Xenogears (ゼノギアス Zenogiasu) is a role-playing game for the Sony PlayStation. It was released by Squaresoft in February 1998 in Japan and October 1998 in the USA.

In terms of popular opinion, Xenogears is considered one of the most divisive video games ever. Supporters of Xenogears believe that it ranks among the best role-playing games, with its relatively deep and well-rooted history involving politics, love, and religion, among others; detractors believe Xenogears has badly flawed game mechanics -- among them, an excessively high rate of random battles and an overly pedestrian and linear gameplay. Xenogears was notorious for its lengthy (to critics, tedious) cut scenes and backstory presentations.

Xenogears' story centers around Fei, a young man who has no memories of childhood and suddenly thrown into a conflict that will decide the fate of the entire world. The storyline is highly detailed, with references to a history that spans thousands of years. See Xenogears terms for references about the story.

Xenogears uses both 2D and 3D graphics: Characters are portrayed with traditional 2D sprites while the Gears (the mecha of Xenogears) and the backdrops use 3D techniques. Xenogears also uses traditional Japanese cel-animated scenes and pre-rendered CGI movie clips, a common trait in Squaresoft RPGs during the PlayStation One era.

The game's music was composed and arranged by Yasunori Mitsuda, who also composed and arranged the music of Chrono Trigger, Radical Dreamers, Gunhazard , Tobal No. 1, Mario Party, Bomberman 64 2 , Chrono Cross, Shadow Hearts, , and Xenogears' unofficial prequel, Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht. He was employed by Square from 1992-1998, and is regarded as one of the best composers who was ever associated with Square (now Square-Enix). His musical score on Xenogears has been regarded as one of the strong points of the game for its impact on the storytelling.

Xenogears has a wide range of related merchandise, from both first and third parties. The most valuable and sought after is the Xenogears universe's history compilation book, Perfect Works.

During the game's early production, the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion became very popular, and may have influenced Xenogears's creative direction. Xenogears and Neon Genesis Evangelion both contain copious and sometimes incongruous references to Judeo-Christian theology. A persisting rumor has it that Xenogears' release in the United States was impeded because of its religious references. There is no substantial evidence to back this up, however.

Xenogears is actually the fifth installment of a proposed series of six, but no Xenogears games were made before this one. Furthermore, there are hints that Xenogears was rushed in production; the major basis of such being the particular gameplay (or lack of it) found in the game's second disk where players watch the characters recap the story rather than play through it; though a good possibility also exists proposing that this was intentional. Rumors say that it was going overbudget, and beyond production schedule. Others say that Square lost interest and confidence in the financial value of Xenogears; as portrayed by the founding of Monolith Soft - a company which is mainly composed of ex-Square employees, most of whom worked on Xenogears. Monolith Soft is currently developing a series of unofficial prequels to Xenogears, branded Xenosaga, which is being published by Namco.

See also: Xenogears terms

Related

• Friedrich Nietzsche
• Sigmund Freud
• Carl Jung

External links

• Yasunori Mitsuda's Homepage
• Remixes of Yasunori Mitsuda's Work