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Time of the Bonus 2: Origins of Xenogears
🕑 Added 2019-11-21 23:33:25 +0000 UTCHello and welcome to our second Patreon-only bonus episode.
This time, we're covering the confluence of events that lead to the creation of Xenogears. Along the way, we talk through the careers of the major players that developed the game, the legacies and influences they drew from, and everything else that comes up along the way.
Though we're not talking specifically about Xenogears, we do made some moderately-spoilery references to scenes and characters that we haven't covered yet in the weekly show.
The research we did for this episode would've been significantly more difficult without the use of the Xenogears and Xenosaga Study Guide. This site compiles and collects various interviews and quotes from the developers from throughout the years. Also, the 20th Anniversary Concert Pamphlet translation was a major resource for us.
We've also included our idiotic banter at the end of the podcast and plan to release some more behind-the-scenes type stuff in the near future. Let us know what you think!
Enjoy the show and thank for your continued patronage!
Comments
Chris
Wow, it's been almost two years since we recorded this and it's still mind boggling how all the external factors influenced the game and the project did not implode. Good point on the Monolith mantra... seems like a lot of the main players did not survive this era of squaresoft... interesting to contrast this with Nintendo where you see the same folks there for their entire career
I can only imagine what creating the game must have been like with Takahashi adding/changing/riffing on the content well into its production cycle (which is basically what Nomura did to FFXV). I wonder how much that crunch experience on Xenogears influenced the MonolithSoft company motto of "no overtime and creative work welcome." Seems like it must have had something to do with the frenzied experience of trying to finish making this game.
Chris
Thanks for your support! we've kind of always felt that an audio show supports this kind of discussion better than a traditional LP because you have time to let the moments breathe, research, take notes, and create discussion. Also, we have no interest in learning video production right now so it works out. 😅 -Chris
Controllerfreak
You are doing an absolute phenomenal job making sense of this game, and that's why I decided to back today. So far I am enjoying this way more than watching blind let's-plays. XG is my favorite game of all time, and nothing sucks more than getting to your favorite part in a let's play and the player's reaction is deadpan, whereas I can count on you two to talk about that section for at least 10 to 15 minutes.
