Xenogears Retrospective Part 3: Fei and Freud

In part 3 of this retrospective I'll be examining the character of Fei a bit more closely and his relation to the part unification theme in Xenogears. I will of course be talking about elements that occur late in the game, so if you haven't played the game you might want to skip this one.

Spoiler Warning

Xenogears Retrospective Part 2: The Morality of Violence

In part 2 of this retrospective I examine how each playable character relates to the theme of the morality of violence. I will be talking about events that happen throughout the game, so anyone who doesn't want to see any spoilers for the game should avoid reading this article.

Spoiler Warning

Xenogears Retrospective Part 1: Review

For a long time I've heralded Xenogears as having one of the greatest narratives of all time in games. I first played through this game when I was 13, but even at that young age I remember being extremely surprised and impressed with how complex and believable the characters were.

A few weeks ago Xenogears came up in discussion with a friend who had far less stellar impressions of the game than I did. He had tried to play the game much later than I had and thus asserted that the only reason I held such a high opinion of it was due to nostalgia. This got me thinking - I hadn't played the game through to the end in over a decade, and truth be told the details of the last third or so of the game were a bit hazy to me. Was this game that I have long maintained as a pinnacle achievement of narrative in gaming really as good as I remembered?