Xenogears vs. Xenosaga

[Georg Prime]

There's always been a large debate between the Xenogears fans and the Xenosaga fans to which series is better. Both are part of large sagas. Xenogears is supposedly only the 5th chapter in a 6 chapter series. It's too bad we didnt get the other chapters, though the Japanese book "perfect works" tells the backstory and history of the xenogears world. It's too bad i dont know japanese. :-/

Xenosaga was originally supposed to be 6 chapters, but after 2 they decided to squish the rest of the series into one game. Both games share a lot of similarities but despite original claims, are not related in any way. (besides of course the people that made the games)

I've only played the first game in the Xenosaga series but i already am hooked due to it's interesting storyline, and a cinematic approach. This can get old though for sometimes it feels like you watch more of the game than you play.

At the end of the day though, I think Xenogears kicks Xenosaga's ass.

[Malahk Musashi]

I agree. Xenogears is the closest thing to a perfect game that the PlayStation had to offer. If it hadn't been rushed it would have been easily the greatest game on the PS. Excellent battle system, one of the first FULLY 3D RPG's ever (you could spin the camera EVERYWHERE, not just on the world map), and a story that easily makes every single other RPG on PS eat their hearts out.

Xenosaga is also quite excellent, but it really can't touch Xenogears in terms of gameplay. The story is really what carries that series, because all the games have the same basic setup: dungeon crawl, battle, cut scene, cut scene, cut scene, dungeon crawl, battle, etc. I do have to give Monolith credit, though. With Xenosaga they did pump up the side quests a little. Xenogears offered little in side quests, which is one of 2 downfalls, whereas Xenosaga has hundreds.

[Hildegarde]

Well, I don't think either one is better than the other, but that both are equally good.
Granted, this coming from someone that hasn't even gotten to Nissan in Xenogears yet (my disc is now grinding alarmingly and halting the animations, I'm forced to look for another copy before I resume gameplay).

Both games as in Gears and Saga I had me hooked from the very beginning, dying to know what this or that means, and even though Saga's graphics are outdated, they are still very distinguishable, at least to this old coot.
The music in Gears is amazing, too, as good as in Saga I.

It seems, though that one is about gaming, despite the great story and the other is about story, despite it having gaming sections, that puts them in different categories in my book and I can't quite compare them, despite the fact that both are related in some ways.

[Georg Prime]

you're gonna find Xenogears gets crazy near the end. Won't spoil anything though.

Both are great games I will say that..there was something about Xenogears though. For one, the soundtrack is one of my all time favs, the battle system was also amazing, plus I loved the characters..especially Citan and Emeralda.

Xenosaga definitely relied more on it's story..and LONG cutscenes. Though overall, it was a good RPG as well.

..and thanx for the popcorn, its delicious

[Kinkybobb]

I personally like the Xenogears series. Xenosaga is soooo boring. All they do is talk talk talk! I only play alittle bit of xenogears but have both xenosaga episodes and there is not enough play time in the xenosaga series. all you do is read/listen to the characters talk!

[Georg Prime]

Yea i can see how you would think that for sure. I guess I just really enjoyed the story so I kept playing wanting to know what happened next. I havent even beaten all the games yet, i've only played Xenosaga episode 1. I'm not sure if the rest of the games in the series are as "cinema heavy" as the first title though

[Malahk Musashi]

Oh my sweet gentle Jesus are the other episodes cinema heavy... and especially in Episode III, they don't let you just set the controller down and enjoy in a lot of scenes... most of em are PS1 style text chatting with voice-overs... kind of a downer but doesn't really take away from the overall experience in the long run.

[Setzer]

To be honest I love them both in their own way.

Xenosaga in what originally intended to be a 6 part episode. And the idea of something so epic and grand fascinated me when I first played 1 with intent of 5 more episodes. Now 1 wasn't great, but it did set things up nicely. 2 was okay, but not too great. I found the ending enjoyable and quite emotional. As for the 3rd one I liked it alot, it was like they finally found their nitch. But the ending which I won't spoil I found truly epic and great. Yes they could have explained things more, but I won't hold it against them.

Now I've heard that there is a shot at there being an episode 4 for Xenosaga, if it sells enough or if they get a good enough review, and so far people seem to be enjoying it very much. So that really means to me that maybe the series isn't finished.

Xenogears on the other hand is quite the epic tale especially for a ps1 game. It was long, convoluted, and had many characters, with tons of religious undetones. The game did the Gear fights perfectly and had it perfect from begining to end.


If Xenosaga is overall just the 3 part series, then it was very good, but Xenogears was better. Gears had it all down first try and explained what they needed to, with many things going on at once, haha and can get confusing too. If Saga has a 4th episode then I'd want to believe that it'd truly make it what it was meant to be. Or I'd hope it would become. But for now as life stands...Gears is better.

[Georg Prime]

Good observations. I guess I'll have to finish up the xenosaga games so i can have a final opinion myself. And also see how the ending may open up the possibility of a 4th game..hmm.

[Kinkybobb]

I think, if you like to hear people talk you can survive it. I'm kinda stuck in Episode I where.... your in that ship and all those weird monsters invade it... you know? Well that dumb battle with one of those... i like died a thousand deaths in one round. I don't like the battle mode they used, but got used to it. Does anybody have any advice to beat the bum, or do you guys not know what Im talking about? lol

But the game isnt soo bad... just sort of boring. After the game gets going, and you can manuveur your character, you can have fun i guess.. lol