So, is it worth buying?
Yes.
I guess what I should have asked is, does it really live up to all the hype that surrounds it? Is the story really that enthralling?
(more elaboration next time, please :P)
Hey, you asked a simple question, you got a simple answer. 
I don’t really know about the hype since I totally missed the PSX era and didn’t get back into gaming until the initial PS2 price drop; however, I did buy the game and enjoyed it a lot after that. The plot and its delivery were more evolved than any of the other games I had played up to that point. I also liked the battle system for the most part.
Get it. Play it. And it has a pretty good story, even if it seems confusing as hell at first.
I really enjoyed the battle system and Deathblows. Still have the normal battle music in my head from time to time.
I wasn’t disappointed. I’ll just flat out say it’s an awesome game.
I didn’t enjoy the gameplay as much as some others, and you will need a LOT of patience for this. There’s no way to change the text speed, as petty as that sounds, and many scenes seem to drag on forever. It takes at least 20 hours or so to really start picking up speed. Having said that, the story is definitely one of the most enthralling and epic I’ve yet come across in an RPG (despite a slightly lacklustre translation). It’s definitely worth at least one playthrough; just don’t lose hope that it will start getting better.
Also, you’ll see a whole lot of mysteries, many of which aren’t answered till something like 40 hours later, at which point you may have forgotten the question. 8p Maybe consult a story FAQ when you’re done if you’re still confused.
Get it. Now.
Xenogears was a contraversial game, eliciting very polarized responses. You either loved it or hated it passionately. I didn’t mind the combat system that much, I think there is only 1 point in the game where I do a little grinding but even then its not necessary. I personally liked it a lot more than the Xenosaga games.
I don’t either love it or hate it. I think it has some things that are excellent about it but it’s marred by some fairly heavy pacing issues and it feels a bit rushed and unpolished.
I only played it breifly when my friend had it. He kept raving about the story, but I couldn’t get passed the battle system. It just got way too repetatiave and boring for me. In my opinion, the game ages very badly.
Really? I mean, it is a Playstation game, and the graphics were a sore spot with reviewers. It also has like, 20 minutes of hand drawn anime as cutscenes - they’re awesome, but very, very rare. The game really does pick up rather rapidly and the story is better than, say, Chrono Trigger. I loved the battle system, in fact I wished there was more fighting outside the machines than in. Parts of the game do suck though, and there was one puzzle at the end of the game that I had to look up and was some insane I-never-would-have-guessed thing. But thats it - other than that, it’s supreme and awesome.
If you’re into PSX rpgs, Xenogears is one of the best.
The battle system is simple and requires a bit of grinding if compared to today’s standards, but it’s really nothing VERY time-consuming, like old school NES rpgs. Besides, lots of the deathblows and regular attacks are worth watching, some of the moves look just like kung-fu attacks :P.
I think it’s an awesome story for a game released around 10 years ago. Unfortunately, the production of the second disc was rushed (you’ll notice the change when you get there) and may not be as appealing. Yes, there is some dragging, but most of it has a purpose plot-wise. Spoiling the story will pratically take away the enjoyment, as the game has a couple of shocking revelations later on. I haven’t played rpgs for newer systems, so I can’t say for sure if it’s dated or turned into some cliched story when compared to current rpgs.
The music is pretty darn good in my opinion. Graphics are good (for 98’ish standards).
It’s certainly one of the most unique RPGs ever. The story has its WTF? moments, but that’s part of its appeal. As long as pseudoreligious allusions don’t bother you, you should have no problem with it.
One warning, tho: the game seems to have been rushed to finish production, you can tell by the way the second disk is handled. It still works, but the differences are obvious. Fair warning.
Yeah thats the universal complaint, Curtis. The second disk stank, compared to how long the first disk seems.
Didn’t they run out of budget when it came to making Disc 2?
Basically.
The budget went to FF8, unfortunately.
I gotta echo Cid’s comment on the text speed, it is essentially the one reason I can never replay this game ever again.
It’s not too intrusive the first time you play it. But after that, when you already know what is going to happen, the slow text speed becomes torture. There’s just so much dialogue in this game, and it goes by at a snail’s pace. It still kind of baffles me that there wasn’t a text-speed option. Even freaking Dragon Quest had the ability to alter text speed, and that was an archaic NES RPG.
However, gripes aside, Xenogears is still worth playing. Just don’t ever expect to do it again.
Yes and no. If you are looking for “depth,” in the sense of “philosophical insight,” there is absolutely none of that. There are religious references, but they do not contain any insight into anything; the “ideas” behind those references, where there are any, are extremely thin.
However, the <i>atmosphere</i> of the game is consistently amazing. From the very beginning, the game creates an eerie, doom-laden mood that is extremely effective. Even the intro has a powerful fatalistic feeling that only gets stronger throughout the game. There are many parts of the game that give off a genuine aura of ancient mystery, often by means of the music. Other parts, like the Nortune sewers, are genuinely spooky and suspenseful. Some of the sets, like the Nisan cathedral, are magnificently designed and convey an impression of awe-inspiring size. The direction of the cut scenes is excellent. There are very few games that can create atmosphere this well (Vagrant Story is one, if you’ve played that).
As far as the characters are concerned, it varies. Sometimes, believable characterization takes a backseat to religious references and convoluted plot details. However, the game has a huge supporting cast, and many of the secondary characters are extremely memorable types, like the antagonist Ramsus, or your allies Sigurd and Maison. Often, the best moments revolve around the supporting characters, or their connection to the main characters. There are many scenes like this. Among the main characters, I think that Elly is a very good female lead, while Bart and Citan are at least convincingly amiable.
The battle system is quite good, in my opinion, though there isn’t that much variation. The Gear battles require a little bit of strategy because you need to manage your fuel, and it helps to equip certain accessories for certain battles. I never did any grinding (actually you can’t grind for the Gear battles). I also think that the dungeons are very well designed – the Nortune sewers are a genuinely confusing and tough maze, the slow climb up Babel Tower is visually astounding. You get some super powers by the end, but by that point you don’t get much of a chance to use them. So the gameplay is not the most captivating, but serviceable and occasionally challenging.
Ok, I just remembered one other REALLY frustrating thing about Xenogears. It’s more of a technical oversight but there is no other place in the game where it pops up as much as Babel Tower.
The ‘you go to jump to a platform but you fall off instead because the game says you got into a fight but it doesn’t stop the action for a second later so when you press jump nothing happens’ thing. Babel Tower is really the only part in the game where this becomes really frustrating, as it’s the most vertical dungeon with a lot of jumping. It’s not a game breaker, but if you get that far I guarantee it will drive you crazy at least once.
Regarding grinding, I always did it after I escaped from… that city where Rico joined, I forget the name. But after Elly rejoins and you get access to the world map I spent time at that point learning everyone’s combos. And while you can’t directly help gear battles by grinding, you can get money to buy better parts. But there’s only a handful of places in the game where you might need to do that.