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PSX Review: Xenogears
Sorry about the poor image.
Platform: PSX (Also compatible with PS2 system)
Developer: Squaresoft (Or was it monolith? I dont know)
Publisher: Square EA
Genre: RPG
The Story
Oh bugger why did I have to my first review on a game that has such a complicated plot? Oh well lets start with the basics then.
The story revolves around the young artist Fei Fong Wong, who at the start of the game is living in the quiet village of Lahan. He has only lived there for a year or so because, he was delivered by a strange masked man to the village chief, who nursed him back to health. Unfortunately Fei was so badly injured that he seems to have lost his memory. During the year or so that Fei was in Lahan, he became friends with almost all the residents of the small village during his stay, most notably Timothy, his girlfriend Alice, and Alice's little brother, Dan. He also became acquainted with Dr. Citan Uzuki who served as the village's doctor. Fei lived happily in Lahan until the day that Timothy and Alice were to be wedded. That evening the village was attacked by a squad of large bi-ped robots called gears. During the skirmish Fei finds himself in the position to board an abandoned gear, he gets into the gear and attempts to save the village. He manages to take a few of the enemy down but eventually he is surrounded, one of the enemy gears is ordered to shoot Feis friend Timothy. This causes Fei to loose all control of the gear and subsequently destroy the whole village. How did Fei know how to pilot the gear? How did he manage to destroy the entire village?
Well Im not going to tell you.
Gameplay
Well most of it is your typical RPG fare, explore town talk to people, buy items equipment, carry out tasks play games etc. These towns, cities, weird places are very well laid out and are quite fun to explore. Then you have the random turn based battles (which in my opinion are a good thing) which is one of the things that are unique to this game. When you fight on foot your moves are inputted in a fighting game style also certain button combinations allow you to pull off super moves called deathblows which can kill most normal enemies in one hit and can do serious damage to bosses. Most of the characters have these deathblow moves and magic spells (although a few dont). Although fighting on foot is no way as fun as fighting in your gear. Although your selection of moves is more limited than when you are on foot, they certainly make up for that with showy effects and killer combos. Fighting in your gear adds a bit more strategy, firstly because at the start of the game you are unable to restore your gears HP at all (although latter in the game you are able to) and every gear has a fuel gauge. So every time a move is executed it uses fuel, also restoring HP later in the game uses fuel. You also have the option to charge a small amount of fuel during the battle but it costs you a turn, so sometimes the boss fights can be quite difficult especially if you use allot of powerful moves without bothering to charge your fuel back up occasionally. At the moment the only few negative things I can think up about this game are that it does take a long time to learn new moves requiring allot of random battling. Also most of the second disk is spent watching the characters tell the story and then fighting, which at some points becomes a tad boring. Although these points dont detract much from the games enjoyment they are a bit of a spoiler, but thats if you are being really negative. On another positive note there is a really fun fighting side game included which you and a friend can battle each other.
Graphics
Xenogears was released in Japan sometime late 1997 (Some time like that anyway, someone please correct me if Im wrong) so most modern gamers will probably think it looks wack. For its time the graphics were amazing, giving you huge areas to explore and with quite a good level of detail, the gears look very impressive (if you play the game on an emulator with a decent graphics card it reeks of awesomeness) also you get a good sense of perspective with you little characters and their huge gears, even bigger battleships and sand cruisers. The towns are very well made as well, from the church in Nisan, Avehs royal castle and the amazing floating city of shevat all are huge and very picturesque (for a PSX game!). There are also some Anime style cut scenes and flashy computer graphic scenes.
Audio
The sound effects are, well sound effects with the gears clanking and making mechanical type noises you would expect them to. In a forest you can hear birds tweeting rivers rushing and monkeys spanking. The characters speak occasionally (about twice) and they make noises akin to oof! (Ive been hit) Hiya!! (Im hitting you) and Arrr (Im about to hit you), It all works well. The music is well produced and always suits the situation that you are in. That is just putting it lightly, the music is simply brilliant it can make you feel happy or even on the verge of wanting to kill yourself (In a good way
), I cant really describe it, but it is on a par with the music in most of the Final fantasy series games.
Replay Value
Well I have leant this to friends and all of their saves have lasted around 70+ hours. Personally I have played this game over several times. Although most people will probably only play it once, it is a game worth playing.
Overall
One of the best RPGs released for the PSX, with a story that will keep you hooked to the game until you finish the game. Dated graphics, but that is expected for a game that is almost 4 years old and excellent sound. The only thing is that I wouldnt recommend this to someone who lacks patience and also people who have never played an RPG style game, I could see it become very frustrating otherwise.
Rating
9/10
Screw individually rating each aspect of the game and sorry for the poor grammar and spelling.
Sorry about the poor image.
Platform: PSX (Also compatible with PS2 system)
Developer: Squaresoft (Or was it monolith? I dont know)
Publisher: Square EA
Genre: RPG
The Story
Oh bugger why did I have to my first review on a game that has such a complicated plot? Oh well lets start with the basics then.
The story revolves around the young artist Fei Fong Wong, who at the start of the game is living in the quiet village of Lahan. He has only lived there for a year or so because, he was delivered by a strange masked man to the village chief, who nursed him back to health. Unfortunately Fei was so badly injured that he seems to have lost his memory. During the year or so that Fei was in Lahan, he became friends with almost all the residents of the small village during his stay, most notably Timothy, his girlfriend Alice, and Alice's little brother, Dan. He also became acquainted with Dr. Citan Uzuki who served as the village's doctor. Fei lived happily in Lahan until the day that Timothy and Alice were to be wedded. That evening the village was attacked by a squad of large bi-ped robots called gears. During the skirmish Fei finds himself in the position to board an abandoned gear, he gets into the gear and attempts to save the village. He manages to take a few of the enemy down but eventually he is surrounded, one of the enemy gears is ordered to shoot Feis friend Timothy. This causes Fei to loose all control of the gear and subsequently destroy the whole village. How did Fei know how to pilot the gear? How did he manage to destroy the entire village?
Well Im not going to tell you.
Gameplay
Well most of it is your typical RPG fare, explore town talk to people, buy items equipment, carry out tasks play games etc. These towns, cities, weird places are very well laid out and are quite fun to explore. Then you have the random turn based battles (which in my opinion are a good thing) which is one of the things that are unique to this game. When you fight on foot your moves are inputted in a fighting game style also certain button combinations allow you to pull off super moves called deathblows which can kill most normal enemies in one hit and can do serious damage to bosses. Most of the characters have these deathblow moves and magic spells (although a few dont). Although fighting on foot is no way as fun as fighting in your gear. Although your selection of moves is more limited than when you are on foot, they certainly make up for that with showy effects and killer combos. Fighting in your gear adds a bit more strategy, firstly because at the start of the game you are unable to restore your gears HP at all (although latter in the game you are able to) and every gear has a fuel gauge. So every time a move is executed it uses fuel, also restoring HP later in the game uses fuel. You also have the option to charge a small amount of fuel during the battle but it costs you a turn, so sometimes the boss fights can be quite difficult especially if you use allot of powerful moves without bothering to charge your fuel back up occasionally. At the moment the only few negative things I can think up about this game are that it does take a long time to learn new moves requiring allot of random battling. Also most of the second disk is spent watching the characters tell the story and then fighting, which at some points becomes a tad boring. Although these points dont detract much from the games enjoyment they are a bit of a spoiler, but thats if you are being really negative. On another positive note there is a really fun fighting side game included which you and a friend can battle each other.
Graphics
Xenogears was released in Japan sometime late 1997 (Some time like that anyway, someone please correct me if Im wrong) so most modern gamers will probably think it looks wack. For its time the graphics were amazing, giving you huge areas to explore and with quite a good level of detail, the gears look very impressive (if you play the game on an emulator with a decent graphics card it reeks of awesomeness) also you get a good sense of perspective with you little characters and their huge gears, even bigger battleships and sand cruisers. The towns are very well made as well, from the church in Nisan, Avehs royal castle and the amazing floating city of shevat all are huge and very picturesque (for a PSX game!). There are also some Anime style cut scenes and flashy computer graphic scenes.
Audio
The sound effects are, well sound effects with the gears clanking and making mechanical type noises you would expect them to. In a forest you can hear birds tweeting rivers rushing and monkeys spanking. The characters speak occasionally (about twice) and they make noises akin to oof! (Ive been hit) Hiya!! (Im hitting you) and Arrr (Im about to hit you), It all works well. The music is well produced and always suits the situation that you are in. That is just putting it lightly, the music is simply brilliant it can make you feel happy or even on the verge of wanting to kill yourself (In a good way
), I cant really describe it, but it is on a par with the music in most of the Final fantasy series games.Replay Value
Well I have leant this to friends and all of their saves have lasted around 70+ hours. Personally I have played this game over several times. Although most people will probably only play it once, it is a game worth playing.
Overall
One of the best RPGs released for the PSX, with a story that will keep you hooked to the game until you finish the game. Dated graphics, but that is expected for a game that is almost 4 years old and excellent sound. The only thing is that I wouldnt recommend this to someone who lacks patience and also people who have never played an RPG style game, I could see it become very frustrating otherwise.
Rating
9/10
Screw individually rating each aspect of the game and sorry for the poor grammar and spelling.
. Tidus' voice seems to be a bit deeper, and more mature though.
