For some reason, I never really paid any mind to Xenogears, despite how highly esteemed it is among JRPG fans and me loving 90s era JRPGs. I think the name kind of was made into a blur for me thanks to the Xenosaga and Xenoblade games, so I never really paid attention to Xenogears. So, the last month or so I was playing Chrono Trigger for the first time and it was a really tight and well-designed game that I definitely saw why some consider it the greatest JRPG of all time - although I didn't really care much about the tone or the narrative or the battle system, to be honest. Then I was in the mood for a PS1 JRPG and found out how amazing Duckstation makes PS1 games look, so I figured I would boot up Xenogears just to see how much the emulator improved it. Not only was I impressed by the visual presentation of Xenogears, but going from Chrono Trigger's light-hearted tone and cast of characters to Xenogears' much more melancholic and 'suffering' narrative felt like such a fresh breath of air to me to such an extent that the introduction with Fei and Elly catapulted me throughout the 55 hour journey. And by the end, I was absolutely enthralled by how great of a game it was. Here are some of the stuff that really impressed me:
So what now? Am I condemned to asking Square Enix to re-release the game on modern platforms? To remaster it like they did with Legend of Mana and the Saga games? Did the 20 year anniversary in 2018 with its figures and concerts result indicate any effort to revitalize the game in some form? Am I supposed to go play the off-putting Xenosaga games that I've heard will in no way reach the heights and quality of Xenogears?
Here are some screens of the game that I played in Duckstation (mostly just the first third of the game, I have tons more but that would cripple the thread):
- The 90s anime intro was intriguing and gave a sense of wonder that I had no idea how it connected to the main story with Fei's life in the village. I ended up absolutely loving the premise of the plot
- The story was so ambitious and grand that I don't think I'll ever get to see a game with such a massive story, amount of characters, time-span, lore and worldbuilding as Xenogears. Just browsing the translated Perfect Works book gives you an idea how incredibly vast the universe of Xenogears was imagined to be. Really impressive creative imagination by Tetsuya Takahasi and Soraya Saga / Kaori Tanaka!
- Mitsuda's soundtrack is really amazing. It only suffers from a lack of songs to spread out across 55 hours of game, so sometimes the reuse of tracks can drag some of the experience down, but there are some really standout compositions, especially towards the end of the game. Absolutely loved the music!
- Beautiful 2D sprites in a 3D space look really, really good in an emulator in 4K with extra enhancements (see below and sorry to the pixel purists, I used a filter!)
- As someone who loves Valkyrie Profile, the battle system with its combos felt like I was right at home. Unfortunately I never really got properly introduced to it, so I didn't unlock all of the combos when I finished the game
- The multiple game systems they wanted to do in these games reflect the high ambitions of the narrative. Two different combat systems on foot and in Gears, combo-levelling, fuel and health management in the Gear combat, platforming, level puzzles, random battles, 3 different ships to travel the worldmap, even a combat arena where the game turned into a fighting game à la Tekken / Street Fighter - I can't believe they managed to jam so many different systems together in one single game (for better or worse). Because I played the game through emulation via Duckstation, I used save states to get over the nasty and frustrating parts (platforming or difficult bosses with badly placed save points), so the game was more enjoyable than if played on the original Playstation.
- The melancholic tone and tragic tale of these interwoven fates and characters was what really hooked me. Fei and Elly, their affection for one another, juxtaposed with the camaraderie of the party members with each of their own stories really provided the emotional core to the much more abstract, philosophical themes of existence, free will, values of a human life, love, and so on.
- I was already prepared for the infamous Disc 2 and I actually expected an underwhelming conclusion to the very ambitious journey. While I certainly did laugh at the visual novel style of characters sitting in a chair with a spotlight on them recounting the cut content in order to advance the story, I still felt that most of the threads ended up being wrapped up and the ending section was absolutely sublime.
- In a sense, Disc 2 was not bad at all! I actually enjoyed it. I guess it's easier for me to enjoy since I'm okay with visual novels, so I didn't see many problems with the lack of 'gameplay'. I'm certainly much more happy that the story was concluded and wrapped up rather than cut short for some sequel that might never had seen the light of day. Square Enix and the development team certainly made the right choice by compromising with Disc 2 rather than ending it after the destruction of Solaris.
So what now? Am I condemned to asking Square Enix to re-release the game on modern platforms? To remaster it like they did with Legend of Mana and the Saga games? Did the 20 year anniversary in 2018 with its figures and concerts result indicate any effort to revitalize the game in some form? Am I supposed to go play the off-putting Xenosaga games that I've heard will in no way reach the heights and quality of Xenogears?
Here are some screens of the game that I played in Duckstation (mostly just the first third of the game, I have tons more but that would cripple the thread):
