't experience the game in it's original time and context go through it now and come away with all the generally positive critique you offer makes me feel like I haven't been wasting time on it for these last two decades and a half. Although i'd argue Xenogears is the best the PSX has to offer in terms of plot density and scope, it is nonetheless in excellent company among many other RPGs on the platform that handled a variety of mature concepts and ideas that can somehow feel lacking from the genre today. You probably get requests constantly, but given the other "golden age" era games you've reviewed, I'd be thrilled to see you take the same analysis to Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story, or Breath of Fire 3 and 4 should you get the chance. All excellent works that, along with Xenogears and FF7, really a capture a visual design and storytelling vibe Japanese game creators were going for in this era that I truly miss.
Well, that was a pleasant 3 hour jaunt. Subscribed. To me, Xenogears is a game I grew up with. For the longest time in my adolescence I wondered at the early scene in the black forest where Fei meets Elly. Elly calls him coward. Tells him he needs to take responsibility. And Fei's only retort is, "THAT'S RIGHT! I'm a coward!"" You never see a hero express that about themselves, and so you know right away that this story will be leagues ahead and different from any other story. And then, in hindsight, you eventually come to realize that is subtle foreshadowing upon both characters in the scene, and where their character arcs will end up as it simultaneously paints them as two sides of the same coin. Xenogears is a microcosm of humanity, and it is a masterpiece. Thanks for covering it!
Greatest story of all time, game or otherwise. There is nothing quite like this masterpiece. The sheer complexity of its plot is nothing short of astounding. It's so sad that we don't see games of this sort anymore.
I've played Xenogears over and over for twenty years and it's one of my favorite games of all time, and you still managed to change my mind on two things. The translation really does deserve credit. I still don't think it does individual characterizations very well, but it did amazing work building a coherent vocabulary for this insanely complex world. Second, I never took a second look at Hammer. I had the same view since I was a kid, that he was a greedy Judas. Now I recognize that there's a measure of empathy for a character that was struggling.
A MAN OF THE SEA deserves a 10.000 years nap after this journey. Thank you for giving this game the well deserved love… it’s my favorite game of all time, and i love to see others diving in this world.
This was in my suggestions probably because I will watch anything relating to my favorite video game of all time, and wow was this a treat. One of the greatest deep dives I’ve seen on Xenogears and was also very funny. I’ve never hit the subscribe button so quickly after watching a channel’s video for the first time! Thank you for this. Incredible. ❤
I watched an entire 3 hour video without feeling dull. The way you presented this long journey was spot on in terms of humor, wording and pacing. There's something deeply unsettling about the fact that there's an infinite, unknown, mysterious, ancient universe outside of the planet where the story takes place that leaves more questions to ask, accented by the existence of a higher dimensional plane and Krelian's journey into it. The reason for this disquieting feeling is that due to the infinite size of our own universe and limited understanding of its ancient past, Xenogears slowly transcends its "SciFi" label to the point where it becomes a rather compelling theoretical take on our own reality. While works of philosophy and spirituality are nothing new, this is a game that was ahead of its time, simultaneously trying to be a succinct piece of literature, which was incredibly bold for gaming standards of 98'. I just would have loved to see how far this story would have taken its complexity if the developers actually had all the time and budget they needed for such an ambitious project. It might be far from the best in terms of playability, but I can't think of any other PS1 title that delved so deep into existentialism and religious parallels to the point where by the end it left me with chills and a strong feeling of existential dread. Other popular titles like Chrono Cross and Metal Gear also had some dense material to unpack, but the former felt obtrusively pretentious, and the latter limited its scope to more tangible subjects. In any case, I also share the sentiment that this game is easy to love but very hard to recommend due to its somewhat lackluster playable content in comparison with other top competitors of its era.
ahhh Xenogears, the game that turns into a light novel when you put the disc 2 awesome video btw definitely going to watch this on my commute for the following week
I've always loved Babel tower because your making your way through the ship in the intro cinematic. I've always loved seeing something in a movie or cut scene then getting it explore that space in game.
Wow! Just wow! Never played this game but knew about it in my youth due to being in the JRPG scene and all that but , holy moly what a ride! It lost me there for a bit, relatively convoluted in a way that JRPGs can sometimes be, but overall very beautiful and engaging. I'm so glad you played it for me (my 30 year old self is not as patient as the teen version when it comes to old RPG gameplay and game time investments overall), but as always I loved your explanations and commentary! Not gonna lie, took the Mr and I 4-5 viewings to make it through this bad boy, but another great video for the books! Love it! Thank you for all that you do 🐿️💕
I'm from Indonesia. Xenogears to this day probably still the deepest & most philosophical game (or anything really!) that I've ever known. It even changed my life to become interested more into philosophy in my later years now. There is NO other game even until today that has the same massive level & scale as this game. A true masterpiece.
awesome video! i played this game when it was new in the winter of 98 and its still my all time favorite RPG.. i remember taking acid at a party and coming home and finishing it.. in a 8 hour session. this video brought back all the memories and even helped me understand the story even more.. so impressed that over 3 hours and not a dull moment! your script must've been a damn novel like 300 pages!
I waited so long to watch this video as I went through the game, only to be incredibly rewarded. This video was hilarious and made me enjoy the game even more. Thank you so much for creating a project so enjoyable and fun to watch the whole way through!
When that Kislev bit opens with the pipe organ and the candles, I first thought it was a funeral service for Bart until the camera shows that it wasn't a church, it was a small room with new characters.
This video just reeks of passion. I can tell you love this game. Hats off to you for tackling such a massive game. I hope you do Xenosaga soon. This is why I love long form gaming videos like this. Gus like you have such passion.
It makes me sad, considering it's got the best story of regular Xeno games (I consider the others to be "Monado" games, as per the original title). I _will_ say Xenoblade Chronicles X could function as the incident in which humanity lost the earth and mythologized it, but maybe not, as in the year TC 4747, we don't see aliens.
@@Virjunior01 Xenoblade X is absolutely a throwback to Xenogears. They brought back a lot of the Xenogears staff for it, and its essentially what they wanted to do with gameplay back in '98, but could only achieve now.
I played disc one of this game a few years back but due to extenuating circumstances, never made it to disc two. So thanks for taking on the gargantuan task of unpacking it! I was hooked from start to finish of this video; you really have a knack for dishing out plot in a palatable way (and I'm not trying to diminish all the hard work it took to achieve that) and it's really cool you even dipped into some of the themes, even though they're Big Brain concepts lol. Great stuff😩👌
As someone who who has basically been looking for a full story analysis rather than a thematic analysis (both equally tight don’t get me wrong) you don’t know how perfect this is I was looking for to get me through midterms!
Happy i stumbled upon this video. I occasionally look for new retros on Xenogears, when I get the itch but not necessarily the will to actually start another playthrough. Yours is the best one I've seen. I laughed a lot, I cried a little, and I truly appreciated the care you put into making this something more than just a standard run-through of the same talking points I've been hearing about the game since I was first playing it over 20 years ago. This game- its themes, atmosphere, and story, mean a whole lot to me and always have from day 1. Welcome to the cult! You've gained a new fan and subscriber, for sure!
I got this game Christmas the year it came out. What a ride it was...just remembering that day, as well as playing this game in the weeks and months that followed, makes me instantaneously happy and comfy. I can almost feel the chilly winter air and warmth of our fireplace, the crisp smell of both mixed with the cozy pine-attic must of the heavy winter down comforters which only got pulled out during that time of year; the two dogs I grew up with, who have been gone since 2007, curled up next to me. I am happy that I have those memories, but whenever I recall them, all I want to do is rewind time and start over from that day...Christmas, 1998.
A simply delightful experience watching the entirety of this review right after beating the game. Being a psychology bachelor really helped me with all the nuances the game had about the subject. Good job! 👍
I feel the need to chime in that the lovely little combination sequence at 2:13:57 is directly inspired by GaoGaiGar's own Final Fusion sequence. While it's true that GaoGaiGar was itself inspired by the likes of Voltron that you may have been thinking of when you saw Xenogears' own sequence -- Voltron and GaoGaiGar are both lion-themed, incidentally -- where this is specifically GaoGaiGar is in stuff like the lion head in the chest, and the bird mecha becoming a winged backpack, which in GaoGaiGar is a fighter jet; it even comes to rest on the back in mostly the same way. The robot also does a pose similar to GaoGaiGar's at the end of the sequence. GaoGaiGar started airing the year before this game came out. What's _really_ interesting is that GaoGaiGar's combination sequence doesn't involve a dolphin mecha like this game does... until GaoGaiGar Final, via Genesic GaoGaiGar's own sequence, which also featured -- wait for it -- a bird mecha in place of the fighter jet. GaoGaiGar Final didn't come out until a couple of years _after_ this game did.
I laughed a bit too much at the bit in Enter Bart when you mention terminal fear with THAT video in the background. Not finished yet (and likely won’t finish it soon since I’m not done with my own playthrough!) but seriously enjoying this so far, I really love the work you’ve put into the video in terms of editing, and just how easy you make following along with the story and some of its more confusing beats!
They need to give us a remaster of this. I played the hell out of this back in the days. I'm saddened you didn't mention how Jessie made everyone thought he was dead from being the "bullet" in the gun that Billy used to take down Stone.
I don't know. The game holds up pretty well. No real need to change anything about it. Still looks unlike other games of the time like FF7 which are very overrated.
A remaster? I don't think it could happen because the graphics are way too dated. A remake? They'd butcher the hell out of the story, cut it into different games, take centuries to make, and charge $60 each one and it still wouldn't hold a candle to the original lol.
RU-vid notified me about this Super Thanks and I don't know what to make of it. Please let me know if you accidentally added a zero or misplaced a decimal. RU-vid informed me that the currency is American, and if that's true, then this is quite a bit more than I'd expect from a Super Thanks. In any case, your generosity is extremely appreciated and I'm glad you enjoyed the video!
This is my second time watching this video. I was there when XenoGears launched (I was around 15) and this video is as wonderful as XenoGears itself. Thank you for making it.
Fucking hell. I CACKLED when this cropped up in my feed - yeah, that running time feels right. Looking forward to digging into your take - Xenogears is one of the most beautifully broken, sprawling, epic pieces of SFF media out there, and I love it with all my heart despite it being held together with scotch tape and twine.
Something not mentioned about the tournament fight with Dan, there's a special interaction if you survive long enough without attacking Dan once. He'll grow conflicted between his feelings of Fei as someone he wanted to be his brother in law and as the one who destroyed the village. He then retires from the tournament and gives you his sister's wedding dress which is a pretty decent bit of armor for a while.
Loved Xenogears, watched many synopsis and reviews like this one to relive the story, but this is probably the best and the most in-depth I've seen. Truly a gem in the space, the pacing is much better than the actual game, the cultural references are really funny, and the opinions valuable and based. Very nice work. 👌
This video came completely out of left field for me and has quickly become one of my favorite long-form looks at a game on the platform. Awesome stuff! Looking forward to what you come out with next! If I may ask, what are you playing Xenogears on for this video? The 3D models look a bit smoother than I’m used to and I’m curious how that was achieved. May or may not relate to a sudden newfound desire to replay this awesome game 😁
Thanks for the kind words! The game is being played on the Duckstation emulator with some settings that correct some of the issues of PS1s affine texture mapping.
played it in my highschool but my younger brother finished disc 2. thanks for this review. edit: the elements are seem to be based on the heirarchy of angels: throne, seraph, cherubim, dominion
Tip for those near the end, with the Big Joe shop. Those Low-fuel, high damage engines are AWESOME. If you use a "Charge" on an Attack Level infinity, you can recover a LOT of fuel (it might need an accessory or only apply to Xenogears, I can't remember), so the lack of fuel isn't as big of a deal. They hit HARD. Also those circular areas in the ChuChu shop, examine those after the crash, and you get some powerful items.
I actually replayed Xenogears specifically to watch this video. I had been putting it off for years because I was worried it wouldn't measure up to how I remembered it. Satisfied to say that my memories were faithful to the experience and the wait to watch your video was worth it. It's just exceptionally well done and a very good companion piece to what can be a very confusing game at times. Also I laughed that my memories about Citan and the soylent system were not incorrect. That scene is every bit as insane as I remember.
Welcome to the cult! Now you'll be seeking to relive Xenogears for the first time by trying to get someone else new, that you know would like the game, to play it for the first time. Just to see their them experience the story from a third person perspective 🤣 😂 Pro-tip, if you don't already know, Resonant Arc did a fantastic 20 episode series on this, in which it was Casons first play through.
Fun fact (funner before you play but I can’t time travel yet): You can avoid combat by jumping. You won’t get into random battles if you only love while in the air. This helps the atrocious random battle rate. Which is designed in a way that the longer you go without fighting anything, the higher the odds of the next step causing a battle. Up to 100%. Very silly.
Xenogears is the one, singular game that I would love to see a remaster of, or heck, just a port, to modern systems so that it could be re-introduced to more people. It's a convoluted mess at times, but there's enough there to make a 3 hour review and analysis of a game that doesn't even go into some of the details. The care and love you put into this piece is incredible and commendable. Thank you for making and sharing this with us/the world. Absolutely loved my time with it, especially as an introduction to your work & channel. 👏Bravo!
Thanks for the kind words Jared :) I agree, it's a shame about the loss of accessibility of these gems. Xenogears should be made ultra available for a new generation to appreciate!
Love how people are still discovering this game almost 30 years later. I played the demo when it came out and got hooked, and I still do a play through every couples years.
I was 14 when I played it in 98, I'm 38 now, and looking back, it's a wonder I even got through it. It was a masterpiece well ahead of it's time and we'll beyond my ability to fully comprehend. I ended up playing it many times, and it's due for a revisit. I've got my PS1 copy and the digital loaded on my PS3. This is hands down the best full game overview I've ever seen, you did a fantastic job tackling something this complex.
Great and enjoyable review, it made me resume the game after dropping it seven years ago in Aveh Tournament section. Thanks for those three hours, man.
Hi, I just wanted to say that I had Xenogear on my psp for a while and seeing this 3 hour long review in my feed encouraged me to play the game and even complete the whole saga. Once I complete the game I'll comeback and watch the whole thing, I promise. I'll let you guys know how everything went after I complete Xenogears.
Best Xeno video out there. It was definitely way to over my head when I played through it when it first came out, but really glad the themes and story can be explored in this format, as I think it really highlights what was special about the experience and why it sticks with you.
