Vagrant Story

"A very flawed RPG for the PS1"

Vagrant Story is a game I've been playing for seven year, or close to that. Not that it's that long and to be honest I actually didn't own it for about 4 of those years. It's a game I never cared for but in an attempt to have a complete square soft collection of just the North American releases I bought it. I still had my save from when I use to own it so I attempted to jump right back in. That was a mistake. If you've never played this game but have played Final Fantasy XII you will quickly notice where most of the game play ideas came from and how Final Fantasy XII changed them to work for the better. Read on for my thoughts on the game from the man behind Final Fantasy XII.

Vagrant Story has an interesting story to tell. A man is killed; another man is on the run and enters a mysterious town. To try and explain the story would require way more time than I am willing to put into this review. It's complex, full of character development and intrigue. It has a ton of twists and even in the end it leaves a few things unexplained. It's far from a perfect story and it seems too complex for its own good but it isn't a terrible plot. Maybe I just couldn't wrap my head around the entire thing but to be honest I had to resort to checking a plot guide on-line to piece it all together. It could have also been because I took such a long breka inbetween my game sessions.

The graphics in vagrant Story really haven't aged well but I am not looking at the game in that light. I remember booting this game up on release day and hating the graphics. They were muddy and under detailed. Even today they looked the same but now that I am looking back I can see they were actually impressive for their time but were hindered by the limits of the system itself. You can make things out; it just isn't all that pretty.

The sound in the game is surprisingly good. No voice work. Sound effects are decent and everything sounded as it should. The big draw with the sound in the game is the music. Wow, it's good. Off hand I don't know who the composer is but in the back of my head the name is sitting there because I should know it. I do know that it is still possible to order the soundtrack from different import sites.

The control in the game is really simple to get the hang of but things do seemed reversed at times. It uses the same idea as the Metal Gear Solid games, as in the normal Japanese control set up of circle being confirm and cross being the back button. So it's fairly the same in design. Combat is and while it isn't random battles, it is pretty much menu based.

Vagrant Story is a dungeon crawler but in an evil way. Think of a huge town with multiple paths, all branching and interconnecting with everywhere else in the game. Think of it as a giant maze. That's how it feels and that's why I was stuck for so long in this game. I could not remember where I had to go, how to get there and then what to do. I admit I had to finally break down and use a guide to figure out what to do.

The biggest draw to the game though is its combat. You walk around the game like any normal game. You can even jump, pull switches and what not. The catch is that enemies are always the same in each area and respawn. Now, get close enough to an enemy and hit circle. This will bring up a menu of body parts. Select a body part to attack and rinse and repeat. It's the same over and over but you need to figure out what body parts will hurt the enemy the most. Be careful though because there is a big catch.

See, the enemy can hit you as well and damage a certain limb. There are no stores in the game so you will need to find and use items from chests and enemies. Enemies always seem to drop something. There is something else though. There's another meter and I can't remember what it's called but as you attack it keeps rising up and you need an item to lower it. Problem is it rises quickly. What's the big deal you might ask? When it's maxed out, all of your attacks do 0 damage until you heal the problem.

The game itself is rather long but it might be due to the maze like structure of the game. It lacks focus and really hurts replay value in my opinion. The game doesn't offer anything new for second or third play through that I know of.

Vagrant Story isn't a terrible game. There are actually a number of good ideas but the little problems all come together to create an even bigger problem and that is an uneven and an unfair difficulty. Too many factors are needed with the combat and it causes it to be harder than it should.

Story - 7/10
Graphics - 7/10
Sound - 7/10
Control - 8/10
Game Play - 5/10
Replay Value - 4/10

Final Score - 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 04/30/07