[Last updated 2024.10.10]
This is a study guide devoted mainly to the literary study and analysis of Xenogears and Xenosaga, which are the early works by game developer Tetsuya Takahashi (and his wife Soraya Saga). It examines everything from the stories to the characters, background lore, the subject matter, their merits and their flaws, the official translations, and the development history. It is also a website preserving rare material such as English translations of developer interviews.
Over the years many Xenogears and Xenosaga websites have disappeared, taking much valuable information and history with them. But these websites also often contained outdated and even false information. In order to preserve information about classic Xeno and also keep it up to date, a website such as this study guide was necessary, and that is the primary reason I created it. I also wanted to establish a higher standard for writing about these works since I used to be disappointed in the level of discourse these fascinating and ambitious stories had originally. The curse of works produced within pop culture is that they often end up in the hands of an immature audience, which can make perception of the works deteriorate over time if there are no quality websites and writings around.
Preserving and providing accurate information with informed analysis has always been an important aim with this website and my articles, and so naturally it is the first place I think an English speaking person should visit after their first time playing through these games and reading the lore books, if they wish to learn more. Though be aware that there are spoilers for both works all over the place so it is recommended to have experienced both works fully before exploring the articles.
The study guide is still a project under construction and you can now support it on Patreon if you appreciate my work and want to continue having me around as a curator to maintain the site and make sure it keeps being up to date with accurate information. By becoming a patreon you will also get early access to new content and be able to participate in discussions and plans for the study guide I normally do not share. I may even write some exclusive articles for Patreon but I have not decided yet. Translation work is done by others however, so that will not appear on Patreon.
Link to Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/StudyGuideforXenogearsandXenosaga
About the author of this study guide:
I was an active poster on early Xenogears fansites in 1999 and 2000.
I was a forum moderator at Zenosaga.com from 2001 to 2006 which was the first big international fansite devoted to both Xenogears and Xenosaga.
After Zenosaga.com closed I migrated with the remnants of that community to form XenoTensei where I was a forum administrator from 2006 to 2013.
In 2010 I created the Xenogears and Xenosaga Study Guide, hosted by XenoTensei. I later moved to Blogspot.
I now have a Twitter/X account where you can follow me if you wish: https://x.com/ac_xeno
If you want to contact me by E-mail you can find it in my Blogger profile "Study Guide."
Why does Xenogears and Xenosaga not have separate study guides?
While I have considered the idea of making a separate study guide website for each work given that not everyone is an equal fan of both, that would require making new links when I move pages and thus lose both page visit data and the momentum of traffic I have accumulated over the years. It would also result in a bunch of dead links around various websites and forums that have sourced my material. As long as people understand that the two works are not directly connected I do not think it is a problem that they are brought together on a single website given that they share both a similar style and similar themes. It is also a remnant of the early Xeno community culture I hail from, which viewed the two works as being very closely related.
Why does this study guide not also examine other Xeno works by Tetsuya Takahashi?
I might write an article giving a more in-depth reason for this, but for now I will simply give two main reasons. The first reason is simply that I have not personally been captivated by any other Xeno game, and the Xenoblade Chronicles series is almost a different genre (both in terms of gameplay style and story) from Xenogears and Xenosaga. This is especially obvious if you have even a preliminary understanding of literary theory and genre studies. Both Xenogears and Xenosaga were suited to have literary styled analysis devoted to them whereas the Xenoblade Chronicles games are more like "normal RPGs" (for lack of a better term) and most normal RPGs do not have literary analysis or study guides devoted to them as single works. There is a reason I have only made a study guide for Xenogears and Xenosaga even though I am a fan of a few other RPGs as well. It simply does not make sense to make full on literary study guides for most RPGs.
The second reason is that both Xenogears and Xenosaga had a finite plan to cover precisely six episodes in their respective stories, thus having a clearly defined beginning and end from the outset. No extraneousness but straight to the point with a clear but somewhat niche vision and goal. The Xenoblade Chronicles series is more like other game franchises that are produced because they are popular and can take almost any shape they want and keep going indefinitely for as long as Takahashi and his new team of writers can come up with ways to expand the concept. Eventually Takahashi will likely hand the series over to another director to keep it running after he retires. Such a meandering and largely directionless commercial franchise is not something I have an interest devoting a webpage to, and the chance is high it will end up lacking consistent quality after 10+ entries and make longtime fans tired of the franchise just like what happened with Final Fantasy.
So just trust that when I am making a study guide for only Xenogears and Xenosaga there is important reasons for it, and that I know what I am doing. If I end up really liking one game in the Xenoblade Chronicles series I might make a separate website for that game alone, but I am not devoting time to an entire series that includes a bunch of entries I am not interested in and which would risk draining my passion for those aspects of Xeno I actually am interested in. I have seen it happen with other longtime Xenogears and Xenosaga fans and why they are no longer around maintaining fansites whereas I still am.