Phoenix Down 12.0 – Xenogears

Phoenix Down is hosted by Drew Leachman and Matt Quinn. Each segment focuses on an older game the duo decides upon with another member of the ZTGD crew or special guest. They play through and discuss the mechanics and how well it holds up today. It is the ultimate in backlog elimination.

The latest series has the guys digging into one of the most popular JRPGs of the PSOne era.

Hosts:

Drew Leachman
Matt Quinn
Jason Gambrel

Running Time:

1:19:10 (72 MB)

Download Link

[audio:https://ztgd.commedia/podcast/phoenixdown_028_xenogears.mp3]
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5 Comments

  1. I may sound snobbish or something but hear me out first. Because this podcast talked about Xenogears (MY FAVORITE RPG), I listened to it and… OMG, I never heard people less informed on a subject, there is a fan culture surrounding this game dedicated to understanding the complex story and the deep subjects it depicts (it encompass almost a 15000 years long period of time on this universe) and listening to you three speak makes me cringe. I wonder if you even read and saw the same scenes I did, I finished it four times, my first time when I was 16 years old and I never misinterpreted the opening so bad like you three (I’m very sorry but you sound like 12 year old kids, totally clueless). I don’t know if you ever tried to bring a guest who actually knows the subject matter, but it will totally improve the podcast.

    This game has by far the deepest story ever made in video game format and it falters in execution sometimes, but even so it’s a masterpiece.

    I have some suggestions for when you finish the game, if ever, only because it’s a very long game. A couple of scenes are hidden, and other erased (even if parts where left inside the code) because of time constraints where only implied and specially since it was very controversial for the time and several references and retelling of events and names mentioned on the bible where censored overseas, you could try reading articles about the development of the game like:

    http://xenoverse.xenotensei.com/history/history_of_xeno_part01.htm

    Or many essays written by fans on the various themes it touches like reincarnation, personality disorders, Creation miths, false gods, nanotechnology, genetic mutation, genetic memory, etc.
    Or if you like you could try reading the official book Xenogears Perfect Works witch explains the vision for the whole story and the events that transpire on Episode V (but there is only a fan translation of it in English, it was a Japan only release).

    Xenosaga was a re-imagining of the story (with several changes) because they didn’t have the copyright from Squaresoft when they founded Monolith software.

    Sorry if my grammar is off or something but I’m from South America and speak Spanish.

    • Thank you for your input. I understand how big fans of the series may think we don’t know what we’re talking about, and more than likely, we really don’t. That is the main goal of Phoenix Down. We play games we may have missed or haven’t played in a very long time and we talk about our new experiences with the game. I played the game when I was 13 years old, and truth be told, I can’t remember a single thing from the game. This is almost like I’m playing it for the first time ever. Bear with us as we try to wrap our heads around the deep story. We may not get it all on the first shot. I thank you for your time, and hope you will join us next week as we continue our discussion of the game.

  2. Awesome episode as always guys and keep up the good work. Listening to you guys talk about Xenogears makes me want to go boot it up on my Vita.:)

  3. I want to let you guys know that this podcast really makes me feel a lot better about my Xenogears experience. You may not be looking at it from an expert POV but that’s what I find so appealing, I feel like I’m not alone in the difficulty I had interpreting this game. I first tried to play it 5-10 years ago on my PSP while I was in college and I gave up somewhere hours into Disk 1 when I felt I wasn’t entirely taking advantage of or fully understanding the battle system. I’m going to see where I left off on my savegame, maybe I’ll download someone elses save game and see if that helps me feel like I didn’t miss out on anything.

    I remember reading a ton on this game, there was a flickr account with hundreds of images and story explanation many years back. I actually had a really interest experience in college when I was playing this game in class, a guy who was really cool and I wouldn’t have expected to have known about this game asked me what I was playing. I told him Xenogears not figuring he would know about it and he was actually very familiar with it having played it himself, I felt like I wasn’t alone and really misunderstood this guy. Many months later he asked me if I ever beat it or got any further and sadly I informed him I gave up, he told me he ended up doing the same so again I don’t feel like I’m the only one. It’s a real shame because I enjoyed the game, love PSX rpgs (one of my favs being Vagrant Story, I’m currently playing Parasite Eve after dusting off my PSP) and I love NGE which this game really reminds me of.

    Anyways I’ll be sure to check out this full podcast series and possibly play along as I listen. Take care

    • Thank you so much for your comments. Phoenix Down is for players and listeners like you. We’re not fancy “game journalists.” We’re regular guys that enjoy playing games. Nothing more nothing less. I hope you stick it out with us through Xenogears and possibly with the next game we decide to play through. We have a ton of other shows with different games you may enjoy as well. Once again, thank you for your kind words and for taking the time to listen to our show and leaving a comment. It makes my day every time I read feedback from listeners.

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