Xenogears
Xenogears (jap. ゼノギアス, Zenogiasu) is an RPG for the Sony PlayStation. It was released by Square in February 1998 in Japan and October 1998 in the United States.
The story of Xenogears revolves around Fei Fong Wong, a young man with no memories of his childhood. He suddenly becomes involved in a conflict that could decisively change the future of the entire world. The story is told in great detail and includes references to historical events that span several thousand years.
Both 2D and 3D graphics are used in Xenogears: Characters are portrayed with traditional 2D sprites, while the "gears" (Xenogears' mecha) and backgrounds are rendered in 3D. Many Japanese-inspired anime-style scenes are used to present the game, as well as other pre-rendered videos. Square eventually became famous for these high-quality videos in their products, especially during the PlayStation era.
The music was composed and arranged by Yasunori Mitsuda. The musical score was considered one of the strongest points in the presentation. In addition to Mitsuda's official music, two other soundtracks were released: Xenogears: Creid and Xenogears Light (a fan-arranged album).
There are a variety of merchandise products related to Xenogears, both from the manufacturing company and from other manufacturers. The most popular of these is a detailed book about Xenogears called Perfect Works. Perfect Works explains the history and background of the game as well as the time before Xenogears, which is not told in the game itself, but is the basis for the game. There is also an artbook called Thousands of Daggers, which is a sort of libretto to the plot of Xenogears. It contains almost all of the text that appears in the game.
When work began on the game, an anime called Neon Genesis Evangelion was being produced. Both Xenogears and Neon Genesis Evangelion contain copious references to Judeo-Christian theology. Both are related to the work of Nietzsche, specifically in the struggle between good and evil, self-knowledge (id, ego, superego), and the balance of power.
A persistent rumor is that the release of Xenogears in the United States was delayed because of its religious reference, but there is no solid proof of this. In the game, the story unfolds to religion being used to control the masses of people. This is done by the "Ethos", an organization that officially seeks to preserve the culture and technology of the world of Xenogears. The Ethos, however, do not preach a god, but seek to enforce Darwin's theory of evolution. This, however, serves another purpose entirely, that of obscuring the truth: the people of the world of Xenogears have only been walking the planet for 10,000 years. The story treats religious mythology from a very scientific point of view; this could have been a reason for the alleged delay in the US.
Xenogears is the fifth episode in a series that is set to be six parts. Monolith Soft has produced a series of role-playing games called Xenosaga, which are reinterpretations of the Xenogears story. Xenosaga, however, is distributed by Namco rather than Square Enix. These games tell a modified version of the never-released Episode I of Xenogears, and also use diagrams and mechanics presented in the Perfect Works book. In Xenosaga, there is again a strong reference to religious themes and an analysis between good and evil. This is also evidenced by the German subtitles of works by Friedrich Nietzsche, which are also presented in the original in Japan and the US. The Xenosaga series was discontinued after the third part due to lack of success.
