Xenogears (PS1) - Let's Play 1001 Games - Episode 759
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I'm Gaming Jay: Youtube gamer, let's player, fan of retro games, and determined optimist... Join me in this series while I try out EACH of the video games in the book 1001 VIDEO GAMES YOU MUST PLAY BEFORE YOU DIE, before I die. The game review for each game will focus on the question of whether you MUST play this game before you die. But to be honest, the game review parts are just for fun, and are not meant to be definitive, in depth reviews; this series is more about the YouTube gamer journey itself. From Mario games to the Halo series, from arcade games to Commodore 64, PC games to the NES and Sega Genesis, Playstation to the Xbox, let's play those classic retro games that we grew up with, have fond memories of, or heard of but never got a chance to try! And with that said, the game review for today is...
Xenogears
from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenogears
Xenogears[a] is a 1998 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation video game console. It is the debut entry in the larger Xeno franchise. The gameplay of Xenogears revolves around navigating 3D environments both on-foot and using humanoid mecha dubbed "Gears". Combat is governed by a version of the turn-based "Active Time Battle" system. The story follows protagonist Fei Fong Wong and several others as they journey across the world to overthrow the all-powerful rule of Solaris and uncover mysteries concerning their world. The story incorporates Jungian psychology, Freudian thought, and religious symbolism.
Created by Tetsuya Takahashi and his wife Kaori Tanaka as a proposal for Final Fantasy VII, it was allowed to be developed as its own project; first as a sequel to Chrono Trigger and then as an original game with a science fiction premise. It was developed under the working title "Project Noah". The characters were designed by Kunihiko Tanaka, while the gears were designed by Junya Ishigaki and Yoshinori Ogura. The designs were portrayed during in-game cinematics through the use of anime cutscenes. Due to time constraints and the team's general inexperience, the second half of the game's plot was primarily told through cutscenes.
The game was almost not localized due to its religious content; its localization was handled by Square Electronic Arts staff and translator Richard Honeywood, who described it as one of the most troublesome games of his career. Xenogears received critical acclaim, with many calling it a work of art due to its heavy religious themes and elements of Jungian psychology. Praises particularly went towards the storyline, gameplay, characters, and psychological and religious themes, but received criticism for the rushed pace of the second disc, due to a lack of gameplay and excessive narration. By 2003, the game had shipped 1.19 million copies worldwide, gaining a cult following. While a direct sequel has not been developed, Takahashi would later found Monolith Soft and develop the Xenosaga trilogy and Xenoblade Chronicles games as spiritual successors.
Xenogears was produced by Hiromichi Tanaka, who previously worked on the SNES game Secret of Mana. The scenario of the game was written by director Tetsuya Takahashi and by Kaori Tanaka.[33][34] Yasuyuki Honne served as art director,[3] while Kunihiko Tanaka was responsible for the character designs.[35] Tetsuo Mizuno, Tomoyuki Takechi, and Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi were executive producers for Xenogears.[35] Koichi Mashimo, an animation director and his studio Bee Train, was in charge of the anime cut scenes.[36] The CGI sequences were created by Shirogumi.[33] Xenogears started out as an early concept conceived by Takahashi and Tanaka for the Square game Final Fantasy VII.[34] Their superior in the company deemed it "too dark and complicated for a fantasy", but Takahashi was allowed to develop it as a separate project.[34] The project began under the working title "Project Noah".[37] The main impetus for Takahashi was that he was growing frustrated with the Final Fantasy series.[38] The initial concept was to make Xenogears a sequel to Chrono Trigger, but after multiple clashes with the company over this and unspecified practical difficulties, it was decided to make it a completely original title. Due to this initial development idea, there were concepts unsuited for a fantasy world, so a compromise was made by incorporating both fantasy and science fiction into the game's world.