So what's this Xenogears stuff? Return to the front page.

Xenogears... it's a 70-hour trip and so there's a lot of information to cover! This page discusses the art and community value of the game, the hardware, the backstory of the game, and a quick how-to on the battle system, combos and other features.

Targets:
ART/COMMUNITY VALUE:
Xenogears is, in my opinion, one of the most artful and involving role-playing experiences ever. You will laugh, you will cry, and you'll look at life and existence in a different way.

As a writer, I realize how great art makes you think and influences you in some way where the work you do on your own is concerned. Xenogears has done this in spades. "Sages of Time" would not be the same without it. (Babylon 5 helped too, but that is another story.) And my views on life and love would be shallower. I can't say a whole lot without spoiling the game, but the relationship between Fei and Elly says a lot more about true love than Titanic ever will.

I must say, I was completely shocked by this game. My friend Shane, when I was asking him questions about rpgs and the PlayStation console, mentioned Xenogears in passing, saying it was a long game with a lot of story. (This is how hardcore gamers like him talk!) Months later, when mom got me my PSX for my birthday, I looked through the selection of games at The Sony Store and, knowing I wanted an rpg (for that is why I had chosen the console over the N64), saw Xenogears. It didn't look that impressive, and the graphics on the back cover made the game look really boring (although I should have realized something about the story since the catchphrase was "Stand tall and shake the heavens"). But remembering that tiny tiny little conversation bit so many months ago... it went in the bag with the PSX. And I haven't regretted the decision for a moment. My jaw was on the floor for the whole 70 hours and now, in the making of this site, I'm enjoying it all over again!

Some people find it offensive that games are fast becoming a medium for artistic expression (especially some Christian fundementalists I've talked to) but then on the other had the same sort were offended when people read other books aside from their scriptures and holy texts. People assoiciate games, especially Role-Playing games, with... well, for lack of a better term, loner psychotic people. I couldn't disagree with them more. In my opinion, the reason for this association is that this genre of gaming is not mainstream. People don't seem to care about Mortal Kombat-ish games anymore... that's yesterday's news. Now they're going to pick on the rpg gamers. I just hope they move on to something else, and soon.

So a big theme of this site is enlightenment. I want people to see the point of view that games like Xenogears are great art, albeit a new medium. I'm not saying it's the best thing since sliced bread, but Xenogears has broken new ground and I'm excited by the possibility of seeing more games like it.

PS: I would never try to argue that Final Fantasy VII was great art. VIII won't be able to help being better! =) While the game was fun, it was not very deep if you know what I mean. The only good bit was the Cait Sith subplot, which you can appreciate much more on your second trip through the game. (Look into the right-side rooms at the Honey-Bee Inn for example. Good foreshadowing, eh? Xenogears has it in spades!)

TECHNICAL INFORMATION:
Xenogears is such a beautiful game, and does some things with polygons never before seen on PlayStation. You would think it was a N64 game if not for the fact that it's seventy hours long and is not made for toddlers. All information presented here (or on this site for that matter) is for the NTSC U/C version of the game.


BACKSTORY:
(from the documentation...)

Thousands of years ago.

The Eldridge, a gigantic interplanetary emigrant spacecraft, suffered a sudden shipwide systems malfunction. On the monitors that warned of the ensuing danger, a mysterious shadow flickered for but an instant. Before the spacecraft's crew can respond, someone or something had taken over their entire ship.

As the passengers and crew attempted to evacuate, the spacecraft's own laser cannons coldly turned and shot them down. The captain had no choice but to activate the ship's self-destruct mechanism. In a flash of light, the spacecraft fell to a nearby planet.

Born from the fallen wreckage, 'she' slowly arose, her long hair blowing in the wind as her eyes reflected the dawn's breaking light. Reflecting the start of the day that 'god' and 'humankind' fell to earth.

(my additions...)

And now, the main continent (Ignas) consists of three countries: The Kingdom of Aveh (to the south, the capital city is Bleadivik) and the Kislev Empire (to the north, the capital city is Nortune) are the two biggest countries and they are (suprise!) at eternal war with each other. The third country, Nisan, is a tiny little neutral city-state to the northwest with a big sanctuary and sisters that look like Roman Catholics.

Now this little war is now being fueled by an organization called the "Ethos", who, in addition to looking like Roman Catholics with a cool 'seal' logo, dig up these aincent ruins, called 'gears'. (I know something you don't know...) Anyway, these gears are big 'ol humanoid fighting machines that need a pilot... sort of like Exo Squad, but with a real cockpit. And of course Ethos does the right thing and supplies gears to the countries that they happen to be found under. This (suprise again!) escalates the war even further... and eventually Kislev starts beating the crap out of Aveh because they had more ruins to dig gears out of. (I'd love to be a military archeoligist in this world!)

But before Kislev goes too far, the evil 'Gebler' people (who look like atheists gone bad) from the evil 'Sacred Empire of Solaris' (which, in a departure from the other guy's lands, happens to be in another dimension) begin to supply military aid to Aveh and really start pulling strings. And since people from other dimensions tend to have bigger guns, Aveh began to beat the crap out of Kislev.

And you haven't even started playing yet.

XENOGEARS BATTLE SYSTEM:
The Xenogears battle system is an all-new, fresh interface. That said, it may take a little time to figure out:

The most difficult concept is the "attack point", or "ap" for short. Simply put, a given character is allocated x ammount of ap for each attack he or she makes. When you first begin the game it will be 3 ap, this will gradually increase to 7 as you level up (the concept of gaining "experience points" or "xp"). In turn, the three attack buttons use different ammounts of ap:

So as you can see, doing an X attack when you first start the game totally wipes out your ap and your attack is over. But later on you have more ap to work with, which introduces the concepts of combos and saving ap.

A combo in Xenogears is simple. Press one attack button and a graphic at the bottom shows you how you can continue the combo, if combos are available. (learning them is another matter, we'll deal with that in the next section...) Combos do tons more damage than normal attacks but use up ap since you have to use more than one attack in the process. For instance, the first combo for all the characters is triangle, X which uses 4 ap. The final combo of X, triangle, X (which is only available to Fei) uses all of 7 ap. So keep this stuff in mind.

But why on earth would you want to save ap? Ahh... this is the sweet part of it. See that little ap bar below your character? Well you can save up to 28 ap in a single battle! The easy way to do it would be to use a single triangle attack then hit O to withdraw. This way you can save, depending on your level, anywhere from 2 to 6 ap. Okay, sounds good so far...

The fun part is when the gauge fills to 28 and you select "Combo" (as opposed to Attack, Chi, Defend, Call Gear, Escape, etc..). Notice that all the combos you have learned so far are listed here, along with how much ap they use up. Select various combos to eat up your 28 ap, then let 'er rip. You'll preform all those wonderful deathblows one after the other, doing SERIOUS damage.

There is another small concept to mention here. You can preform combos in gear battles as well as in character battles. A triangle button leading combo is a level 1,  is level 2, and X is level three. The way to save up is simple... just keep attacking with either triangle, , and X, avoiding combos. With each turn, you'll have access to the next level (if you have it, that is).

This is all a little complicated, yes, but you'll figure it all out in no time.

ALL ABOUT COMBOS:
The previous section discussed how the ap thing works and the concept of 28-point attacks. Now we will discuss learning combos for each character.

Simply: You input the buttons that make up the combo you're trying to learn over and over and over again, turn after turn, battle after battle, until you learn it (which can take a while, but it's worth it!).

For example, when you get 4 ap at a time, you can learn the first combo by constantly attacking triangle X. (If you haven't learned it by 5 ap you would attack triangle X then hit O to withdraw.) After doing the combo manually for a time, you'll learn it, and when you do, triangle X will do much more damage than the triangle and X attacks put together. But if you think that's cool, know that seven of the nine playable characters in the game all have combos to learn. (Chu-Chu and Maria have no combo attacks.) And to make things simple, they all use the same buttons, so with my help, there's no need to guess:

The combos, in order of damage and ap needed:
triangle X
triangle triangle X
 X
triangle triangle triangle X
triangle  X
 triangle X
X X
(the following combos are not available until a special event in the game):
triangle triangle triangle triangle X
triangle triangle  X
triangle  triangle X
 triangle triangle X (Fei, Citan, Bart, and Elly only)
  X (Fei only)
X triangle X (Fei only)

OTHER STUFF:
This is a random list of some other things you should know about the game that couldn't really fit anywhere else:

- Time is much less a factor in the battle system than in other rpgs. I mean this in the sense that you won't be waiting around for the enemy to attack while your time gauges charge. The time gauges bolt ahead to the next player or enemys turn. So the way to see the influence of time in the battles is how many turns you get. (Speed boosting items will then give you more turns.) Really, time works the same way in Xenogears as it does in Final Fantasy VII, but you don't have to think about it too much. And don't rush to select a command... time does not elapse in any of the battle screen menus. Go to the fridge and have a nice snack if you feel the need!

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