^ Wait, have you played Xenosaga before going into this???
^ Wait, have you played Xenosaga before going into this???
Yes.Originally Posted by Bolivar
This... changes...
EVERYTHING!!!
If by 'everything' you mean 'nothing at all'.This... changes...
EVERYTHING!!!
Well can I just ask, since it's relevant to this thread, what were your thoughts on Xenosaga and how did it affect your impressions going in to Xenogears? How do you feel?
I actually don't see how playing Xenosaga first has any effect on Xenogears either. There are a few references and similarities, but... that's about it. How does playing Xenosaga first actually take anything away from Xenogears?
Also: I haven't even read half of all these massive walls of text yet, but I'll just throw two of my own thoughts about the game in here:
1) I didn't feel Xenogears quite lived up to its reputation either. Even if most of the flaws were because the game was kinda unfinished, the reason for the flaws being there doesn't really help making them better. The fact that the game could have been awesome doesn't make it awesome.
2) The final dungeon, if anything, was a terribly designed place. I had forgotten about its very existence until it was mentioned here. But now I remember the hellish pain-in-the-ass dungeon that was. I feel a final dungeon should be exciting and epic. The very dungeon itself should have a kind of "build up" atmosphere leading up to the final boss. But the final dungeon in Xenogears mainly just felt like any other dungeon, except longer and much more annoying. I recall one point where I played for over 1 hour without finding a place to save, until I finally just got so bored I just quit the game and decided to try again later. Then the very same thing repeated like 4-5 times before I finally could be bothered to make it to the next savepoint. And it wasn't really the fact that I had to play for over 1 hour that was the problem. The problem was that the only thing I did during that hour was walking back and forth in a labyrinth full of the same random encounters. It was not all that exciting, basically.
I'd already figured Xenogears would have nothing at all to do with Xenosaga, so I avoided drawing any direct comparisons between the two.
I will give Gears this though, it's combat was good compared to Xenosaga 2.
Well, I wasn't expecting it to go either way, I was just curious since I have yet to play Xenosaga myself. I probably wouldn't expect any comparisons either if it weren't for Wolf putting me onto the Perfect Works guide, which seemed to have the entire script for those games in it.
Hearing more about the final dungeon helps me feel much better about using a guide for it
I played Xenosaga Episode 1 and II before Xenogears.
My general thoughts on the two is that Xenogears is better but Xenosaga has some distinct advantages.
Xenogears suffers the typical JRPG trait of having irrelevant party members (which I think I commented on earlier) but Xenosaga does a pretty good job of keeping everyone important and interesting. Moreso in the first game than the subsequent two but still, everyone had amazing moments throughout Episode 3.
Xenogears' strength is in its two leads and villains. Xenogears had Margulis and Yuriev and Shion (in Episode 1 anyway) and I liked them all very much. They just don't really compare to how fascinating Grahf and Miang and Fei were. Fei alone has to be one of the most intriguing mains in any JPRG. I adore his backstory.
Also can't underestimate the attractive quality of a good love story. Xenosaga didn't realy have that. Well it certainly had nothing comparable to Fei/Elly.
It is interesting to note there are a lot of similarities between the two series. This is understandable of course but it's still fun to read about. A man much more informed and smarter than I wrote a titanic piece on the "mirrored" aspects o Xenogears and Xenosaga.
For example, he points out the main theme of Xenogears is "Grief." Everyone in the game is struggling to overcome the eternal human problem of suffering and sorrow. Grahf thought the solution lay in nihilism and Krelian thought it lay in the removal of human will. The point of Fei's little debate with Krelian at the end was that grief isn't something to be conquered. It's part of our lives and you just have to deal with it as it comes along.
Xenosaga meanwhile is all about Fear. Just like many Gears' antagonists wee born of Grief, many Saga heroes and villains were born of fear. Just like in Xenogears there is a body-snatching immortal who has a destructive solution to this dilemma.
And there's plenty more like that. I enjoy it quite a bit.
I disagree on Xenogears being a great love story, but that's because I dislike the Idea that their love was basically destined throughout time, and that kills the romance for me.
I will give you Fei being an interesting Protaganist with a great backstory, but I think my care for him suffered in part due to the cuts to the game, as well as him being kind of a dip the whole game. He is more interesting then Shion though.
Gharf I will agree was awesome, though suffered way to much do to late game cuts. Krellian I just thought was a poor villain all around.
Even if Gharf hadn't suffered Budget Cuts though, I don't think he'd stack up to Albedo and Wilhelm. Only read this next bit if you already know, or don't plan on finishing three.
Xenosaga is the only game I've seen where the main antagonist could very easily be described as a genuinely good person.
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