NOTE: this post is still in the works, it's going to take me a little while due to research involved. This is something I want to put together from the sources available because the number of resources relating to the development of this fantastic game are dissappearing over the years, or becoming lost in the depths of the internet.
For those interested, I have been doing some digging on Xenogears and discovered some very interesting facts about its development.
The story begins with Kaori Tanaka, an artist and graphics designer who worked on several titles in the Final Fantasy franchise. Her first first attempt at writing, in the context of a Squaresoft developer, came with Final Fantasy 6; where she can be credited with the creation, art, story, and dialogue for the characters: Sabin, Edgar, Duncan, Vargas, Relm, and nation of Figaro.
Around the time Final Fantasy 6's development wrapped, Kaori wrote a short story about a soldier of fortune who had multiple personalities. The story took its influence from the philosophies of Carl Jung, Jacques Lacan, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud - figures that a co-worker and fellow artist, Tetsuya Takahashi, had a common interest in. This story would become the basis of what would eventually become Xenogears later on in the decade.
Tetsuya Takahashi is the creator of the whole Magitek armour and Magitek storyline in Final Fantasy 6 - that opening sequence of Final Fantasy 6, which was like the flashiest and awesomest scene in videogames at the time, was all Tetsuya Takahashi.
Tetsuya Takahashi went on to work as part of the Chrono Trigger dream team, and Kaori Tanaka went to work on Romancing SaGa 3; the franchise which she took her pen name "Clio Saga" and later "Soraya Saga" from.
Tetsuya Takahashi had developed a relationship with Kaori Tanaka, and the two of them began working on a concept for Chrono Trigger 2 based on Kaori's story mentioned above. The title for the concept became renamed Final Fantasy 7, and some of the elements remained - but Square felt Takahashi's take on the next installment of the franchise was too dark. Sakaguchi liked the idea all the same, and the project continued work under the working title "Project Noah." Eventually Takahashi would settle on the name Xenogears. Takahashi would eventually work on the Chrono Trigger sequel, Chrono Cross, and many elements of Xenogears would remain in FF7 - so the similarities that can be spotted between the two games actually originated in Xenogears, and FF7 was the one that copied.
Kaori and Tetsuya Takahashi married in 1995. Tetsuya worked on the Xenogears story, and they developed concepts for a sequel and prequels that never came to pass. The pair had been growing displeased with Square over the years - particularly when Final Fantasy 7 received a massive budget, while Xenogears required re-writing in the disk 2 portion just so the team could afford to release it on their budget. In addition, Square slashed the budget for Xenogears episode 1, and the team left for greener pastures over in Namco - where they developed the Xenosaga trilogy.
Anime cutscenes for Xenogears were done by the same team that did Neon Genesis and Ghost in the Shell:
http://lparchive.org/Xenogears-%28by-The-Dark-Id%29/
http://neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=37397549
http://www.zoominfo.com/p/Soraya-Saga/134975925
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/199365-/62466065
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VI
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenogears
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetsuya_Takahashi
http://gaming.wikia.com/wiki/Soraya_Saga
http://www.mangaupdates.com/authors.html?id=11735
https://twitter.com/sorayasaga
http://xenosaga.wikia.com/wiki/Xenogears_Overview
For those interested, I have been doing some digging on Xenogears and discovered some very interesting facts about its development.
The story begins with Kaori Tanaka, an artist and graphics designer who worked on several titles in the Final Fantasy franchise. Her first first attempt at writing, in the context of a Squaresoft developer, came with Final Fantasy 6; where she can be credited with the creation, art, story, and dialogue for the characters: Sabin, Edgar, Duncan, Vargas, Relm, and nation of Figaro.
Around the time Final Fantasy 6's development wrapped, Kaori wrote a short story about a soldier of fortune who had multiple personalities. The story took its influence from the philosophies of Carl Jung, Jacques Lacan, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud - figures that a co-worker and fellow artist, Tetsuya Takahashi, had a common interest in. This story would become the basis of what would eventually become Xenogears later on in the decade.
Tetsuya Takahashi is the creator of the whole Magitek armour and Magitek storyline in Final Fantasy 6 - that opening sequence of Final Fantasy 6, which was like the flashiest and awesomest scene in videogames at the time, was all Tetsuya Takahashi.
Tetsuya Takahashi went on to work as part of the Chrono Trigger dream team, and Kaori Tanaka went to work on Romancing SaGa 3; the franchise which she took her pen name "Clio Saga" and later "Soraya Saga" from.
Tetsuya Takahashi had developed a relationship with Kaori Tanaka, and the two of them began working on a concept for Chrono Trigger 2 based on Kaori's story mentioned above. The title for the concept became renamed Final Fantasy 7, and some of the elements remained - but Square felt Takahashi's take on the next installment of the franchise was too dark. Sakaguchi liked the idea all the same, and the project continued work under the working title "Project Noah." Eventually Takahashi would settle on the name Xenogears. Takahashi would eventually work on the Chrono Trigger sequel, Chrono Cross, and many elements of Xenogears would remain in FF7 - so the similarities that can be spotted between the two games actually originated in Xenogears, and FF7 was the one that copied.
Kaori and Tetsuya Takahashi married in 1995. Tetsuya worked on the Xenogears story, and they developed concepts for a sequel and prequels that never came to pass. The pair had been growing displeased with Square over the years - particularly when Final Fantasy 7 received a massive budget, while Xenogears required re-writing in the disk 2 portion just so the team could afford to release it on their budget. In addition, Square slashed the budget for Xenogears episode 1, and the team left for greener pastures over in Namco - where they developed the Xenosaga trilogy.
Anime cutscenes for Xenogears were done by the same team that did Neon Genesis and Ghost in the Shell:
http://lparchive.org/Xenogears-%28by-The-Dark-Id%29/
http://neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=37397549
http://www.zoominfo.com/p/Soraya-Saga/134975925
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/199365-/62466065
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VI
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenogears
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetsuya_Takahashi
http://gaming.wikia.com/wiki/Soraya_Saga
http://www.mangaupdates.com/authors.html?id=11735
https://twitter.com/sorayasaga
http://xenosaga.wikia.com/wiki/Xenogears_Overview
-Insert Inspiring Quote-
