Well, my post was supposed to be an ironic juxtaposition of a concise response to an extended retort, but here goes:

Look, I'm not going to say Xenogears doesn't have a great story. I've said multiple times that it's an incredible, intelligent, and well translated plot that is an absolute showcase of video games as a storytelling medium. My real gripe is with everything else that largely detracts it from being a great "game." I guess in my fervor I over-extended myself and tried to go for the kill by saying the story isn't above its' peers either. The direction is really great; at the end of disc 1 I had to step away from the TV because of how emotionally drained I was. But upon completion I don't think it's terribly above and beyond the rest.

First of all, I read a perfect works translation myself over the weekend and I didn't see an explanation of its inspirational parallels at all. Perhaps you could link me to a better one that includes it? I understand your background in psychology, and I'm not going to pretend I know more about this. But when all this Id stuff started coming up I took a quick refresher on Wikipedia (I know, I know!) and a lot of it just doesn't seem to carry over. Like the Coward... aren't all three aspects supposed to be interacting with each other all the time? Instead the Coward only comes out for one scene and completely disappears, as does Id, whereas the human struggle is supposed to be a constant balancing of all three, not a one time thing you resolve then move on. I'm not going to try to pretend I know more about this than you do, but I'm not sure if it all adds up quite as well as you're saying.

As far as the religious aspect, I must confess I don't know much about gnosticism, although it sounds very interesting and I have identified the parallels you pointed out to be true. Obviously I understand that the game's canon does have a real God who wants to stop evil in the world, and that's not the trendy-church-bashing that lesser caliber stories fall for. But that doesn't excuse the fact that for the first forty hours the game tries its absolute hardest to shock the player with its gratuitous use of religious symbols and terminology. For example, the scene where (SPOILER)Elly goes to save the rest of the team, and the gears (and ChuChu) are all crucified, what does that add to the plot? What analogies does that make to real world philosophy and how does it contribute to the game's story? To me, this and other scenes are just cheap ploys at pulling at the emotional reactions people have to religion. And I think we've settled that Verlaine stated the whole "control or molest" dichotomy of priests in the Ethos.

And just to clarify, do you really think (SPOILER)Citan letting Fei and Elly eat the Wel-food was in his character? I understand the common use of (SPOILER)a society that feeds its failed human experiments back to its people, but if you really think (SPOILER)Citan letting Fei and Elly eat them before revealing the truth wasn't inconsistent, then I don't even know how to respond to you.

An erudite implementation of world philosophy is great, but it all comes down to how it's directed, what the scenes look like, and the messages that are conveyed to the player. FFX's cosmology of knowing what happens in the afterlife is not what you're making it out to be. The characters do not know what happens after you die. They do know that unless you are sent, you are filled with hatred and jealousy of the living. That's not the "so who cares about dying?" scenario some people make it out to be. People can see images of the ones they've lost in Guadosalam, but they don't know if that's their actual loved ones or just projections from their own memories. Where is the explanation of the happy afterlife? They never explain if the sent go to another plane of physical existence, return to the life force of the universe, or simply dissipate. It's not what you're making it out to be.

I also find your disappointment with Operation Mi'ihen perplexing. What's wrong with foreshadowing? I think the whole point of the scene is that you know that these people are going to fail, yet you have to witness their pathetic false hope, all along knowing most of them are going to die. You know something truly horrible is going to happen yet you have to witness the painful build up. I'm pretty sure that's the standard formula for a horror movie.

As for Tidus' existence... To each his own. But I thought it was a great way make the story more powerful as you progress, you really don't know what this guy actually is, and what's going to happen when it's all said and done. As you watch him interact with his friends, fall in love with Yuna, it's all given a dramatic sense of sadness because you don't know if this guy is going to be with them when it's all said and done. And at the end when you find out (SPOILER)he's not real... well, that scene was far more powerful to me than Xenogears' ending, I can tell you that. After everything is said and done, we get a happy ending, (SPOILER)Fei lives, Elly tries to sacrifice herself, but that's ok, because she lives, too, all your friends are okay and waiting for you and the world is going to be alright. And Krelian? That guy who spent the entire game manipulating, enslaving, and mass murdering people and has been performing horrible experiments on countless human beings for thousands of years and killing them and feeding them back to other people? He's actually not so bad, turns out he loves people more than anyone else! In fact, he gets forgiven by God who he gets to go with and live on a higher plane of existence!

In FFX, not everything is ok at the end, in fact, they just get to live in a normal cycle of life and death like we take for granted every day. To me that's a far more adult way to conclude things than the standard, triumphant RPG ending.