Xenogears sitting in a chair edition: in which lots of things happen.
Yeah, this part of the game is concentrated story-telling, which will make these writeups very long. Disc 2 is actually shorter in raw time than I remembered, which is what happens when you strip out most of the gameplay I guess!
Hour 45: The party gets the second anima relic. This one alligns with Rico's gear, as he gets his first few lines in a while. The party heads out and runs into Hammer, the latest person to be fused to a gear. He seems pretty happy with the arrangement, though... finally, he has strength and isn't just some annoying handyman! He insists that we turn over the Anima Relic and Elly. Needless to say that isn't happening. A boss fight ensues, after which Hammer dies. The game tries to sell the tragedy of the character, and indeed, you have to feel a little sorry for the guy. But at the same time it's hard to feel too sorry for him, the little murderer.
Speaking of murders: Ramsus kills Cain. This scene is surprisingly short and uneventful. Ramsus approaches the emperor, babbling that killing him will allow him to be able to beat Fei. Cain tries to activate his invincible barrier but Ramsus shuts it off because being a clone of the emperor apparently lets him do that. Krelian shows up to taunt Cain, and the emperor reacts with surprise that he would be on the same side as the Gazel. Cain demands explanations but Ramsus kills him.
The Gazel, pleased with the news, talk about they now have everything they need for their plan. All the Anima relics have no surfaced and are activated, the identity of the 'mother' is known, and Cain can't interfere any more. They use the "Gaetia Key", the effects of which become apparent quite quickly.
The human mutations, which had largely abated thanks to Taura's technology, now strike again with a renewed vengeance, as people everywhere begin mutating into spare parts for Deus. The party is spared, once again, due to being "Animus", but most others aren't so lucky, and Taura can only help them so much. Additionally, the ship "Mahanon", the paradise sought by the Gazel, rises up out of the sea... but on it is a different name, Eldridge, the name of the ship which crashed in the game's prologue. The villains moved to secure the location, their armies swollen with mutated humans who had turned into living weapons. The PCs moved to stop them, but some stuff needed taking care of first.
Namely, Fei thinks that Elly shouldn't come on the Mahanon mission. He tries to tell her it's too dangouerous which is patently ridiculous: Elly points out she has been risking her life all along and that the importance of the fight means they'll all need to commit to it. Fei then brings up a different reason: that the enemies they will be fighting will all be mutated humans, the same ones that Elly cares so deeply for. He says he doesn't believe she will be able to, and that her reluctance will endanger their mission. He says so very harshly, and Elly runs off in tears.
The party chastises Fei for acting so thoughtlessly and tell him to go talk to Elly, so he does. There he gives Elly another reason for why he didn't want her to come: that people look to her as a leader and that she shouldn't endanger herself. Elly seems to agree that this is reasonable, but reveals she is very scared of losing Fei, and also talks about her (prophetic) fears that she may never see Fei again, that she fears being torn apart and becoming someone she isn't. The two talk a bit about their shared experiences, the similar things they have gone through and how yes, they've both figured out they love each other very much. Fei cites Elly as his reason he has been able to suppress Id, his reason to survive and return, and promises her he will do that. They kiss, end scene.
The game implies at this point that they (gasp) have sex. I could rant here about my annoyance that this hardly ever seems to happen in games even though it is an important part of human relationships and how it makes the medium seem juvenile that it can hardly ever deal with it in ways that aren't tacky, but I think I did that back when the game showed Ramsus and Miang in bed so I won't do it again.
There's a scene with Elly and Margie as they resign themselves to being left behind, and not enjoying it. This scene makes me a bit uncomfortable as the game seems to want to justify Fei's (and Bart's, but Margie doesn't have combat skills so it makes more sense) behaviour on its own right, that "hey you should stay behind because you're my girlfriend and you shouldn't be in danger now excuse me I'll throw MYSELF into danger" is acceptable. I mean, the other two reasons Fei gave are fine! Don't justify that first one!
Anyhow, Fei and company reach Mahanon. This is clearly another dungeon that isn't, as it is reduced to a boss fight against Deus, the creature seen in the game's opening, but now mostly rotted away. They defeat it and locate the ship's computer, which is needlessly mystic-looking to fit with it being called the "Wisdom of God". In it, they learn that Deus was an planet-destroying weapons system, complete with the ability to create "angels" to be its army (which seems to be in line with what the Gaetia Key has been doing to humans). They also learn about the Zohar, the power source of the system, but before they can learn more they get interrupted. By a bunch of soldiers, AND Krelian, AND Miang, AND Grahf. Well fuck.
The party tries to keep the villains from reaching the computer, but Grahf plot-kills them. Grahf is extremely disappointed in Fei, telling him he has become a wuss, nothing like the assassin he raised for so many years. But now Fei is his again, and he will turn him back into the Slayer of God he needs... but Krelian interrupts him and says that he wants to use Fei as bait to capture Elly. Grahf acquiesces to Krelian's wishes, which based on what I know about the character doesn't make much sense, but perhaps he feels he can't fight off him and Miang and a whole bunch of weapons loyal to them at once? I may also just not understand his motivation here... we'll see.
The villains take the gears of the party and crucify them. Yeah, I don't know either. The best part of course is that Chu-Chu is one of the ones crucified (and it's not just to be "complete", there are only four PCs shown in this scene and Chu-Chu is one, so it's a rather deliberate winking at the player not to take this symbolism too seriously). Elly, meanwhile, receives word that if she comes to meet Krelian and Miang alone, her friends will be spared. Her soldiers rightfully question this and point out that it's a trap, to which Elly essentially responds with "duh", but insists on doing it because love makes you do these things. As far as Elly is concerned, trading her own life for Fei's is worthwhile, let alone the rest of her friends as well.
At the meeting place, Krelian agrees to hold his end of the bargain only if Elly defeats two of his man-machine fusion gears. The party tries to tell her not to, but Elly accepts, and a boss fight (which you don't control, possibly because they didn't code Elly's omnigear?) ensues, against Rattan (hey it's that guy who was observing the party's meeting with Emeralda) and Mugwort. Elly appears to be defeated as the two are very powerful, but eventually achieves some sort of awakened Ether-channeling state and utterly destroys them both. Krelian is pleased, as this confirms beyond a doubt that Elly is the "mother" needed for the Deus-awakening plans. Unfortunately for Elly she doesn't have the power to do those crazy attacks any more so the remaining troops are able to overwhelm her and she is captured. He does, however, let the rest of the party go. The party wonders if he has some darker purpose for doing so, but I'm pretty sure it's just because of his weird "love" for Sophia (which the game hasn't actually revealed yet).
Even Grahf lets Fei go, having now decided Fei is too pathetic to be worth his time. He seems extremely upset that Fei allowed Elly to be captured, revealing some definite friction between him and the other two villains.
Speaking of friction between the villains, Krelian does what some of us have been waiting for someone to do for a long, long time. The Gazel ministry crow that all their plans have fallen into place, to which their "loyal follower" replies by removing all the memory circuits from the computer in which they live. This scene is great. They splutter about HOW DARE YOU BETRAY US and WE WERE TO BECOME GOD which just earns them Krelian's mockery. The last surviving ones, clinging to life, say that they, as the Animus, are needed to resurrect Deus, but Krelian is confident that their descendants can be used instead. The last of the Gazel's screens shuts off.
Hour 46: Fei sits in despair about how he couldn't beat Grahf or protect Elly. Wiseman shows up and opines about the fact that Fei couldn't beat Grahf because he wasn't sure of his own feelings, unlike Grahf who was very sure of his own (hateful) ones. He also observes that Elly's strong feelings for him had allowed her to impossibly defeat the two super-gears and save his life. He observes that Fei still has one more chance: the villains' plans are not complete, so it is Fei's turn to save the one he loves.
In two weeks, Krelian and Miang had been building a new ship for Deus, called Merkava, using a combination of data from the Eldridge's computer and nanotechnology. Now it was almost ready. The party regroups and assults it, for yet another dungeon that isn't a dungeon. On the way, they meet the Elements. Dominia by now has figured out everything: that Miang and Krelian manipulated Ramsus into killing the Emperor, wrecking his psyche in the process. She announces her intention to save Ramsus from those two.
In Merkava, the party comes face to face with Ramsus, who has a new omnigear, Amphysvena. He believes he can finally beat Fei! Fei wonders why Ramsus is so obsessed with him, and the latter explains that it is because Fei's existence ruined all of his prospects in life. There is a flashback to when Ramsus was a fetus growing in a vat, and he watched Krelian talking with a dark-haired woman, Karen. Karen asked about Ramsus, and Krelian revealed that the emperor had been told it was an artificial contact (implying, I would say, that it isn't). Karen asks if the creature can hear them, and upon that being confirmed, proposes disposing of it. In hindsight this order makes it quite transparent what her game is. She says that her son, Fei will fulfill all the needs they have, and that this creature, Ramsus, is worthless trash. She turns to Ramsus, saying "Chase after it, boy. A love that's unattainable, no matter how hard you try to pursue it."
There's all sorts of evidence in the scene that Karen is, of course, Miang: a woman conspiring with Krelian with an extremely cruel streak and already in the process of manipulating Ramsus, but the game doesn't explain how Miang could be Fei's mother. Coming soon!
Fei of course is stunned by the revelation that his mother is some sort of supervillain responsible for Ramsus' insanity. Dominia appears and appeals to her commander, saying that his story makes it even clearer that Krelian and Miang have manipulated him into doing their bidding, and that THEY are his real enemies! Ramsus turns on her angrily, reminding that he saved her from becoming a test subject (nicely explaining how an Elru citizen ended up an elite Solarian soldier), and deciding it's time for one last fight with Fei! This is stupid and irrational but it's Ramsus. Needless to say, Miang's promise that he'll attain greater power with Cain's death was a load of shit and he is defeated one last time.
The party makes their way further into Merkava, finally reaching Krelian, Miang, and a captured Elly. Behind them is a giant creature, which is quickly revealed as Deus. Krelian announces that Elly is needed to wake the creature up, and as the party moves to save her, Miang summons her own omnigear, Opiomorph, to fight. The back-to-back fight of Amphysvena and Opiomorph has potential to be one of the game's hardest but I'm better at RPGs than I once was and beat it first try, woohoo.
Unfortunately the fight itself doesn't even mean much: the omnigear has been reinforced with nanomachines and is nearly unbeatable, while the party is fast running out of resources. Miang announces that it is time for Deus to awaken, and awaken he does, its eyes opening. It promptly sucks up all the Anima Relics from all the omnigears, depowering all of them. Miang notes that the true purpose of the Anima Relics was to attain the information of their corresponding Animus (Gazel descendant) and return it to Deus, so Deus now has that part of the system it needs to activate, the part that the Gazel thought they would be. She also reveals that Elly, as the mother, or reincarnation of the original woman created by Deus, is also an integral part, and will shortly be absorbed as well.
At this point, Ramsus straggles onto the scene. He demands to Miang to know what the purpose of his life has been. Miang tells him that, of course, there was only one purpose to his existence: it was just to kill Cain, who would oppose their goals. With Ramsus now useless to him, she savagely mocks him once more, now joining the choruses of the Gazel and Krelian, calling him useless trash, a pathetic excuse for life. Miang turns her back on him, wondering what to do with the defeated party. She decides that because they so kindly returned the Anima Relics, they can live, and instead be absorbed by Deus-
And Ramsus stabs her. You might think, for a moment, that Miang is a colossal fool for allowing him to do so. You might cheer that Ramsus finally attained is revenge. But if you think either, Miang's following line disabuses you of that notion. She thanks Ramsus, revealing that she is "not able" to kill herself, but that thanks to him, all of her wishes have come true. Just as planned? Ramsus is confused, but pulls himself together enough to kill Krelian as well.
The villains are dead, Elly is saved, and the game is over!
Fei and Billy go to untie Elly, but as they do, something very weird happens. Suddenly, Elly grabs Billy's gun, shooting Fei. As she does, her hair changes colour to an all-too-familiar purple. Has she been brainwashed?
Krelian assures them that has not happened (adding that his body is mostly nanomachines, so of course he can't be so easily killed). Elly, meanwhile, volunteers the rest of the information. With her new purple hair and villainous expression there's rather little doubt that somehow, it is Miang that is talking, however. Miang explains about Deus' history: that it was a planet-destroying weapon (which we already knew) which, as partly sentient, had destroyed a civilian planet during a test. Deemed too dangerous, it was partially disassembled and placed on board a ship to be taken to another planet where it could be examined. The sentient Deus, however, had taken over the ship, and in response the ship's captain had blown up the ship, destroying most of Deus' systems. However, they had been close enough to a planet - this planet: that the wreckage had landed on it (highly unlikely, but hey).
And once it landed on the planet, Deus had longed to rebuild itself. But it wasn't ready. So it created humans, using its core genetic material, so that they would grow and multiply and become the parts it needed to rebuild itself. Miang also reveals that, of course, the mutated humans were those spare parts, now mutating according to Deus' needs. She also reveals, though, that those before her are different, that somehow they have been reincarnated through generations, and this makes them unable to be used by Deus (a bit of a flimsy explanation for why our heroes have been spared, but best to just accept it. I could do with a bit less Xenogears reincarnation in general). Otherwise, though, all human evolution has been guided to the perfect parts for Deus, and Krelian was able to accelerate the process even further, his nanomachines compensating for any deficiencies the creature might have. Now, Deus will be the ultimate weapon.
Fei wonders how "Elly" can know all of this, to which point she responds that she is Miang, the creature born to guide people towards the resurrection of Deus. She has existed throughout human history, always guiding people on the path that Deus needed. Humans are Deus' creation, and in the DNA of all women is the ability to become a host body for Miang. And now Miang is in control of the last body needed for Deus' resurrection. All of her wishes have come true, indeed. Miang announces that she is done talking, that it is time for the resurrection of Deus. All that is left for her to do is wipe out the remaining humans on the planet.
Citan demands to know why she would do that. Miang merely offers a shrug, suggesting that this is part of Deus', and therefore her, programming, a reminder that ultimately the villain of this world, this "god", is just an extremely powerful but ultimately artificially intelligent machine. She and Krelian walk into Deus, which promptly flies off from its holdings. Fei desperately chases after them, after Elly, separating himself from the rest of the party, which instead escapes the apparently unstable Merkava.
But it turns out Merkava isn't unstable because it is self-destructing like most RPG dungeons do; it is unstable because it is launching itself into the atmosphere, where it promtly starts firing lasers at the planet below.
Well, shit.
Next time: Lots and lots of plot (again), and I guess Grahf is still around so we need some closure there, too!
