Vagrant Story

"The most underrated RPG ever made.."

Ahh..Squaresoft. The people that brought us the most popular RPG series of all time, Final Fantasy, and it's many many sequels. But, Squaresoft is not satisfied with the overwhelming success of its FF games. No, it makes even more RPGs, and most go unnoticed. And rightly so, most of these not-so-well known games are never anything more than worth a small look. Vagrant Story in no way fits into this category, as it is well worth a long look, an extremely long look, that will have no trouble convincing you it is one of the best RPGs ever.

Graphics: 10/10

Absolutely breathtaking. Enthralling, Captivating. Any of these words can and should be said to describe the look of this game. This is one of the best looking games on the Playstation, if not the best. In order to do the graphics justice, we must look at each individual aspect of them.

Characters- Characters have very fluid movements, their mouthes actually move when they speak, and they look absolutely lifelike. No complaints here.

Backrounds and Scenery: The backrounds in this game do their job quite well. In certain areas, the backround and places can look majestic, and in other areas, they can look quite dark and foreboding. However, the transition between areas is wonderfully done. There are no areas that stick out like a sore thumb, each time you enter a new territory, it looks completely fresh and different, but not so new that it is a complete opposite of that which you were just in. If this makes no sense, I have no other way to explain it. I it sounds impossible, I know, but Square accomplished it.

Presentation: Now most Square games have beautiful CG animations intertwined within the gameplay. Not so here. There is a wonderful CG animation as an intro to the game, but after you start, all cutscenes are done in the gameplay engine. That sounds cheap, you think. However, in doing this, the cutscenes look the same as that when you are playing, looking very believable and convincing. Characters have a speech bubble when they speak, there is no voice acting, which could be perhaps the only drawback. However, because of the fluid character animations, the speech bubble idea comes across quite well. You feel like you are watching a movie, because the gameplay presentation is very cinematic. Characters have expression and emotion, which drives the story home at some points during play. But that will be covered in the next section.

All of the above are what make the graphics every bit out of a perfect score.

Story: 10/10

Square games as well, usually have wonderful storylines. This one is no different. The story creates a world with conflicting plot twists, warring factions, and power-hungry commanders and cult leaders. The game is not actually taking place during the main conflict, but rather the events leading up to it. This was a smart decision, as you end up wanting to finish so you can find out the truth. So, without giving away too much information, let me generalize the characters and main plot line.
You play as Ashley Riot, the main character in the story. He is a Riskbreaker, a type of Special Agent for the Valendia Knights of Peace (VKP). You play as Ashley, and traverse the locations and places of Lea Monde, an enchanted city. Along the way, you become involved in a plot much deeper than you initially realize. This involves a cult leader, Sydney Losstarot, and a leader of a military group, Romeo Guildenstern.
This is the story broken down into simplest terms, and is the only way to describe it without giving anything away. At any rate, the story is amazing once you get into it, and has even sparked discussions on alternate theories and such. Very, very deep, and involving. 10/10

Sound: 10/10

Yet again, you say of course a Square RPG has great sound. All of them do. But you would be wrong. Because this one has AMAZING sound. Your footsteps echo in certain halls, distant screams can be heard far off in the Catacombs, and rushing water is heard in the town center and forests. The undead moan and swords clang with every hit. These are only a few of the audio sounds that impress. So, enough with the sound effects, what about the true gem in any Square RPG, music?
Fear not my friends, the music in this game does not disappoint either. The music can sound eerie, triumphant, tense, soothing, any way you can think of. Any one of the environments in the game has a suiting theme to go along with it. If it doesn't have a song, it has superb atmospheric sounds to make you feel like you are actually there. The sound only has one word to describe it. Superb.

Gameplay: 10/10

I wish I could give this section an 11, but I can't. Let's not spend too much time here, why is the gameplay so good? As with the graphics, you can only truly appreciate the gameplay as a whole, if each individual part is pointed out.

Movement/Navigation: Moving around the world of Lea Monde is very seemless, you go from screen to screen, entering new areas, killing all the enemies, a boss, move on to a new area etc. Taken like that, the gameplay is dull and repetitive. However, the graphics, sound, and combat system all together make for an unforgettable experience while playing. In fact, the best part about this section is what it lends to the real triumph of the game: the combat system.

Combat System: Traditional RPG's favor turn based combat with 3-4 members in a party, fighting monsters in random encounters. Vagrant Story's combat system is such a breath of fresh air from that common system, you would gasp for breath if you went back to it.
Ashley moves around locations and screens, in two different modes: Normal, and Battle modes. Normal modes, is jumping and climbing ledges, examining things, opening doors. But...Battle mode is where the action is.
Press one button to bring out your weapon, and press that same button again, to bring up a spherical grid. Anything within this grid, is what Ashley can attack. Not only just the enemy, but seperate parts of the enemy as well. There is an advantage to targeting certain parts as well. Targeting the legs, can limit movement, targeting the body, can reduce the rate of missing an attack, targeting an arm can limit the use of what that arm is holdng etc. Finding out which parts to attack on certain enemies, is the key to winning in the game.
As is that weren't enough, you have a hit ratio, which displays the approximate amount of damage you will do to that specific part, and a percentage of actually hitting it. Increasing affinities and classes with certain spells and training, will increase these percentages, and lead to more successful attacks. What weapon you use also plays a role in how well you will fight. There is Blunt, Edged, and Piercing types of weapons.
Combine all of this with the Chain ability, both offensive and defensive, and you have what makes to be a very very deep combat system. What is the chain ability you ask? Pressing one of 3 buttons that you assign to different abilities you learn as you progress, you can continue an attack beyond the first hit. This can lead to massive damage if you know what you are doing. However, the system has another trick up it's sleeve. The RISK factor. The more you chain, or the more you miss attacks, the higher your Risk climbs, and the hit percentage lowers. Learning to control chains, and combat, to keep your Risk low, is the other thing you must learn in order to achieve success.
I believe this is all I can detail here, these are the very basics of the combat system. While it first appears as repetitious and boring, it quickly becomes deep and complex, requiring a lot of strategy and technique.

Magic and Items: Every spell you see in the game, you can learn (with the exception of the final bosses spells), you will either gain that spell after fighting that enemy, or will later get it from another enemy, but every spell you are able to learn. Then of course, you have the standard items. One interesting aspect of the spells in this game though, are that each spell is seen as a page with a spell incantation on it. You must read the page to use the spell, and then you can add it it to your spell list once you learn it. It's just an extra little addition to the game that makes spell learning very fun.

Weapons: What? What kind of section is that? Weapons? Yes.
There are around 10 classes of weapons in this game. You can choose to use the standard sword, but you can also use one of the following types of weapons: Axe, Great Sword, Mace, Crossbow, Dagger, Two handed mace, Great Axe. Those are only a few of them, however, that is not the depth of the weapons. There are 20 something different models and types of each of those weapon classes, and everyone can be combined with one another, and assembled into a new weapon, through use of the game's Workshop (next section).

Extras: This would normally be detailed under the Replay Value section, but I must add it here. On top of all of this, the game has another optional ongoing quest throughout the game. Through finding places called Workshops, and using grips, blades, and armor you have found, you can combine these items, forge new equipment, and improve upon your old weapons and armor. This system is one of the most involved systems in the game, and it is completely optional. But use of it, and improving materials of your armor and weapons, can also mean the difference between domination of a boss, or just barely making it past it. This part of the game doesn't seem to be a major part once you first start, but it will be your best friend in your subsequent playthroughs. Did I say that right? More playthroughs after the first? Yes. yes I did. But that will be covered in another section.

All of these elements combine to make excellent, involving, and very rewarding gameplay throughout the course of play. A perfect score.

Replay Value: 10/10

While the game appears long once you start, it is not actually a massive quest, as other FF games are known to be. However, the length is not what wins this category.
After you beat the game the first time, you are asked to save. Now, you can load a Clear Game Data, and play through the game again, but with all of your spells and weapons, and armor from the original game. Not only that, on your second and on playthroughs, new areas are accessible that weren't the first time you played. They are optional, but they make available to you some lengthy side-quests. To get the best armor, and have an Ultimate weapon in every weapon class, will take quite a long time. Thus, the game receives another perfect score.

Overall 10/10:

If nothing I have said thus far has convinced you that this game is awesome, and worth every penny of what you might spend on it, then I have no idea what I could say more to bring that fact up. The story is deep, the graphics incredible, the sound superb, the gameplay infinitely deep and rewarding, and the replay value is excellent, encouraging many other playthroughs. This game is by far, the best Square RPG ever made, as well as the most underrated game ever made. Square has shown us what innovation can bring to a tired genre, and breathe new life into it.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/13/04