Xenogears


                     Walkthrough and FAQ





                             by





                        David Johnson


                  (johnsonr@compuserve.com)





	Welcome one and all to my Xenogears walkthrough and FAQ!  


Hopefully this guide will answer whatever questions you have about 


the game, but if it doesn't, don't worry, because I'll probably be 


updated this guide at least once.  Or you could just email me.  In fact, 


if you have any questions, comments, or criticism, all emails will be 


welcome.


	Anyway, I've divided the guide into two parts: basic gameplay 


functions, and then the walkthrough itself.








	Part One: Basic Gameplay Functions





	Xenogears can be pretty confusing to those that don't know it's 


gameplay systems, so in this section I'll explain them to you in as 


much detail as possible(and as much as I know).  I'll also list the 


characters.





Characters:





	Wong Feifong(or just "Fei"):


	Gear: Weltall


The main character of the game.  Like most of your characters, he just 


uses his fist to attack.





	Elehayym Van Houten(or just "Elie"):


	Gear: Vierge


The main heroine of the game.  She uses rods to attack.





	Shitan Uzuki:


	Gear: Heimdal


He uses his hands to attack, but later in the game he'll switch to a 


katana.





	Barthlomei Fatima(or just "Bart"):


	Gear: Brigander


Uses a whip to attack.





	Billy Lee Black:


	Gear: Renmazuo


He uses guns.  However, they have a limited amount of bullets.





	Rico Banderas:


	Gear: Stier


Attacks with his hands.





	Maria Balthasar:


	Gear: Siebzehn


Attacks with her hands.  She's extremely weak, yet her gear is one of 


the strongest.





	Chu Chu:


The only character not to have a gear, but acts like an equivalent to a 


gear because he/she(it?) can grow to immense size.  Uses hands.





	Emerda:


	Gear: Crescens


Uses all of her body to attack, for example she might turn her hair into 


a knife, or her foot into an anvil.








Gears:


	"Gears" are the name of the mech-suits your characters get to 


control in this game.  They have much greater HPs than your normal 


guys, and of course have much stronger attack and defense 


capabilities.  There are also a few more complex aspects to your gears, 


that's what is listed here.


	Fuel:


Beside HPs, your gears also have a certain amount of fuel.  Every time 


you attack or use a spell, it takes up a certain amount of fuel.  During 


battle, you can choose to charge up your fuel for a round, but you'll 


only recharge 30(if you're on attack level 0.  The higher the attack 


level, the more fuel that's recharged).


	Booster:


In battle, your gear has a command called "Booster".  What this does 


is, it makes your gear go twice as fast for the rest of the battle, but it 


sucks away mass amounts of fuel each turn.  This is best used in short, 


but hard boss battles.


	Gear Ability:


These are "gear only" spells.  While you can use your normal spells 


while in gear form, these can only be used while as a gear.  And 


instead of taking up EP like normal spells, these take up fuel.  They are 


either special attacks that your characters get after a certain event, or 


spells that cure your gears' HPs, which can be gotten by equipping 


certain parts.


	Attack Level:


Determine how powerful a gears' attack can be.  You start a battle at 


attack level 0, after making an attack, if you have the ability, you will 


move up to 1.  Now, you can either attack with a combo, putting your 


attack level back at 0, or you can do only a singular attack, and if you 


have the ability, you will go up to attack level 2.  You cannot get any 


higher than attack level 3, if you have the ability to do so, you'll reach 


attack level "infinity", and once you reach that, you'll be at "infinity" 


attack level for three rounds.  You can either charge your by 300 


instead of the usual 30, or if you decide to attack, you can't do 


combos, but even a singular attack will automatically unleash a super-


combo, doing mass damage.


	Getting on/off your gears:


If you are in a gear dungeon, or are on the world map, you can choose 


to get in your gears by selecting "gear", on the status screen, then 


choosing "gear on/off"(simple enough?).  During battle, there is also a 


command to get in your gears, if you are allowed to at that time.


	Gear Parts:


These are thing which you can equip to your gear to boost their stats or 


give them special abilities.  The most important gear parts in the game 


are the ones that can heal your gears at a cost of mass amounts of fuel.  


These are called "Frame HP(then the percent of how much HP is 


refilled)".


	Gear Shops:


In the gear shops, you can upgrade your gears in various ways.


Tune Up: Selecting Tune Up lets you either refill your gear's fuel and 


HP; buy a new engine(which changes fuel capacity and offense); a 


new frame(which changes HP); and armor(which changes your gears 


defense level).  If, from the main menu, you select buy or sell, that's 


just buying or selling weapons or parts for your gears.


	


Skills:


	Skills in Xenogears are a lot different from those in any other 


game.  In Xenogears' fighting system, when you execute a normal 


attack, it's done by pressing either the Square, Triangle, or Circle 


buttons, or a combination of those.  It works like this: you have a 


certain amount of APs(attack points).  A Square attack takes up 1 


point, Triangle 2, and Circle 3.  The more APs, the stronger the attack, 


and a greater chance of that attack missing, as well.  You start the 


game with 3 APs, the max is 7.  Now, let's say that you have 6.  You 


can choose to use 6 Square attacks, 3 Triangle, or 2 Circle.  Or, you 


can do a combination, like Square, Triangle, Circle.


	That's where the skills come in.  If you learn a skill, you can do 


that skill's specific button combination.  But not all of the button 


combinations is also a skill.  There are(as far as I know) two ways to 


learn a skill.  One is to repeatedly do the button combination(as just a 


normal attack) over and over again until that button combination's 


skill is learned.  The first skill(generally) in the game is Square, Circle.  


So, as soon as you have 4 AP points, continually attack by using 


Square, Circle, and you will quickly learn the skill.


	The other way to learn a skill is this: let's say that someone 


else in your party has that Square, Circle skill.  Now, if they use that 


repeatedly in battle, eventually, your other characters will learn that 


skill as well(but it takes longer).


	To see how well you are learning skills, go to that character's 


status, and check "skills".  There should be at least one green bar with 


a number after it, probably more.  That number represents your 


percentage in learning the skill, once it's at 100, you've got it.


	Whenever you learn a new skill, you can also use it as a 


"special move".  What special moves are is this: whenever you attack 


an enemy, if you don't use all of your APs in the attack, the remaining 


AP gets stored up in your "AP Bar".  You can store a maximum of 28 


APs.  If you choose the "special move" command during battle, you 


can unleash those attacks, or a combination of those attacks.  And each 


attack takes up a different amount of stored-up APs.  For instance, the 


first two special moves you'll probably get is the 4 AP attack(labeled 


"1"), and the 5 AP attack(labeled "2").  Now, if you have all 28 APs 


stored up, you can do 7 number "1" attacks, that take up the whole bar, 


5 number "2" attacks, which will leave 3 APs in the bar, or for 


maximum effect, you can do 2 number "1" attacks, and 4 number "2" 


attacks, for maximum efficiency.


	One thing to watch out for, is that I'm pretty sure there are 


other small requirements, like some skills you need to be on a high 


enough level to use, and stuff like that.  If anyone knows the exact 


requirements for skill learning, email me!


	One last thing.