Thursday, April 19, 2018

Xenogears and Xenosaga mirroring analysis returns

Of all the things I've contributed to the Xeno fandom over the years, I think this is the one achievement I am the most pleased with and proud of. There's a lot to discover in this article/analysis and it manages to provide an overview and idea of what Xenosaga might've been like if the original story and plan was left intact. It also manages to communicate how similar these two works are in style and substance and why they differ from the later Xenoblade games in a way that is more effective than any argument could ever be. It also provides a decent analysis for how Xenogears follows classic story architecture since I originally wrote this article in conjunction with the plot analysis.

This was another article I started working on restoring back in November 2016, but the amount of pictures needed to be added delayed the article for similar reasons as the Xeno Emission pages. Since then I've figured out how to do it faster, working mechanically within a formula while listening to podcasts, and before I knew it the article was finally finished. It's been edited with some spelling mistakes fixed and grammar changed or improved, as well as getting rid of some commentary I kept repeating more times than was necessary. But otherwise the article remains the same since it was pretty solid from the beginning (although I might add some things in the future). Enjoy!

10 comments:

  1. I agree that this is probably your greatest contribution. It proved to me that you were one of the leading Xeno theorists of the community. I've read it many times.

    By the way, Takahashi was recently asked if he was still interested in continuing Xenosaga. He said yes, as long as someone would finance it.
    - CosmicGnosis

    https://www.reddit.com/r/Xenoblade_Chronicles/comments/6j2f2h/xenoblade_2_interview_with_tetsuya_takahashi/

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    1. Yes I did catch that interview. I think finding someone who would finance it would be more difficult than the first time though. But maybe if Monolith can build up enough good reputation with the current games they're making some companies might be prepared to finance anything from them..

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  2. I just want to thank you and all the people that were working all these years on those papers. Thank you for keeping the communauty alive, what a wonderfull work you have made. There is no such things comparable on the Internet about other games, thank you.

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  3. Thanks for this and your other recent works

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  4. This is a great article, as always. I find myself coming time and time again to read it, doesn't dissappoint in the slightest. I've noticed you theorize that Ziggy's background was originally set on Miltia instead of Michtam. How do you think that would have worked? Mainly due to how Michtam is the final scenario of the story arc and, given the Perfect Works Episode I teasers, probably was from the very beginning, even back in the 90s. I always presumed the Voyager confrontation would have had to take place in the Archon Cathedral in there.

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  5. Just dropping by to say that I linked the mirroring analysis in my opening post to this new blog, which I intended as a relatively small vindication of Xenosaga, given this year's technically its 20th Anniversary. Time sure does fly. Won't be the last time I touch the series as well, not even close

    https://overthinkingmedia468479265.wordpress.com/2022/04/06/xenosaga-a-vindication-20-years-later/

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    1. I see you became a fan after the Xenosaga trilogy was already released. Have you always used the name "trexalfa" or did we have some interaction prior to 2020?

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    2. It's been my handle since I ever set foot on the Internet. And yeah, I probably posted a couple of times in the old XenoTen forum, if you recall. Not too much, and it happened close to when the site came crashing down.

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  6. Really really love your mirroring analysis and I think about if often.

    The broken shards theme, then Saga's ripple and waves theme, and...

    I'm thinking of Blade now, there's just a bunch of fog. There's like the Fog King, the Black Fog in 3 which also appears in Xenoblade X, and the miasmas in 2, plus the cloud sea and such. Well, I have no idea where I'm going with this, but I'm thinking Solid, Liquid, and now, the third arc, is gas or like water vapor or something. Solid (broken shards), Liquid (and the wave ripples), and now with gas (something something, I'm not much of an analyzer person which is why I read others' analysis stuff lol).

    Anyways, really really happy to see a 2022 update!!!

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    1. Thank you. The Xenoblade series isn't "the third arc" though. Using that phrasing might give newcomers to the series the wrong idea.

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