I've been posting about this game intermittently on Facebook, and I'm maybe 75-80% through disc 1, and I thought I would tell you guys what it's actually like.
Xenogears is both similar and different from most RPGs I've played, for it's not often that we get to control towering mechs in combat.
The first thing you really notice playing the game is the linearity. My only problem with the pacing is that though in terms of storytelling, the pacing ranges from very good to excellent, I occasionally worry that I am not strong enough for where I am, and the game does not give many opportunities at all to farm (grind). Grind when you can, and get as much money as you can so you can improve your mechs (Gears; think, strangely, Metal Gear Solid). It is also IMPERATIVE that you upgrade your gear equipment at every available opportunity.
However, having only played for 20 hours, I will tell you that I feel like a lot of things have happened. The game even to a degree outpaces even Final Fantasy 8, which, as we all remember, had an incredibly epic first disc (from Dollet to Timbre to the assassination attempt on the Sorceress). Granted, Xenogears is only 2 discs as opposed to FF8's 4 discs, but even still, a lot of things are happening.
The plot reminds me a little of Evangelion, and I could write a paper on how Fei Fong Wong is simply a less-depressed Shinji Ikari, but you probably don't quite care enough about that for me to actually do it. The narrative is quite confusing, and all of these different characters and factions are introduced but never adequately explained (hopefully that will be taken care of in the second disc), but still I hold on, because the game's real strong point is its character development. I really like these characters, and I really like how they're dealing with their problems (unlike Vanille in FF13 being an oblivious little kid for half the friggin game).
One character is a military officer who encounters Fei early in the game, but she returns to her homeland soon after we meet up with her, and the whole game she expresses the desire to flee, but she is unable to, because at least she has somewhere to belong, except: There is one sequence where this character's country commences an operation to *NUKE!* the enemy capital city, and Fei is able to show her the destruction her complacency has caused, and she finally joins with you to change the course of the main bomber and save the city. This is the coolest event in the game thus far.
On an aesthetic front, the characters are sprites, but they are beautifully animated, and this especially evident during combat: Models will fall when hit, and execute intricate combos (more on that later) with a level of detail normally reserved for fighting games. They may be "miniature" RPG sprites, but never before have they been so well-animated.
The game's soundtrack is much the same as what we would expect from a Square-Enix (-Soft) title, except for one small problem: There are spots in the game without any music. I don't immediately care about there being no music, but it's the fact that the music is so good otherwise that I miss it when it isn't there.
There's one thing that's funny about the Gears: It's sometimes as if you're carrying them in your pocket, and you can simply board or disembark from them at any time (even during combat, which, while occasionally extremely necessary, is sometimes ridiculous).
I haven't decided if Xenogears is better than Final Fantasy, but it absolutely has my attention and I love it enough to want to see it through.
A+
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