You can't do much better then Xenogears. It's one of the best experiences I've ever had with a video game. The criticisms are valid but the good points by far win out. The platforming aspects are annoying and the random encounters but it has so much going for it. The characters are all great and deep, well most of them. The best collection of good npc's that any game has ever had. Fei is the most complicated main character in any video game I've played, even cloud. The locations are memorable. The story is very deep and complicated. I like the second disc, although its all story for the most part with very little gameplay. I don't mind because the story and the culmination of the many, many plot points are all interesting. It also has the best score ever made for a video game. It is a flawed masterpiece, maybe like apocolypse now, but its something you owe it to yourself to experience and see how it affects you.