Vagrant Story

"This week, on "The Final Fantasy Tactics Team Hates the Church"..."

Yasumi Matsuno, main developer and designer of games such as Final Fantasy Tactics, Ogre Battle 64 and Vagrant Story, is a fascinating storyteller. His narratives are quite departed from typical Japanese RPG fare, dealing heavily with realistic themes like secularity, loss of faith, and disenchantment with the government. His interests are entrenched deeply in sociopolitics, an approach which has received a mixed reception with gamers. While titles like this and FFT are widely regarded as excellent games, their stories are often decried as convoluted and confusing. I just like that he doesn't hold our hands.

Vagrant Story, like FFT before it, is a roguish and mysterious game. Drenched in browns and grays, its bleakness is a perfect complement to its involving story. The gameplay itself is quite unique; unlike most RPGs, which deal heavily in exploration and interaction with other characters, Vagrant Story is almost like a platformer. You jump around rooms, conduct real-time battles with various baddies and the only exposition you get is in the occasional cutscene. The game is paced relatively well, though some of the scenes run a little bit long; there are an awful lot of fringe characters and unnecessary development trapped between the folds.

Perhaps I say that because I didn't completely comprehend the plot of Vagrant Story. I wouldn't be the first one. It leaves a few plot points open to interpretation, which I kind of like; a storyline that is not afraid of ambiguity can be a really powerful thing. It lends the game a classic quality, challenging players to formulate their own opinions and theories. Considering how dumbed-down most of today's games are, this kind of reserve is certainly appreciated.

In Vagrant Story, you play as elite Riskbreaker Ashley Riot, a government agent accused of assassinating a member of the Parliament; the adventure that you undergo details the events that occur a week before the murder. Ashley isn't the most interesting character in the game, but he has enough of his own development to make him more than just an avatar for the player. Sydney is a much more compelling and unique person, assuming the antagonist's role for most of the game. As Ashley begins to question his allegiances, however, Sydney's stature in the whole sordid affair changes as well. Vagrant Story is excellently written, especially in terms of its superb translation. It lends a stately diction to the characters, allowing them to talk like adults instead of the silly teenagers that most JRPGs are saturated with.

I've discussed the plot of Vagrant Story an awful lot because, honestly, I think the actual gameplay kind of takes a backseat to it. Some people would argue that this is the death knell for a video game, but I think Vagrant Story functions as something else. It's almost like an RPG-flavored visual novel. There's plenty of adventuring to go around, but to me it was primarily just a conduit to keep advancing through the plot. Fortunately, the development team was kind enough to not strap us with crappy gameplay, even though it wasn't the main focus.

Exploration is conducted in a 3D environment, which is sadly short of interaction. The extent of what you'll be doing is opening treasure chests, pushing around Puzzle Cubes, and fighting. Some of the puzzle design in Vagrant Story is inspired, but some is insipid; there are certain passages of the game that send you racing through halls trying to get from one destination to another in a certain span of time for no apparent reason. The cube challenges, on the other hand, lend an interesting mental element to the otherwise basic adventuring.

The battle system, source of much dissent amongst Vagrant Story players, has sort of an odd flow to it. Enemies are divided into several different categories, such as Beast or Phantom, and some weapons you get are better-equipped to deal with certain types. This all depends on their attack type, as well as their elemental and non-elemental affinities, right down to the gems you attach to them and the material that they're made out of. Confused? You are not alone. A lot of people decry Vagrant Story's battle and equipment system as being clunky and overly complicated. The equipment system is intimidating at first, yes, simply because there's a lot to micromanage. Keeping your affinities straight is a huge pain in the ass, probably my least favorite part of the game. Your weapons become stronger or weaker against certain enemy types the more they attack them, so you have to have specific weapons delineated for your Humans, your Dragons, your Beasts...It wouldn't be so bad if you could switch between them faster. Every time you want to change your weapon you have to slog through a relatively slow menu system, which really interrupts the pacing of the battles. Vagrant Story would have handled a hell of a lot better if the menus had been pared down, or ideally, somehow replaced with hotkeys. This is also a problem for when you want to use items or magic, and owing to the challenge of some battles, that will be a lot.

Another issue I take with Vagrant Story is that some of the combats, especially against bosses, are downright malicious. You can bulk yourself up with magic, sling a few enchantments on that old wyvern, and use your best anti-Dragon weapon, and you'll still find yourself doing about 2 damage per hit. Bosses don't have a huge amount of HP, but in the universal RPG language, scoring numbers below the double digits is really disheartening to watch. Use of chains, skillfully timed button presses that allow you another special attack, can also expedite the process, but you'll probably still be there a while.

The battles are lengthened further still when you take Risk into consideration. Risk is a value that increases every time you attack or chain-attack; the higher it is, the more difficult of a time Ashley has hitting his opponent. Risk can be lowered through using an item or running around for a while, but the former are in short supply and the latter is really difficult when you're facing a boss. Risk is even more annoying because if the value is particularly high, Ashley will start taking more damage. Frankly I think it's a horrible, unnecessary mechanic, one that pads the gameplay even more. It's innovative, but that doesn't necessarily make it good.

As stated before, the combat is not really the strongest element here; if Vagrant Story falters at all, it's giving that combat a more active role in the game than it deserved. The ideal solution would have been to tighten it a little bit. I am hesitant to say it should be easier, because lack of challenge really screws up a lot of modern games, but perhaps implement difficulty in more appropriate ways than making the bosses excruciatingly hard to hit or kill. The other technical elements of Vagrant Story, however, are quite impressive. It is a beautiful game, well-scored and fluidly animated. Its environments are tinged in sleek Gothic sensibilities, which fit perfectly into the plot's proceedings. Perhaps some slightly more interesting monster designs would have behooved the game, but you can only ask for so much from a low-budget auxiliary Square title.

All in all, Vagrant Story is a mature and engrossing experience that happens to have a few unsightly scars. If you have an open mind and a reasonable amount of patience, you will be handsomely rewarded with one of the best-written games on the Playstation, as well as an aesthetic treat and a fun (if not slightly frustrating) combat system. Best viewed as a triumph of presentation than gameplay, Vagrant Story will give the ol' think tank plenty to mull over.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/13/07

Game Release: Vagrant Story (US, 05/15/00)