Xenogears

""Stand tall, and shake the very essence of entertainment as we know it.""

Overview:
Well, well, well, this is my very first review, so please don't hold a grudge if it isn't as well written as the others here... here's my shot at describing the greatest game in the history of games! I remember a time when I thought of video games as Sonic the Hedgehog and rarely anything more. Then a friend introduced me to Final Fantasy VII and I was blown away. Soon, he showed me the miracle that is Xenogears, and since 1999 I've been in a constant trance of the spirit and soul at the shear amazement of the climactic story, the angst and emotion of the characters, the beautiful soundtrack of truly mesmerizing music. There isn't a word in the English language to me that can describe it as it deserves. It is a masterpiece; not quite possibly. It just plain is.

Story: [10/10]
Never in my life have I heard of a story this good, this compelling. It's impossible to explain what makes it so great in a simple review for the videogame. However, I can only think of words of greatness for it. The way it is told, the focus on the characters, the focus on a non-stop invigorating epic tale, the realness, the sharpness of the setting. The challenges these people faced in their journey is nothing like anything I've ever played, ever watched, ever even read or thought up in the wildest of my dreams. It starts off so much simpler than it really is -- leading up to the biggest, baddest, downright brilliant legend of a plot I've ever seen. Starting in a small mountain town, with a young man who knows next to nothing of his past, you find yourself over the course of a long, long time, standing tall, and shaking the very heavens above you. What a rush. It's just... incredible.

Characters: [10/10]
They're real. They're so very real that at times it's scary how real they are. The depth behind each and every core cast member is something just short of Godly. I could feel the drama and hear the words resounding in my head from Fei Fong Wong when reading the message boxes. I could relate to Elhaym Van Houten's stress and pulse-pounding self-realization as I watched the text scroll. There wasn't a single character in the game that didn't get good development and this is extremely important to me. The heroes weren't completely heroes, and the villains weren't just one-dimensional, power-hungry morons. There's no completely "good" person nor is there a totally totalitarian foil. I can think of very few stories that have this.

Gameplay: [9/10]
If there's one thing I could think of giving less than a 10 on, it's the gameplay. But don't worry, it's not trite or dull, or utterly boring. It's just, I suppose, that after playing it for some seventy or eighty hours, because the story is just THAT long and envigorating, it can get a bit tedious with the same general system of combat, at least in my opinion. Nevertheless, the workings are pretty neat. The deathblow system basically is a way of getting better and better skills by means of pushing specific button combinations, and it's pretty fun doing so considering this is an RPG. It's nice to have a little sense of button-mashing even if it isn't really button-mashing here and there, to keep the hands alive. Ether tended to be overrated, in my opinion -- Ether being another form of ability, this game's take on "magic" -- but it wasn't always so bad. Sometimes the particular spells could be quite useful, and even cinematic. "Big Bang" -- Fei's last Ether -- is reminiscent of the awesome "Supernova" from Final Fantasy VII. The usage of Gears -- giant mecha -- is quite fun, and the best attacks in the game are often through them. In fact, later on you'll rarely fight on foot, and thus, the battles are quite impressive as you're essentially controlling your side of a big mech duel. Wandering around the world wasn't a drag, but very fun, with all of the interesting areas, the good musical theme for the world, and the exciting minigames and side quests. It basically had it all, somewhere in its gripping euphoria. And there were some fairly difficult fights at times for the challenge-oriented gamer; I will never forget the Ramsus/Miang combo near the end of the game in that case.

Music: [10/10]
Yasunori Mitsuda is by far my favorite composer of all time. I like him even more than Nobuo Uematsu, the legend behind the beautiful scores of the Final Fantasy series. He's a mastermind to me. His music is never anything but top-notch. In Chrono Trigger he can make the player feel like they're in the game and keep the feeling fast-paced. In Chrono Cross, it's the same thing. Now in Xenosaga: Episode I, he brings forth an amazing soundtrack once again. But in Xenogears, it was something very unique and very special, very dear to my heart. Every single theme in this game, be it during a battle, outside in the world, reading dialogue during an important theme, or what-have-you, it's nothing short of stellar. The final fight in the game is very soft and subtle, very gentle and represents the current situation quite well. Just before that the second-to-last fight brings together a recurring theme of the game and is as awesomely high-stakes as awesomely high-stakes can be represented with a piece of music. Another recurring theme throughout the game results in the final song, a vocal of heavenly proportions, called "Small of Two Pieces". The lyrics are sung by a woman with a great voice named Joanne Hogg, who continues to work with Mitsuda in Xenosaga and in Xenogears, definitely makes the cut, too. The song really tells the whole tale of emotion throughout the game, in just over six minutes. Everything about the soundtrack is breathtaking, works insanely well with the game, and I strongly suggest buying the soundtrack and its cool variant, "Creid" which remixes some of the best songs.

Graphics: [9/10]
Okay, so I lied, there's one more thing that isn't 10/10. But I guess it doesn't matter -- to me, at least -- because graphics don't matter to me much, hahah. Back on track here, though, they're very good for their time, but sometimes the pixels can get on a more graphically-demanding gamer's nerves considering when you start the game, you'll find yourself looking at those pixels for at least the nex fifty-five hours. Redeemed by the amount of detail in the surroundings and astonishing anime cutscenes, which although rare are done in a wonderful style and portray the characters extremely well, the graphics are still top-notch for their time, and I don't remember ever getting aggravated by them at all.

Replay Value: [10/10]
Although there's no form of "New Game Plus" or anything like that, I would give the replay value an easy 10 for one big reason -- I don't think playing through this game once you will get even half of the epic story it's based around. There's so much to learn, so much to know, so much to understand, and there are times that accidentally skipping one single line will make the next hour very difficult to understand. It requires a big amount of paying attention to grasp the awesomeness, so I'd easily recommend playing this game three or four times. Maybe not in a row, but hey, I've played through it six times and I know people that can beat me on that with double-digit numbers. The bottom line is, although there's nothing especially "new" to DO a second time around, there's probably a lot more to LEARN.

The Bottom Line: [10/10]
Everything about Xenogears is paradise. If you're looking to rent it or buy it, I can't think of a random, radical reason in my mind I would tell you to do anything but buy it as well as any merchandise for it you can find. Renting it means you'll probably get about ten hours into it and nothing more, and even if you somehow pulled off playing the whole thing it will be too rushed and I can guarantee if you're anything like me, you'll want to start playing it again right from the get-go after watching the ending sequence. This is the end-all and be-all of videogames, and after almost six years I'm still standing by that statement. It's beauty unleashed, and well worth playing. But I think I've made that part clear already. Just go out and play it. Immediately. Thanks for reading, by the way!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/26/04