The Let's Play Archive

Xenogears

by The Dark Id

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Original Thread: Xenogears - Stand Tall and Shake the Heavens!

 

Introduction



"A billion mirror fragments... small... light... taken... angel's... singing... voices... zeno... gias...” – A brain-damaged, wheelchair bound Cloud Strife.



What the hell is Xenogears?
Xenogears is a JRPG released in October of 1998 (with a February release the same year in Japan) by Square on the Sony Playstation. You want a sprawling epic with heavy biblical influences and psychological subtext through the distorted lenses of a Japanese writer? You want giant robots doing kung fu? You want furry creatures being crucified? Well, Xenogears is the game for you!

Xenogears is, not unlike Chrono Cross, a very divisive game. Some people will gush all over it like it’s the second coming. Some people act like it murdered and raped their dog. In that order. Me...well, I “liked” it in much of the same way I “liked” Chrono Cross. The art style is pretty good, the music is fantastic (once again composed by Yasunori Mitsuda), it’s got some pretty great characters here and there, and the battle system is a load of fun. But, I also think the plot was very, very silly in places and “clusterfuck” does not even begin to describe the rather batshit, convoluted narrative of Xenogears. But, you know... That’s just fuel for the fire.

All shall be mocked accordingly...



What’s this about heavy biblical influences?
Umm... Well, yes. But, distorted through JRPG plot tropes and Neon Genesis Evangelion-esque “A lot of this is here because it looked/sounded cool”. So yeah... Anime as fuck treatment of religion. Gods may be slain. Churches may or may not become evil. Jesus might kick someone in the dick. Who knows! Read along and find out! Some homework has been done on the subject by the writers. Some has not... You'll see.

Oh yeah, and since this game has a fuck ton of cribbing from Christianity, Catholicism, Gnosticism and several other religions...do refrain from getting into arguments over religion and theology. Even a hint of that shit and I'll lock this thread faster than you can say "goddamn". This is not to say don't discuss any sort of theology. Discussion is good. Just don't state shit that will piss people off like "Odin totally had a bigger schlong than Moses."

I heard this game was pretty lengthy. How long we talking?
LONG! I don’t recall my first playthrough’s total time elapsed. But, this LP is going to be going for a little while... To say the least. Edit From the FUTURE: Exactly five months.

Hey, so where can I pick up this game?
Xenogears was released on the PSN a few months back as one of the PSOne Classics, so that's the easiest way to pick it up. And probably the cheapest, if you don't want a used copy. New ones are going for around $100 on Amazon...

Hey are you going to show off—
YES! I’ll show off everything in my ability. If I completed 100% of fucking Drakengard 2, I think I can do that for a game I sort of enjoyed.

Hey, I read in Perfect Works that...
Neat! I've read it too! I'll get around to it! Also, don't link to that kind of stuff if there's an online resource. In fact, don't link to spoilers ahead of the LP in general. Thanks!

Hey, what’s the deal with spoilers this time?!
Telling people to fuck off with spoilers for a 13 year old game is probably an exercise in futility. So just please use spoiler tags for all spoilers! I will get pissed off otherwise. Though, if every given page could not look like a classified CIA document...that would be great too... But again, USE SPOILER TAGS FOR SPOILERS! DON’T BE A DICK!

Oh and don't pull any "Teehee, the next part is awesome/sad/will give you a boner" or "Just you wait until a certain...*hey I'm being cute with not so vague unmarked spoilers*" NOBODY likes that shit and you're not contributing anything to the thread. So keep it in your pants, yeah?

With that said, let’s begin the long journey…


Updates are located here. What else do you want from me...?



Chapter 00: Prologue -



Chapter 01: Lahan Village - Chapter 02: Mountain Path - Chapter 03: Fallen Shadows - Chapter 04: Into the Woods - Chapter 05: Girls in the Forest - Chapter 06: Dazil - Chapter 07: Desert Attack! - Chapter 08: Stalactite Cave - Chapter 09: Pirate's Lair - Chapter 10: Operation Aveh - Chapter 11: The Tournament - Chapter 12: Margie's Rescue - Chapter 13: Road to Nisan - Chapter 14: City of Peace - Chapter 15: Recapture Aveh - Chapter 16: Desert Despair -


Chapter 17: Kislev Capital - Chapter 18: Brave Battlers - Chapter 19: Sewer Horror - Chapter 20: Battling Champ - Chapter 21: Gear Dock Raid - Chapter 22: Night Purge - Chapter 23: Secret Weapon -


Chapter 24: Escape Ignas - Chapter 25: Adrift at Sea - Chapter 26: Men of the Sea - Chapter 27: Friends Again - Chapter 28: Betrayal - Chapter 29: Ramsus' Attack - Chapter 30: A Young Priest - Chapter 31: The Orphanage - Chapter 32: Reaper's Ship - Chapter 33: Burning Souls - Chapter 34: Ocean Floor - Chapter 35: Deep Sea Girl -

Chapter 36: Babel Tower - Chapter 37: Sky City Shevat - Chapter 38: Intruder Alert! - Chapter 39: Raid of Shevat - Chapter 40: Protect Nisan! - Chapter 41: Gate 1 - Margie - Chapter 42: Gate 2 - Babel - Chapter 43: Gate 3 The Deep - Chapter 44: Into Solaris - Chapter 45: Escape Solaris - Chapter 46: Lone Wolf - Chapter 47: Krelian's Lab - Chapter 48: Tears for Fears -


Chapter 49: Shot Down! - Chapter 50: Break the Seal - Chapter 51: Soul Vessel - Chapter 52: The Stars Know - Chapter 53: Above Mahanon - Chapter 54: Paradise - Chapter 55: Promised Land - Chapter 56: Merkava Calls - Chapter 57: Dreams... - Chapter 58: Fallen Star - Chapter 59: First and Last - Chapter 60: Deus - Extras (contains spoilers) -


Extra videos of neat junk from the game. May contain spoilers.

Bonus Video: Thames Card Game Wins and Losses
Bonus Video: Ricardo Banderas Deathblow Compilation
Bonus Video: Elhaym Van Houten Deathblow Compilation
Bonus Video: Billy Lee Black Deathblow Compilation
Bonus Video: Emeralda Kasim Deathblow Compilation
Bonus Video: Bartholomew Fatima Deathblow Compilation
Bonus Video: Citan Uzuki Deathblow Compilation #1 (Sword)
Bonus Video: Citan Uzuki Deathblow Compilation #2 (Unarmed)
Bonus Video: Emeralda Kasim Deathblow Compilation #2
Bonus Video: Fei Fong Wong Deathblow Compilation
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