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Episode 355: Xenogears Revisited (Patreon)

Published:
2021-01-29 13:15:09
Edited:
2021-01-29 13:15:35
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

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Content

Another patron request this week, and it's a good one. Matthew Salisbury put in a bid to ask us to revisit Xenogears, a topic I briefly touched on yeeeears ago in a Micro episode. But this is the real deal: A full-length episode about the game, featuring not only Matthew and myself, but also former Square.net and Gaming Intelligence Agency boss Andrew Vestal. My thought was, if we're going to talk about a game, why not reach out to its biggest advocate in the U.S. semi-pro media at the time—the guy who started a massively popular petition to get the game localized?!

The three participants in this episode were all at different points in their lives when Xenogears debuted and each had very different reactions to the game... and more than 20 years later, we all find our perspectives on the game colored by experience and maturity. I know I regrettably used the game as a punching bag for so-called comedic effect during a long-ago phase in my writing in which I fell into the trap of thinking that being petty and sarcastic about things other people enjoy is a meaningful form of internet discourse; but after all this time, it's hard to be mean about a game this ambitious (or its fans), despite its glaring flaws. And I think everyone else has undergone a similar sort of journey here as well.

So please enjoy this episode, which is about a video game, and is also about growing the hell up.

Artwork by John Pading, and edits by Greg Leahy. Greg's music selections this episode:

11:20 - Dark Dawn

25:35 - In a Prison of Remorse and Contentment

36:27 - Our Village is Number One / The Wind is Calling, Shevat of the Azure Sky

44:31 - Dance of Death

58:21 - Premonition

1:08:51 - The One Who Bares Fangs at God

1:19:46 - The One Who Is Torn Apart

1:26:12 - The Beginning and the End

Closing - Stars of Tears

Files

Comments

Eric Plunk

I too was 15 in ‘98 but my interest in RPGs didn’t go past Super Mario RPG back then.

B_Pembs

I love that you put the music cues in the notes, and would love if that became a regular feature. I always hear compelling interstitial snippets, and would love to seek out the larger soundtracks to enjoy. Really excited to dive into this episode this afternoon!

Steven Babb

That was great! I really enjoyed the discussion. I loved this game - had around 60 hours into in '98 or '99 winter break. I would have been 14 or 15. But, I never beat it. The story made no sense to me, and the Tower of Babel level at the end, which I clearly remember gassing out on, drove me nuts and I said enough. But, I would replay the first disk a few more times because I loved the art, the gear (mech) design, the anime, the battle system, all of it. I loved how many different concepts were thrown in, and I could just hook into any of them and have a great time. Cheers!

John Learned

I also played this game fresh out of college and the only thing that still sticks with me about it is having to leave my PlayStation on while I went to work. Like, a lot

Christopher Hughes

I wanted to love this game, but I only started it a few years ago on my PSP. I was about 35 at the time, and I didn't have the drive I would've had as a teenager in 1998 or 1999. I put about 15 hours into it though. Thanks for the discussion and terrific details!

CitizenMeh

Been looking forward to this one for a while! Like most JRPGs back then, the only way to acquire it in the UK was via import or "illicit means", and because the cheapest legal copy I could find was £150 (compared to £50 for Chrono Cross), I eventually succumbed to the dark side. Anyhow, after a good dozen hours I ended up at the mountaintop boss battle with Elly and her goons, having not realised i) you can upgrade your Gears and ii) beating the hell out of that dweeby service robot by the Save Point means there's literally no way to re-fuel. Long story short, that was the only time I ever had to give up on a save file and start from scratch. Karma? (Also, the Captain of the Thames is probably one of my favourite NPCs ever. "I AM...A MAN...OF THE SEA!")

Robbie

Agreed from personal experience: being a snarky blogger was great until you had to hang out with the people you were ragging on, or worse yet try to honestly review the work of people you get to know pretty well.

Brian Rude

As another person who was 15 when this released, I loved it. I still have no idea how I completed the game multiple times when I had school, a part-time job, friends, brothers with whom I had to share the PS1, and (technically) wasn't even allowed to play video games on school days. I've wanted to fully revisit the game ever since, but over the last couple decades, I've not been able to make myself get further than Nortune. Maybe it's best to just hold on to my pleasant memories of the game.

dingotamer .

Resubbed because I wanted to hear more

Eino Keskitalo

Good one! I played Xenogears somewhere around 2009 and while the experience wasn't necessarily _great_, I'm kinda glad I've played it.. The music is of course great, and I'm also glad that the kind-of-unique 3D exploration of the world was touched upon. I remember thinking that was my favourite part of the game as far as the gameplay went. I also remember thinking that all the complexity put into the battle system was sort of surface, it was mostly just press A to win in the end. But I'm not sure if that's entirely fair.