Xenogears

Xenogears (ゼノギアスZenogiasu ) is a role-playing game for the Sony PlayStation. It was developed by Square Co., Ltd.. published in February 1998 in Japan and in October 1998 in the United States.

The story of Xenogears Fei Fong Wong revolves around a young man with no memories of his childhood. This is suddenly dragged into a conflict that could change the future of the world crucial. The story is told in great detail, and includes references to historical events that extend over several thousand years.

In Xenogears both 2D and 3D graphics is used: characters are portrayed with traditional 2D sprites, while the "Gears " ( the Mecha from Xenogears ) and the backgrounds are represented in 3D. For the presentation of the game, many Japanese -inspired scenes in anime look to be used, as well as other pre-rendered videos. The company Squaresoft was eventually famous for these high quality videos in their products, especially during the era of PlayStation.

The music was composed by Yasunori Mitsuda and arranged. The background music was regarded as one of the strongest points in the presentation. Besides the official music of Mitsuda two soundtracks were released: Xenogears: Creid and Xenogears Light ( one arranged by fans album).

There are a variety of merchandise products around Xenogears, both by the manufacturing company as well as from other manufacturers. The most popular among them is a highly detailed book about Xenogears / Xenosaga called Perfect Works. Perfect Works explains the history and background of the game as well as the time before Xenogears that are not told in the game itself, however, form the basis for the game. There is also an artbook called Thousands of Daggers, which is a kind libretto for the story of Xenogears. It contains almost all occurring in the game texts.

When work began on the game, an anime called Neon Genesis Evangelion was produced. Both Xenogears and Neon Genesis Evangelion contain abundant references to Judeo-Christian theology. Both are associated with the work of Nietzsche, especially in the struggle between good and evil, the self-recognition (Id, Ego, Superego ) and the balance of power.

A perennial rumor is that the release of Xenogears was delayed in the United States because of its religious reference, are there but no solid evidence. In the game, the story unfolds in such a way that religion is used to bring the masses of the people under control. This is done by the " ethos ", an organization that officially tried to preserve culture and technology in the world of Xenogears. The ethos but preach no God, but try to enforce Darwin's theory of evolution. However, this still serves a very different purpose, namely to disguise the the truth: The people of the world of Xenogears convert only since 10,000 years on the planet. The story dealt with religious mythology from a very scientific point of view; this could have been a reason for the alleged delay in the U.S..

Xenogears the fifth episode in a series, which is designed to six parts. Monolith has a series of prequels to Xenogears Xenosaga produced with the name, which is distributed by Namco. These games put the story to many centuries before the events in Xenogears, but use charts and mechanisms that are represented in the book Perfect Works. The connection between Xenosaga and Xenogears is unclear, since the rights are still held by Square Enix. The company was formed after the merger of Square Enix with the former rivals in 2003. The first two titles have been published, and a third is in the works. Again, it is thereby provide a strong reference to religious issues and an analysis of good and evil. Fact that is also the German subtitles of works of Friedrich Nietzsche, which are also represented in Japan and the U.S. in the original. Although the Xenosaga series uses expressions that play a role in Xenogears, but can not directly assign the chapters that are mentioned in the artbook "Perfect Works".