Introduction

Japanese cover:

What the hell is this game?
Saiyuki: Journey West was a PSX SRPG released in the US in 2001. The game took almost two years to reach here, so its comparisons to Final Fantasy Tactics were widespread, as the game plays and looks very similar to that title. Where this game differs is in its story. This game tells a lighter rendition of the famous Chinese Journey to the West story, which follows the monk Sanzo (Xuanzang), a Buddhist practitioner that, upon receiving an order from Kannon (Guan Yin), travels from China to India to deliver a staff (in the original story, Sanzo was delivering scriptures). Along the way, Sanzo will encounter four of the demons from the famous story, along with numerous other characters added to the story to give it spice.

Notable to this game is its well-done translation, especially since the game was translated by Koei. Saiyuki also features incredible art by Akihiro Yamada, whose previous credits are the anime RahXephon and some manga work, however I think his work here far surpasses his previous work.

There will be viewer participation in the form characters I use. There are six secret characters and I can buy scrolls of spells to give to any character I want (very similar to FFVII, if you need a direct analog). By the end of the first half of the game I will have access to all characters and it is up to you to decide who I use for each forthcoming boss battle, as I'm willing to train each character.

I will also be gathering all secret items and doing all sidequests, some of which will not have screenshot coverage as one requirement for a sidequest requires a lot of repetitive grinding/battling that I will do off-screen.

Without further ado, here is the game's admittedly bad intro:
Saiyuki: Journey West intro

Bear in mind the music is not all this bad; there's some great music to be found. I will upload Youtube videos with music tracks as we encounter them.

Make the first choice, goons!

MALE

OR FEMALE?

Callout to all goons!

The Grand Saiyuki: Journey West fanart/fancomic/parody Contest!

Art from the game

So since we all love the art, and such, I want to see what you goons can do with the template the game gives you. You're free to draw hilarious renditions of the characters, of scenes in the game, or of whatever you want that is related to the game (I will also allow art inspired by the old TV show that you guys have been talking about).

This contest will run the entire LP. At the end, we'll vote democratically and the winner will receive a game from my PS2 jRPG library (I'll mail it to you. :P).

The list of games I have that I never play anymore:
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
Persona 3
Persona 4
SMT: Devil Summoner Kuzonoha Raidou vs. The Soulless Army
SMT: Devil Summoner 2 Kuzonoha Raidou vs. King Abaddon
Final Fantasy X
Shadow Hearts
Wild ARMs 5

The Let's Play Archive

Saiyuki: Journey West

by Azure_Horizon

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Introduction

Table of Contents

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