I don't know how they managed to pull it off but this game was everything I'd hoped it would be and more, I was hooked from start to finish.
Amazing cinematography and texture-work I was not expecting from a PS1 game, the game has it's own film worth of memorable scenes, some dramatic, others are more action heavy, but the game keeps surprising and pushing things further than most.
I expected a standard Square JRPG but this was so much more than that, the story and atmosphere are brooding, mysterious, deep, and thoughtful.
It's a story that tries to explain an entire fictional universe, spanning thousands of years, and somehow it all made sense to me by the end, you'll have a lot of questions playing through this, and most will be answered.
the attention to detail in this game was unprecedented
The battle were mostly enjoyable, not too slow and enemies mostly don't take too long to defeat. The Deathblows you unlock ingame are a spectacle, so many and a lot of them have some nice effects, it made the tedium of some battles a bit more bearable for me.
The battle mechanics aren't that deep, it gets the job done, Xenogears is more about being prepared for battles than descisions you make in battle, there is some depth to be found with gear equipment and some hidden mechanics they introduce of the player wants to look for it. overall it was serviceable, challenge felt perfect and not too gind dependent, sometimes I had to make some tough decisions in boss fights just barely getting by and it was satisfying to overcome.
Locations in-game were varied and every town was fun to explore. The atmosphere is perfectly set up in each area.
Important characters are well written, the writing was very believable. The story can be tense and foreboding, it managed to be emotional, tragic, and hopeful by the end.
There's so many cool and unexpected things in this game I wouldn't even know where to start, there were many highs and not many lows, if you are curious about this game at all, play it for yourself.
If you know anything about this game you've probably heard about disc 2, I did not know when I played. I liked the change, the dungeons were just starting to get tedious and underdesigned, if they'd had a whole extra 40 hours of... That? I don't think I'd like the game as much, disc 2 was extremely to the point, I was glad to get so much plot without it being padded or drawn out.
I know this is a strange opinion, but I like the game exactly the way it is, and I think it has enough content as-is to justify it's existence, a "real" disc 2 would risk ruining that balance.
I don't for wish for "the full experience" because what's here is already everything I wanted no more, no less.
Some games from this time "don't age well" but this isn't one of them, I played this for the first time last year, never had a PS1 no nostalgia, this game hits hard. It made me rethink what kinds of stories could be told in a game and that no idea is too out there as long as it's set up and executed well enough. It was an unforgettable experience.
Amazing cinematography and texture-work I was not expecting from a PS1 game, the game has it's own film worth of memorable scenes, some dramatic, others are more action heavy, but the game keeps surprising and pushing things further than most.
I expected a standard Square JRPG but this was so much more than that, the story and atmosphere are brooding, mysterious, deep, and thoughtful.
It's a story that tries to explain an entire fictional universe, spanning thousands of years, and somehow it all made sense to me by the end, you'll have a lot of questions playing through this, and most will be answered.
the attention to detail in this game was unprecedented
The battle were mostly enjoyable, not too slow and enemies mostly don't take too long to defeat. The Deathblows you unlock ingame are a spectacle, so many and a lot of them have some nice effects, it made the tedium of some battles a bit more bearable for me.
The battle mechanics aren't that deep, it gets the job done, Xenogears is more about being prepared for battles than descisions you make in battle, there is some depth to be found with gear equipment and some hidden mechanics they introduce of the player wants to look for it. overall it was serviceable, challenge felt perfect and not too gind dependent, sometimes I had to make some tough decisions in boss fights just barely getting by and it was satisfying to overcome.
Locations in-game were varied and every town was fun to explore. The atmosphere is perfectly set up in each area.
Important characters are well written, the writing was very believable. The story can be tense and foreboding, it managed to be emotional, tragic, and hopeful by the end.
There's so many cool and unexpected things in this game I wouldn't even know where to start, there were many highs and not many lows, if you are curious about this game at all, play it for yourself.
If you know anything about this game you've probably heard about disc 2, I did not know when I played. I liked the change, the dungeons were just starting to get tedious and underdesigned, if they'd had a whole extra 40 hours of... That? I don't think I'd like the game as much, disc 2 was extremely to the point, I was glad to get so much plot without it being padded or drawn out.
I know this is a strange opinion, but I like the game exactly the way it is, and I think it has enough content as-is to justify it's existence, a "real" disc 2 would risk ruining that balance.
I don't for wish for "the full experience" because what's here is already everything I wanted no more, no less.
Some games from this time "don't age well" but this isn't one of them, I played this for the first time last year, never had a PS1 no nostalgia, this game hits hard. It made me rethink what kinds of stories could be told in a game and that no idea is too out there as long as it's set up and executed well enough. It was an unforgettable experience.