Xenogears Disc 1

Platform: Playstation 1
Year released: 1998
Previously played: Yes (partially), but not this actual copy.

I figured that if I was going to go back and play some old games, I should probably start with those ones that I played through the first half of, and never finished. Xenogears fits the bill nicely. It's a classic, and I only ever got part way through. It never came out here, but back in the day I had a pirate version and a chipped psx. Years later I actually purchased a genuine copy online somewhere, that I had actually never cracked that one open. Until now.

Like I said, Xenogears is one of those classic games that people remember enjoying immensely when it was new, but has it stood the test of time? Graphically, hell no. Playing it on my parents 127cm plasma screen only highlighted this. My mother was annoyed by all the text she could see flying by from the next room. “Why don't they talk?” she asked. Because this is 1998, I replied, hoping that made it obvious (I don't think it did.) Though aside from the giant pixels (I recommend playing on the smallest screen possible) this game is still awesome. Square don't really do them like this anymore and it's a shame. It used to be that is you took the time to talk to everyone you were really rewarded for it.

I only have a few fuzzy memories from the first time I played it (must have been at least 7 years ago), and they are mostly along the lines of, 'oh I remember the desert, it was a pain in the arse' and, 'that's right, you have the go through the underground caverns, I remember that bit sucked balls.' So why play a game that I remember being sucky? Because although sometimes battle after random battle gets to be a bit much, the story in between those bits makes up for it. I don't really remember the story very well, so it's all new and exciting for me.

I think the biggest (and perhaps only) mistake Square made with this game was the 3D environment. For starters, it looks like rubbish. They didn't have the technology to do it well back then, so they shouldn't have bothered at all. Pre-rendered backgrounds would have looked much nicer. Then there is the fast that half the time you can't see where you are, where you are going, or where doors are without having to swivel the camera around constantly. There are also times when you need to make jumps or move carefully across high places and the scenery gets in your way when you are trying to do it. Big mistake.

I didn't enjoy the gear battles much. I've never been a fan of the little mini games, I don't want to play cards, Blitzball or go snowboarding in the middle of my nice turn based RPG. If I wanted to play Virtual On, I'd dust off my Saturn.

So the game continues, and it's pretty awesome. The story is suitable confusing, the gameplay entertaining, the random battles not unbearable and the deathblow system gives a nice incentive to wander around fighting more battles, in order to get all of them. I even had a notepad next to me trying to keep track of how everyones death blow skills are leveling up. Sign of a good game, if I go that far.

The bits that were familiar stopped after 30 hours or so, so that is obviously as far as I got when I played this in the past.

But what happened to those anime cut scenes? You get a few in the first couple of hours, and then they disappear completely, only to return over 50 hours later at the very end of the disc for a few seconds of footage. You get another scene that isn't anime (and is better) but not the same as what we have seen thus far. Uh, continuity? It's like they totally lost interest in that aspect of the game, then sort of remembered it again later.

So I finally finished disc 1, at the around 55 hours mark. Awesome.