The figures in the top of the music box remind me of God giving life to Adam in the Sistine Chapel. I don't know if those two figures are relevant later in the game, but could this symbolize God/Fate awakening whoever is inside Fei? Edit: Also it was mentioned that the box resembles an upside-down cross, and the entity inside Fei appears to be malevolent.
I know this is a year after you finished this and this is slightly spoilery for the character I am going to talk about with this but I have a headcanon theory that Dan's Character Portrait and possibly character sprite were originally intended to be used with Ricardo when he was a child for his flashback sequences because that is the only why I can make sense of why Dan looks so fucking weird
We are at the age where as adults we can finally get a deeper perspective and outlook on what this game is all about. Deffinitly our perception now is different then when we were children growing up playing this.
I totally agree! I played Xenogears, Chrono Cross, and Final Fantasy VIII as an early teen and so much of the story and meanings went wayyyyyy over my head and then I recently revisited them all and I understand so much more of each game and have a deeper appreciation for them than I already had back in 1999-2000.
@@Silvergun_Raven Its also that appreciation of the medium as a representation of art. When I was kid playing these games, the simple graphics were cool looking but I never took the time to look at all the detailed rendered backgrounds or check every little object in the houses, etc. Now as I have grown older, i have a further appreciation for the creative development that goes into these classic games, from the pixel art, to the backgrounds, the music, even the history and creative process. I now pay far more attention to these and in term it really allows me to feel far more immsered then I ever could before.
The creators intent was to capture the younger generations attention with cool graphics and gameplay in order to teach us something deeper in the long run….It worked
Oh man, as a videogame translator, this analysis is like a real feast. I can only imagine how hard was to translate this game in a time without much internet, hardly any know-how due to videogame localization being such a novel thing at that time, and, above all else, doing it completely alone. Richard Honeywood is a champ. Thank you so much for this!
@@neoman285 Hey fellow translator! Not to be specific, because of NDA stuff, but mostly western FPS and open world games. I work with english > brazilian portuguese translation. oh, and i do lots of mobile games too (gotta pay the bills =P).
I love how the first (or maybe the first few times) when Citan says the line about Fei being part of the dark, cruel destiny of God, the player is supposed to read it as Citan being a bit hyperbolic, but in reality, he's not; he's just stating a fact.
One small comment I'd like to make regarding Elly's scene with Fei in the forest. When she's berating Fei for refusing to accept responsibility for the tragedy of Lahan, she's essentially doing psychological projection of her own guilt onto him, much like Fei was projecting his own sense of guilt onto the forces that invaded the village. And I think this is one of the first, very clear references to Freud in the game.
Actually, Fei's death drive following the tragedy Lahan is the first example of Freudian/Lacanian psychology, where he would rather invite death than process what he did and come to terms with it, now that I think about it
Also to add, someone on reddit comparing the english and japanese script (in many many posts, bit by bit) mentioned that when Elly and Fei use the word "coward" in the anime cutscene she's using a word that could be interpreted as "coward" or "selfish", as in he's being selfish in taking all the blame on himself, that she also feels responsible, but she doesn't tell him that so he interprets what she's saying as if she's placing all blame on him and he then uses another more definitive word for "coward" when referring to himself.
As a German person I'd like to give some insight on the German terms in this game as they come up in the discussion/ analysis. You probably didn't know but Fei's Gear "Weltall" is actually a German word. First of all pronounciation: As English native speakers you guys consistently said it as "wel(l)- tall", but it's actually "Welt-All" ("Welt" being pronounced "Velt" similar to "felt" and "All" being pronounced "ull" with the "u" being read as in "but". "Weltall" means "space" as in "Outer Space", but you could also translate it as "universe" or even "cosmos". The interesting thing here is, that it is a composite noun: Welt= World, All=all (as in everything) so the World-All so to say (that's why I emphasized the pronounciation at the beginning, to mark the two different words properly) The other thing that came up was "Jugend" (which was pronounced actually pretty well! For anyone who wants a "transcription": "yoogent" with a "hard g" as in "go"). "Jugend" in and of it self only means "youth". So you could use in a phrase like "The youth of today", but as it is mentioned as a type of (military/ militaristic) organization and in the context of assumed supremacy of one people over another the association with the Hitler Youth is pretty strong, I agree, thought the very same thing actually. The game is actually full of German words. When I played it for the first time in 2018, I assumed some of it must be Yiddish, which is very similar to German, but with a lot of Hebrew loanwords. So if anyone knows more about Yiddish and/ or Hebrew feel free to give insights into these words as well! Hope this didn't come off as condescending, I just wanted to give some more insight into the language, naming conventions and symbolism. Edited for expression and spelling errors
@@38kob I didn't know about this! Just looked it up. Apparently the guy, who translated it is Austrian, so there might be some dialect things like grammar or choice of words that I find may find unusual, but he has a lot list of character names and places and why he translated them this way. Super cool! Thanks :D may be playing that version next time:D
On the note of Fei spurning Alice's feelings, i think the implication is that he feels guilty because he feels indebted to both Alice and Timothy, so he doesnt want to intrude on what he sees as their happiness, beeing an "outsider" and all
The soundtrack of this game really is just a masterpiece. I didn't notice just how jampacked the start of the game is with amazing tracks that perfectly capture the mood. Getting hit with "Dark Dawn" in the anime cutscene, "Bonds of Sea and Fire" immediately after in the opening info dump, the Lahan theme song, Citan's house song, "Distant Promise" from the music box, the battle themes, the world map theme, the Blackmoon Forest theme.Coming up shortly the Dazil theme song (in my opinion the best "desert town" theme song ever), and the Grahf theme. It's really crazy how many of these extraordinary tracks were composed for and used within just the first few hours of the game. It's such a shame by the end of the disk it ends up repeating songs and Mitsuda had such a tough time working on it because it really is spectacular.
The lack of sheer number of tracks for a game this long becomes problematic... Then again I've just finished the D Block section so there might be some recency bias there lol
You're correct, it is Chinese in origin... Although it's been used a lot in Japanese media as well, which would be "疾きこと風の如く". The phrase comes from Sun Tsu. The word you referred to as "woman's mouth" is "如," which in this context means "X is like Y." The full text of "疾如風" means "as fast as the wind." The equivalent word in Japanese is 如く. If you've heard of the Yakuza games, its Japanese title is Ryuu ga gotoku 龍が如く or "Like a dragon." FYI the full text from Sun Tsu is "疾如風 徐如林 侵掠如火 不動如山", which translates to Fast as the wind, silent as a forest, fierce as a fire, immovable like a mountain. It has been abbreviated to 風林火山 in Japanese, just google Furinkazan. Ryu from Street Fighter has it written on his belt as well.
I love that Casen brought up the camera work in the Fei and Alice scene! I remember being so impressed on my first playthrough with how much is conveyed in that scene simply through the camera position.
I personally know someone that was on the localization team for Xenogears and after watching these podcasts, it made me want to reach out and hear some of their stories. Crazy times!
Interesting! They should have gotten credit for it though. What is their name? They mentioned honeywood having the sole credit for localizing xenogears
I think it had to do with the timing of the games, but I always saw a similarity between Fei's fighting style and the fighting style of Lei Wulong from the Tekken games. Now after over 20 years later, thanks to Casen, I've realized that the inspiration for both was the same source.
As someone who’s been close with suicide, from different people close to me, and at some point even myself, I can tell you that even when you are looking for death you can still care for the wellbeing of others. I read the conversation at the bond fire as quite natural: Fei wants Elly to be ok and to improve as a person (hence, demanding her to give a thank you). That is not, in any manner, in contradiction with his suicidal metal state. In fact, I’d say is pretty much all you care about because, obviously, everything else is superfluous at that point.
26:30 In defense of the dialogue at this point: I had a similar thought and said to myself, "People don't really talk like this", but I remembered that this is the day before Timothy's wedding. I think people really do open up and sort of "exposition" their own speech in overly-informative and sentimental ways like this during important times such as before the big day. I think it's completely natural right here.
I just watched the sequence where Citan has Fei open the music box and something clicked in my mind. That box could be representation of Pandora’s Box. Citan clearly tried to get Fei to remember something and was not totally sure if he were to get some kind of hope or destruction. Those two themes also run THICK in this game.
I know that I’m watching this video a yr later, but I just have to say one thing. The song Bonds of sea and fire, I have used this as a lullaby for my three kids. It put them to sleep every time. They are now 16, 14, and 11. And still love this song. I love this breakdown video of one of my favourite jrpg games.
The weird explanatory spiel at 23:38 would have made a lot of sense as a wedding speech from Fei as the best man - if we had long enough in Lahan to witness Timothy and Alice's marriage.
Great work, I love your in-depth analysis! Fun fact: the Japanese name of "Hobgob" (the weakest enemy) is つちのこ - tsuchinoko, a small, snake-like creature in Japanese legend. It's almost an imaginary creature, and only a few people say they saw it (like Nessie). So when I was a kid, I thought it's interesting to see Hobgob everywhere in this game.
疾如風（疾きこと風の如く）translates: as swift as the wind. It comes from Sun Tzu's Art of War chapter 7, made famous in Japan by the feudal warlord Takeda Shingen's banner "風林火山 (Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain)".
With the thing about Fei explaining to Timothy about his amnesia, I always viewed that as him wanting to very formally thank his friend in light of this upcoming very formal occasion.
Speaking of the brilliance of the Vagrant Story opening, last year for the 20th anniversary of the game's release, I learned that none other than Hideo Kojima was envious of the opening! And given the greatness of this game, it continues to bother me that it has never received any kind of remaster or update since its release. At the very least it needs a remaster, if not a full-blown remake!
@@38kob It's well worth it if you happen to have a PS3 (it's available on the PSN store as a PS1 classic). The only other option would be emulation. Here's a video recently by Playstation Access praising the virtues of this unique, one-of-a-kind game: ruclips.net/video/Bg4t9cyHifg/видео.html
Thanks for taking time to speak on how the game's soundrack adds to the overall story experience. I think most of us here know how work Mitsuda put into this, and the end product reflects this.
I'm absolutely losing it. For some reason NONE of my friends thought anything was weird with Dan's character design and thought I was crazy for finding him creepy as hell lol. I feel so validated right now
I think the "on the nose dialogue" was actually fitting here, as it was a wedding day and he's describing how important they are to him and why he's so happy for them
i love this game so much. Playing it again always takes me back to the 90's (when Square was at its peak) and high school. Thanks for doing this series.
Edit, quick note: Weltall is pronounced "Vell-tall", it's a German word that means cosmos/space/universe. Knowing what we all know, it makes sense that Weltall is the "KOS-MOS" of this game. Xenogears being the first JRPG I ever played, the Lahan portion really spoiled me and set my expectations quite high when it comes to missables and being a thorough explorer in the beginning of any JRPG. There's just so many little rewards for doing so: repeatedly jumping into the well, RPS, checking under Fei's bed for some cash, the Mermaid Tear, Stealing Midori's Ring and college fund lol. Even crazier that a lot of this stuff pays off dozens of hours later in fairly significant ways. As a quick aside: Navigating the world of Xenogears in 3D can be a pain/messy at times, but Citan's house is such a serene, beautiful location that I'm glad I could appreciate it from multiple angles.
@@roaringviking5693 I don't speak a lick of German lol, I didn't know it was a compound word! I saw that pronunciation on the Xeno wiki page, but ran it through Google Translate's dictation feature to hear it myself and it sounded more like what I wrote to me personally. But that's good to know!
Wanted to add to this but in Cantonese, fong(方) means square, this may be a reference to square enix. Also Fei(飛) means fly, while fong wong (凰皇) means phoenix, so together you get fly phoenix, or phoenix fly
Some thoughts 1. I think they had that intro-text wall, even though Citan could explain things, as double-reinforcement. These ideas are a lot more complicated and political/complex than other JRPGs at the time, so they probably thought some repetition was in order to get players to fully understand so they aren't lost about the situation. Of course, now when we replay the game fully knowing the context of the game, it seems unnecessary, but I feel like 14 year-old-me would be confused without some repetition of the Aveh vs Kislev affair. I remember forgetting who was who early on so Citan's reminder was nice to reinforce it where I might have been confused if he first introduced me to the idea. I do think there's a point to be made that some visuals of the war would have greatly helped instead of a wall of text. 2. "S"obrino means "Nephew" in Spanish. No clue if it's a play on that word but it would make sense if he considers Fei like his nephew. 3. Fantastic discussion yet again! Thoroughly enjoyed it.
A note about the Music Box: If you unfold a cube you get an upside down cross. It's known in occult terms as a *Cube of Space* which is analogous to I.H.V.H. (Yod, Heh, Vau, Heh=Yohovah) and the 4 natural elements. The Angel symbol also applies to what Shaitan is saying to Fei about "someone being inside" of him. In esoteric terms referring to the Holy Guardian Angel, or higher Self above the Ego. The true self as it were.
I always thought Fei's big speech to Timothy and Alice was him going a bit overboard because he is aware of Alice's feelings and has some of his own. He's trying to show them he supports them and at the same time trying to force himself to remove his feelings for Alice. We do this in real life when the person we like ends up dating a friend. You might be overly enthusiastic about it and supportive to outwardly appear cool but inside you're burning up.
To my eyes, the light above the angel statue felt like a globe o energy formed by the clash of the 2 small figures on each side. But also reminded me of Michelangelo painting that shows God and Adam almost touching (The Creation of Adam at the Sistine Chapel). But it’s So small and pixelated that might be a huge stretch… but i like to think there’s all those symbols hidden in that scene.
At 1:26:28 you talk about how strange it is that Fei is still near-suicidal, but also looking appreciation for saving Elly. I didn't find this strange at all. Fei is near suicidal because of what he now believes he is capable of, and did, to Lahan. He's on the edge, and desperate to find some reason to exist. So his disposition when Elly threatens him is basically "I deserve this". But it's not like he had a death wish 24 hours earlier, so suicidal thoughts are a radical shift in personality and how he perceives himself. He might be considering suicide but he's not ready for it. When the opportunity arises to save Elly, his latent memories and general good nature spring him into action even though he doesn't fully know why. But having done good, and saving her, he finds himself clinging to the glimmer of hope that maybe he isn't a monster. Maybe he can still do good. But if not... he might as well die if that is what fate has set for him. He doesn't want to live with being a monster. He doesn't want to live without the glimmer of hope in being something worth existing.
18:00 I don't think Fei has any premonitory ability, because I don't think he's actually painting the fires of Lahan Village, even though the transition might seem that way. I believe what he's painting is actually (SPOILERS) Sophia's sacrifice when she crashes the Excalibur, while Lacan is alive. Remember, it was Lacan that was the painter who painted Sophia. Also, I just realized this now, but if you look at 12:00 you can see that there's a second painting on the ground of snowy mountains. This is most likely a painting of The Land of Bethlehem, which Lacan travels to before eventually becoming Grahf after coming into contact with the Zohar. This also makes me believe that the fires he's painting are actually the Excalibur in flames, not Lahan.
Man, Xenogears is one of those games that every time I replay it, I gain more of an appreciation of, and a better understanding of the deep themes. It truly is one of those games that is 100% on the level of great, classical literature. There are many games that are, but Xenogears is on another level.
Just stumbled on this RUclips series so I’m a little late to the party. I have 2 things to add. 1. Elly’s full name is Elhaym which is very similar in spelling and pronunciation to “Elohim” which is another name for God in the Hebrew Bible. 2. The Angel music box: the sun is on the left, the moon is on the right, the tree (earth symbol) is on the bottom, and the sun or emanating light is at the top (spirit or divine symbol) and in the middle is a two winged Angel. We know that the angles in Nisan are depicted with one wing as to represent the masculine and feminine needing each other to reach divinity, yet this Angel is whole. The Baphomet, or The Goat of Mendes, as drawn by Eliphas Levi in the 1800’s has a sun on the left side, a moon on the right side, the divine flame of knowledge above its head (symbolizing spirit or divinity) and sits on top a bolder beneath it (symbolizing earth). It has two wings as well as male and female parts. Before Anton LaVey adopted this symbol for the Church of Satan in the 1970’s, The Baphomet was a symbol depicting balance between the masculine and feminine aspects of one’s self and the need to do shadow work and integrate both aspects if one is ever to be whole. Much in the same way that Fei and Elly, or The Contact and The Antitype are symbols of the Masculine and Feminine principle that need to integrate in one’s self to be whole. It would also symbolize the shadow work Fei has to do to integrate all his fractured personalities in order to be whole . It’s like an overly complex westernized Yin Yang thing.
I feel like you are misunderstanding doc's purpose in being in lahan. he is there to watch fei to determine if he is a threat or not. he was not sent there to awaken him at all. emperor cain didn't want deus awakened, so fei staying in control was good for his goals. if fei awakened and was a threat to humanity he was intending to destroy him. doc had no reason to attempt to trigger Id. they hoped fei stayed in control and lived in peace. Also you missed something important about the music box. it was a gift from kim to emeralda. that is why fei recognized the music, from his past memories. if you examine the left side of the music box there was a message there from kim to emeralda. perhaps you were not mentioning it to avoid spoilers tho.
Watching this podcast series and then playing the actual game for the first time has me kind of reeling. The way you guys speak of the games themes and references just don't seem to come off as cool in the game itself compared to your discussion on it. The things you speak about absolutely blow my mind because it just all sounds so fascinating and intricate, but in the actual game itself I struggle to draw those same conclusions for myself. Maybe i'm just not doing it right lol :(
It does start off somewhat unassuming. It gets WILD by the end, so a lot of the early game is interesting to look back on for veteran players to see the foreshadowing. Dont worry if the story seems less interesting in the early goings. There is plenty fun gameplay to get into until you start having more mysteries to track.
It was interesting after the previous part how you havent mentioned the possibility to pronounce the name of Citan as "Satan" as he is a clearly have bigger, broader understanding of the things happening in this paradise like village and the whole world also, and having a certain vision about power. Good stuff all the way. Insightful as always.
I might be in the minority when I say this but I’m totally down for the next episode to be cut in half to give you guys more of a buffer. I love the weekly series and I just want you guys to have as much low stress as necessary, not that any of it shows. I love your guys’ work!
i just started replaying it after 23 years. I didn't realize how much foreshadowing was in the game this early that I did not pick up on more than half a lifetime ago.
Citan is an awesome character. Funny thing is, in most JRPG-style games, he would be a “crutch character”: an ally who you get early on that feels overpowered at first but either dies or becomes obsolete as the rest of the party gains levels. However, while he has higher starting stats, his level is the same as Fei’s-giving him a chance to grow at the same pace as the rest of the group. Also, having a kanji for “truth” hanging in his house is incredibly ironic considering his role in the story.
Used to pronounce Citan’s name as “Psy-Tan” myself, though I go with “Shy-Tan” these days. Citan’s name being derived from the Arabic “Shaitan” is likely not a coincidence; it’s also the origin of “Satan” and is (sort of) appropriate considering Citan’s role in the story. Though that would be telling...
I suspect that Tetsuya Takahashi was also influenced by Go Nagai's Mazinger Z, since "mazin" in Japanese is spelled "majin" and written "魔神", which stands for "demon god", meaning a being that's so powerful that it's capable of incredible good and incredible evil.
I always thought the Aveh nomencature was a loose reference to the Ave Maria prayer, Ave (pronounced aveh) is basically akin to saying hail, like Hail Caesar.
58:30 "The top part is weird it is taller then it should be" That looks like it is the lid of the box, the back panel did not move. The left and right panels opened down part way, and the front panel opened down all the way to the floor.
Xenogears is such a goldmine of lore and history and philosophy. If that game were to be released today, it would have spawned a massive franchise. It’s such a shame the original Xenogears is now a total mess of competing IP claims, which means we’re likely never going to see a remake or true sequel. I suppose we’ll have to live with the Xenoblade series as the permanent spiritual successor.
Glad you mentioned feeling dumb about Citan on the first playthrough. One of my favorite playthroughs of the game was my second, where I knew about Citan's history and motivations, and couldn't believe how obvious everything seemed on the second playthrough.
46:20 The Kanji on the Wall The order in which they must be read is top, bottom, middle. 疾風如 It is pronounced shippuu no gotoku. It means like a gale. It's like the Yakuza series. In Japan it's called Ryuu ga Gotoku which means like a dragon. I love your show. Thanks for setting the bar for RPG podcasts so high.
When I played the game none of the English iso files worked for me in the emulator. I am from Mexico and looking around the internet I found a translation in my language for the game, it is made by fans and it is a direct translation from Japanese so talking with my friends and hearing this I have noticed many differences between translations. It is quite curious to see you all speak of the English version because in the translation Alice was left as Aruru and Citan i sShitan, Margie (bart's sister) is Mareour and others. It is quite exciting to experience the game in English knowing and noticing these changes. Very entertaining podcast, keep up the good work!
I think it's of key importance to know the information about the politics of the world at the beginning given the very early events that occur relating to that conflict. It delivers it in a fairly concise and easy to understand manner. The details, even if you don't need to know them from a strategic standpoint, give you a precise understanding of how powerful the Gebler actually are. I think, sometimes, RPG reviewers forget the audience the game is intended for - people playing RPGs aren't generally the sort that will get confused by a 2-3 medium length paragraphs of exposition - that's more like an appetizer for us :D
Just to add, I think the problem a lot of recent authors have, and this is why fantasy and science fiction novels are so much worse these days. They're all written with these "YA Fiction" rule sets, which eliminate narrative as much as possible so they can appeal to acceptability for the lowest common denominator. But, RPG fans who are interested in details and narrative want details and narrative. Only in YA Fiction do you need 100% "Show, don't tell" style story telling - Xenogears is science fiction, narrative/exposition is a part of the genre.
While I agree with you, remember the 90's were a time where Japan thought they had to repeat how to save our progress every single time because we westerners just couldn't grasp things like that.
How the mysterious gear has the crossed arms pose (and later poses, feats, etc. performed throughout the game) in the Lahan village scene is very reminiscent of poses Gundams from Mobile Fighter G Gundam would take; both in openings and in the show itself (Master Gundam and God/Burning Gundam specifically). That Gundam series is also notable for the mechs being equipped for, and focused on, martial arts as opposed to the more "Real Robot" combat previous Gundam series tended to be known for. It may be an influence, given Takahashi's interviews and that the show did come out in Japan in '94.
In the 90s, there was a daytime talk show called The Richard Bey Show which was kind of a precursor to Jerry Springer, and he would do a Mr. Punyverse contest. I wouldn't be surprised if that's where Honeywood got the reference from.
I remember renting Parasite Eve just for the demo. I played through it a ton as well, and actually barely touched Parasite Eve...lol The most painful thing is that it released in like late Oct/early Nov and I had to wait to get it for Xmas to finally play the full thing because I was a jobless 10th grader at the time. I still have my original copy too!
About on the nose foreshadowing - Both Retrograde team and Mike said that although the foreshadowing seems super heavy and on the nose, they could only see it as such upon a second playthrough, since in their respective first one they didn't pick up on it. Now I'm sure there are people who did, but I belong to the "how could I be so stupid how did I missed it" camp, so I get the sense that even if it was a little on the nose at times, it was still good enough to not spoil the plot for me while making me feel stupid for not seeing it upon the second playthrough, which seems to me like good writing overall.
You're right. Most players overlook this significant foreshadowing during their initial playthrough. That's what makes the second playthrough so rewarding-you get to notice all the subtle hints that were there all along.
On ages, I always imagine the Xenogears characters with a decade added on: Citan is 39 (instead of 29), Fei, Elly, and Bart are all 28 (instead of 18), Ramsus is 34 (instead of 24), Miang is 36 (instead of 26), Krelian is 545 (instead of 535). Realistically, some could be even older, I know people ~40 who seem younger than Citan, if I didn't know better, I'd probably put Citan at about 45-46.
With the way you pronounced Citan, It sounds like how someone in Japan would pronounce "Satan". I didn't get far enough in this game to see if that is relevant or not
The sound effect of the swinging cross always reminds me of a similar effect from Akira whenever Tetsuo is being overtaken by the "Akira force" or what have you.
Forgot to mention this! For next time, play up to the point where you enter the pirate's hideout!
In the wrap-up of last weeks episode you said to play up to the rendezvous with the Yggdrasil. Is the pirate hideout after that?
@@38kob Awesome, thanks for the clarification. It's been pretty fun playing along for once.
The figures in the top of the music box remind me of God giving life to Adam in the Sistine Chapel. I don't know if those two figures are relevant later in the game, but could this symbolize God/Fate awakening whoever is inside Fei?
Edit: Also it was mentioned that the box resembles an upside-down cross, and the entity inside Fei appears to be malevolent.
I know this is a year after you finished this and this is slightly spoilery for the character I am going to talk about with this but I have a headcanon theory that Dan's Character Portrait and possibly character sprite were originally intended to be used with Ricardo when he was a child for his flashback sequences because that is the only why I can make sense of why Dan looks so fucking weird
We are at the age where as adults we can finally get a deeper perspective and outlook on what this game is all about. Deffinitly our perception now is different then when we were children growing up playing this.
I totally agree! I played Xenogears, Chrono Cross, and Final Fantasy VIII as an early teen and so much of the story and meanings went wayyyyyy over my head and then I recently revisited them all and I understand so much more of each game and have a deeper appreciation for them than I already had back in 1999-2000.
@@Silvergun_Raven Its also that appreciation of the medium as a representation of art. When I was kid playing these games, the simple graphics were cool looking but I never took the time to look at all the detailed rendered backgrounds or check every little object in the houses, etc. Now as I have grown older, i have a further appreciation for the creative development that goes into these classic games, from the pixel art, to the backgrounds, the music, even the history and creative process. I now pay far more attention to these and in term it really allows me to feel far more immsered then I ever could before.
Wisdom dosen't always come with age js.
The creators intent was to capture the younger generations attention with cool graphics and gameplay in order to teach us something deeper in the long run….It worked
Holy shit how we think changes as we age? Damn that’s crazy this is so deep n important i just never would have guessed man ain’t life wild
Oh man, as a videogame translator, this analysis is like a real feast. I can only imagine how hard was to translate this game in a time without much internet, hardly any know-how due to videogame localization being such a novel thing at that time, and, above all else, doing it completely alone. Richard Honeywood is a champ. Thank you so much for this!
Yeah dude did an amazing job considering the circumstances.
I'm a translator myself in Tokyo! What kinda games do you translate?
@@neoman285 Hey fellow translator! Not to be specific, because of NDA stuff, but mostly western FPS and open world games. I work with english > brazilian portuguese translation. oh, and i do lots of mobile games too (gotta pay the bills =P).
I love how the first (or maybe the first few times) when Citan says the line about Fei being part of the dark, cruel destiny of God, the player is supposed to read it as Citan being a bit hyperbolic, but in reality, he's not; he's just stating a fact.
One small comment I'd like to make regarding Elly's scene with Fei in the forest. When she's berating Fei for refusing to accept responsibility for the tragedy of Lahan, she's essentially doing psychological projection of her own guilt onto him, much like Fei was projecting his own sense of guilt onto the forces that invaded the village. And I think this is one of the first, very clear references to Freud in the game.
Actually, Fei's death drive following the tragedy Lahan is the first example of Freudian/Lacanian psychology, where he would rather invite death than process what he did and come to terms with it, now that I think about it
Also to add, someone on reddit comparing the english and japanese script (in many many posts, bit by bit) mentioned that when Elly and Fei use the word "coward" in the anime cutscene she's using a word that could be interpreted as "coward" or "selfish", as in he's being selfish in taking all the blame on himself, that she also feels responsible, but she doesn't tell him that so he interprets what she's saying as if she's placing all blame on him and he then uses another more definitive word for "coward" when referring to himself.
As a German person I'd like to give some insight on the German terms in this game as they come up in the discussion/ analysis.
You probably didn't know but Fei's Gear "Weltall" is actually a German word. First of all pronounciation: As English native speakers you guys consistently said it as "wel(l)- tall", but it's actually "Welt-All" ("Welt" being pronounced "Velt" similar to "felt" and "All" being pronounced "ull" with the "u" being read as in "but". "Weltall" means "space" as in "Outer Space", but you could also translate it as "universe" or even "cosmos". The interesting thing here is, that it is a composite noun: Welt= World, All=all (as in everything) so the World-All so to say (that's why I emphasized the pronounciation at the beginning, to mark the two different words properly)
The other thing that came up was "Jugend" (which was pronounced actually pretty well! For anyone who wants a "transcription": "yoogent" with a "hard g" as in "go"). "Jugend" in and of it self only means "youth". So you could use in a phrase like "The youth of today", but as it is mentioned as a type of (military/ militaristic) organization and in the context of assumed supremacy of one people over another the association with the Hitler Youth is pretty strong, I agree, thought the very same thing actually.
The game is actually full of German words. When I played it for the first time in 2018, I assumed some of it must be Yiddish, which is very similar to German, but with a lot of Hebrew loanwords. So if anyone knows more about Yiddish and/ or Hebrew feel free to give insights into these words as well!
Hope this didn't come off as condescending, I just wanted to give some more insight into the language, naming conventions and symbolism.
Edited for expression and spelling errors
@@38kob I didn't know about this! Just looked it up. Apparently the guy, who translated it is Austrian, so there might be some dialect things like grammar or choice of words that I find may find unusual, but he has a lot list of character names and places and why he translated them this way. Super cool! Thanks :D may be playing that version next time:D
On the note of Fei spurning Alice's feelings, i think the implication is that he feels guilty because he feels indebted to both Alice and Timothy, so he doesnt want to intrude on what he sees as their happiness, beeing an "outsider" and all
The soundtrack of this game really is just a masterpiece. I didn't notice just how jampacked the start of the game is with amazing tracks that perfectly capture the mood. Getting hit with "Dark Dawn" in the anime cutscene, "Bonds of Sea and Fire" immediately after in the opening info dump, the Lahan theme song, Citan's house song, "Distant Promise" from the music box, the battle themes, the world map theme, the Blackmoon Forest theme.Coming up shortly the Dazil theme song (in my opinion the best "desert town" theme song ever), and the Grahf theme.
It's really crazy how many of these extraordinary tracks were composed for and used within just the first few hours of the game. It's such a shame by the end of the disk it ends up repeating songs and Mitsuda had such a tough time working on it because it really is spectacular.
The lack of sheer number of tracks for a game this long becomes problematic... Then again I've just finished the D Block section so there might be some recency bias there lol
I was there in '98. Really enjoying revisiting this game, thank you for this podcast.
The opening lines of dialogue with Timothy and Alice just screams, "Two days 'til Retirement."
You're correct, it is Chinese in origin... Although it's been used a lot in Japanese media as well, which would be "疾きこと風の如く". The phrase comes from Sun Tsu. The word you referred to as "woman's mouth" is "如," which in this context means "X is like Y." The full text of "疾如風" means "as fast as the wind." The equivalent word in Japanese is 如く. If you've heard of the Yakuza games, its Japanese title is Ryuu ga gotoku 龍が如く or "Like a dragon." FYI the full text from Sun Tsu is "疾如風 徐如林 侵掠如火 不動如山", which translates to Fast as the wind, silent as a forest, fierce as a fire, immovable like a mountain. It has been abbreviated to 風林火山 in Japanese, just google Furinkazan. Ryu from Street Fighter has it written on his belt as well.
I love that Casen brought up the camera work in the Fei and Alice scene! I remember being so impressed on my first playthrough with how much is conveyed in that scene simply through the camera position.
i really appreciate someone analyzing the game with the greatest story in video games history
I’m trying to disagree but damn this game was just so good
I personally know someone that was on the localization team for Xenogears and after watching these podcasts, it made me want to reach out and hear some of their stories. Crazy times!
Interesting! They should have gotten credit for it though. What is their name? They mentioned honeywood having the sole credit for localizing xenogears
Interesting.
Thanks so much for doing this guys. Hearing your insight and research into a game that's very special to me has been an absolute treat. Much love.
It's crazy the lasting impact this game had on those of us who played through it. I feel the exact same way
I think it had to do with the timing of the games, but I always saw a similarity between Fei's fighting style and the fighting style of Lei Wulong from the Tekken games. Now after over 20 years later, thanks to Casen, I've realized that the inspiration for both was the same source.
As someone who’s been close with suicide, from different people close to me, and at some point even myself, I can tell you that even when you are looking for death you can still care for the wellbeing of others. I read the conversation at the bond fire as quite natural: Fei wants Elly to be ok and to improve as a person (hence, demanding her to give a thank you). That is not, in any manner, in contradiction with his suicidal metal state. In fact, I’d say is pretty much all you care about because, obviously, everything else is superfluous at that point.
26:30 In defense of the dialogue at this point: I had a similar thought and said to myself, "People don't really talk like this", but I remembered that this is the day before Timothy's wedding. I think people really do open up and sort of "exposition" their own speech in overly-informative and sentimental ways like this during important times such as before the big day. I think it's completely natural right here.
It’s getting harder to wait for the next episode! Loving every second
I just watched the sequence where Citan has Fei open the music box and something clicked in my mind. That box could be representation of Pandora’s Box. Citan clearly tried to get Fei to remember something and was not totally sure if he were to get some kind of hope or destruction. Those two themes also run THICK in this game.
I know that I’m watching this video a yr later, but I just have to say one thing. The song Bonds of sea and fire, I have used this as a lullaby for my three kids. It put them to sleep every time. They are now 16, 14, and 11. And still love this song. I love this breakdown video of one of my favourite jrpg games.
The weird explanatory spiel at 23:38 would have made a lot of sense as a wedding speech from Fei as the best man - if we had long enough in Lahan to witness Timothy and Alice's marriage.
Great work, I love your in-depth analysis! Fun fact: the Japanese name of "Hobgob" (the weakest enemy) is つちのこ - tsuchinoko, a small, snake-like creature in Japanese legend. It's almost an imaginary creature, and only a few people say they saw it (like Nessie). So when I was a kid, I thought it's interesting to see Hobgob everywhere in this game.
Lahan seems to be the only village that doesn’t have any ties to the Ethos… Which is why I am assuming Wiseman dropped Fei off there.
He was a wise man.....ha ha ha
疾如風（疾きこと風の如く）translates: as swift as the wind. It comes from Sun Tzu's Art of War chapter 7, made famous in Japan by the feudal warlord Takeda Shingen's banner "風林火山 (Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain)".
With the thing about Fei explaining to Timothy about his amnesia, I always viewed that as him wanting to very formally thank his friend in light of this upcoming very formal occasion.
Yeah, it always struck me as a wedding toast.
Speaking of the brilliance of the Vagrant Story opening, last year for the 20th anniversary of the game's release, I learned that none other than Hideo Kojima was envious of the opening! And given the greatness of this game, it continues to bother me that it has never received any kind of remaster or update since its release. At the very least it needs a remaster, if not a full-blown remake!
@@38kob It's well worth it if you happen to have a PS3 (it's available on the PSN store as a PS1 classic). The only other option would be emulation. Here's a video recently by Playstation Access praising the virtues of this unique, one-of-a-kind game: ruclips.net/video/Bg4t9cyHifg/видео.html
“You can do some pretty sweet damage to that dinosaur.” Favorite line from this one. Easily.
Thanks for taking time to speak on how the game's soundrack adds to the overall story experience. I think most of us here know how work Mitsuda put into this, and the end product reflects this.
I'm absolutely losing it. For some reason NONE of my friends thought anything was weird with Dan's character design and thought I was crazy for finding him creepy as hell lol. I feel so validated right now
I think the "on the nose dialogue" was actually fitting here, as it was a wedding day and he's describing how important they are to him and why he's so happy for them
The Fei weight gain part had me laughing hard! After all these years, I had no idea...
Been waiting for this all week! Great series
i love this game so much. Playing it again always takes me back to the 90's (when Square was at its peak) and high school. Thanks for doing this series.
Edit, quick note: Weltall is pronounced "Vell-tall", it's a German word that means cosmos/space/universe. Knowing what we all know, it makes sense that Weltall is the "KOS-MOS" of this game.
Xenogears being the first JRPG I ever played, the Lahan portion really spoiled me and set my expectations quite high when it comes to missables and being a thorough explorer in the beginning of any JRPG. There's just so many little rewards for doing so: repeatedly jumping into the well, RPS, checking under Fei's bed for some cash, the Mermaid Tear, Stealing Midori's Ring and college fund lol. Even crazier that a lot of this stuff pays off dozens of hours later in fairly significant ways.
As a quick aside: Navigating the world of Xenogears in 3D can be a pain/messy at times, but Citan's house is such a serene, beautiful location that I'm glad I could appreciate it from multiple angles.
Wouldn't it rather be "Velt-all", since "welt - world" and "all - everything"?
@@roaringviking5693 I just commented about this! That's right it's "Velt-all" though "Velt-ull" (u as in but) would fit even better!
@@roaringviking5693 I don't speak a lick of German lol, I didn't know it was a compound word! I saw that pronunciation on the Xeno wiki page, but ran it through Google Translate's dictation feature to hear it myself and it sounded more like what I wrote to me personally. But that's good to know!
I could listen to people talk about Xenogears all day! Thanks guys!
Wanted to add to this but in Cantonese, fong(方) means square, this may be a reference to square enix.
Also Fei(飛) means fly, while fong wong (凰皇) means phoenix, so together you get fly phoenix, or phoenix fly
love the format, keep it coming
Some thoughts
1. I think they had that intro-text wall, even though Citan could explain things, as double-reinforcement. These ideas are a lot more complicated and political/complex than other JRPGs at the time, so they probably thought some repetition was in order to get players to fully understand so they aren't lost about the situation. Of course, now when we replay the game fully knowing the context of the game, it seems unnecessary, but I feel like 14 year-old-me would be confused without some repetition of the Aveh vs Kislev affair. I remember forgetting who was who early on so Citan's reminder was nice to reinforce it where I might have been confused if he first introduced me to the idea. I do think there's a point to be made that some visuals of the war would have greatly helped instead of a wall of text.
2. "S"obrino means "Nephew" in Spanish. No clue if it's a play on that word but it would make sense if he considers Fei like his nephew.
3. Fantastic discussion yet again! Thoroughly enjoyed it.
A note about the Music Box: If you unfold a cube you get an upside down cross. It's known in occult terms as a *Cube of Space* which is analogous to I.H.V.H. (Yod, Heh, Vau, Heh=Yohovah) and the 4 natural elements. The Angel symbol also applies to what Shaitan is saying to Fei about "someone being inside" of him. In esoteric terms referring to the Holy Guardian Angel, or higher Self above the Ego. The true self as it were.
I am so happy that there is active conversation for this game in 2021
I always thought Fei's big speech to Timothy and Alice was him going a bit overboard because he is aware of Alice's feelings and has some of his own. He's trying to show them he supports them and at the same time trying to force himself to remove his feelings for Alice.
We do this in real life when the person we like ends up dating a friend. You might be overly enthusiastic about it and supportive to outwardly appear cool but inside you're burning up.
great game! its so nice to see such videos years after its release....
If there is any game in existence that deserves a re-release, or even a remaster, surely it is XenoGears.
FEI gains so much weight from the extra egg because of the weight of guilt. Lol
To my eyes, the light above the angel statue felt like a globe o energy formed by the clash of the 2 small figures on each side. But also reminded me of Michelangelo painting that shows God and Adam almost touching (The Creation of Adam at the Sistine Chapel). But it’s So small and pixelated that might be a huge stretch… but i like to think there’s all those symbols hidden in that scene.
At 1:26:28 you talk about how strange it is that Fei is still near-suicidal, but also looking appreciation for saving Elly. I didn't find this strange at all. Fei is near suicidal because of what he now believes he is capable of, and did, to Lahan. He's on the edge, and desperate to find some reason to exist. So his disposition when Elly threatens him is basically "I deserve this". But it's not like he had a death wish 24 hours earlier, so suicidal thoughts are a radical shift in personality and how he perceives himself. He might be considering suicide but he's not ready for it. When the opportunity arises to save Elly, his latent memories and general good nature spring him into action even though he doesn't fully know why. But having done good, and saving her, he finds himself clinging to the glimmer of hope that maybe he isn't a monster. Maybe he can still do good. But if not... he might as well die if that is what fate has set for him. He doesn't want to live with being a monster. He doesn't want to live without the glimmer of hope in being something worth existing.
18:00
I don't think Fei has any premonitory ability, because I don't think he's actually painting the fires of Lahan Village, even though the transition might seem that way. I believe what he's painting is actually (SPOILERS)
Sophia's sacrifice when she crashes the Excalibur, while Lacan is alive. Remember, it was Lacan that was the painter who painted Sophia. Also, I just realized this now, but if you look at 12:00 you can see that there's a second painting on the ground of snowy mountains. This is most likely a painting of The Land of Bethlehem, which Lacan travels to before eventually becoming Grahf after coming into contact with the Zohar. This also makes me believe that the fires he's painting are actually the Excalibur in flames, not Lahan.
Man, Xenogears is one of those games that every time I replay it, I gain more of an appreciation of, and a better understanding of the deep themes. It truly is one of those games that is 100% on the level of great, classical literature. There are many games that are, but Xenogears is on another level.
It's the big brain time of the week!
Just stumbled on this RUclips series so I’m a little late to the party. I have 2 things to add.
1. Elly’s full name is Elhaym which is very similar in spelling and pronunciation to “Elohim” which is another name for God in the Hebrew Bible.
2. The Angel music box: the sun is on the left, the moon is on the right, the tree (earth symbol) is on the bottom, and the sun or emanating light is at the top (spirit or divine symbol) and in the middle is a two winged Angel. We know that the angles in Nisan are depicted with one wing as to represent the masculine and feminine needing each other to reach divinity, yet this Angel is whole.
The Baphomet, or The Goat of Mendes, as drawn by Eliphas Levi in the 1800’s has a sun on the left side, a moon on the right side, the divine flame of knowledge above its head (symbolizing spirit or divinity) and sits on top a bolder beneath it (symbolizing earth). It has two wings as well as male and female parts. Before Anton LaVey adopted this symbol for the Church of Satan in the 1970’s, The Baphomet was a symbol depicting balance between the masculine and feminine aspects of one’s self and the need to do shadow work and integrate both aspects if one is ever to be whole. Much in the same way that Fei and Elly, or The Contact and The Antitype are symbols of the Masculine and Feminine principle that need to integrate in one’s self to be whole. It would also symbolize the shadow work Fei has to do to integrate all his fractured personalities in order to be whole . It’s like an overly complex westernized Yin Yang thing.
I feel like you are misunderstanding doc's purpose in being in lahan. he is there to watch fei to determine if he is a threat or not. he was not sent there to awaken him at all. emperor cain didn't want deus awakened, so fei staying in control was good for his goals. if fei awakened and was a threat to humanity he was intending to destroy him. doc had no reason to attempt to trigger Id. they hoped fei stayed in control and lived in peace.
Also you missed something important about the music box. it was a gift from kim to emeralda. that is why fei recognized the music, from his past memories. if you examine the left side of the music box there was a message there from kim to emeralda. perhaps you were not mentioning it to avoid spoilers tho.
I find myself really looking forward to the next episode of this series each week. Great stuff!
Dan and his receding hairline, what a sight 🤣
Watching this podcast series and then playing the actual game for the first time has me kind of reeling. The way you guys speak of the games themes and references just don't seem to come off as cool in the game itself compared to your discussion on it. The things you speak about absolutely blow my mind because it just all sounds so fascinating and intricate, but in the actual game itself I struggle to draw those same conclusions for myself. Maybe i'm just not doing it right lol :(
Honestly, most of those observations require either having already played the game or doing research. Don't feel too bad.
It does start off somewhat unassuming. It gets WILD by the end, so a lot of the early game is interesting to look back on for veteran players to see the foreshadowing. Dont worry if the story seems less interesting in the early goings. There is plenty fun gameplay to get into until you start having more mysteries to track.
It was interesting after the previous part how you havent mentioned the possibility to pronounce the name of Citan as "Satan" as he is a clearly have bigger, broader understanding of the things happening in this paradise like village and the whole world also, and having a certain vision about power. Good stuff all the way. Insightful as always.
I might be in the minority when I say this but I’m totally down for the next episode to be cut in half to give you guys more of a buffer. I love the weekly series and I just want you guys to have as much low stress as necessary, not that any of it shows. I love your guys’ work!
Yeahhhh😱😱😱😍😍😍🤗🤗🤗🎉🎉🎉It's good to listen and watch Part III. "God, it's locked."😂
I loved on the small character screens, you'd have the gear be the leader and jump, so the tiny human sprite would jump high like he's a flea.
Another journey! This will be fun!
There's a guy in lahan who explains exactly how to learn deathblows and he even says you have to just use different combinations
Look forward to this every week!
The character, Dan, looks like Pennywise and no one can convince me otherwise.
You're a poet, and ya didn't know it
i just started replaying it after 23 years. I didn't realize how much foreshadowing was in the game this early that I did not pick up on more than half a lifetime ago.
Thanks so much for linking your band camp for the orchestrations!
Listening to the podcast while completing Proto Merkabah. Never cease to find new things in the game's story.
Citan is an awesome character. Funny thing is, in most JRPG-style games, he would be a “crutch character”: an ally who you get early on that feels overpowered at first but either dies or becomes obsolete as the rest of the party gains levels.
However, while he has higher starting stats, his level is the same as Fei’s-giving him a chance to grow at the same pace as the rest of the group.
Also, having a kanji for “truth” hanging in his house is incredibly ironic considering his role in the story.
I'm absolutely loving these episodes. Thank you!
Initializing fakenet!
Used to pronounce Citan’s name as “Psy-Tan” myself, though I go with “Shy-Tan” these days. Citan’s name being derived from the Arabic “Shaitan” is likely not a coincidence; it’s also the origin of “Satan” and is (sort of) appropriate considering Citan’s role in the story. Though that would be telling...
I always pronounced it “sih-TAHN” myself.
I suspect that Tetsuya Takahashi was also influenced by Go Nagai's Mazinger Z, since "mazin" in Japanese is spelled "majin" and written "魔神", which stands for "demon god", meaning a being that's so powerful that it's capable of incredible good and incredible evil.
There is a picture of Takahashi’s wife next to a Mazinger figure, so I’m sure both of them are very familiar with Go Nagai’s work.
Village* for the description. Amazing podcast as usual guys !!!
I always thought the Aveh nomencature was a loose reference to the Ave Maria prayer, Ave (pronounced aveh) is basically akin to saying hail, like Hail Caesar.
58:30 "The top part is weird it is taller then it should be" That looks like it is the lid of the box, the back panel did not move. The left and right panels opened down part way, and the front panel opened down all the way to the floor.
Exactly. It's an unfolded cube of space.
Xenogears is such a goldmine of lore and history and philosophy. If that game were to be released today, it would have spawned a massive franchise. It’s such a shame the original Xenogears is now a total mess of competing IP claims, which means we’re likely never going to see a remake or true sequel. I suppose we’ll have to live with the Xenoblade series as the permanent spiritual successor.
Glad you mentioned feeling dumb about Citan on the first playthrough. One of my favorite playthroughs of the game was my second, where I knew about Citan's history and motivations, and couldn't believe how obvious everything seemed on the second playthrough.
46:20 The Kanji on the Wall
The order in which they must be read is top, bottom, middle. 疾風如
It is pronounced shippuu no gotoku. It means like a gale. It's like the Yakuza series. In Japan it's called Ryuu ga Gotoku which means like a dragon.
I love your show. Thanks for setting the bar for RPG podcasts so high.
When I played the game none of the English iso files worked for me in the emulator.
I am from Mexico and looking around the internet I found a translation in my language for the game, it is made by fans and it is a direct translation from Japanese so talking with my friends and hearing this I have noticed many differences between translations. It is quite curious to see you all speak of the English version because in the translation Alice was left as Aruru and Citan i sShitan, Margie (bart's sister) is Mareour and others.
It is quite exciting to experience the game in English knowing and noticing these changes.
Very entertaining podcast, keep up the good work!
An upside-down cross isn't necessarily an evil omen. It's the Cross of St. Peter.
Great work guys! I really enjoyed all the insight further into this beautiful game :)
Great work here. As someone who loved this game, despite it flaws, this is a real feast.
Dan was a very memorable character in some messed up ways.
Pokemon Black and White used that same 2d-3d aesthetic and that was so amazing on the DS.
Great collab! Hope to see more of this in the future!
Wong Fei Hung is iconically portraited by Jet Li
But I can appreciate both Li's and Jackie Chan's portrayals/versions.
I think it's of key importance to know the information about the politics of the world at the beginning given the very early events that occur relating to that conflict. It delivers it in a fairly concise and easy to understand manner. The details, even if you don't need to know them from a strategic standpoint, give you a precise understanding of how powerful the Gebler actually are. I think, sometimes, RPG reviewers forget the audience the game is intended for - people playing RPGs aren't generally the sort that will get confused by a 2-3 medium length paragraphs of exposition - that's more like an appetizer for us :D
Just to add, I think the problem a lot of recent authors have, and this is why fantasy and science fiction novels are so much worse these days. They're all written with these "YA Fiction" rule sets, which eliminate narrative as much as possible so they can appeal to acceptability for the lowest common denominator. But, RPG fans who are interested in details and narrative want details and narrative. Only in YA Fiction do you need 100% "Show, don't tell" style story telling - Xenogears is science fiction, narrative/exposition is a part of the genre.
While I agree with you, remember the 90's were a time where Japan thought they had to repeat how to save our progress every single time because we westerners just couldn't grasp things like that.
For some reason I read Citan’s sign as “No diseased” instead of “Deceased.” I need to go back and play that section again at some point.
Oh the Luca sprite is so cool, i know this is not a grand thing but is a nice hint at chrono trigger
So good. Can't wait for each episode!
How the mysterious gear has the crossed arms pose (and later poses, feats, etc. performed throughout the game) in the Lahan village scene is very reminiscent of poses Gundams from Mobile Fighter G Gundam would take; both in openings and in the show itself (Master Gundam and God/Burning Gundam specifically).
That Gundam series is also notable for the mechs being equipped for, and focused on, martial arts as opposed to the more "Real Robot" combat previous Gundam series tended to be known for.
It may be an influence, given Takahashi's interviews and that the show did come out in Japan in '94.
This is top-notch content. Thank you!
In the 90s, there was a daytime talk show called The Richard Bey Show which was kind of a precursor to Jerry Springer, and he would do a Mr. Punyverse contest. I wouldn't be surprised if that's where Honeywood got the reference from.
keep the vids longer guys the more details tackled the better!
Interesting. I remember playing xenogears when it first came out. I even replayed that demo x 50 times. The combo system was cool
I remember renting Parasite Eve just for the demo. I played through it a ton as well, and actually barely touched Parasite Eve...lol
The most painful thing is that it released in like late Oct/early Nov and I had to wait to get it for Xmas to finally play the full thing because I was a jobless 10th grader at the time. I still have my original copy too!
About on the nose foreshadowing - Both Retrograde team and Mike said that although the foreshadowing seems super heavy and on the nose, they could only see it as such upon a second playthrough, since in their respective first one they didn't pick up on it.
Now I'm sure there are people who did, but I belong to the "how could I be so stupid how did I missed it" camp, so I get the sense that even if it was a little on the nose at times, it was still good enough to not spoil the plot for me while making me feel stupid for not seeing it upon the second playthrough, which seems to me like good writing overall.
You're right. Most players overlook this significant foreshadowing during their initial playthrough. That's what makes the second playthrough so rewarding-you get to notice all the subtle hints that were there all along.
I really need to brush off this game and play it again.
It's only my all time favourite JRPG.
It would’ve been so cool if they kept the credits sequence with the song but played an animatic that went over the lore dump in the background.
On ages, I always imagine the Xenogears characters with a decade added on:
Citan is 39 (instead of 29), Fei, Elly, and Bart are all 28 (instead of 18), Ramsus is 34 (instead of 24), Miang is 36 (instead of 26), Krelian is 545 (instead of 535).
Realistically, some could be even older, I know people ~40 who seem younger than Citan, if I didn't know better, I'd probably put Citan at about 45-46.
Absolutely. I fully agree with all of this. It adds an element of logical coherence with these numbers.
With the way you pronounced Citan, It sounds like how someone in Japan would pronounce "Satan". I didn't get far enough in this game to see if that is relevant or not
shitan＝四端
58:40 That back part is so tall because it also has the square top part of the box flipped up.
The sound effect of the swinging cross always reminds me of a similar effect from Akira whenever Tetsuo is being overtaken by the "Akira force" or what have you.
great podcast, love these videos