Xenogears releases tomorrow on the PSN and I will be getting it for my PS3. I love JRPG's but never played Xenogears. I'm "going in dark" so to speak because I know nothing about this game. What can I expect?

Expect the whole game to fall to pieces once the second disc begins.

Oh, you're getting it on PSN. Well...you'll know it when you get there.

Besides that, lemme just tell you this...UPGRADE YOUR GEARS' ENGINES!!!! Many a player has been stopped in their tracks by one early but notorious boss because they neglected to do this.

Xenogears has long been one of my favorite games. Very little can compare with its story or soundtrack, and it has an interesting combo-based battle system that keeps combat more interesting than the average menu turn-based. It is a very big game, and while you can of course clear it faster (especially if it's not your first time), 70 hours is not an unusual time on the clock by the end. It's not without flaw of course, including a less than stellar translation, some less than tolerable voice-acting (thankfully mostly confined to the not-that-common cutscenes), and the infamous latter part of the game, which reeks of rushed Out Of Time And Money Syndrome. You can expect a lot of text and, if I remember right, an above-average random encounter rate, but nothing that kept me from ranking it alongside my other favorite JRPG's, such as Suikoden 2 and Dragon Quest 8.

Is the encounter rate higher or lower than dragon quest viii?

@xetirox so I should make sure to upgrade the gears? is this boss not beatable without this?

It's been too long since I played either to claim any accuracy in this, but I'd guess higher.

While the second bit isn't addressed to me, I don't recall any such boss troubles. Just upgrade gears when the option presents itself (this is where most of your money goes anyway) and you should be fine.

I haven't played either of those game to compare, but the encounter rate in Xenogears is pretty bad. You can get into an encounter while standing still and rotating the camera, or while in mid-jump. :brokencomputer:

As for the boss, yeah he's impossible if you don't upgrade your gears. This guy tends to blindside people for two reasons: it marks the first time gear upgrades are for sale, and the engine in particular doesn't increase fuel capacity, so many just ignore it. What it does, however, is improve Output, which generally improves the gears' stats and damage.

Now, don't fret if you become another one of those svckers; there's a save point before this boss, and you can go back to the vendor to get all the necessary upgrades should you forget. I'm just telling you now, so you don't learn the hard way.

Thanks for the heads up. What do you mean "the engine in particular doesn't increase fuel capacity, so many just ignore it."?

Huuuge game. Can be tough at times, don't neglect to level up your guys. Don't expect to understand the plot. :happy:

I remember getting stuck on a boss right before the second disc.

How many hours into it were you and did you ever finish?

Engines have two purposes in Xenogears: they improve the gears' output and the amount of fuel (which is expended with most actions taken in battle) they can carry. The former's importance isn't obvious to many beginners (it certainly wasn't for me), but the latter's is. And the first engine that can be bought only improves output, so many beginners tend not to buy it. And then they get curb-stomped.

Nah I sort of put it down a few years and forgot everything

So the characters use gears or they are the gears?

Gears are robot fighting machines. They pilot them.

So they are like final fantasy summons or blue dragons shadows?

No you call your gear, and then you control the gear which is a little different than normal combat.

Sounds like a summon to me?

I don't really know what "summon" you're talking about. In Final Fantasy a summon is just a really powerful spell.

Aeons. Ifrit, Bahamut, Zodiark...

You mean like go inside a summon and beat down a giant enemy?

Well you don't go inside of them but they are very powerful allies you call to you're aid in battle. Pretty much what these "Gears" are then?

Not really. They're not foes, they are vehicles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skmud2irh88

Aeons are summoned and take up the whole battlefield, each character has their own gear that they can board or leave at any time.

I meant allies not foes. Summons are allies. Do you have to rely on these "Gears" all the time though?

They are required on quite a few battles. Not all the time.

Egad, the slowdown in that video is awful. As a sidenote to Dragonborn1, the actual game runs better than that.

If I remember right, some battles have to be on foot, some have to be in Gears, and some you can board/exit the Gear at any time. Also if I remember correctly, characters on foot are harder to hit/less targeted by huge enemies, but easily killed, and can scarcely do damage. It's more easily described as "some parts of the game focus on Gear combat, some focus on on-foot combat". They're not a called-in ally that wears out like a summon so much as an alternate combat mode.