XENOGEARS!

I finished my Rush 2 review early so I decided to get a head start on the next one. Only played the demo of this game back in 98 or something and never got around to playing the full game until right now.

Took a moment to realize I had to press X to get the main menu screen to pop up because I thought it was still loading. That's another thing this game likes to do, load. I noticed a considerable lag between going to a new area and coming out of the menu screen in the game. What's the cameraman's fascination with the zoom button, anyway? Can you get closer to the screen!?

I like the animation. Reminds me of other animes I used to watch back then like Record of Lodoss War and one anime that also dealt in robots that I can't remember the name of. Game does that annoying "Let's trigger the opening scene if you wait at the title screen too because why not?" Don't understand developers who do that. Wait, there's a jump button? WOOHOO I'm jumping on the bed (literally the first thing I did).

I can move around when NPCs are talking? That's cool. Except all the time I think they're done talking just to walk away two steps and find they're not done yapping. My back is turned to you, boy, that's your cue to shut up.

I'm in the Forest of the Black Moon and just ran into Elly after I accidentally Lahan Village. The Doc said I should go, so I go. I like Fei so far, but after three straight Final Fantasys where a character had amnesia that storyline is starting to wear thin on me. The flashbacks of his memory have at least been enjoyable. Can't help but notice the overworld looks identical to Final Fantasy VII, but that may just be due to hardware restraints, I don't know. Shame about Alice. She was pretty. Midori is the best character though.

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Interesting theory. How'd you reach that conclusion?

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And then?

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But what about the troll problem?

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Ooh, catty. Your mom's hot.

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Originally Posted by ToriJ

I like Fei so far, but after three straight Final Fantasys where a character had amnesia that storyline is starting to wear thin on me.

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Oh boy, are you in over your head :D

As for the VII-looking world map - you know this game was actually planned to be released as FFVII, right? That may be why. They ultimately didn't do it because it got too dark.

Funnily enough, I will actually be doing a podcast tomorrow for my blog with Justin Clause over from the Escapist where we will argue/debate/discuss the game. :p

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Originally Posted by Fynn

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Originally Posted by ToriJ

I like Fei so far, but after three straight Final Fantasys where a character had amnesia that storyline is starting to wear thin on me.

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Oh boy, are you in over your head :D

As for the VII-looking world map - you know this game was actually planned to be released as FFVII, right? That may be why. They ultimately didn't do it because it got too dark.

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I'll have you know my head is perfectly sized to fit my body.

Ah man, I was going to say that too, but I wasn't sure if it was or they just took ideas they scraped from FFVII and used it here.

Whoa, Fei and Elly just had a fight. They only known each other for fifteen minutes.

When I first played through the game in the 90s I thought it was amazing. When I replayed it about five years ago it was all I could do to finish it. Maybe I grew up, maybe the game didn't hold up, or maybe it was just the timing, but it's hard to want to go back to any time soon.

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Originally Posted by ToriJ

Whoa, Fei and Elly just had a fight. They only known each other for fifteen minutes.

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:giggle:


And yeah, the gameplay has aged really poorly to the point that I don't know if I'd want to replay it, but the story still remains one of the most ambitious in gaming, IMO.

Arguably one of the best amnesia stories. So it's a real tragedy that you got to it so late and the others ruined it for you

I've actually been enjoying the little flashbacks to Fei's past. I may come to like the execution, it's just the premise that makes me roll my eyes.

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lol, good one.

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Originally Posted by theundeadhero

When I first played through the game in the 90s I thought it was amazing. When I replayed it about five years ago it was all I could do to finish it. Maybe I grew up, maybe the game didn't hold up, or maybe it was just the timing, but it's hard to want to go back to any time soon.

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It's a strange one. There really are things about this game that are absolutely brilliant. Other things about the game are damn near unbearable though. Maybe be the only game I know of whose highs and lows are this extreme.

Man a lot has happened in just a few hours. I made it into a desert, found some parts for my Gear, met a guy named Grahf who wants to kill God (didn't he hear the old German saying?), story started talking about religion, I got captured, almost drowned in sand, fought a pirate and he 'go stuck in quicksand.' Nice typo.

The robot battles have been the most enjoyable part of the game for me. I like the regular battles okay, too. What I can understand of them anyway.

I hated the Gear fights. I always found it so stressful that I could run out of fuel

Still, good for you if you enjoy them! Disc 2 is basically just Gear fights, zero regular ones :monster:

I haven't ran out of fuel yet, so there you go.

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Originally Posted by ToriJ

I haven't ran out of fuel yet, so there you go.

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Me neither. I was just scared I would :ohdear:

Ugh I hated the gear fights with a passion. The gameplay in general is pretty poor for me

But the story is excellent, one of the best video game stories ever

I, too, adored the gear fights. You can charge yourself for fuel. I'm not sure if that ever really added to the intensity for me. It may have in the back of my head. But most of the fights in the gears were just intense and dramatic and I loved it. Granted it was usually a gauntlet of boss fights, but it was nice that they were all story related and there was always something at stake. And that sure added to my enjoyment. I suppose if I ran out of fuel a lot or died a lot, it would have been a whole different story for me though

Unfortunately they did a terrible job of explaining the battle system in this game, but once you learn how to chain your techniques (I think it's called a Combo?) then it gets a little more fun. I really liked the story and most of the characters I but wasn't a fan of the backtracking to old villages/whatever.

Also you're going to lose your mind once you get to Disc 2 because the game goes from like, a regular RPG, to basically a slideshow with Gear battles in-between. But don't let it scare you away cause the story is still pretty good, just presented poorly!

I still think they actually did a fantastic job considering their resources. Disc 2 comes across as the more artistic one as a result.

Yeah, no offense to anyone or anything. But I never understood people's issues with disk 2. If you're playing an old JRPG they don't really shine in the gameplay department. They're all more about the story and characters and stuff. And that's where disk 2 shines. And it's not like we're banned from running around towns and the world map. It's just a lot less frequent. I loved it. Very full of story and character. And oddly deep philosophical thought for its time

I'm starting to think I'm one of the few on here who doesn't mind the gameplay.

While we're on the subject of battles, is there a way to actually run from these things!? I ran out of healing items and the only ones I could use to restore health could only be accessed outside of battle.

Just wait till you get to the Tower of Babel, kiddo, and you'll be begging for death ;)

I didn't even find the Tower of Babel that frustrating.

That all being said, I played this around the time I was playing all sorts of old clunky games (Resident Evil, Tomb Raider) so maybe that all eased the pain.

I've never understood what was supposed to be hard about it. Is it the boss fight at the end people dread?

Jumping Gears.

It's the horrible platforming and camera angles.

I remember I fell down like... once. I don't recall having a whole lot of trouble with it myself. But like shauna, it may have been a product of the time that I was used to. I'm not sure I made it that far when I played it last time. Though I beat the game twice in a row back in the day

The camera angles are pretty trout and moving the camera makes me nauseous.

I love this game.

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Originally Posted by Vyk

Yeah, no offense to anyone or anything. But I never understood people's issues with disk 2. If you're playing an old JRPG they don't really shine in the gameplay department. They're all more about the story and characters and stuff. And that's where disk 2 shines. And it's not like we're banned from running around towns and the world map. It's just a lot less frequent. I loved it. Very full of story and character. And oddly deep philosophical thought for its time

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Because you get an entire games worth of content dumbped on you in in a long serious of text dumps. Outside of the payoff to one of the games story arcs through an awesome scene,the second disk is like reading someones synapsis of what happened.

I always say that I enjoyed Disc 2 because it just let me enjoy the damn story with a boss fight or tight dungeon sprinkled in here and there.

I'm glad people are still giving it a try and going through it because it is an important game that deserves to be played. You can tell a lot of the concepts were carried over to FVII after Saga and Takahashi originally pitched it.

So people didn't like the tower because they fail at jumping :p

I used to own this game...I do not recall how far I got...some floating city thingy.

I still had no idea where the story was going but it was odd that there was a painting of Elly that was umpteen hundred years old. I've tried reading synopses of the story before but my mind just turns to jelly as I stare blankly at the mountain of text it takes to explain the mothersmurfer.

Oh jeez, I was annoyed enough by the text dump at the beginning of the game.

Just learned about the Omnigear.

Fei: Is there a chance one of our gears could be it?
Bart: Yeah, what are the chances of THAT happening!

Fei's gear is the Omnigear, isn't it?

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Originally Posted by ToriJ

Just learned about the Omnigear.

Fei: Is there a chance one of our gears could be it?
Bart: Yeah, what are the chances of THAT happening!

Fei's gear is the Omnigear, isn't it?

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(SPOILER)Nope.

Oh, good. 'Cause that would've been too obvious.

I'm currently in Aven at the moment with Fei, Bart, and Citan.

Citan is a beast.

I'm the only one who kind of doesn't like Citan. I mean I like him fine but he got on my nerves. We get it, he's pretty close to perfect. Except for his minor flaws and backstory trying to show he isn't perfect just leading him to seeming more perfect

It's like the girls who are like "I'm not beautiful, I have this one misplaced freckle!"

just stahp

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Originally Posted by Pumpkin

I'm the only one who kind of doesn't like Citan. I mean I like him fine but he got on my nerves. We get it, he's pretty close to perfect. Except for his minor flaws and backstory trying to show he isn't perfect just leading him to seeming more perfect

It's like the girls who are like "I'm not beautiful, I have this one misplaced freckle!"

just stahp

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You're saying he's a Mart Stu.


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How dare you :colbert:

We like Citan in this thread :doublecolbert:

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Originally Posted by Fynn

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Originally Posted by Pumpkin

I'm the only one who kind of doesn't like Citan. I mean I like him fine but he got on my nerves. We get it, he's pretty close to perfect. Except for his minor flaws and backstory trying to show he isn't perfect just leading him to seeming more perfect

It's like the girls who are like "I'm not beautiful, I have this one misplaced freckle!"

just stahp

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You're saying he's a Mart Stu.


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How dare you :colbert:

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He's under one of those tropes (creator's pet I think) saying the same thing I just said :colbert:

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Originally Posted by Pumpkin

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Originally Posted by Fynn

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Originally Posted by Pumpkin

I'm the only one who kind of doesn't like Citan. I mean I like him fine but he got on my nerves. We get it, he's pretty close to perfect. Except for his minor flaws and backstory trying to show he isn't perfect just leading him to seeming more perfect

It's like the girls who are like "I'm not beautiful, I have this one misplaced freckle!"

just stahp

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You're saying he's a Mart Stu.


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How dare you :colbert:

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He's under one of those tropes (creator's pet I think) saying the same thing I just said :colbert:

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Without Citan we wouldn't have Jin in Xenosaga and Dunban in Xenoblade. Can't remember much of Jin, but Dunban is frigging amazing.

EDIT: Just noticed I'd written Jon instead of Jin. Jon Uzuki. Amazing.

Jin's alright. He's a cool dude

The tropes are wrong! :mymelbert:

So far I like the God versus Man thing the game has going for it. Usually they throw the god/godlike being at you later into the game and it's like, "Yeah, you have to beat a god now." and this game actually has it more fleshed out into the story. It's cool.

Have you played Xenosaga? If you like Xenogears it's worth looking in to

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Originally Posted by ToriJ

The tropes are wrong! :mymelbert:

So far I like the God versus Man thing the game has going for it. Usually they throw the god/godlike being at you later into the game and it's like, "Yeah, you have to beat a god now." and this game actually has it more fleshed out into the story. It's cool.

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Are you familiar with Gnosticism?

Because this game REALLY goes far beyond the usual "God is evil, kill God" schtick.

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Originally Posted by Pumpkin

Have you played Xenosaga? If you like Xenogears it's worth looking in to

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I have the first game and played it years ago. I got pretty far before getting stuck. I can't even remember where I left off at it's been so long.

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Originally Posted by Fynn

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Originally Posted by ToriJ

The tropes are wrong! :mymelbert:

So far I like the God versus Man thing the game has going for it. Usually they throw the god/godlike being at you later into the game and it's like, "Yeah, you have to beat a god now." and this game actually has it more fleshed out into the story. It's cool.

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Are you familiar with Gnosticism?

Because this game REALLY goes far beyond the usual "God is evil, kill God" schtick.

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Yes. Used to study the Berlin Gnostic Codex back in my old church.

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Originally Posted by ToriJ

Oh, good. 'Cause that would've been too obvious.

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Nope his gear is not the Omnigear! Well, I won't post any big spoilers, but I think it's been clear since the beginning that Fei (SPOILER)is pretty much the typical JRPG "chosen one" anyway. And they did a good job with presenting it in this game. Unlike how obvious and cliché it was in Star Ocean 3!

So, I'm at the part after you rescue Margie and met up with Elly. I hate the way Margie is programmed in that boss fight. Every time I needed her to heal my character she would miss. Every. Single. Time! But the purple haired chick always got her man. Wanna trade?

I like how Bart says we need to get Margie to move her 'toy' from the door to the bridge. Like two grown men can't pick it up and move it out of the way themselves. Come on, guys. This is embarrassing. Almost as embarrassing as getting my ass kicked by Dan.

You didn't read that! I won the tournament and the purple haired girl thinks I'm cute.

Miang thinks you're cute, but in like, a puppy way. Don't get your hopes up :colbert:

Okay, this game just gave the best reason for why God didn't make humans perfect that I've ever heard.

I loved how in this game you get the regular JRPG evil church, and then the Nisan sect shows up and says "hey, religion is cool!"

You're not the only one who doesn't like Citan the Mary Sue :p

I think the religious aspects were what I enjoyed the most when I played through this game the first time.

I'm standing on a guy's head.

This is the best game ever made.

Subscribing to this. Must follow.

Also listening to NC's podcast.

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Originally Posted by Forsaken Lover

Subscribing to this. Must follow.

Also listening to NC's podcast.

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<3

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Originally Posted by ToriJ

Okay, this game just gave the best reason for why God didn't make humans perfect that I've ever heard.

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I just realized that this is really ironic, considering late-game spoilers.

Yeah I was wondering which reason he was talking about because the reason that popped in to my head is, I think, revealed much further in than he is

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Originally Posted by Pumpkin

Yeah I was wondering which reason he was talking about because the reason that popped in to my head is, I think, revealed much further in than he is

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I think he meant the winged statues in Nisan.

I said it's ironic when you take into account HUGE SPOILERShumans being actually parts of Deus, making them have a purpose when they get together

Oh yeah yeah the one winged angel thing? Alright now I'm caught up

I knew which one you were talking about, I just forgot about the statues

I really, REALLY need to replay Xenogears, but my American PSN account doesn't want anything to do with my European credit card. I think I'm gonna need to ask one of my wonderful EoFF friends to buy me a PSN money card :flirt:

Wave Existence: I'm afraid ToriJ can't come to the computer right now. Xenogears has turned his brain to mush. I feared he wouldn't be able to handle the plot...

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Originally Posted by ToriJ

Wave Existence: I'm afraid ToriJ can't come to the computer right now. Xenogears has turned his brain to mush. I feared he wouldn't be able to handle the plot...

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Vicky's softer than I thought.

Pretty sure you can buy PSN cards from different regions off Amazon, they just email you a code, so it shouldn't be a big deal. Alternatively, I know you can do it on G2A.com, but they do a little mark-up on them. Sometimes it's only like 5% but sometimes it's more than 10%. I've seen $20 cards on sale for like $24.86 or some junk. That one is not worth it. But those options are available

It's still a hassle. It's really stupid that they just won't allow me to use a European card. It's like, "Sorry man, but we don't want your dirty non-American money here. Get lost, you enemy of freedom!"

The systems are just set up that way. It's one of the reasons I hate online job applications (there are many reasons) but it'll ask me work experiences and past addresses and they're in Canada. But it won't accept those things. It asks me for zip codes and guess what, Canada doesn't have those. But there isn't enough room for a postal code. So a lot of the time I just can't move forward with the application because of that junk. It'll ask college experience and ask for a state and I can't put in a state and the provinces aren't on the scroll down menus!

Anyways, off topic

Xenogears is cool. I like Margie

http://i.imgur.com/nYy74.jpg

Attachment 64204

HOLY CRAP! I summoned Wolf Kanno!

I HAVE THE POWER!

The ritual is complete!

I'm glad to see you're enjoying the game. Sadly, I knew about the game way back when but for some reason never thought I'd dig it. Last year I finally decided to try it out, and oh my word I ended up loving it. If I made a top 10 RPGs I would even put in that.

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Originally Posted by Zelfina Ai'ada

I'm glad to see you're enjoying the game. Sadly, I knew about the game way back when but for some reason never thought I'd dig it. Last year I finally decided to try it out, and oh my word I ended up loving it. If I made a top 10 RPGs I would even put in that.

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Funny you'd mention that, I'm working on a Top Ten RPGs list now :lol:

The fruit of my loins

The plot of Xenogears was never meant to be compressed into two spoilers free paragraphs.

Oh, favorite characters: Fei, Elly, Citan, Bart, Margie, and Miang.

Did you finish it? What's been happening?