Xenogears

Prototype Info Prerelease Info Debug RoomRemember the debug room from Final Fantasy VII with all the NPCs? Well, it's basically back here. Unused TextContains both unused dialogue and deleted scenes.

Character Oddities#

Margie#

According to staff interviews, Margie was supposed to be a playable character during development. Traces of this can be seen in the final game as her portrait is located between adult Emeralda and Maria's. The FMVs also show signs of this, with her being the only non-playable character to be seen with the party in the ending and she is behind Fei, Citan and Billy when Elly transforms into Miang despite her not being present in the final game.

Dominia#

In Kazoumi's debug room, there is a character selection screen which provides blank slots in-between the sword variant of Citan and adult Emeralda. The first of these options will call Dominia's name as "Dminia". This suggests that Dominia may have been intended to playable at one point in development. Further supporting this is that her gear, Bladegash, is available in the Battling Arena. While other boss gears are available in this mode, Bladegash is listed in the executable file as "BLADEGASH ply_08", suggesting that it was considered a playable gear during development.

Lacan#

Lacan is the second of the blank slots listed in Kazoumi's debug room, where his name is given as "Lakan".

Roni#

Roni is the third of the blank slots listed in Kazoumi's debug room, where his name is given as "Roni".

Krelian#

Krelian is the last of the blank slots listed in Kazoumi's debug room, where his name is given as "Kalerlen".

Unused Gear#

Regurus#

Elly's Omnigear, El-Regurus (or "El-Regrs", as it's called in the arena) is not able to be controlled by the player at any point in the game since Elly leaves the team permanently literally right before you'd get a chance to actually use it. There are two types of cutscenes in the game -- those that take place outside a battle and those that take place within a battle (sometimes an automatic non-controllable battle is called solely for this type of cutscene). This gear is technically used for one of these automatic battle scenes. However, using the GameShark code 8006D940 000A, you can replace Fei's Gear with it. Since it appears to have been designed for this automatic scene and nothing more, the in-battle model and idle animation appears to be all that exists, as the game locks up immediately upon entering battle, and it has no out-battle model, causing the game to lock up if it's attempted to be displayed there, as well. Item data for Regurus also exists, though the weapon is blank and the accessory slots use dummy information similar to the other Omnigears, likely because it would have copied what Vierge had equipped.

Stats#

Items#

Other Gears#

These Gears are not unused, but some text associated with them is.

The Deurmods used by Bart's generic soldiers have the internal name "BARTHOS". You can use the GameShark code 8006D940 0011 to replace Fei's Gear with one, but be aware that it has no out of battle model, and the game will crash in any situation in which it should be displayed, such as exiting battle.

The Yggdrasil-IV is used, alone, in a single battle early in disc 2, and never again. Its internal name is "YGGDRA", and can be given to Fei via the GameShark code 8006D940 0012. Interestingly, it still towers over normal Gears, so it isn't merely a matter of "scale" in its fight against Ft. Hurricane. As with the Deurmods, the Yggdrasil-IV has no out of battle model, and will thus crash the game.

Unused Enemies#

Two gears appear in the enemy battle files that aren't encountered in the battle mode anywhere, Snow Bot and Bot - files 2734-2735. They use the same models almost exactly as Worker and Dozer in the Battling Arena mode of the game.

Snow Bot/Worker#

Bot/Dozer#

Twin Burner#

Another unused gear enemy from file 2740, this one shares the same name/model as the gear used in Battling Arena.

Unused Areas#

The world map files allude to areas that are never visited in the final game. Most of these are areas that were victims of the time cuts during the production of the second disc.

Mass Driver#

The facility Elly and Emeralda visit early into disc 2 to launch nanomachines into the atmosphere to remove the limiter from the surface dwellers. It is delegated to a narration by Elly in the final game.

Solaris' Shaft#

A part of Solaris that is never visited or alluded to at any point in the final game. It is unknown what it would have been used for.

Point Bethlehem#

Where the Zohar is located. The party arrives at the area in a cutscene in disc 2 rather than through overworld exploration.

Mahanon#

The rotting hull of the Eldridge. The party arrives at the area during a narration in disc rather than through overworld exploration.

Soylent System#

The facility where the party fights Sufal Mass during disc 2. It is delegated to a narration in the final game.

Merkava#

The fortress that stores Deus. It is visited by the party in a narration rather than through overworld exploration.

Golgoda#

The crucifixion site. It is visited by Elly during a narration rather than through overworld exploration.

Map 675/676#

In the game's files there's a scene that doesn't appear in the final game. From Disc 2, it shows a scene of Lacan in the Shevat Palace Library with Sophia and some others where he's facing Sophia, looks around the room, looks down and says, "A......portrait?"

A duplicate of this scene with slightly different text appears in the files right after for map 676.

Unused Items#

Enter in the Action Replay code 3006F672 0021 to add an item called Debug Item to your inventory.

• Debug Item: Gives you every item in the game, including unused and debug items.
• Debug Skill: Gives your chosen character all their deathblow skills, and puts every character in your party, including both versions of Citan and Emeralda. This will make the game crash in shops! Talk to Margie in the Debug Room to reassemble your party into something more stable.
• Weak vs Wind: Makes character weak against wind.
• Weak vs Earth: Same as above but with Earth.
• Weak vs Fire: Same as above but with Fire
• Weak vs Water: Same as above but with Water.
• Stop!: Freezes character (just like 'stop' in FF games).
• Sleep!: Puts character to sleep.
• Weakling: No effect.
• Confusion: Confuses character.
• Armor loss: A "Def down" message is given, but there is no effect on the character's stats.
• EXP Ball: A unique animation which binds the character plays, yet there is no effect on experience whatsoever.
• Combo Ball 10: Animation plays, but there is no immediate effect.
• Omni: Can be used in menu, but there is no immediate effect. In battle, it will play an animation with no sound effects or any noticeable gameplay significance.
• option: Will play the same effect as above. There is no data assigned to it whatsoever. There are two copies of this item.
• Rock: No effect. As it is stored with the rocks used in the Shevat sidequest, it can be assumed that it would have been involved there.
• Dirty Badge: No effect.

Unused Equipment#

There's a lot of unused equipment in the game, but the better majority of it does nothing, giving no stat boosts and having a sell price of 0G. There's also a glitch, in which if an item's name is thirteen characters long (including spaces), the last letter frequently gets overwritten by another random letter.

Weapons#

• ばるとよび ("Bart placeholder") - There are two of these. They can be equipped by Bart, and are, as the name suggests, just placeholders that were never filled.
• したんよび ("Citan placeholder") - This is a katana that can be equipped by Citan. Another unused placeholder.
• びりーよび ("Billy placeholder") - An unused placeholder gun which can be equipped by Billy, but no ammo works with it, so it can't actually be used.
• ぶきよび ("Weapon placeholder") - Undefined placeholder weapons. Six of these exist, and they cannot be equipped by anyone.
• Chaos Rod - Between the Dark Rod and Psycho Rod.
• Skull Rod - Elly's strongest rod.
• MatLuminAmmo - Its name indicates it's intended to be light elemental Matchlock ammo, but it has no additional effect.
• MatUmbraAmmo - Its name indicates it's intended to be dark elemental Matchlock ammo, but it has no additional effect.
• EthLightAmmo - Light elemental Ether ammo.
• EthDarkAmmo - Dark elemental Ether ammo.

Armor#

• Plain Clothes - There are four of these, all identical.
• Ladies' Dress - Can only be worn by females, obviously.
• LegendaryRobe - Despite its tantalizing name, this has no effect at all.
• Slayer Robe - This male-only 108-defense piece of armor is not technically unused, but is virtually impossible to obtain, due to questionable design. It's dropped randomly (or always, if you have the Trader Card equipped) by Alpha Weltall... the problem is, the fight with Alpha Weltall is essentially rigged, as said opponent's attacks are prohibitively powerful, and if you had Citan in your current team, you'll only have two characters. Victory is technically possible, but very, very, very difficult, and even if you do win, the game assumes you lost, anyhow.
• Battle Vest - A male-only piece of armor. Interestingly, it is positioned between the PilotUniform and Holy Habit, suggesting that this was Bart's initial armor instead of the Red Mail originally.

Headgear#

• PlainHeadwear - Useless.
• Ladies'Bonnet - Can only be worn by females.
• Stellar Cap - Can only be worn by females.
• Men's Hat - Can only be worn by males.

Accessories#

• Coin of Fate - Doesn't appear to have any effect at all.

Gear Weapons#

• G-EthPistol - These are somewhat interesting. It appears that Billy's Gear, Renmazuo, was going to be able to use Ether Guns at one point. A full set of ammo for this also exists, with the same names as the standard human-size variety. Unfortunately, this cannot actually be equipped.
• びりーよび ("Billy placeholder") - Another unused Gear gun for Billy which can't be equipped, this one just being an unfilled placeholder.
• G-GatlingGun - The last unused Gear gun which, sadly, cannot be equipped.
• ぶきよび ("Weapon placeholder") - Same deal as the human versions: Undefined weapons that can be used by exactly nobody. Again, there are six of them.

Gear Parts#

• F Circuit, G Circuit - A-E Circuits exist in-game, with various effects, but F and G were left unused and without any effects.
• A Circuit+1, B Circuit+1, D Circuit+1, E Circuit+1, F Circuit+1, G Circuit+1 - Only the C Circuit has a "+1" version in-game. The rest of these exist, dummied out, and have no effect.
• Customizer - Unknown. Doesn't seem to have any effect.
• Hex - Unknown. Doesn't seem to have any effect.
• Wind Stone - No effect, but this would probably have either raised defense against wind attacks, or gave the equipped Gear a wind-elemental attack.
• Earth Stone - Same as above, except Earth-based.
• Fire Stone - Same as above, except Fire-based.
• Water Stone - Same as above, except Water-based.
• (Blank Slot) - This item is somewhat interesting. It has a description ("Increase Guard's Restore") and an actual sell price (1,250G), but has no name. It's not known if it does anything, either.

Gear Frames#

• WELT-25400 - Grants Weltall 25400 HP. Costs 15500. Would have been sold at unused Gear shop 3.
• VIER-01800 - Grants Vierge 1800 HP. Costs 150.
• VIER-02200 - Grants Vierge 2200 HP. Costs 450.
• VIER-02700 - Grants Vierge 2700 HP. Costs 900.
• VIER-03300 - Grants Vierge 3300 HP. Costs 2050.
• HEIM-03800 - Grants Heimdal 3800 HP. Costs 2400. Would have been sold at unused Gear shop 1.
• HEIM-15800 - Grants Heimdal 3800 HP. Costs 12400.
• HEIM-23000 - Grants Heimdal 23000 HP. Costs 15000. Would have been sold at unused Gear shop 3.
• HEIM-32000 - Grants Heimdal 32000 HP. Costs 16200.
• BRIG-03200 - Grants Brigandier 3200 HP. Costs 1500. Would have been sold at unused Gear shop 1.
• BRIG-03800 - Grants Brigandier 3800 HP. Costs 2300.
• BRIG-04600 - Grants Brigandier 4600 HP. Costs 3400.
• RENM-17000 - Grants Renmazuo 17000 HP. Costs 13600.
• STIE-25000 - Grants Stier 25000 HP. Costs 16200. Would have been sold at unused Gear shops 3 and 4.
• CRES-24800 - Grants Crescens 24800 HP. Costs 16000.

Gear Engines#

• G2-1200 - Influences output by 2 and has 1200 fuel. Costs 400.
• G3-1200 - Influences output by 3 and has 1200 fuel. Costs 600.
• G5-1200 - Influences output by 5 and has 1200 fuel. Costs 1000.
• G7-1200 - Influences output by 7 and has 1200 fuel. Costs 1400.
• G8-1200 - Influences output by 8 and has 1200 fuel. Costs 1600.
• R23-3000 - Influences output by 23 and has 3000 fuel. Costs 6000.
• GNR4C - Influences output by 0 and has 1200 fuel. Costs 1000.
• GNR5C - Same as above.
• GNR3D - Influences output by 28 and has 1200 fuel. Costs 1000.
• GNR4D - Influences output by 10 and has 1200 fuel. Costs 1000.
• GNR5D - Same as above.
• GNR3E - Same as GNR3D.
• GNR4E - Same as GNR4D.
• GNR5E - Same as above.
• GNR3F - Influences output by 28 and has 1200 fuel. Costs 18000.
• GNR4F - Same as GNR4D.
• GNR5F - Same as above.
• GNR2G - Influences output by 55 and has 1200 fuel. Costs 1000.
• GNR3G - Same as GNR3F.
• GNR4G - Same as GNR4D.
• GNR5G - Same as above.
• X70-8000 - Shares a name with an engine that is used in the final game. Identical to GNR2G.
• X70-8000 - Shares a name with an engine that is used in the final game. Identical to GNR3F.
• GNR4H - Same as GNR4D.
• GNR5H - Same as above.
• GNR2I - Same as GNR2G.
• GNR3I - Same as GNR3F.
• GNR4I - Same as GNR4D.
• GNR5I - Same as above.
• GNR2J - Same as GNR2G.
• GNR3J - Same as GNR3F.
• GNR4J - Same as GNR4D.
• GNR5J - Same as above.
• GNR2K - Same as GNR2G.
• GNR3K - Same as GNR3F.
• GNR4K - Same as GNR4D.
• GNR5K - Same as above.

Gear Armor#

• MS 1 - Increases Gear defense by 10. Costs 50.
• MS 2 - Increases Gear defense by 20. Costs 50.
• MS 4 - Increases Gear defense by 60. Costs 50.
• MS 5 - Increases Gear defense by 50. Costs 50.
• MS 10 - Increases Gear defense by 95. Costs 50.
• 3B - Increases Gear defense by 0. Costs 50.
• 4B - Same as above.
• 5B - Same as above.
• 3C - Same as 3B.
• 4C - Same as above.
• 5C - Same as above.
• 3D - Same as 3B.
• 4D - Same as above.
• 5D - Same as above.
• 3E - Same as 3B.
• 4E - Same as above.
• 5E - Same as above.
• 3F - Same as 3B.
• 4F - Same as above.
• 5F - Same as above.
• 3G - Same as 3B.
• 4G - Same as above.
• 5G - Same as above.
• Z Alloy70/25 - Despite its name, it increases Gear defense by 600 and Gear ether defense by 250, which is identical to Z Alloy60/25. Costs 50.
• 3H - Same as 3B.
• 4H - Same as above.
• 5H - Same as above.
• 3I - Same as 3B. Three copies exist.
• 4I - Same as above. Three copies exist.
• 5I - Same as above. Three copies exist.

Unused Shops#

There are various unused shops in the data used for shops in menu files.

Unused Weapon Shop 1#

The first unused weapon shop is stored in between a duplicate of the Thames item shop and a copy of the Yggdrasil's armor shop.

• Black Snake - Interestingly the weapon cannot be purchased anywhere in the game and can only be found in Zeboim.
• Silver Blood
• B&JM10A Ammo
• B&JM10S Ammo
• B&JM686A Ammo
• B&JM686S Ammo
• ShotG50 Ammo
• ShotG60 Ammo

It is possible that this shop was intended for Maison before the player visits Babel Tower, as the B&JM10S Ammo, B&JM686S Ammo, and ShotG60 Ammo cannot be purchased anywhere before Anima Dungeon 1 despite their mid-game attack modifiers. Except B&JM686S Ammo, all the ammo listed can be found before Babel Tower in previous dungeons.

Unused Weapon Shop 2#

The second unused weapon shop is stored after the Shevat shops.

• Dynamite Rod
• B&JM10A Ammo
• B&JM10S Ammo
• B&JM686AAmmo
• B&JM686SAmmo
• ShotG50 Ammo
• ShotG60 Ammo
• ShotG70 Ammo

Unused Weapon Shop 3#

The third unused weapon shop is stored after the group the second shop belongs to.

• Wonder Whip
• Yamame Sword
• Matchlock
• B&JM10X Ammo
• B&JM686XAmmo
• ShotG70 Ammo
• ShotG80 Ammo

Unused Weapon Shop 4#

The fourth unused weapon shop is stored before the Solaris and Snowfield Hideout shops.

• Sonic Wave
• Thor'sThunda
• B&JM10X Ammo
• B&JM686XAmmo
• ShotG70 Ammo
• ShotG80 Ammo
• MatAero Ammo
• MatTerraAmmo
• MatPyro Ammo
• MatHydroAmmo

This is largely identical to the Snowfield Hideout shop except that GodsonAmmo isn't sold.

Unused Weapon Shop 5#

The final unused weapon shop is stored with the Lighthouse item shop, suggesting that Big Joe would've sold weapons there as well.

• Death Adder - Normally, this can only be dropped by Dragons in the Duneman Isle.
• Mumyo Sword - Normally, this can only be dropped by Dragons in the Duneman Isle.
• GodsonAmmo

Unused Item Shop 1#

The first unused item shop is stored after the Shevat shops. There are two copies of it in the shop data file.

• Aquasol S
• Aquasol DX
• Alphasol
• Rosesol S
• Rosesol DX
• Sigmasol
• Zetasol
• Physimentsol
• White Star
• Brown Star
• Red Star
• Blue Star
• Hard Star
• Speed Star
• ElementAero
• ElementTerra
• ElementPyro
• ElementHydro
• Omegasol
• SurvivalTent

This is largely identical to the items sold at Shevat except Rosesols are not available.

Unused Item Shop 2#

The second unused item shop is stored before the Solaris and Snowfield Hideout items.

• Aquasol S
• Aquasol DX
• Rosesol
• Rosesol S
• Zetasol
• Physisol
• Mentsol
• Physimentsol
• White Star
• Brown Star
• Red Star
• Blue Star
• Hard Star
• Speed Star
• Igissol
• Aegissol
• Omegasol
• SurvivalTent

Unused Armor Shop 1#

The first unused armor shop is stored after the Shevat shops.

• Power Ring
• Stamina Ring
• Speed Ring
• Guardian Ring
• Body Guard
• Mind Guard

Unused Armor Shop 2#

The second unused armor shop is stored after the group the first shop belongs to.

• BlackLeather - The armor cannot be purchased anywhere in the game and can only be found in the Anima dungeons.
• Black Helmet - The armor cannot be purchased anywhere in the game and can only be found in the Anima dungeons.
• Starlight - The armor cannot be purchased anywhere in the game and can only be found in Anima Dungeon 1.
• King's Helm - The armor cannot be purchased anywhere in the game and can only be found in the Anima dungeons.
• EtherStone
• EtherStoneL
• AntiEthStone
• AntiEthRockL

Unused Armor Shop 3#

The third unused armor shop is stored before the Solaris and Snowfield Hideout shops. There are two copies of it in the shop data file.

• Power Ring S
• Stamina Ring S
• Speed Ring S - These cannot be purchased anywhere in the game outside of the Kislev Battle Arena in exchange for points.
• Body Guard
• Mind Guard

Unused Armor Shop 4#

The final unused armor shop is stored with the Lighthouse item shop, suggesting that Big Joe would've sold armor there as well.

• Golden Vest - Cannot be purchased anywhere in the game and can only be dropped by Amphysvena and Neo Gimmicks.
• Golden Hood - Cannot be purchased anywhere in the game and can only be dropped by Neo Tears.
• Blessed Habit - Cannot be purchased anywhere in the game and can only be dropped by Dragons in the Duneman Isle.
• Blessed Helm - Cannot be purchased anywhere in the game and can only be dropped by Dragons in the Duneman Isle.

Unused Gear Shop 1#

The first gear shop is stored in between the Bart's Lair and Yggdrasil shops.

• WELT-02500
• WELT-03000
• HEIM-03800 - Cannot be purchased anywhere in the game.
• HEIM-04500 - Cannot be purchased anywhere in the game.
• BRIG-02700
• BRIG-03200 - Cannot be purchased anywhere in the game.
• MS 9
• Z9-1500
• Iron GWhip
• Snapper GWhip
• Resp Circuit
• Def Circuit
• C Circuit
• MagneticCoat
• Lens Cover
• Engine Guard
• Tank Guard
• Ar Repairer
• Motion Guard

Unused Gear Shop 2#

The second gear shop is stored after the Thames Loading Bay and Yggdrasil 3 shop data.

• WELT-21200
• #17-22000
• CRES-17200
• Z Alloy50/20
• RX Metal 60
• Z Alloy60/25
• RX Metal 70
• G45-4600
• S50-6600
• N55-5800
• G-M10X Ammo
• G-M686X Ammo
• G-GG080 Ammo
• G-GG100 Ammo
• G-GodsonAmmo
• G-MAero Ammo
• G-MTerraAmmo
• G-MPyro Ammo
• G-MHydroAmmo
• Angel Ar+1 - Cannot be purchased in the game and can only be dropped by Earth Seraph.
• Wind Veil Ar
• EarthVeil Ar
• Fire Veil Ar
• WaterVeil Ar
• Gold Plate - Cannot be purchased in the game and can only be dropped by Citadel.
• Power Magic
• Veil Doubler
• Magic Guard
• Pilot Shield

Unused Gear Shop 3#

The third unused gear shop is stored before the Snowfield Hideout shop.

• WELT-25400 - Cannot be purchased anywhere in the game.
• HEIM-23000 - Cannot be purchased anywhere in the game.
• BRIG-22200
• STIE-25000 - Cannot be purchased anywhere in the game.
• RENM-20800
• #17-22000
• CRES-17200
• RX Metal 80 - Oddly located in Big Joe's shop with much better armor in the game.
• Y60-7000
• X70-8000
• Thor GWhip
• Sonic GWhip
• Frame HP10
• Frame HP30
• Frame HP50
• Frame HP70
• FX Cleaner
• A Charger

As this shop would have sold the best Weltall frame before the upgrade to Xenogears and a lack of Elly-centric equipment, this indicates that the shop was meant to be used either for the first trip to Merkava or the scrapped Mahanon sequence.

Unused Gear Shop 4#

The final unused gear shop is stored between the Snowfield Hideout and Anima dungeon shops.

• HEIM-27000
• BRIG-26000
• STIE-25000
• RENM-24800
• #17-30000
• CRES-20800
• RX Metal 90
• Z Gold 100
• V80-2000
• Z90-1500
• OMEGA100
• Extra Ar DX
• Ether Ar+3
• Lite Ar+3
• FX Cleaner
• A Charger
• Frame HP70
• Frame HP90

As there are no frames available for Fei's gears, it can be assumed that this shop was intended to be available for when Id breaks out of carbon freeze.

Unused Commands#

There are unused commands present for both the characters and gears, some of which can be accessed using the Debug Skill item available through the all items cheat.

Elly#

Elly has four unused Ethers in her ability file which have no names available and cannot be accessed through Debug Skill. Their stats indicate that these were intended to provide a weaker, more accurate alternative to her other all enemy Ethers. Interestingly, their power has been lowered from the 1997 demo, indicating that work was performed on them before they were scrapped.

Weltall/Xenogears#

For consistency, both Weltall and Xenogears have Weltall-2's Special Options (System Id, Thor Wave and Flaming Hell) available in their ability files. Interestingly, when Debug Skill is used, only System Id and Thor Wave are accessible despite the name of Flaming Hell appearing in Weltall and Xenogears' Special Option list in the game's kernel. Another oddity is that, in Weltall and Xenogears' ability files, Flaming Hell has 3000 fuel compared to 1000 for Weltall-2.

Vierge#

Vierge shares Elly's unused Ethers. Similar to Elly, no names or EP are available. These are also present in Regulus' file.

Brigandier/Andvari#

Both of Bart's gears have access to Ygg Cannon. While this is Yggdrasil IV's signature ability, the version has 1800 fuel compared to 9000. This version also targets all enemies while Yggdrasil IV's version can only target a single enemy. These differences indicate that either Brigandier and Andvari's Ygg Cannon uses data that was changed for Yggdrasil IV later into development or Bart would be able to use the ability outside of the battle against Ft Hurricane. When Debug Skill is used, the ability is mostly functional. There is no animation for it and damage numbers will not show when used, though opponents will lose health.

Renmazuo#

For consistency, Renmazuo has access to Jessie Blasta. As it uses the same animation as Jessie Cannon, the ability functions as intended when used.

Chu-Chu (gear)#

Oddly, giant Chu-Chu has unused ability data which is identical to Weltall's Ethers starting from Inner Healing, as well as its Special Options. Similar to Ygg Cannon, the abilities are functional when Debug Skill is used, but no animations or damage numbers will appear. These have been present in her ability data since the 1997 demo, which would explain why Thor Wave and Flaming Hell do not have fuel costs and have 20 power. However, the EP costs and Big Bang's effect code were interestingly reformatted to use the final versions between the demo and release. Though it is inaccessible through Debug Skill, data for Frame HP code exists for consistency.

Seibzehn#

Similar Weltall data to Chu-Chu has been copied over to Seibzehn. These leftovers were also present in the 1997 demo as well. However, these are inaccessible in-game even if Debug Skill is used.

Unused Song#

Famously, the OST features a beautiful lyrical rendition of the overworld theme called "Stars of Tears", which strangely, does not appear in the game anywhere. While it may have just been intended as a "bonus track", which is not uncommon on soundtracks, it is on the game disc(s), and can be heard in the debug room, where it accompanies a montage of the game's FMVs. Yasunori Mitsuda stated in a 2003 Q&A that song was intended for staff credits cutscene at the start of the game. Based on comments from Mitsuda and its placement in the soundtrack after the opening prologue movie and before the game's first scene, it was meant to be shown after the opening FMV.

Reasons for why the song was scrapped differs between developers. Mitsuda stated in the aforementioned interview that the sequence was removed because of pacing issues, while Tetsuya Takahashi stated in the 2018 concert pamphlet that the song was not featured because there was no place where the song would fit and it conflicted with the game's tone.

Unused Graphics#

Unused/Filler Face Portrait#

A strange question mark graphic found with the face portraits. In all likelihood, this was intended to be used when an offscreen character spoke, but in the end, no graphic at all was used in these situations.

Elly in Miang's attire#

A variant of Elly's portrait where she uses a similar attire to Miang during the events at Merkava; However, the main time when she speaks during this sequence is when she is possessed by Miang, where she uses a different portrait, causing this to go unused.

Elly naked sprites#

There's some extra frames of a naked Elly who appears to be floating or inside a test tube. The sprites come from the game file #2430.

The following content is and has been hidden by default. Click to reveal content: ;

Project Noah#

An image with the text "Project Noah", the game's working title, which is never used.

Kernel Boot Menu#

A kernel boot menu exists in the final game and can be reached by setting the bootmode to 0. To access during gameplay, switch between discs 1 and 2 before a room transition takes place. A simple way to do this is during battle or before the opening cutscene shifts from the fire in Lahan to Fei's room.

• Field - Freezes the game when the kernel boot menu is opened in battle.
• Battle - Reloads the battle used to view the menu when opened in battle.
• Worldmap - Loads to a black screen when the menu is opened in battle.
• Battling - Opens the Battle Arena menu, though the game will freeze if you press any button.
• Menu - Loads to an assortment of menus that can be navigated in a black screen. Each menu type is sorted into columns which can be navigated through the left and right buttons.
  • Column 1 - Opens field menu, though the player will have max G. Upon leaving, the game is brought back to the kernel boot menu.
  • Column 2 - Opens party selection menu. Which characters are available depends on the section in the story the player is currently in.
  • Column 3 - Opens start menu. Selecting Continue will crash the game, though selecting NewGame will take the player back to the actual title screen.
  • Column 4 - Opens a menu where the player can rename the gears. The up button is used to navigate through each gear. Interestingly, the list begins with the option to rename party members, a feature which isn't used in the final game.
  • Column 5 - Opens shop menu. The up button is used to navigate through each shop.
  • Column 6 - Opens gear shop menu. The up button is used to navigate through each shop.
  • Column 7 - Opens disc change save prompt. Switching to disc 2 will freeze the game.
• Movie - Plays SquareSoft opening movie, though the screen will become glitchy after playback has finished.

Regional Differences#

General Changes:

• The control scheme was revised for the North American version:
  • Square and Triangle had their functionality swapped. In the field, Square now opens the menu and Triangle allows the player to jump. In battle, Square now performs a strong-type attack and Triangle performs a weak-type attack.
  • Circle and X had their functionality swapped. In the field, Circle is now used to cancel and X is used to confirm. In battle, Circle is used to cancel and X performs a fierce-type attack.
• The crucifixion scene at Golgoda plays "Our Wounded Bodies Shall Advance Towards the Light" in the Japanese version, whereas it plays "Foreboding" in the North American version.
• Miang has her portrait when explaining Deus to the party at Merkava in the Japanese version, whereas no portrait is used in the North American version.
• In the Japanese version, weight is shown in kilograms, whereas it is shown in pounds in the North American release.
• "Ability", "Skill", and "Item" got pluralized to "Abilities", "Skills", and "Items" for the North American release.

Japan	North America

Menus#

Japan	North America

The menus are in English in both versions, but the Japanese version adds a tooltip-style text box with Japanese translations to the menu selections. This also applies to the title screen.

Credits#

Japan	North America

During the credits roll, the Japanese version features a static dark red "X". The North American version features a red wavy watery texture that changes pattern during the credits roll.

Bonus FMV#

In the North American version, FMV file 0007 contains a bonus video showcasing several of the FMV sequences set to Stars of Tears. However, in the Japanese version, this was originally a copy of the ending sequence where various FMVs are placed where the credits normally are. In both cases, the bonus FMV is used to store FMVs that do not have their own files otherwise, with the sound effects for them stored elsewhere on the disc. The North American version uses a shorter bonus FMV as dubbing requirements for specific scenes causes them to receive dedicated files.

Oddities#

Each character has a weight statistic that can be raised or lowered depending on food items used throughout the game. Although it's thought to have influenced a character's power relative to their speed during development, it has no effect on anything in the final game.

References#