Xenogears

[sir helix]

first off iv never played xenogears, but im thinking about searching for it so i can play it, iv been a fan of xenosaga for a verylong time and have been told many times that gears if a prequal to xenosaga, iv review the game and am somewhat convinced because of two things.

ether and the name uzuki

other than that idk, is it really worth the effort of tracking down a copy as a mean of ading to my xeno set? if so how exactly are they cunnected?

[Wolf Kanno]

They are "spiritual sequels" to each other but their only true connection is that they were developed by mostly the same team.

Xenogears was the original game (it was originally intended to be a Chrono Trigger sequel, hence several similarities to CT are seen throughout the game)) and due to some bad handling was rushed and released early. Perfect Works (think the Xenogears Ultimania) was released to clear up some of the confusion and expanded the world presenting a timeline that spanned thousands of years. The team left Square and formed Monolith Soft so they can do the Xeno story right but due to Square owning the original rights, the Saga series only alludes to Gears in more of a fanservice way than being a true prequel.

Still Saga has several visual and scenarios that are related to the Gears world. The main theme central to each is the Zohar which exists in both games, though its more prominently shown in Saga than in Gears. Beyond that the rest are more just simple fan service like the Uzuki name, as well as the name of several locations only mentioned in the Perfect Works timeline, and several of the bosses are visual and downright literal fanservice.

Part of the problem with connecting them is that Saga technically begins at the very start of the timeline presented in the Perfect Works book, which starts the idea they might be directly connected. Several places from that timeline are also mentioned but it should be noted that Perfect Works only describes this date in a simple paragraph and makes no mentions of Gnosis or what not. In fact the few things that do appear in Saga that are part of the Gears timeline are presented differently and ultimately resolve themselves within the Saga story whereas they are of great importance in Gears time and will not be resolved for several millennium. By Episode 3 its kinda of obvious that Saga is going in a different direction that is similar to PW but not verbatim but that was the teams goal. They said from the beginning of the Saga project that Saga was not going to be simply a direct telling of the Gears plot but rather a re-imagining.

So the question is now this: Should you play Xenogears despite it not being connected to Saga?

Yes... Oh god yes, this game was incredibly well beyond its time and put just about everything to shame at the time in terms of story and complexity. Gears is an excellent game on its own but I feel playing through Gears will allow you to appreciate Saga more as you will be able to enjoy all the in-jokes in the Saga series that only Gears fans would notice. Its plot and even the philosophy its based around is very different but it is definetly a Xeno game. Its definetly worth checking out if only to see the game that formed the mythology for the Saga series.

[Jowy]

Nobody can or ever will be as great as Citan Uzuki.

[sir helix]

I just looked up the game on amazon and its $200, i think this'll be a game i wont get for a wile.

[Wolf Kanno]

Hopefully they will release it on PSN and drive the price down, lord knows its been helping some of the FFs. I spotted a couple of copies on ebay for under $50 so that might help.

I'd shop around on the web for awhile cause for me, Amazon.com tends to screw me on their "great deals", especially when looking for rare games.

[Shotgunnova]

Unless you're looking for a mint special release or something, $200 is brazen highway robbery. You'll probably have to pay around $40-50 from online retailers, although I've found it for $28 in a brick-and-mortar store before, and I live in Montana -- that may give a sliver of hope as to its availability. Either way, it's quite a stellar game; just make sure to lend it a little patience, as it may start out slow. =p

[BG-57]

Xenogears is a great game. Like the Xenosaga series it plays almost like a movie at times, but the Gears are well executed and the characters interesting, the plot is involving and the music is, well, gorgeous.

It lays on the symbolism quite thick at times (especially religious iconography) and the plot is quite byzantine at times, but those are minor issues.

[nik0tine]

This game is fantastic and it is totally worth the price. It's better to just emulate it though.

[NorthernChaosGod]

This game is fantastic and it is totally worth the price. It's better to just emulate it though.

This, I can't find my damn PS1 or PS2 after moving so I just set up an emulator on my laptop and have been playing on that.

The game really is every bit as good as I remember, if not better since I understand the story a lot more now and just can see the early stuff that hints at the later goings on.

[IXVI]

I never played xenogears either..sounds interesting though.

[Animora]

To the OP if you have played the Xeonsaga series and never had the privilege of playing xenogears you are only cheating yourself my friend. Xenogears started the whole craze and for good reason it's awesome. the battle system also stuck with me and was very fun.
Certain characters will also stick with you, Citan Uzuki (the master), Fei or should i say ID (the man) and others i will not name because they will just ruin it for ya. However i will say this, the story is epic the battles are also epic and when you get to disc 2 and you get System ID(will not elaborate on that anymore) it gets even better.

[Kumo]

Not to mention one of the best final boss battles ever. It was Epic. I'm pretty sure I saw this on the PS network, but maybe it was only in Japan? Graphics are severely dated, but just because a classic book is old doesn't mean you shouldn't read it!

[Mirage]

Idk it was starting to bore me towards the end of disc 1. I never finished it.