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Post by SirMouse on May 7, 2016 14:12:42 GMT -5
I'd pretty much given up all hope of ever being able to play it, but then a few weeks ago I realized it was on the PS store for PS3/Vita and proceeded to download it immediately. I've been playing it on Vita since then, and although I'm not that far into it yet ( I'm in Nisan after rescuing Margie ), I'm really enjoying it thus far and am trying to prepare myself for the inevitable twists and reveals.
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Post by DarknessLink7 on May 7, 2016 17:34:30 GMT -5
That's awesome! I recently (well, it was a while ago) started to play it myself! I haven't really gotten anywhere yet, but it would be fun to have someone to discuss with when I get further in. ^^
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Post by Primulus on May 10, 2016 18:11:30 GMT -5
Sorry that it took me so long to see this thread! Three days later, and here I am! Xenogears is one of my favorite games of all time, and was one of my first JRPGs that I ever played. It's pretty much what got me into anime and JRPGs entirely, for that matter. I don't think I'd be here on this forum if it hadn't been for playing it all those years ago. In any case, I'm more than happy to discuss the plot so far! And yeah, SirMouse , you're very early in the game right now. Xenogears is packed with many more twists than either XC or XCX, and honestly about 95% of those great twists are ahead of the point you're at now. DarknessLink7 , you should be playing it too if you can! It's well worth it.
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Post by Wolfe on May 13, 2016 1:09:26 GMT -5
...yeah, SirMouse , you're very early in the game right now. Xenogears is packed with many more twists than either XC or XCX, and honestly about 95% of those great twists are ahead of the point you're at now. Not to mention the things you won't really piece together until you play the game a second time, even if you try to keep track of everything! It doesn't force you to go back to make sense of the plot, IMO, but I certainly recommend playing a second time to check out the details you're bound to miss.
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Post by ancientrune on May 15, 2016 0:25:02 GMT -5
Also be on the lookout for similarities between some of the themes in it that you might have seen in XCX
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Post by SirMouse on May 21, 2016 9:39:47 GMT -5
Thanks for the responses, guys!
I was a bit concerned that there'd be a lot of "been there, done that" plot moments since I've played through X and know the plot of Chronicles, but I feel like that won't really be the case.
I haven't played much over the past couple weeks but definitely plan on putting a lot more time into it over the summer.
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Post by SirMouse on Aug 8, 2016 12:26:48 GMT -5
Hey guys! Been out of the country all summer, but recently I've gotten back into playing Xenogears (after taking a break from it to play other games).
I'm at the Ethos HQ now, and suffice it to say, things are getting pretty interesting!
Still waiting for a shocking revelation or explanation for one of the ten strange cutscenes I've seen thus far, but I know they're coming eventually!
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Post by Primulus on Aug 8, 2016 17:49:16 GMT -5
Hey guys! Been out of the country all summer, but recently I've gotten back into playing Xenogears (after taking a break from it to play other games). I'm at the Ethos HQ now, and suffice it to say, things are getting pretty interesting! Still waiting for a shocking revelation or explanation for one of the ten strange cutscenes I've seen thus far, but I know they're coming eventually! Do you mind summarizing your thoughts or theories? I'd love to hear them out, just to see how you've analyzed the game's plot so far. Also, is it the first or the second Ethos HQ visit? They're both near each other, but there's a significant difference in what I can and cannot say about the current events if it's only the first visit.
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Post by SirMouse on Aug 9, 2016 11:59:51 GMT -5
Hey guys! Been out of the country all summer, but recently I've gotten back into playing Xenogears (after taking a break from it to play other games). I'm at the Ethos HQ now, and suffice it to say, things are getting pretty interesting! Still waiting for a shocking revelation or explanation for one of the ten strange cutscenes I've seen thus far, but I know they're coming eventually! Do you mind summarizing your thoughts or theories? I'd love to hear them out, just to see how you've analyzed the game's plot so far. Also, is it the first or the second Ethos HQ visit? They're both near each other, but there's a significant difference in what I can and cannot say about the current events if it's only the first visit. It's the first visit, yes (just after you meet Billy). As for theories? Well, all I know for sure is that every character seems to play an important role, with Margie, Fei, and Citan seemingly being the most shrouded in mystery among the "heroes," what with all the vague hints at grander pasts. Elly is still a mystery to me as well, though she's definitely gotten more insight into some of her past than the others. On the other side of the coin, Ramsus obviously has recollections of quite the past with Fei, though amnesia is keeping the latter from feeling mutual. Past that, Miang is a pretty interesting character, though something definitely seems...robotic about her. I'll be surprised if she's actually "human." And then there's Grahf...no idea what his true intentions are or if they're even necessarily "good" or "evil," though knowing the type of game this is, I'm preparing to have everything I thought I might know completely turned on its head. If I had more time, I'd go into more depth regarding everything else (because I know I failed to mention more than a few things), but those are my general thoughts thus far. As an aside, I wasn't expecting and was pleasantly surprised to find the amount of humor that's in this game. I really admire the balance they've been able to keep considering how deep and often serious the overarching plot has been. Also, I've no idea why there are so many talking animals in this game, but I assume they're there for more reason than "the writer is an animal-lover." Anyway! How close am I to the end of disc one? I've a feeling things are gonna start being revealed soon, but I can't tell how close I am to finishing this first "volume."
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Post by Wolfe on Aug 9, 2016 12:55:24 GMT -5
I completely agree on the balance in storytelling. The humorous moments make the whole thing seem more genuine and heartfelt. XCX is also pretty goofy in an old-school JRPG way for a modern game. There is a reason why the anthropomorphic animal NPCs are around, but not so much of an explanation for Chu-Chu's race, which are really just the Nopon of this game. You've got a few more of the game's most substantial areas to complete before disc two, but you're close to getting answers.
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Post by Primulus on Aug 9, 2016 14:05:23 GMT -5
SirMouse - Okay, so that's during the period of the game where Fei is out of commission and the player switches between Billy, Elly and Citan. One of my favorite characters gets introduced soon, before you get Fei back in your party, so keep an eye out. By the way, as an important and somewhat related note, make sure you bring Elly in your party for every area of the game until Fei gets back into party. This isn't actually required for every part of it, but I don't want to say when exactly you should have her in the party. Elly being in the party actually causes an additional cutscene to happen that can be entirely missed should she not be in your active party at the time. When Fei rejoins the party, you will have passed that point, so it will be safe to proceed without Elly in party from there. Another important note is that when you begin the tower in the center of the region, you may want to take care of some other things first. There's a particular shop with very unique items that cannot be bought anywhere else in the game, and after completing the tower, that shop will close permanently for the entirety of the rest of the game, making those items unobtainable through any shops (though there will be other means of getting them). I'm not sure if I should say which shop it is, though, but we'll just say, it's a shop with particularly expensive items that you may not have had the money for the first time you visited. You've got a bit to go though. I'd say you're after the half-way point of disc one, but not even 75% there yet. If I had to guess, I'd say the current point is between 55% and 65% through disc one. Wolfe - There is an explanation for Chu-chu's race too, actually. However, that would probably be a spoiler...
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Post by SirMouse on Aug 9, 2016 14:23:57 GMT -5
Thanks for the advice, both of you!
And yeah, I'd planned on keeping Elly in my party regardless, but it's good to know there's an important reason for doing so!
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Post by Primulus on Aug 9, 2016 14:40:28 GMT -5
Thanks for the advice, both of you! And yeah, I'd planned on keeping Elly in my party regardless, but it's good to know there's an important reason for doing so! One of the items in that shop that you can't buy from anymore after the tower, if I recall correctly, can be used to make Elly (and later, other characters) absurdly powerful, to the point that she becomes a walking nuke. I recall in one particular playthrough, I had Elly actually one-shot multiple bosses with it, including some that were clearly meant to give the player a lot of trouble. The one-shotting only works when you're in your gears, but even on foot you can make her quite powerful with her ethers, given that item. (Most people tend to regard the ether abilities as useless, but equip her with it and she does way more damage with them than she does with her deathblows.) By the way, if you haven't discovered it yet, Omegasols are amazing. You can use them anywhere out of battle, they're dirt cheap and give back full HP/EP.
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Post by SirMouse on Aug 9, 2016 22:11:50 GMT -5
Thanks for the advice, both of you! And yeah, I'd planned on keeping Elly in my party regardless, but it's good to know there's an important reason for doing so! One of the items in that shop that you can't buy from anymore after the tower, if I recall correctly, can be used to make Elly (and later, other characters) absurdly powerful, to the point that she becomes a walking nuke. I recall in one particular playthrough, I had Elly actually one-shot multiple bosses with it, including some that were clearly meant to give the player a lot of trouble. The one-shotting only works when you're in your gears, but even on foot you can make her quite powerful with her ethers, given that item. (Most people tend to regard the ether abilities as useless, but equip her with it and she does way more damage with them than she does with her deathblows.) By the way, if you haven't discovered it yet, Omegasols are amazing. You can use them anywhere out of battle, they're dirt cheap and give back full HP/EP. I'll have to try to make sure I buy said item, then. Admittedly, I've used a guide more than once so far due to not having the patience to get multiple game overs after 15 minutes of cutscenes and battling. Nortune sewers has been the only area where I had to use a guide for nearly the entirety of just to keep from losing my sanity. And Omegasol, yeah! I've honestly been wondering if there's some sort of catch for using them - not because of the effects, but because of how crazy cheap they are to buy. Guess I'll be stocking up even more on them!
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Post by Primulus on Aug 10, 2016 0:38:36 GMT -5
The worst dungeons are, sadly, yet to come. For me, I've always had a difficult time with the last dungeon on Disc 1. Even after 5 playthroughs, I would still get lost in it and run around in circles, at multiple points. And then the final dungeon is nearly incomprehensible even with a map! There's no shame for using a guide for some parts of this game, for sure. (Plus there are a lot of secrets that can be permanently missed anyway.) For that matter, here's the item I was referring to, and where it can be bought. It's potentially very mildly spoilery, but even if so, not at all specific about any future game event. Ether Doubler from Nisan town's item shop. A couple Holy Pendants from the shop would also be a VERY good investment for the future. The Holy Pendant is one of the best items of the game by far - you got one from Billy, but it's the kind of item where you want one on every party member later on. After a certain point into Babel Tower, Nisan's shop will no longer stock these.
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Post by Wolfe on Aug 16, 2016 23:49:42 GMT -5
I have to admit I'm a bit bemused by complaints about the more troublesome dungeons in XG. I found the in-game maps more than adequate, and I didn't have the problems with platforming that other people seem to have (including that notorious vertically-oriented dungeon). I had the occasional hiccup when the game was loading a random encounter, but I got used to making a test jump before leaping out anywhere I didn't want to fall.
Regarding the final dungeon, the first floor is the worst, IMO. The lower floors are a puzzle, but there are plenty of opportunities to refuel your party's gears if you're merciful toward a particular enemy, so you can have enough HP/fuel to figure it out.
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Post by Primulus on Aug 17, 2016 1:51:02 GMT -5
I have to admit I'm a bit bemused by complaints about the more troublesome dungeons in XG. I found the in-game maps more than adequate, and I didn't have the problems with platforming that other people seem to have (including that notorious vertically-oriented dungeon). I had the occasional hiccup when the game was loading a random encounter, but I got used to making a test jump before leaping out anywhere I didn't want to fall. Regarding the final dungeon, the first floor is the worst, IMO. The lower floors are a puzzle, but there are plenty of opportunities to refuel your party's gears if you're merciful toward a particular enemy, so you can have enough HP/fuel to figure it out. The interesting thing that I don't think anyone ever realized (I have because I have enough playthroughs under me to memorize it) is that all the "random encounters" in that "vertically inclined" dungeon you speak of aren't actually random at all. It is possible to predict exactly where enemy encounters will happen and what the enemies are going to be in each one. The "random encounters" always begin loading in the exact same spots, without variation. Aside from my first or maybe second time through, I've never fallen as a result of a battle being started in that dungeon. I do tend to sometimes fall from missed platforming jumps, but that's platformers for you. The final dungeon's puzzle is still pretty annoying for just how long it is. But the enemies on the first floor are pretty rough, admittedly. (Unless you've used a certain endgame shop to make your Gears broken as all hell, anyway.)
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Post by Wolfe on Aug 17, 2016 11:25:25 GMT -5
Primulus -- I actually noticed that too. And isn't the music interrupted once the game begins loading the battle? There was something about it that made it easy to predict.
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Post by SirMouse on Aug 19, 2016 15:28:15 GMT -5
I'll be posting more comprehensive thoughts regarding my current progress soon, but for the time being I just wanted to pop in and say that the Sonny battle was freaking glorious. I was in complete awe/confusion/delight and laughing during the entire cutscene and battle.
Oh, and Shevat's theme is beautiful. So good.
(Also, Primulus, I actually looked the Ether Doubler up and apparently there's a way to buy it in Nisan after Babel Tower - but before Solaris - which is good because I failed to buy one prior.)
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Post by Primulus on Aug 19, 2016 17:10:22 GMT -5
I'll be posting more comprehensive thoughts regarding my current progress soon, but for the time being I just wanted to pop in and say that the Sonny battle was freaking glorious. I was in complete awe/confusion/delight and laughing during the entire cutscene and battle. Oh, and Shevat's theme is beautiful. So good. (Also, Primulus, I actually looked the Ether Doubler up and apparently there's a way to buy it in Nisan after Babel Tower - but before Solaris - which is good because I failed to buy one prior.) Sonny battle? Was that the giant wels you fight, with the introduction of Billy's gear? You like Shevat's theme huh? Well check this out: And that's nice, about the Ether Doubler! I didn't even know that. There's also a way to get one at endgame, and I know one can be picked up as treasure sometime in disc 2. Wolfe - Yeah, I think that was indeed the case. Of course, now SirMouse has passed that point, if he's in Shevat already. (We were talking about Babel Tower.)
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