Things I Played: Xenogears - A Bold, Ambitious and Almost-Finished JRPG

I wrote a feature for Metro recently where I mentioned that I’d finished Xenogears. This was a lie because I’d actually almost finished Xenogears. I’d gotten to the final dungeon but died a few times so put the game down. I finally picked it back up last night where, low and behold, I did it. I saved the world, got the girl, and killed God in the process. Woo hoo!

Xenogears is a JRPG first released for the PSone in 1998. It was produced by Squaresoft, who were still known as that at the time. It was directed by Tetsuya Takahashi with writing credits going to Masato Kato (Chrono Trigger), and Soraya Saga (FF VI). Soraya and Tetsuya were actually married at the time, which I think is just the most lovely thing really.

The game is about a dude named Fei Fong Wong who is mysteriously carried to the village of Lahan. With no memory beyond the last three years, he spends his time idly painting when one day he's caught up in a fire fight between troops from warring states. In order to save the village, he enters an mecha unit known as a ‘gear’ which sets up a plot that develops into an ambitious take on the origins of their planet; their past lives; the recurring fate of their personalities; and the future of all humanity.

Unfortunately I can’t sum up the game because it's complicated as all hell. It touches on the inner workings of characters with themes involving Jungian and Freudian psychoanalysis. It also boasts some genuinely compelling - although hard to take seriously - ideas involving Gnostic symbolism. I can't think of any other game that compares to what Xenogears does and that's good enough for me.

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