#11

Xenogears (Originally released in 1998 on the PS1)

Science fiction and rpgs clash into a superb masterpiece in Xenogears. You fight with your bare hands at one point and then jump into a super sized robot or mech and fight that way as well. Xenogears tells one of the better stories ever in a rpg. You main character, Fei is one of the best MCs I have ever seen in a rpg. He is a conflicted soul. He doesn't know his role in life or much about himself either and sets out to answer both of those questions.

The setting of Xenogears is that of a basic post apocalyptic world. The world seems fine, but your planet is more sand then anything else. Warships navigate the dunes and fortresses fly hidden in the sky. It's up to Fei and his new-found mech to go around and find out the secrets of the world. Fei will meet a number of interesting people along his travels. One of his closest friends is the doctor Citan Uzuki, who acts as Fei's best and most trusted friend, but there is more to the good Doc then what he shows. You also meet a humorous captain who always seem to find the camera when he is boasting about being a man of the sea. There is the champion of the underground fighting arena Big Joe, who seems to be a big cheese and all talk. The one eyed prince, Bart who loves his whips so much he added those weapons to his mech. Billy is a gun toting holy man who is on a mission to purge the world of beings known as reapers. You even meet this creature known as Emeralda who seems to know Fei from a long.... long time ago.

Xenogears deals with the idea of reincarnation as one of its main story lines. People who meet each other and have had interactions with one another in a past life still have that connection to that person, even if they don't know why. This game also has a bunch of biblical references as well. One scene in particular that sticks out is when your team is kidnapped the enemy hoists all of there mechs up on crosses, even Chu Chu which is a pink bunny type of creature, which might supposed to be dramatic, but when you see a pink fur ball hanging on a cross in Jesus mode, it really doesn't fit the scene.

Fighting in this game is fun. You get to unload combos against your enemies and if you do the combo correctly you get a special attack at the end of the chain. Each move requires you spend a certain amount of ability points so you need to fight smart. Mech battles are not as fun, but thankfully they are few and far between.

We can pretend that Xenogears is a stand alone game, because the Saga games were just a waste of my time. Xenogears tells a beautiful story. One with every element seen in a good book, Xenogears even has its moments where they depict the story unfolding in a storybook mode. As great as it is I think a lot of people missed this title because it came around the end of the PS1s cycle. If you enjoy a great story and love rpgs, this is the game for you.