The creators of Xenogears confidently laid the foundation for a new and unique style of RPG right from the start… Even while the whole game was trying to be something else.
History is written by the winners. And, in the grand trophy case of the ages, it appears the Xeno- franchise has become a winner. The evidence has been obvious for years. There was a massive campaign to localize Xenoblade Chronicles. The Nintendo Switch launched with teasers for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 like it was the next Fire Emblem or Zelda title. Xenoblade has two (2.5?) characters in Smash Bros, which is one more rep than we ever got for F-Zero. Most recently, Xenoblade Chronicles X was used as another “Switch 2 Upgrade Exclusive” highlight like Kirby and Mario. And, God help us all, Xenosaga still has enough juice that its fanbase is begging for a rerelease or remake twenty years since that whole cast appeared in anything. Did you see what happened when the voice actress for KOS-MOS said she was asked to record a few lines? A very specific corner of the internet was on fire with anticipation, and it was entirely possible they were getting excited over Project X Zone 3. Do you know how goddamned embarrassing it would be to find out you were excited about Project X Zone for any reason!?
And it is amazing to think that all of this Xenohype originated from a game that is best described as “worse Chrono Trigger”.
That’s okay, though! Chrono Trigger is a 10 out of 10 RPG that defined the genre forever. While this author has spent the last decade afraid to overanalyze such a marvelous work of digital perfection, we will confidently put forth a distinctive reason that Chrono Trigger is so good: it is the best of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest combined. Wait! Dammit! Everyone has said that since 1995! Mulligan! What we meant to say is that Chrono Trigger excels not because of its (amazing) graphics or (phenomenal) soundtrack, but because it steals the trick of 
making the game about the characters and the entire world. Lucca, Marle, Frog, Robo, and even Magus are all fully realized people with goals, beliefs, and specific sidequests; so you are inevitably attached to the protagonists (and even a few villains) by the end of the journey. That’s Final Fantasy in a nutshell! And thanks to seeing a world change and evolve over the course of literally millions of years, the setting of Chrono Trigger becomes a character unto itself, not unlike how the various hamlets and their associated quest-based problems shine through in every Dragon Quest. “Time travel RPG” was the selling point for Chrono Trigger (or “you got your sci-fi in my medieval fantasy genre!”), but the time travel indulgence was a means to an end: hopping through epochs lets you see this world in good and bad times, so the player actually cares that the future is a grim pile of bones and mutants. Thou must beat Lavos! Otherwise this whole planet and every last Nu is gonna die! We can’t let that happen to those lil’ guys!
And then Xenogears comes along and says “what if we make Chrono Trigger again, but totally forget to give a damn about the world?”
Oh? What’s this? You want to tell me about how Xenogears was initially intended to be another Final Fantasy, and not Chrono Trigger 2? You want to claim that Xenogears just happens to include a few Chrono Trigger staff members, and has no greater connection than Final Fantasy 6? You want to declare this while Lucca is standing right next to Fei?
Well, alright, smart guy, let’s review the plot of Xenogears. Sure, it is just the story of a handful of dudes rising up to punch god in the face, but it is primarily about Fei. And Fei has had multiple lives across the multiple time periods. How would we define these epochs of Fei? Well…
- Fei is initially Abel in a prehistoric era where an alien parasite first crashed into the planet, when mankind was recognizable, but very primitive.
- Fei is Kim in a past that is more advanced than the present. Technology of this time is indistinguishable from magic, and, while a few relics of that era remain in the present, that civilization was mostly wiped out due to its unending zeal.
- Fei is Lacan a mere few centuries back. This is the era of a great war that still impacts the present, and features a number of notable characters that either live on to the modern age through artificial means, or haunt future generations with obvious descendants carrying on their wills.
- Fei is an “incomplete” Fei (RPG-based memory loss: it’s more common than you think) in the present. This is a generally peaceful time, though a few conflicts are rolling around the globe. “The big threat” is still active, but it is metaphorically and literally underground, and not the immediate concern of anyone.
- Fei becomes a “realized” Fei in the future of Xenogears, a period where the space monster from prehistory has resurfaced, wrecked the entire planet, and all hope seems lost in the face of roaming mutants and terrible environmental conditions. A significant chunk of survivors are doing nothing more than huddling together and waiting around to die.
Assuming your reading comprehension has not been corrupted by relying on Grok, you should realize that the many lives of Fei correspond 1:1 to the main eras of Chrono Trigger. The only difference here is that Xenogears found ways to visit those time periods through non-Delorean based means. Fei’s time as Abel is only seen in flashbacks. The Kim era gets a visit thanks to perfectly preserved underground cities and Emeralda’s memories. Lacan’s flashbacks are a big part of the villain’s motivation (and any parallels to 600 AD’s “I will declare war on the world because I lost someone important thanks to a space tick” Demon Lord Magus must be a coincidence), and places like Shevat offer visions of this recent past. Only two periods are 100% corporeal: the defined Disc 1 of Xenogears is Fei exploring the present, and Disc 2 is a tour of the ruined future where the designers likely narrowly decided not to have the air damage you on the map screen. It is Xenogears: post-apocalyptic world in all but name.
Xenogears just forgot to make you care about this world that got wrecked.
Let’s get our archeology on and analyze Zeboim. Zeboim is the official name of that “past is future” civilization mentioned above, and that place is happenin’ about 4,000 years before the events of Xenogears. Its existence serves to support a couple of important plot beats. First of all, it is an example of why, after nearly 10,000 years of being stuck on this planet, most Xenogearsians are puttering around in a generally feudal society. See, humanity did reach the highs of our late 20th Century, but apparently developing modern society makes you a jackass, so the nefarious space god of this world got his agents to destroy the place. However, since this society played an awful lot of Metal Gear Solid, Fei’s Kim also created nanotechnology opposite the chaos of the epoch, thus planting the seeds that would be important to future generations/Xenogears protagonists. And speaking of technology, Zeboims also created nuclear weapons… which wound up destroying 90% of the population… But! Thousands of years later, those same missile-based weapons would be reappropriated by Elly and Zeboim survivor (kinda) Emeralda, who would use them for the benevolent purpose of globally removing the Gazel limiters implanted in humanity (of course, you likely forgot this happened, because it was like three text boxes during Disc 2). So, in short, while Zeboim occasionally feels like a detour to platform some “modern city” assets, its whole story is imperative for establishing a significant protagonist, illustrating the full machinations and genocidal ambitions of the villains, and seeing a resolution with its most deadly technology being transformed into something beneficial some millennia later.
Also, it confirmed 90% of the population has been wiped out once already, so what would it matter if that happens again? Also: get ready for that to be foreshadowing.
Chrono Trigger has an apocalypse often enough that you need to confirm the plural of the word (“apocalypses”). When Lavos crashes into the planet, it is implied that Ayla’s tribe is about to experience a very deadly ice age, and the reptites are just plain dead-dead. During the team’s tour of the Ocean Palace, an entire kingdom crashes into the sea, and the resulting tidal wave drowns pretty much everybody. 1999 AD is the apocalypse you are trying to avert, and 2300 AD is a three-centuries-later confirmation that humanity does not recover. But that is the thing about Chrono Trigger: even in the hopeless future of 2300 AD (where humanity can barely even work up the energy to wander down to the basement for a snack) you still have Robo, Atropos, and Mother Brain as an example of how good, evil, and love continue to persist in a world without a sky. There is a future! Ayla’s tribe will pass on a reddish rock to descendants that will live in the clouds, and Schala’s descendants will meet chivalrous frogs and robots that release silver points. Sure, there may be dark times today, but every night has a new morning. I think I heard that from a nun somewhere…
Xenogears kills all its nuns. Xenogears kills practically every NPC that is not part of your party. And that gang technically attempts to perform a few acts to alleviate the pain of an ailing world (Elly becomes some kind of Zombie Pope… err… That is to say… She is a pope that eases the minds of zombies, not a pope that is a zombie… It’s a weird game!), but, like the nuclear wessels mentioned earlier, these events are relegated to cutscenes and chair dialogue. What you actually play during the events of Xenogears’ apocalypse are dungeons where you upgrade giant robots, battles where you tackle a foursome that can transform into a giant-er robot, and the epic battle between the biggest robot ever and some manner of humongous robot urchin. This game got giant robots, and it’s gonna use ‘em! On the human level, Fei’s eternal love is found and lost when Elly is kidnapped by the villains, and the finale of the piece is primarily based on rescuing the princess and finally forging a future where this couple can live in happiness. It is uplifting! … For your main characters, immediate party members, and the waveform existence that is the true god of the XG world. For everybody else, though? Well, they are either dead, got transformed into monsters, or got transformed into monsters then got eaten by a false god. For the first time in 10,000 years, there is hope for Fei and Elly! And they are probably going to have a swell time with the rest of the population… which is about twelve people. Anybody seen Citan’s wife around? It might be thirteen.
Xenogears is worse than Chrono Trigger. Shocking news regarding one of the most legendarily incomplete games ever released. But ol’ Xenogears does get one up on its clear inspiration. And where Xenogears excels, it has built an entire franchise.
One of the most memorable places in Xenogears is Solaris. Yes, it is similar to Chrono Trigger’s Zeal (kingdom in the sky that is way more advanced than the surface and obsessed with peculiar hangups that are going to get everyone killed), but we already have Zeboim filling the more obvious “past is future” slot. You can’t have it both ways, Chrono Trigger, so we are going to call Solaris about as unique as it gets. And Solaris owns its distinctiveness in ways Chrono Trigger cannot touch. Solaris is the kingdom that has been the enemy since Fei first saw his hometown burn down (which, technically, happens seconds after starting Xenogears). Solaris is the origin of Elly and Citan, who both have never spoiled its mystery over their hours with the party. Solaris is supposedly the origin of all this advanced technology and various “limiters” across the world that keep the population down. Even once Fei infiltrates the city, answers are not forthcoming. Fei cannot speak the language. Foodstuffs taste suspiciously like grandpa. The fundamental force of gravity is revealed to be upside down in this walled city in the sky. Fei is a perpetual outsider. Even once straightforward things start happening (like weasels killing parents… man, this is a weird game), many of the true answers will not be revealed for hours. In short, Solaris is a playable mystery, and a place where Fei, and thus you, are meant to feel foreign. A stranger in a strange land.
And what is the Latin prefix that denotes a stranger? A foreigner? -Xeno-.
Yes, Xenogears has a world that ends in a hopeless place. Kinda. After all, our heroes just defeated an enigmatic ouroboros that ruled over the place for 10,000 years. Nothing but hope (for anyone left) now! And, not to spoil things too much, but future Xeno titles would follow suit: Xenosaga ends with an entire universe upended. Xenoblade Chronicles rearranges its world, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 does the same, and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 takes what was left from the first two, says “this sucks”, and finds a whole new way to go. And that is the essence of every Xeno story: the world sucks, it has sucked for centuries, and only your heroes are going to break the cycle and get things back to something more recognizably good. Yes, there are some apocalypses along the way, but this world is bad. It is far away from a good place, and you, player, are not only controlling your little dudes, but the foreign force that is going to clean up this town/world/universe. Unending human versus bug war? Slave class of living weapons with no memories? Dipping into the collective unconscious and pulling out space whales? It is all unfamiliar and unacceptable. We don’t have any of that nonsense in our world! Sure, it might take you 40-90 hours to figure out what the heck is even happening in this new and crazy place, but once you do, you are going to march right up to the bad guy’s front door, and use your giant robot or sword girlfriends or whatever to beat the crap out of it and fix things. It may change the face of the entire universe, but you are going make this world a better place, one random battle at a time.
Even more than the demiurge, religious imagery, Jungian archetypes, or inexplicably summoning robots, the Xeno franchise is about entering an unfamiliar world and beating it down until it is better. You often must break a few eggs (maybe kinda sorta commit a touch of genocide), but the omelet is always the same: a world that is more liberated for its characters, and more explicable to the player. The cast is better off, you have a better knowledge of the world that was, and everyone, player and characters alike, can move on as more fully realized people. More than any franchise in its parent genre, the Xeno titles are all about solving these worldwide mysteries, and thus unraveling the world where you are a stranger.
Final Fantasy is all about its characters. Dragon Quest is all about its world. And the Xeno- franchise? It may have grown out of an obvious inspiration, but it found its own third rail. Xeno games live up their titles, and provide an experience you won’t find anywhere else.
(Still not as good as Chrono Trigger, though.)
FGC #727 Xenogears
- System: It was only ever physical for the Playstation. Then we got a digital version during the Playstation 3/PSP/Vita era. Since then, it has not returned. Also, it literally never (legally) got to Europe. Sorry, guys!
- Number of players: This was always going to be a solitary franchise, even if later entries wound up incorporating a host of MMORPG elements.
- Inspirations: This article may have been percolating since I played UNBEATABLE… Mostly because I liked jumping around like an idiot in that vaguely RPG-like universe. There is nothing in the world like talking to a shopkeeper, and then hopping up on their counter.
- Inspirations Part 2: The other big factor is that I was exposed to Abby Denton while on vacation, and she exudes Xenogears energy as a matter of course. Also, we went to the Square Enix Popup Store…
Which may have motivated me to spend part of my plane ride sketching out this article
- Further Chrono Connections: You just know that Chrono Trigger wanted to do those big, sprawling cityscapes back on the Super Nintendo, but could only manage a handful of houses dotting the world. Chrono Trigger’s Kingdom of Zeal would have been so cool as something closer to Xenogears’ Kislev! Not going to disparage one of the greats here, but it is hard to shake the feeling that the Chrono Trigger world has an average global population of, like, thirty.
Final Chrono Connections: If the ending of Xenogears saw Deus (or, perhaps a “new” Deus merged with Krelian or Miang or something) growing a spiny shell and escaping the final battle by blasting off of the planet to parts unknown, thus implying that this space tick evolved into Chrono Trigger’s catastrophic antagonist, would Xenogears have to change literally anything about its plot?- There Will Never Be Another You: Please acknowledge our reality and realize there will never be Xenogears: The Remake. To be precise, there will never be a version of Xenogears that creates the intended Disc 2 experience, or (let’s get even crazier) the full “six episodes of Xenogears” (as described in Xenogears Perfect Works). It has been nearly thirty years! Any attempt to revisit this franchise is not only going to be difficult from inception, but also everything everyone involved ever wanted to do has already wound up in every other Xeno game! They do not need to put the perfect button on Emeralda or Bart’s stories! They have already been recycled! It’s all in the soylent system now! Xenoblade Chronicles is made from people!
- Character Assassination: That said, I would like to see a version of Xenogears where Elly has a consistent personality throughout. Or maybe just some reassurance that her previous incarnations did not take over her brain right around when her parents died. What we are looking at as “Elly” between discs one and two are effectively two different people, and I really miss Disc 1 Elly (even if she may have had some significant mental problems) (okay, maybe because she had some significant mental problems) (I have a type).
- Amiibo Corner: Today’s Amiibo is Chu-Chu, and she…
Wait! Dammit! That’s not an Amiibo! Get out of here, you damn rat monster!
- Just play the gig man: I have been listening to the Xenogears: Creid album since roughly 2001. I have not ever stopped. There are decent odds this album will be able to be heard by holding my skull up to your ear a thousand years from now.
- Goggle Bob Fact: I have written here in my notes “really like the water area”. I thought for a moment that I might be going insane, as I patently hate that dumb water dungeon you have to slowly float through. But! Turns out I was talking about the Thames, the “man of the sea” floating city where you can play card games and explore a randomly cobbled together township. And, hey, you can talk to a dolphin, too! That is the water area I like.
- Did you know? Xenogears may not have created the concept of the sewer level, but it features the worst sewer level ever imagined.
- Did you know, too? If you assume all of the Xeno titles are connected (and there is strong evidence for that), Xenogears is the first game created, and the story set the furthest in the future of the Xeno universe by a factor of millennia. Somebody must have found Lost Jerusalem (or put it back together) by the time Fei’s people are ready to leave the planet. …. Right?
- Would I play again: It’s Xenogears, man.
What’s next? It is apparently already the end of the month, so let’s stick Rosalina up on a pedestal. There is a whole galaxy of reasons to do such a thing. Please look forward to it!
