Game Title: Xenogears
Game ID(s): SLUS_006.64
pSX Version(s): 1.13
I just finished the game entirely on pSX v1.13, and wanted to post some slightly updated information for the compatibility list... I did not find the intro clips to be at all jerky (unlike what is currently listed in the compatibility list). The -r switch is still needed to get past cutscene freezes. Not much else to say about compatibility, really. The game is almost perfect, although it seems to suffer from random freezes here and there (nothing predictable, and I'm not sure it's even a pSX-specific issue either).
Onto my usual game mini-review...
The storyline in Xenogears was extremely deep, complex, and often confusing, but it really pulled me in anyway (what with the way things unfolded beautifully and all). Some things might've come across as a bit cliched, but never overwhelmingly so. Character development for the
main cast carried on believably and well. It did feel like some characters were put in just to push the plot along, and then you never really needed to use them again, but that's okay
Music, though not "cream of the crop" when it comes to the game music genre, was still
very highly enjoyable, memorable, and suitably matched the situations in which they were each used.
I racked up ~60 hours playing the game, which is actually longer than most other RPGs I've played (I don't tend to mess around with sidequests and world roaming as much as many other people might). I'm not sure why, but it didn't feel like I was playing the game for 60 hours though. Yes, I did feel like it was long, but not
that long (other games I've played that were shorter actually felt longer than Xenogears). The story unfolded at a decent pace, which may be one reason the game felt shorter than it was. I did fast forward in various places, but that likely wouldn't have made
that much difference, considering the number of times I had to restart in various points in the game.
Regarding gameplay, things were a bit iffy, but nothing that detracts in any serious way from the game's enjoyability. Some specifics...
- Because of the way the camera is, I found myself constantly rotating the view just to make sure I wasn't missing anything. This sometimes became annoying.
- Oh jeez, just thinking about the elevator at Thames sends shivers down my spine. It was simply horrible to use, and was a constant source of frustration.
- The narrative style of the second disc was very jarringly different from the first disc. It felt as if they were rushing the story along. Admittedly, the things they decided to narrate past were usually mundane little events that I might've gotten bored playing through, but the style still felt like an odd choice on their part.
- I found myself sometimes wondering exactly what I was supposed to be doing next. I often ended up wandering around for long periods of time trying to find the next destination. I don't expect things to be handed to me on a silver platter, but I don't expect to just be thrown into control without a teeny hint of "what's next" either. Maybe I was sometimes just too confused by what was going on (did I mention the storyline was often confusing?), and ended up losing track. Bleh.
- Some puzzles in the game were apparently designed to be just plain confusing. I couldn't honestly say they were well designed as puzzles in many other games, but it's fine, since there were so few puzzles in the game anyway xD
At any rate, my overall impression of the game is... I loved Xenogears, and it now ranks among my favorite games of all time. I'd recommend this game to anyone who is willing to put some time into wrapping their heads around a deep plot. I think I'm going to have to play this game again some time to understand the story more fully (I realized I understood more after beating the game and rewatching the intro scenes).
Music, though not "cream of the crop" when it comes to the game music genre, was still very highly enjoyable, memorable, and suitably matched the situations in which they were each used. 
