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Xenogears - a LAMB of love
- Thread starter Y2Kev
- Start date
Yes. When Earth was abandoned in T.C. 0016, it became known as Lost Jerusalem.
Anyone who likes Xenogears should really read Childhood's End. There are a lot of parallels between the stories. I read it for the first time a couple years ago and finally understood why Takahashi named the game's antagonist Karellen, after the character from the book.
Weltall Zero
Member
My username should hopefully tell everything you need to know about my opinion of this game. 
My username should hopefully tell everything you need to know about my opinion of this game.
Mine too, actually. Sorta. I took the fucked up translation of the Xenogears boss and merged it with the correct spelling
Prince of Space
Banned
TheDarkKnight774
Member
My absolute favorite JRPG. Its faults are well covered but man theres no game like it IMO. So much so Ive replayed it at least 4 times and its not a quick game.
The soundtrack is amazing, I love the snappy and fun combat system as well. The way they unlock new attack moves is fun and the character attacks are always interesting to watch.
As for the story. Man what a ride. Usually for RPGs you get great characters but not great world/lore building. Or the opposite. Yes the games lore/world building is like nothing out there but I also really loved the personal character moments of the party.
Seeing a relationship like Fei/Elly is so rare to see. They dont act like teens with a my first crush but a more adult relationship. I was so stunned when Fei ended up burning the village down. The game takes that starting trope and literally nukes it. And then the characters actually hold Fei responsible. Man I could go on and on.
What a great game.
The soundtrack is amazing, I love the snappy and fun combat system as well. The way they unlock new attack moves is fun and the character attacks are always interesting to watch.
As for the story. Man what a ride. Usually for RPGs you get great characters but not great world/lore building. Or the opposite. Yes the games lore/world building is like nothing out there but I also really loved the personal character moments of the party.
Seeing a relationship like Fei/Elly is so rare to see. They dont act like teens with a my first crush but a more adult relationship. I was so stunned when Fei ended up burning the village down. The game takes that starting trope and literally nukes it. And then the characters actually hold Fei responsible. Man I could go on and on.
What a great game.
Lunafreya Nox Fleuret
Member
It's likely my favourite game of all time. I appreciate this thread and a remake would absolutely make me go bonkers.
DiipuSurotu
Banned
Anyone else thinks Chrono and Xenogears should have been the same franchise. Deus and Lavos were totally created by the same biotechnology
Count of Monte Sawed-Off
un33dab@dpu$$y
I'll say this, Xenogears always felt like the more natural continuation to Chrono Trigger than Cross. At least to me.
And Lucca had more screen time in Xenogears.
DangerMouse
Member
This.
CEJames
Member
Lunafreya Nox Fleuret
Member
Hahaha but it would be a collab between SE and Monolith man.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
You can totally see why they thought they could get away with Disc 2 after Evangelion's Episode 25 + 26.
DangerMouse
Member
Beautiful
BuddyTheBestPuppy
Member
Really loved this game back in the day. I have wonderful memories of it
A remake with high res 2D/3D art would be amazing!
A remake with high res 2D/3D art would be amazing!
Mister Wolf
Member
I'm a Xeno fanboy because of Gears. It's still the best Xeno.
Count of Monte Sawed-Off
un33dab@dpu$$y
Indeed. It'll be a miracle if they can even pull off FF7. And it'd take much more than that to adequately pull off a Xenogears remake.
I don't really want a Xenogears remake. There are many reasons for this (developers split up, specific PS1 era art style, Square Enix is a dodgy company, etc) but the biggest reason of all personally, the more I think about it these days, is that to me Xenogears evokes a very specific feeling which a remake can never capture.
The mix of pixelated 2D sprites with a full 3D environment and camera, low-resolution textures, yet lots of zoom/rotate camera effects and a painstaking attention to detail in populating the towns and areas with great art direction meant that it create this uniquely ugly but beautiful look which felt lived in, rough, and despite all the fantastical stuff - grounded. The density of the areas cannot be replicated in a remake without an unreasonable budget. Not with the same attention to detail. This is a problem which I feel plagued JRPGs ever since they went full 3D. There just aren't enough resources to recreate the sort of vision they have for these worlds, which they could manage in 2D games or those with pre-rendered backgrounds or fixed/limited camera perspective games on PS1.
To be honest, the only full 3D big budget JRPG I can think of which really captures the sort of feel I'm talking about would be FFXII - specifically Rabanastre. That was so impressive that it killed Ito and Matsuno. This is what technology does to us.
The mix of pixelated 2D sprites with a full 3D environment and camera, low-resolution textures, yet lots of zoom/rotate camera effects and a painstaking attention to detail in populating the towns and areas with great art direction meant that it create this uniquely ugly but beautiful look which felt lived in, rough, and despite all the fantastical stuff - grounded. The density of the areas cannot be replicated in a remake without an unreasonable budget. Not with the same attention to detail. This is a problem which I feel plagued JRPGs ever since they went full 3D. There just aren't enough resources to recreate the sort of vision they have for these worlds, which they could manage in 2D games or those with pre-rendered backgrounds or fixed/limited camera perspective games on PS1.
To be honest, the only full 3D big budget JRPG I can think of which really captures the sort of feel I'm talking about would be FFXII - specifically Rabanastre. That was so impressive that it killed Ito and Matsuno. This is what technology does to us.
Mister Wolf
Member
The only way I will accept it is if Nomura directs it haha.
Wow thank you for mentioning this, this is so damn good.
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
The narrative was so strong that I don't care that I spend an hour or two in disk 2 just reading.
Remains my #1 game.
Just glad there wasn't a lot of merch for it, or I'd have a little shrine. Did end up getting the various soundtracks, Perfect Works, and I did track down a copy of the Elly version of the Millennium Collection, so I have a nice Elly and ChuChu figure in my figure case.
I think the only way I would want a remake is if Monolithsoft somehow got the rights back and did it themselves.
Remains my #1 game.
Just glad there wasn't a lot of merch for it, or I'd have a little shrine. Did end up getting the various soundtracks, Perfect Works, and I did track down a copy of the Elly version of the Millennium Collection, so I have a nice Elly and ChuChu figure in my figure case.
I think the only way I would want a remake is if Monolithsoft somehow got the rights back and did it themselves.
Lunafreya Nox Fleuret
Member
We can run to the end of the world... run to the end of the worlddddd.
I don't really want a Xenogears remake. There are many reasons for this (developers split up, specific PS1 era art style, Square Enix is a dodgy company, etc) but the biggest reason of all personally, the more I think about it these days, is that to me Xenogears evokes a very specific feeling which a remake can never capture.
The mix of pixelated 2D sprites with a full 3D environment and camera, low-resolution textures, yet lots of zoom/rotate camera effects and a painstaking attention to detail in populating the towns and areas with great art direction meant that it create this uniquely ugly but beautiful look which felt lived in, rough, and despite all the fantastical stuff - grounded. The density of the areas cannot be replicated in a remake without an unreasonable budget. Not with the same attention to detail. This is a problem which I feel plagued JRPGs ever since they went full 3D. There just aren't enough resources to recreate the sort of vision they have for these worlds, which they could manage in 2D games or those with pre-rendered backgrounds or fixed/limited camera perspective games on PS1.
To be honest, the only full 3D big budget JRPG I can think of which really captures the sort of feel I'm talking about would be FFXII - specifically Rabanastre. That was so impressive that it killed Ito and Matsuno. This is what technology does to us.
Yeah, I don't think you could do a full 3D Remake of Xenogears and maintain the sense of scale and world building. The best you could probably do is more of a stylized remake in the vein of Tactics Ogre PSP, keeping the 2D on 3D look with rotating camera. But even that would probably prohibitively expensive to make. And of course, Takahashi would have to be at the helm of any remake.
SatelliteOfLove
Member
Flight is really really good.
Citan and Jade from Tales of the Abyss are peas in a pod. They both are borderline sociopaths with delusions of grandeur but do the right thing for purely logical reasons.
Thinking back on it from this thread, Citan does avoid alot of the "Im your friend, NOW I BETRAY YOU, ok, now I'm your friend again" schtick that's too common in the genre by sticking to that reasoning.
Citan and Jade from Tales of the Abyss are peas in a pod. They both are borderline sociopaths with delusions of grandeur but do the right thing for purely logical reasons.
Thinking back on it from this thread, Citan does avoid alot of the "Im your friend, NOW I BETRAY YOU, ok, now I'm your friend again" schtick that's too common in the genre by sticking to that reasoning.
I'll argue that Honne's active involvement is more important than Takahashi's. Of course in any remake if they would be expanding or rearranging the story, I would want Takahashi and Soraya Saga directly involved in those decisions, but I think you can manage most of it without changing much at all. The main appeal of a remake would be updated visuals, which simply will not be the same without Honne taking full oversight on the art direction. Takahashi's Monolithsoft games have never been the same since Honne decided to do Baten Kaitos instead, and now he doesn't even do anything other than managing an asset studio for Nintendo.
It's crazy to believe that playing this as a 12 year old when it came out is still my fondest video game experience of all time, despite my probably being unable to explain the story in full right now if someone were to ask me to. Every time I see a Xenogears thread I mean to give it a replay to re-experience the game as an adult, but this thread might've been the final nudge I needed.
katsubento
Member
It's a classic that I loved in spite of the issues. Would buy a remastered version in a heartbeat.
TheEndOfItAll
Neo Member
The thing that impressed me most about Xenogears is that there was very little downtime. It always felt like something intense or high emotion was happening.
Brigandier
Member
I have to admit every time I see the name Xenogears the nostalgia in me goes into overdrive..... also the end song is so nice gives me chills.
Doctrine Dark
Member
I love this game. Probably my #1 fav RPG of all-time.
Serviam
Member
It really does feel like a twisted M rated, Chrono Trigger sequel/installment in so many ways. The obvious links being Mitsuda and Honne.
Totally disagree. I like blade but I see almost no ways its like Gears.
I agree with this. I think Blade has an interesting world with alot of depth, but having a developed world is about as close as you get as it goes to comparisions between the two series. Saga is the more apt comparison because they are (but aren't) in the same universe.
DiipuSurotu
Banned
The whole song was Engrish at first but Joanne Hogg was allowed to rewrite Masato Kato's lyrics for better flow and grammar. Unfortunately she couldn't change the title itself (or the title was decided later).
Agreed with the OP. I enjoyed pretty much everything. Even the Disc 2 shenanigans. Ok, except the jumping.
Favorite stuff:
All the scenes with Weltall ID are the best. And ID punching gears himself is awesome.
I went bonkers at DAT transformation scene. It still looks pretty good.
End of Disc 1 spoilers just in case:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BOi-FSF8vI
And cannot forget the G-Elements scene:
spoilers for disc 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqOWhstrffw
Give me more JRPGs with mechs Monolith!!!
Favorite stuff:
All the scenes with Weltall ID are the best. And ID punching gears himself is awesome.
I went bonkers at DAT transformation scene. It still looks pretty good.
End of Disc 1 spoilers just in case:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BOi-FSF8vI
And cannot forget the G-Elements scene:
spoilers for disc 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqOWhstrffw
Give me more JRPGs with mechs Monolith!!!