Hey, I'm in a writing mood! Anyway, I haven't done one of these on here yet, but I have done them before on my tumblr. Basically it's exactly what it says on the tin. I pick my Top 5 songs from Xenogears, share them with you, and tell you why I like them, and usually some random anecdote related to the song. I've done one of these for two other Mitsuda games now (Chrono Trigger, and Chrono Cross) so I'm definitely starting to see a trend! Also, if you're familiar with my previous lists, I did a companion piece for top 5 worst songs too. I don't think I'll be getting to that right away, but maybe sometime in the future.

Anyways, Xenogears is a special game for me, it's my fourth favorite game of all time, and I happen to think it's pretty rad, if you couldn't tell! I know that at this point in time you're either for or against Xenogears, and not much room in between. For the people against it, the big hang-up seems to be the second disc. Which, I will grant you, is a travesty. For those that don't know, Square ran out it's budget on the game and had to cut corners. Or more accurately whole swaths of the game out. The entire second disc of the game is mostly the characters sitting around and talking about shit that happened, then sometimes you get to play part of what happened. It's really... shitty. And yet I, and many other people still love the game.

Why though? Well, giant mechs for one, am I right? Two, it still had a really good story and characters that manage to shine through even if the latter half of the game is butchered. And I think if you loved the story then, you have to be beside yourself with what came after it. The whole "Xeno" series is a massive story that is outlined in the infamous book "Perfect Works". It's a massive primer that details the whole backstory for the Universe, and for many years western fans could only dream of cracking that nut. It's since been translated, and I even had a friend give me a version of it to read on Kindle. In addition to that, the Trilogy of PS2 games,Xenosaga, told more of the story before Xenogears. So there's all that. Thirdly, the combat was really fun and hasn't been replicated since for whatever reason.

And, Finally, the music. Of course. Why else would I be writing all this? Xenogears' soundtrack was composed by legendary game composer Yasunori Mitsuda, who, in my mind, has composed some of the best soundtracks in video games. (Fun fact: I like Mitsuda's work more than Uematsu, BOOM!). Xenogears soundtrack is 44 tracks long, and there's not a lot of stuff in there that I'd consider "bad". And in fact, when coming up with this list I ended up flagging at least half the songs as "This should be on the list!". So it was tough narrowing it down. Also, I know people will disagree with me, it's easy to be passionate about the soundtrack, so I fully expect, and respect that. I know that there are some pretty iconic songs missing from the Top 5, and trust me, most of the ones I could think of were in the running, but, you know, opinions!

All that said! Here is the list:

5. Ship of Regret and Sleep

It was really tough picking the #5 spot in this list, because that's basically where all the other "tops" battled it out to make the cut. Finally, I went with this one for a number of reasons. First and foremost it's just a really haunting song, the organ usually is, right? And then there's that choir in the back. It's really moving. Also, like many of the songs that tend to go on these lists, it plays during some pretty impactful parts of the game. Billy's backstory namely. But I guess the main reason I love this song so much is that it has produced some spectacular remixes. Maybe that's cheating a bit, but I can't help it! The first one that comes to mind is called The Fighting Priest, by Sean Stone. It's from the OneUp Studio's album "Time & Space: A Tribute to Yasunori Mitsuda". Unfortunately I can't seem to find it on Youtube, so you'll just have to take my word for it!

4. Grahf, Emperor of Darkness

For a long time this was my favorite song in the game, and in some ways in kind of still is, but I think a lot of that love comes from the scenes themselves. Grahf was badass, man. The first time he shows up and gives his speech, and this imperial like music is playing, it just hit me so hard. He's still one of my favorite villains, everything about him is just amazing. His motives, his philosophy, his appearance, all just outstanding. But I think it's this song that seals the whole deal. Motherfucker' has got his own theme! And it's awesome! Just listen to that triumphant music, where parts of it sound like soldiers marching. In a lot of ways it reminds me of The Empire - Emperor Ghestal's Theme from Final Fantasy VI. Which is funny, because they're both Emperors. Hm, maybe Mitsuda was "borrowing" from Uematsu? You win this time Uematsu! (Seriously guys, I still love Uematsu's stuff, Final Fantasy VI is probably another game I'd do one of these lists for).

3. Awakening

When I was talking to my friend about making this list we were both in agreement that it needed battle music. Though, of course, that's easier said than done. Xenogears has some excellent battle themes in it, many of which made it real close to ending up on this list. Ultimately I decided on this being one of the ones to represent, and there's good reason for that! It's the final boss music! As you may know, the final boss in Xenogears is pretty god damned epic. It's the lead up of all the events to that point, making your way through that final dungeon (which, by the way Omen is another outstanding song that didn't make the list, but it makes the final dungeon creepy and intense!) and then that final boss room. It's of course one of the mech battles too, which I always found super intense, because of fuel capacity. Anyways, all that is accompanied by this fucking incredible song that really gets the blood pumping. I should say, that I might even enjoy this song a little more in retrospect because it's very reminiscent of a future Mitsuda soundtrack,Shadow Hearts, and Shadow Hearts: Covenant. Both which are not only great games, but also boast fantastic soundtracks by Mitsuda. I think the hypnotic chanting goes a long way for me, personally. It's kind of a recurring theme for me (Nier, anyone?). There are even these little breaks in the song where it sounds sort of industrial, which I think goes unnoticed in the heat of battle. In short: it's everything a final boss theme should be, and I guess after rambling about it for so long, I'm surprised it's not higher? Well...

2. Flight

This! Oh my God! This song! Phew. Okay. So while this song is pretty different than anything else on this list, it's still one of my all-time favorites. Again, it's this perfect fusion of the scene and the appropriate music to go along with it. "Seibzehn! Sally forth!!" cries Maria as she gets ready to save the day with one of the most badass mechs in the game. I'm the kind of person that gets this welling feeling of excitement through my whole body when shit like that happens, and it just makes me tingle all over and want to throw my fist in the air and yell "YES!!!". I think it's impossible for me to separate this song from that scene in my mind, so I don't think I'll ever be able to explain why I love the actual song this much. I mean, like I said, it doesn't really fit in with the other songs on this list, but you can't deny the excitement in it. The way it builds up to this really triumphant point and just stays there for the rest of the song.

1. One Who Bares Fangs at God

If you thought I liked Awakening, well, then I must fucking love One Who Bares Fangs at God. It's the song that plays during the boss fight AFTER the last boss fight (come on, it's a JRPG, man.) It pretty much takes bits and pieces from everything on this list, including "Flight". The song starts up with this really eerie tone, and some beautiful pipe music (can't quite place the instrument), followed by a faint male chanting. Then it builds up into this mystical melody that's complete with this crazy ass warbling chanting that sets the tone for this final confrontation. As the song goes on the chanting just gets more and more erratic, and finally it quiets down as a thumping noise starts to play. Then it loops back around to the beginning of the warbling chanting. I'll say that I'm not as passionate about this song in a "Oh man, this is my JAM!" sense, but the song strikes a chord deep inside me that has stayed with me until this day. It's just really unsettling, and in my mind is the perfect thing to close the game out with (There's a couple more songs afterwards, but this is pretty much it until you get to Small Two of Pieces -Restored Pieces-) I will say that the beginning of the song is fucking beautiful though, and gives me chills every time I listen to it. And again, this is very similar to what Mitsuda would go on to do with Shadow Hearts, so that doesn't hurt it's case either. Plus, that whole final scene? Pretty fucking weird, right?