Chrono Cross was genius. The events of Chrono Trigger weren't meaningless. It was the fault of that game itself that caused that timestream to be invalidated. If it hadn't been for Crono and his party saving the future, Chronopolis wouldn't have been created, thus Dinopolis wouldn't have been created thus none of the events of Chrono Cross would have ever occurred. I think it's a hell of a lot more interesting than anything else they could have done with the story. And who knows, if and when Chrono Break ever comes out, the plots may be merged and finally resolved.

Titus, Xenogears is amazing, but it's a giant game. I'm at nearly 70 hours and I'm still a little ways from the end of the first disc. The second disc is apparently only a minor fraction of the game, but I could imagine myself being at 80 hours by the time I finish it.

Quick question though. Is it 70 hours of straight gameplay, or are you taking a lot of time away from the plot so you can level your characters?

For instance, in FFVII, without leveling and just straight gameplay, I went through the game in about 45 hours or so, but after doing so, I went back to an earlier save point, leveled to 99, Mastered some Materia, killed the Ultimate Weapons, then went and beat the game again. This time, I was around 80 hours of gameplay.

Similar, or not even close?

Actually, you have VERY little need to go running around levelling in this game.

The first time I beat it, I practically ran straight thru it, never went levelling once.

When you hit disc2, be prepared to read a significant portion of storyline, Raz, but most of it starts finally coming together.

It matters not whether you win or lose; what matters is whether I win or lose.

why r us aving to ps1 memory card? get a ps2 memory card...

PS1 games don't seem to save to PS2 cards.

Por ejemplo, I couldn't save Chrono Cross on a PS2 card.

I would if the game recognized it. ;)

It's taken me 70 hours, and I've spent maybe a combined total of 15 hours leveling up. Although, I am a pretty big Jew when it comes to finding every last fucking thing in the dungeons, so my finished total would probably be a lot longer than most other people's anyway.

That's actually what I'm looking forward to the most. I'm saved in the Soylent System in Solaris right now, and I just got done seeing that whole "Lacan" sequence like an hour prior. Does the game wrap the whole story up by the end, or does it follow in true anime tradition by leaving a bunch of shit unresolved?

Ah. You're getting to the exciting parts then... There's a badass movie sequence coming up, showing you the power possessed by Id...

That's gonna be part of my sig, I can guarantee that.

Chrono Cross brought it together after you talked to Lucca/Marle/Crono (how does he talk?) on the Opassa beach.. it's a good story, and inventive.. but we also used the Records of Fate.. wouldn't that mean we were also being controlled? >_>

That's one of the things that genuinely upset me about the game. The first two hours are loaded with cinematics. But, after you meet Elly in the forest, you don't see a single cutscene until that one oddly placed sequence of the Weltall launching out of the Yggdrasil. After that...nothing.


I'm fairly sure that this point was addressed in the plot guide I read a while back, but it's been so long that I can't remember the explanation for it. I think it had something to do with the fact that because Serge was the Arbiter and because he was the focal point for the division of the dimensions, the Records of Fate were incapable of directly influencing his behavior. It was either that or FATE was intending all along for Serge to play out that prescribed path until they both met in Chronopolis. At which point, FATE severely underestimated Serge's abilities and was destroyed, freeing the El Nido Archipelago from her influence.

And Chrono wasn't a mute in Chrono Trigger, he just didn't verbalize his thoughts into text becuase you were supposed to feel like you were him. They did the same thing with Serge in Cross. And you'll notice, Serge was capable of speech because Lynx was capable of speaking through him.

In my opinion, the whole "mute protagonist" thing is the fucking stupidest character choice you can make in an RPG. It makes absolutely no sense. Technically, you control the entire party, therefore shouldn't it presented as though you are the entirte party and not just one character? On top of that, many games backtrack and flip-flop with that shit. The Golden Sun games being a good example. Felix ( the main character from Golden Sun 2) was a side-character in GS1, and he had lines in that game. However, as soon as you take control of him in the second game, he's a fucking mute! That makes no sense!

Know why Chrono Cross was cool? Because it brought the Vader thing to whole new levels.

Let's see. The main antagonist is the main protagonist's dad. A robot, panther dad who takes over his son's body.

..................Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah.

Oh, and because Grobyc's StrongArm tech totally ripped off Vash the Stampede's Angel Arm.

Well, Lynx wasn't actually a robot. FATE was a robot. Lynx was just FATE's living avatar. By the same token, Lynx and Serge's father were only linked because Lynx was made from the father's body. In terms of their personalities, it wasn't really the same as Vader. Vader was an evil piece of shit, but he still had some of Anakin in him. There was nothing of Sege's dad left in Lynx. He was (for all intents and purposes) dead and had his previously owned body bought out by Lynx.


Yeah but is that really a bad thing? That was one of my favorite techs. It was certainly a hell of a lot better than watching Poshul throw her poop at the enemies.

Yeah, I noticed that. I do hope you noted the significance of Weltall launching, since I think that was during the time where Fei was in his little coma?

Fuck, it's been so long since I played the game, I don't wanna talk more, because I forgot what all you've seen and haven't seen...

Actually the cutscene I'm referring to is when the Weltall launches from the Ygg as Fei is leaving for the Kislev border attack. It just came out of nowhere. No real significance attached to it, just a random CG sequence of Fei's gear launching.

Well, I actually just beat the game this morning, so you don't have to worry about spoilers anymore. Took me 92 hours.

Well, your verdict? ;)

Fucking awesome game. My only complaints were:

1) The english dub in the anime cutscenes wasn't even passable. The acting itself was mediocre, but the lip-synching was some of the worst I've ever seen. However, the intro wasn't a victim of this flaw. The intro was fucking amazing. It's just a shame that the rest of the cutscenes weren't up to that level.

2) I'm not sure if I actually liked the way Xenogears looked. In the final cutscene, the gear looked fucking badass, but in-game it was just this tangled wad of spikes. It was a disappointment after getting Weltall-2, which was by far the coolest gear in the game.

3) All of the plot on the 2nd disc was amazing. The gameplay was just too condensed for me, though. I would have greatly preferred it if I'd actually gotten to explore the Mass-Driver facility or the inside of Merkava instead of the Anima Relic ruins. It just felt really ridiculous to glaze over these important locations and force you to trudge through a few relic-based dungeons instead.

Aside from those things, it was incredible. Amazing story and some of best character development and character interation I've ever seen. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

The guy who wrote Perfect Works wasn't too happy with the way the game turned out, apparently. Since Xenogears is Episode 5 of Perfect Works, while Xenosaga is Episode 1, I'm wondering if a remake is going to happen, or if they're going to skip over it...

A remake would fucking OWN beyond belief. I'd also LOVE to read Perfect Works, but I don't speak Japanese.

Also, for some odd reason, I can now save again. -_-

I have to give the game a ton of credit for now containing what is probably my favorite side-quest ever. The entire sequence under the Lighthouse was awesome beyond words. When I got off that elevator, I was absolutely not expecting the place to look like that. I was anticipating another large laboratory-like structure like where you originally found Emeralda. All of the backstory on Kim, the entire structure of the place and the reward for completing the side-quest have made it my absolute favorite extra quest in any RPG I've ever played. I was extremely pleased with it.

Honestly, I wish more developers would take those kinds of things into account. Something as relatively simple as a "costume change" can be a huge thing to a gamer. Granted, Emeralda didn't recieve much beyond a cosmetic alteration, but it completely altered my opinion of the character. As a child, I thought she was alright. Much better than Maria or Chu-Chu, but still a fairly neglected character for me. After transforming her, though, I kept her in my party the entire rest of the way through the game. Something that seems as miniscule as that can actually have an extreme impact on the way a player percieves the game.

Anyway, I'm definitely going to have to play Xenosaga at some point. And I agree, a remake of Xenogears would most likely be unfathomably awesome. Hopefully they'll do something with the game once the 5th episode rolls around. If not a full-remake, then maybe something like re-releasing it as a special edition.

They can't 're-release' it, they couldn't even proclaim Xenosaga as a 'Prequel' to Xenogears, since Xenogears is a Square-Enix game, and the Xenosaga series is being produced my Namco...That's the reason it's all unclear.

Yes, the place under the Lighthouse was one of the best side-quests I've ever done myself. The main reason I go there, is for Big Joe's store... He has godlier stuff than that robot at the end of Deus.