After playing this for the first time, I must say that despite it's age, I was completely blown away. BEST STORY EVER!
Not many games are capable of exploring concepts like the origin of life, yet Xenogears does this in a way that is both satisfying and intelligent. The story starts out slowly and in a somewhat typical fashion, but very quickly becomes a totally engrossing experience that keeps you guessing and wondering right up until the very end.
To put it briefly, Xenogears explores the creation of the world that the characters inhabit. It asks and answers key questions like who created the world and why, and what is the purpose and significance of the souls who inhabit it. The game talks about destroying god, immortalizing the human soul (through digitization of the brain) and the concept of reincarnation. It explores many complex themes and is loaded with philosophic and religious references.
You may be thinking, then, that this game must be rife with sacrilege and is not appropriate for those of us with faith. As a person of faith myself, however, I would say that this is not true. While 'Deus' is most certainly a god in the sense that it created life with a specific purpose, Deus is not thee God, because Deus itself was also a creation with finite power. For this reason I look at Xenogears as more of a complex science fiction story that shows how a very technologically advanced society could be capable of forms of creation and life-giving, which in their vanity might cause them to view themselves as gods. I do not view it as a game that necessarily tries to answer the question of how life itself was created.
Disc two is particularly heavy on story, but by the time you reach disk two, you will welcome every moment of it. I say this because by then you will be anxious to see how everything plays out and will eagerly want some real answers instead of more questions.
Characters:
The characters that make this awesome story come alive are equally amazing. The love story of Fie Fong Wong and Elhaym van Houten is well developed and is more of what you would expect in literature than a video-game. All the characters have great depth and good dialogue and are represented by hand-drawn 2D sprites, which really help make the game age well. The test of a truly remarkable game is often how memorable its characters are. For me, the characters in this game are as memorable as any I have encountered and will likely stick with me for a very long time.
Game-play:
The game play in Xenogears is a definite strong point. You are able to fight both on foot or in a gear and both prove to be a lot of fun. The gameplay I'd say is pretty unique and varied, especially for a game of it's time. Since the gameplay is so varied and since you are able to constantly learn new attacks, called 'death-blows', it never gets dull or becomes too much of a grind. The boss fights are, for the most part, only average difficulty, but become quite tough closer to the end. Depending on the equipment you have, especially gear equipment, it makes a huge difference as to your power. Having a lot of cash and not wasting too much on the party members you don't use is pretty important.
There are a few parts in the game especially where I give Xenogears huge credit for developing some pretty incredible gameplay. Without spoiling too much, the gear fights while in the Kislev prison, and the multi-team defense of Shevat I thought were outstanding and unique.
Music:
The music is incredible. Bonds of sea and fire would have to be my favorite track, but the entire score was excellent and moody and very appropriate for the events of the game. If you type Xenogears music in youtube you will find all sorts of user renditions of the score, some even with added vocals. There is an Ocarina version of Bonds of Sea and Fire which I thought was particularily beautiful and it really illustrates just how good the music in this game is and how passionate people are about the game and its music.
Tilt:
All in all, I will probably consider Xenogears amongst the best games I have ever played. One can easily put in a 100 hours into this game. Me personally, I decided to skimp on the extra content and beat it in a relatively quick 60 hours. I did this because I was more interested in just experiencing the story. Xenogears was a game I had never originally played since I did not own a PlayStation at the time, but found myself wanting to give it a try based on critic and user reviews. After playing it for the first time in 2010, a good 12 years after it's original release, I have to say I was thrilled with it. I wasn't expecting much from a game this old and almost stopped playing it after the first few hours since I couldn't stand the old graphics at first. But once Xenogears drew me in with its amazing story and characters I was absolutely hooked. Xenogears is a masterpiece and deserves a 10/10. If you are a fan of RPG's and you haven't yet experienced this game for yourself: go get a copy. You won't regret it.