The Video Game Revue

Plodding Away

I'm definitely in a bit of a gaming slump lately, having not put nearly as many hours into gaming as usual, and having not even opened several recent purchases including Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Riviera, and Tales of Phantasia (GBA). I have been making some progress in Xenogears, though, which is pretty exciting--I'm about 20 hours in, just having reached the orphanage (look it up in a walkthrough if you care to), which is much futher than I've made it in any previous attempt that I've made at a play-through. I'm thoroughly enjoying this classic RPG, but I can definitely find things to complain about.

These are mostly the sorts of complaints that I could make about the vast majority of all RPG of the same era as Xenogears, or of any previous era for that matter. Xenogears pushed the state of the art forward back in 1998 with its artwork and storytelling, and it certainly has one of the most compelling fantasy settings of any RPG that I've ever played. That having been said, I find that the plot is far too drawn out--that major developments are far between, and the story seems to center around a lot of action that occurs almost without purpose. The main characters are thrown about from nation to nation and battle to battle without a strong connecting plot to bring these turbulant events together. I'm not saying that the events don't make any sense at all, but certainly it is easy to forget why you've arrived at any given destination, and villains have a tendancy to jump out of the woodwork without provocation. This portion of the game, at least, seems scripted as a whirlwind tour of the world of Xenogears, with strong connections into a deep plot that, at roughly the 1/3rd mark of the game, is still unknown to me.

It's been a slog-fest at times to get this far simply because after 20 hours of gameplay I'm tired of the game always dallying too long at each locale and only dropping hints at the "real" storyline. This sort of thing would be tolerable in a gameplay-driven RPG, where the combat system is the focus. Disgaea is an example of an RPG (a tactical one, though) where the light storyline is not a bother because the game holds its own storytelling aside. Xenogears does not have a good combat system though; there is some intrigue to be had in boss battles and dungeon exploration, but I don't find these elements of the game to be up to snuff. When I realise that the game is going to make me plod through another dungeon, I dread that it might be a long one, and I'm relieved when it's over.

What Xenogears has lots of is town exploration. This would be as dull as the dungeons except that the town areas are very colourful and wonderfully scripted. The game's dialogue isn't the greatest (blame the localization, perhaps), but it still has a certain charm, and for the most part I thoroughly enjoy exploring the Xenogears universe. What gets annoying is when the game occasionally forces me to play the "hunt the magic button" game where there is some scripted event that must be triggered by talking to a particular character or some similar action before the game can progress. This annoying RPG convention is precisely what kept me from finishing Kingdom Hearts, and to keep things moving in Xenogears I've frequently resorted to GameFAQs.com, since there is rarely any good reason to insist on figuring these sorts of things out on one's own.

I've mentioned to Fritzkrieg that I'm forcing myself to play through Xenogears in order to start on Xenosaga, and for the most part this is still true. Fritzkrieg mentioned (and I may have written this before on this blog) that forcing oneself through Xenogears to get to Xenosaga is like forcing oneself to watch the original Star Wars trilogy (eps IV, V, and VI) in order to see the new Star Wars movies (eps I, II, and III.) I'm not really sure what to make of that. Xenogears has some excellent qualities--including the aforementioned artwork, storytelling, and the fantastic muscial score--but the gameplay and the pace of the game has been downright frustrating. While I've had the same experience with modern RPGs, I still want to believe that something with as much of a fan following as Xenosaga has would somehow manage to be more playable than Xenogears, even if the story isn't as great.

Generally speaking, I think that the hallmark of a bad RPG (which is something that Xenogears is NOT) is that it feels like work to play. A dedicated fan will still force themselves through an RPG that feels like work and relish the aspects of the experience that were enjoyable, but there is a world of difference between playing an RPG with that sense of duty and playing an RPG that genuinely sweeps you away. Xenogears is supposed to be one of those highly addictive RPGs that takes over one's life and is simply amazing all-round, but I haven't really gotten as much out of it as that--at least, not yet. I am definitely enjoying the game, and it does seem to be picking up in pace, but it I have to admit that making it this far has not been easy. Here's hoping that the next 20 hours of Xenogears are all that they're cracked up to be.

posted by Parappa @ 10:01 PM