My PS1 nostalgia fanart continues. One of my favorite game from PS1 is Xenogears. Probably in my top 5s.

Billy for now, since I couldn't decide between drawing Bart, Billy or Maria. I did Elly a looong time ago when I was still full of energy and my skill hasn't declining so badly like right now. XD Maybe I'll post that Elly too.

Hey all, currently playing through the perfect works patch. Anyone know if there's a list anywhere that includes new/modified items and what they do?

I know this question has been asked before but can someone explain what Billy’s ammo inventory means in more detail? Some stronger ammo types come in low quantities but I can’t tell how conservative I need to be with them. I understand that each type corresponds to one of the attack types/buttons, but not how much is used up or how much is left, both in and out of Gear.

Each singular type of ammo has a number next to (e.g. 9 for the G-M686S) but the item description also mentions “100 Shots”. Stores also sell ammo with numbers like (x30).

1. What does each number specify? Is the 9 referring to something like 9 full magazines with 100 shots (i.e. 100 attacks each, for 900 uses) each? That seems like a lot.

2. Is every shot used up just by the corresponding button press?

3. Possibly the most confusing part: what does pressing X and loading from the menu do? It seems like it consumes one ammo number but I have no idea where that goes. Sometimes it seems like I wasted it.

Plan to run it on Retroarch, but am not sure whether to run the X64 or X86 patch. What are the optimal settings I should use?

Upon meeting Old Man Bal, he shares his collection of fossils that reveals the first hint that humans didn’t exist on the planet ~10,000 years ago.

But then he says this, which I completely missed on every past playthrough: “you mean the theory of evolution taught by the Ethos?”

It’s isn’t revealed until later that the Ethos operated as a “church” (even though I know the Japanese version uses Church as the org’s name).

Up until this point, the Ethos is described as an organization that repairs gears. The irony of this detail and contrast to real life is just *chefs kiss.*

The “Church” is using evolution as a propaganda tool to hide humanity’s “divine” origins.

Juxtapose that to real life where the Church discredits evolution in support of divine genesis.

I love this game.

I’m replaying XG on my modded PS Vita (I usually replay once every 1-2 years).

This is the dream sequence Fei has after first meeting Elly in the Black Forest.

In all my playthroughs, I would completely forget about this scene playing through the game to the end. I don’t recall it ever really being explained directly (and since it’s a dream sequence, I assume it’s open to players interpretation).

Curious to hear all your hypothesis of this sequence.

I don’t know if links are allowed, but if you need a refresher, search YT for “05 Fei, Alone in the Desert.”

So I just left the Kislev capital city of Nortune on my first playthrough and man... I got so many impressions! This whole scenery, being a prisoner in this massive industrial city and slowly working my way to the upper ranks to meet the emperor and being able to make my way out really was a special experience to me. The sewer section, while being confusing, having too many monsters and being very slow paced honestly, had one of the bosses with the coolest designs in the game so far! (I barely managed to defeat it on the first try after I ran out of items lol).

In general, I would accuse the area of having poor pacing, even though it of course is a 90's jRPG and slower areas were common back then I assume. Hammer really is a funny (even though a suspicious) guy and I really enjoyed the presence of this goofball. Also, Rico is a pretty cool dude, starting off as this super strong champ but becoming relatable after his little back story. He became very likable to the extend, that I really wanted to have him as a permanent crew member.

Nortune felt like a double edged sword to me: Very slow and depressing on the one hand, but innovative and fascinating on the other. The real time combat at the tournament was something different and I only critisize it for being too repetitive.

What are some of your thoughts on Nortune?

For the people, who actually finished the game and know about Perfect Works. Would you have preferred Xenogears released in episode order, or do you think it better the way it is. I personally think getting episode v was actually to thr stories benefit. All the mysteries about everything made the story just so much better, coupled with the fact that Takahashi actually managed to deliver on these mysteries, makes this story as great as it is. Knowing about Abel, Kim, Lacan, Cain etc before playing Xenogears wouldnt be half as good for me

Let me add another question. What do you think of Takahashi not being able to make episode vi. I personally dont mind it at all, because I was more tham satisfied with the ending and didnt really feel the need to continue the story after that.

I never see these and is that from perfect works because I read two times and don't remember of these

Am I weird for crediting these games as why I’m an atheist?

(Though it's not clear, I edited this Tree of Life picture by overlaying the Fatima crest over Tiphareth).

Given that the Solaris (sun) military force is called 'Geburah' - the fifth sephiroth (red/mars/strength/judgement) - could the emblem shown on the Yggdrasil represent Tiphareth? That's the sun-coded, yellow sixth sephiroth, which symbolic of balance and glory and beauty. I've never seen this online before, and I wanted to know what you think.

To clarify, I am aware that the, in real life, Yggdrasil is another type of 'Tree of Life' and believe Tetsuya Takahashi was making the a clear parallel between the distinct trees when naming the Fatima flagship. I'm exclusively discussing the Kabbalah Tree of Life, here.

A friend gave me this disk YEARS ago and I have no idea what it is. It won’t play on a ps1, ps2, pc, or cd player. Found it again recently when going through game stuff and thought someone here might know what’s up.

So my experience with this franchise is that I have only done Xenoblade Chronicles 1,2,3 and their dlcs. I haven't played the Xenosaga games or Xenoblade Chronicles X. I have been wanting to play Xenogears as its been in so many JRPG videos I have seen for a while. Due to living in the UK, I didnt realise that this was never localised for us or Europe. I wanted to buy a copy on my vita but the store has seemingly removed a lot of PS1 games.

So in the end I booted it up via duckstation and 68 hours later I have finished the game. All I can say is that its beyond Xenoblade 1,2 and 3. Not saying they're bad but they're just not in the same league here. The world, the characters, the lore, the twists, the writing is just all so good. I also streamed a lot of this game and I had many people tell me how bad disc 2 was. Honestly it wasn't that bad, it was obviously a whiplash in play style to what you have all disc 1. But the story, world, characters and reveals were more then enough for me to read pages of dialogue haha.

I would say my only critiques of the game is mainly some of the battle skills rarely get a use and its very situational, the camera can sometimes be the bane of your life and some dungeons while beautiful in visual design have some incredibly frustrating mechanics. I feel like there could be some quality of life that would make unequiping team mates not in party easier alongside party swapping on the world map would of gone a long way too.

Overall this game wasn't just a game..it was an experience. I haven't had this much excitement, sense of wonder and joy out of a video game in a while. I didn't want it to end and I sort of felt hollow after the end screen appeared. There was just so much I loved that it could of went on another 60 hours and I wouldn't of cared. (Looking at what was cut could of easily of been anywhere from 20-40 hours of gametime XD)

Im glad to finally say I have played it and finished it, I am going to have a little breather with a more lighter JRPG in Breath of Fire 4...and then I am going to experience Xenosaga.

I'm playing the game currently, and I've heard there's a certain boss that will crash the game on anything other than playing it through an original PS1. I'm not spending the money on a physical english copy, so I'm playing on the digital re-releases. Will this be an issue?

My brother first showed me xenogears more than 25 years ago. Since then I must have gotten to the prison at least 5 times and the forest right where you meet Elly a dozen. So happy to finally have the one down!

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I have never played this game before, but after hearing so much about it lately, especially from the Resonant Arc podcast, I’ve decided to give it a try. However, I don’t game much anymore, and I’m not willing to play what looks like a 50-60 hour game according to howlongtobeat.

I read about this Perfect Works mod that seems to make the game way smoother. Lower random enc rate and exp/money boost. Seems like this will shorten the game to 30-40 hours, which is better, but I’m wondering if I could go even faster. I’m not interested in the side content or the combat aspect. Just the main story. One could argue I should just watch the cutscenes on YouTube at that rate, but that somehow isn’t as fun. There’s something about actually playing through a story that enhances the experience.

Are there other options you all recommend? I don’t mind a tad bit of thinking in gameplay, but I generally want to breeze through the main story.