So this is a game that is well considered a classic. I finally got around to playing/finishing it in the past couple of weeks, mostly in prep for Xenoblade X, after stopping for a period of time. This is a game that Ive wanted to play for the longest time not just because Im a RPG fan but also Im a big mecha fan. So in many ways this should have been straight up my alley. Its a hard game to review or analyze for a number of reasons, the main one obviously being Disc 2. Yea. I also ruminated over it for a few days after reading Perfect Works, resulting in my initial impression post-game being a bit different than it is now.
Visuals-
The graphics are what one would expect out of a PS1 game. It is what it is. They held up better than I expected but its not that surprising as 32 bit stuff hasnt aged as quickly as 64 bit. I did find the animated cutscene to be kinda cool in that I liked the alternative/detailed art presented. There werent that many but they were all pretty well storyboarded. I can see elements of here that Mashimo carried into .hack//SIGN. Im sure Otaking would have been proud with all of that proper shading. The CGI was appropriate for the era, in that it was terrible, but at least no CGI mechs. Overall, Production IG did a good job. Too bad there arent any higher resolution copies of the cutscenes out there on BD or something. It should have been done on cel so it should upscale pretty well.
Some of the in-game character model cutscenes didnt work as well, on an emotional front as I would have liked, for a couple of reasons. One reason being the lack of voices during certain scenes such as Krellians big emotional breakthrough. Good voice acting would have done wonders for a number of bits. The other being that you cant see facial details or subtle body language. Yes, I know its the PS1 but its one of those things that I still cant help but wish, especially in such a narrative heavy game.
The mech designs were fairly interesting and diverse. Its pretty clear that the Gundam franchise had a big influence. For example, the mechs are articulated in a similar manner to G-Gundam despite the difference in cockpit designs. Funnels being renamed Aerods is another one. Evangelion also had a big part, although thats more on the narrative front. Crescens looked like a combination of Allenbys Nobel Gundam with RahXephon( this came out after Xeno though). Its a bit of a hodgepodge of multiple franchises and I enjoyed that. The super sentai transformation sequence for the Elements was pretty cool, I hadnt pieced together the purpose of the different animal shapes until that exact moment. The gattai sequence being so long was just the icing on the cake. Super Dimension Gear Yggdrasil IV was not only a blast to see but play. I always wanted to play the Fortress giving a smackdown. I got a big kick out of all of this.
Marias Seibzehn being a reference to Giant Robo was kinda cute.
Now that I think about it, I wonder if the Devil Gundam had an influence on Takahashi, in regards to Deus.
Sound/Translation-
It would have been nice if the in-game stuff was orchestral as its so damn good. Far Away Promise was the stand out piece for me, although it didnt translate that well into a piano version (possibly because the tempo is off in the piano composition). I think the music box component really helped give it a sense of sadness and loss. Yasunori Mitsuda delivered the quality I would expect from him. Xenoblade Chronicles OST was outstanding so I had high expectations going in from an audio standpoint. The Celtic inspiration gave it a nice flair. After I finished the game, I found the orchestral performances of a number of key songs and while not all of them panned out, Im still listening to a few. Small Two of Pieces was a fantastic credits song.
Dubbing is pretty bad for the anime cutscenes but that was expected. Translation stuff seemed kinda off at times. Supposedly they fucked around with some of the names making things even more confusing for the audience. Myyah to Miang being one of them, as the connection to Ellie is lost there. Seems like it was a nightmare to translate. Citans name being Shitan in Japanese is pretty funny though.
Minor quibble but the audio mixing in the final scene with Krellian was atrocious. Parts of the dialogue were not even understandable. Kinda weird as that was the only time it was an issue.
Story-
It feels like Takahasi crammed three novels worth of material into the game. In short its a mess. Now dont get me wrong, its an interesting and intriguing mess at times but its definitely a mess. Parts of the story arent really explained that well in the game, some parts are too long and others too short, character work is neglected at needed points, and long sequences where on purpose the audience has no clue as to what is going on. Part of this can be attributed to Disc 2 which is like the bare framework of the story. The pacing is just so completely fucked in Disc 2 that elements of the story are negatively impacted as a result.
An example would be the Soylent System stuff in that its something that happens and the pacing ruins any sort of emotion involved in that, the nanomachines have mostly solved the problem less than half an hour later. It's treated as something like a roadbump instead of the world-changing event that it is. Obviously its supposed to be foreshadowing the Deus stuff at the end but due to the proximity of the actual twist with Deus, it would have made more sense to just merge the Soylent stuff with the later Deus material or just completely cut it as a separate plot component. Theres no emotional impact and all it does is ruin the twist later. The impact from Hammers sudden betrayal is also impacted in that its not fleshed out at all. This is something that absolutely needed more detail as it results in a critical moment in Disk 1. You run into him again in Disk 2 and its like Oh hey, boss fight time and thats really it. There's nowhere near enough there for any of that to feel earned. Ricos stuff is also just completely left open and he pretty much serves no purpose in the 2nd disc, either gameplay-wise or narratively. Theres no sense of closure in regards to his relationship with his father. Theres also stuff like Bart regaining the throne and ultimately that feels like a waste because the entire country is wiped out in such a short while later anyway. Climaxes feel undercut because the pacing is just too condensed. Hell, Shevat crashed offscreen (they didnt even have a cutscene for this one).
Now Ive seen people praise Disc 2 and I understand why, in that Disc 1 was too slow and boring at times. Part of this is due to the dungeons in the game in that theyre fucking awful. Disc 1 being bloated while on the other hand. Disc 2 feels too truncated. Its a very uneven experience but at least with Disc 1 I feel the slower pace worked better with the complicated narrative in that it allowed things to happen and there was more room to breathe. For example exploring Solaris at the end of Disc 1 was nice and I appreciated elements like that as it not only helps make the world the characters are living in seem more real but it also serves to deepen some of the later narrative elements through minor dialogue sequences. In Disk 2 however, the only time the audience has any time to breathe or take in the circumstances is at the very end. There arent any gameplay segments to break up the story and so instead youre treated to a visual novel that just burns through its material. All I could do was press X to get through walls of text at agonizingly slow speeds and occasionally have a boss battle or dungeon if I'm lucky. Disc 1's faults don't make Disc 2 better.
I also have issues in how the story is told. There are numerous cutscenes in the game that dont make a lick of sense unless you:
A) Finish the game
B) Read Perfect Works
C) Do Both
Part of this is due the fact that the characters use jargon that they havent explained to the audience. I mean the Gazelle Ministry stuff is just overloaded with it. Now before someone complains that Im expected to replay a 80-90 hour game in order to better understand the story, like they did back in the day, I feel there had to have been a more effective approach than what was presented here. I find Nier to be a more recent example that does something similar but in a much better manner. Niers approach of cutting out cutscenes till later playthroughs helps with pacing initially as the audience doesnt have to watch X amount of minutes that would be a complete waste to them at that point in time and it provides the user more incentive to replay the game as the user has a better grasp of the narrative and can actually make heads or tails out of it. I understand its unfair to compare a game released in 1998 with 2010 but Im not happy with the execution presented here. I feel like Xenoblade Characters was infinitely better narratively than Xenogears, mainly in how the story and characters are presented. I will note though that Xenogears is a vastly more complicated work than Xenoblade.
Theres also tons of character development stuff in Perfect Works that really should have been in the game. Jessies notes in the book help contextualize Billys reaction, as opposed to Billy just appearing to be a rebellious teenager. Jessie literally dont look like his old self as a result of plastic surgery so it was understandable for Billy to wonder if this was his dad. A bigger one would be Elly and her not knowing if Medena is her mother. I mean the narrative in the game presents it as a question of sorts but the book spells it out, as its important to note that shes the Antitype. While it does hurt the idea of Medena possibly sacrificing herself for someone elses child, it also answers why Elly looks different. This information could have been presented later in the story so as to not undercut Medenas sacrifice at the time, while letting Elly contemplate her relationship with her mother. I mean Ellys reaction to her parents sacrificing themselves isnt that well delved into. Yes, the information isnt critical so when it comes right down to it, I kinda understand why it got cut out but elements like that really flesh out characters. I shouldnt be reading a book after the game having eureka moments.
Since Im sure somebody is going to point out that Im complaining about the lack of info provided in the cutscenes while also suggesting a number be excised at the same time, I should note that the problem isnt inherently in the information itself but how and when its presented. Lacan and Krelians full background information is told a bit too late in the narrative and really should have been presented sooner. Well, that, and instead of the Ministry garbage, I would have taken more conversations involving the actual party members.
I'm fully cognizant that some people would disagree and would rather have the cliffnotes than for anything to be cut out. However you work with what you got. If you have a 5 minute short, you dont write an hour worth of material for it and try to cram everything in. If you do go over then you should adjust the narrative. Once it became clear they were having serious budget issues, they should have trimmed the story down instead of giving the audience something anemic.
At least they're providing pictures with the words.
All of that said, its impressive what the story accomplishes on a thematic level. It combines Childhoods End, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Nietzsche. I can see why there were issues getting this imported over due to the religious content. Some of the stuff is pretty directed in its criticism of organized religion. A minor example being Grahf doing this ritual, or communion, when reviving defeated enemies. Obviously the final boss citing bible quotes is a major one (Square RPGs really do love that). Lenin would have been proud of the Ethos stuff. On that note, the game is still very spiritual, mostly due to the Nisan Church. While I dont necessarily agree with God being the concept of two individuals helping one another, its touching. The notion of lifting a fallen brother or sister up is an exemplary ideal. I think the Nisan Church is a good representation of what religion should be while the Ethos Church is closer to what it actually is.
Something I found peculiar was while the depiction of Solaris links with a negative viewpoint of capitalism; they dont really present much of an alternative. Solaris is a mixture of The World State in Brave New World and Oceania from 1984. I know thats a weird description because those two societies are vastly different, not only in how they function but the goals they claim to perpetrate for society. However those two came to mind because Solaris utilizes technology similar to TWS to keep the Lambs brainwashed and Solaris citizens happy. On the other hand, the government is using fear and force to keep the lower classes in Solaris itself oppressed, such as throwing that guy protesting down the hole when you start exploring the place. I thought Shevat would be the contrast but its pretty much nonexistent as a country when the party arrives, not to mention Shevats society still runs off of money (probably a limitation of it being in a game).
There is also a really good introspection of the Hedgehog's Dilemma. A key part of the story is oriented around the difficulty of two humans simply communicating with one another. Even inside Fei himself he can't communicate. The three personas were all incapable of saying what was needed to be said till near the end. There's also a great conversation between Elly and Fei about the notion of fitting in. It was a splendid insight into Fei's need for a social identity due to the lack of his personal one. It was fanfuckintastic that Fei's personal issues of identity were tied so well with Deus, it makes the work feel cohesive thematically (even if I'm not happy that the writers used Elly to get there).
The ending was totally Gundam though, complete with Newtype nudity, and dialogue straight from Eva.