Xenosaga Official Websites Translations

As regular visitors may have noticed, all the pages from the Xenosaga Episode I -Official Design Materials- have now been added, even if it is not 100% fully translated. At least the important stuff is there. I have now also made a page for translations from various Xenosaga Official Website information that may be of interest to preserve, especially for hardcore fans interested in the evolution of the story. It is interesting to see how similar some of the early descriptions of the story are to Xenogears Episode I from Perfect Works.

In addition, a previously unknown Xenosaga interview from Japanese magazine THE PLAYSTATION 2 VOL. 252 have also been discovered. However, only a fragment of what can be seen on a photograph has been translated thanks to Lugalbanda. I plan to add the info to the History of Xenosaga article whenever I get around to updating it.

Rejoice, all ye! The time for feasting has come!

The Xenosaga Episode I -Official Design Materials- book translations are back, in a new section here on the Study Guide. This section will include all of the translations, including those by Gwendal and Spherix that were never preserved on the old XenoTensei project page. Now they will be made available again, for old and new Xenosaga fans to feast on when delving deeper into this detailed universe. Currently not all the translations are up since the whole thing requires a bit of work, but you can check the "Last updated" date to know when new pages have been added. (I won't mention new updates to it on this front page until the thing is completed.)

Also, the Study Guide now has jump links again. Jump links galore! You may have noticed this if you have been a regular visitor the last week or so in the History of Xenogears and Xenosaga section or the Xenogears' Guide to translation errors pages. But if you have not you can try them out now.

Having figured out how to do jump links on the blog there are now many possibilities for improving various sections on the site and what I had planned. I might even try to put up the Xenosaga III Perfect Guide translations eventually using a similar approach to the ODM. For more information on my plans along with previews, follow me on Patreon.

A short Xenosaga III era interview with VAs has been added

A short interview with the Japanese voice actresses for Shion Uzuki (Ai Maeda) and KOS-MOS (Mariko Suzuki) from Volume I of the 2006 Xenosaga III Weekly magazine has been translated by Lugalbanda. The two VAs mainly talk about a podcast they were doing on the official website around the time Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra was released in Japan, but it is one of the few Xenosaga III era interviews that I have been able to find so I thought it might be good to have translated.

Judging by the interview, it seems a lot of the show consisted of taking messages from the audience and even relaying some questions to the development staff. I wonder if anyone has saved any of those podcasts or if anyone fluent in Japanese ever listened to them? I never came across any discussion about it even back in the day.

Unearthing yet another early Xenogears staff interview!

It was sort of a good thing I got a Twitter/X account recently since it alerted me to another previously unknown interview with the Xenogears developers thanks to Linnaea who dug up the March 1998 issue of Famitsu PS in a tweet. Thanks to Siris who bought and scanned the magazine, and Will Bill who did the translation, we now also have this nice little interview preserved.

I have also updated the History of Xenogears article with some quotes from this interview. Probably this is the last early Xenogears interview we'll find. But then again, I thought the last one was also the last and there weren't any more. So who knows. Maybe another one will eventually get unearthed. I also know there are at least one or two Xenosaga interviews that were lost in time and never recovered.

Added an "About" page and starting a Patreon

I have added an "About" page for the study guide that provides some basic information about the site. You can now also follow me on Twitter/X if you want, though I am not sure how often I will be using it.

I have also set up a Patreon since economic times are tough and I think it makes sense to start earning something from my hard work over the years, especially if you want me to stay around and regularly be active on maintaining the site. I still plan on finishing it up regardless, but having supporters on Patreon will definitely motivate me to finish it quicker. Otherwise I might just go back to sleep for a while until another dawn wakes me up again.

As a special treat I have put up the first part of the Xenosaga Story Analysis on Patreon, which will not be published on this website for some time. I might also put up some exclusive stuff on there, and share plans for the site I do not normally share, but I have not decided yet. Translation work will not be posted on Patreon however, since I am not charging money for other people's work.

The History of Xenogears article has been updated

As regular visitors may already have noticed (especially if you have read through the History articles in the last couple of days), I have expanded the History of Xenogears article (Part 1 of the History of Xenogears and Xenosaga) with information that has emerged since the last update, including the early lore draft that Yasuyuki Honne shared earlier this year on his Twitter/X page for the game's anniversary.

Having not read through the article in several years I was able to look at it with fresh eyes and found that some parts needed to flow and connect better. So I re-arranged some parts and also properly introduced more of the other people on the development team rather than expecting people to already know who they are. I think it makes for a much better read now. But most of the additions are in the "Developing the game" chapter of the article.

I have also gone back to the original structure of the History article series by dividing Xenosaga Episode I and Xenosaga II/III into two separate articles or parts since I think it makes for an easier read. It also brings more room for other sections in the top cross-column on the site where I want to add sections for "Articles" and "Links." I have not really made any additions and modifications to the History of Xenosaga articles yet, but I plan to. I am just waiting for translations of previously untranslated Xenosaga Episode I lore pages that may be useful to reference and examine.

A Xenogears interview with Takahashi and Hiromichi Tanaka from 1997 has been added

An old Xenogears preview interview with Tetsuya Takahashi and Hiromichi Tanaka from the November 28, 1997 issue of Weekly Famitsu has been translated by trexalfa. There are some interesting things revealed in this interview, especially in regards to the connections between Xenogears and Final Fantasy VII. Like many people have speculated, the similarity between Fei and Cloud Strife is not a coincidence. Furthermore, it seems that both the Shinra company in Final Fantasy VII and the Holy Empire of Solaris in Xenogears derive from early ideas by Tetsuya Takahashi when he was still on the Final Fantasy VII team.

Takahashi also reveals that he intentionally gave Fei "amnesia" at the start of the game so that he could subvert this common trope later. It is an interesting read so be sure to check it out if you are interested in the development of Xenogears. Another interesting detail is that Xenogears also had the working title "Project X" just like Xenosaga later did. Since Xenogears also went by the working title "Project NOAH," I assume it changed to "Project X" later on during development when they knew the final title would start with an "X." I will try to add some of this information whenever I get around to updating the History of Xenogears article.