A True Masterpiece No One Played
Vagrant Story might not have a huge fanfare, hardly selling million copies. It is a shame that a game as good as Vagrant Story was ignored by fans due to it's release date.
It was unfortunate that it was released around the period of games like Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy IX and Dragon Warrior VII.However, from those few who have indeed played Vagrant Story will tell you even to this day, that how it's unique gameplay and it's immersive storyline can keep you hooked for hours.
Vagrant Story follows an engrossing tale which tells of Ashley Riot, a fighter of the Valendia Knights of Peace, who are sort of the peacekeepers. The player actually never gets the real idea that who the main enemy is as you constantly battle the clever forces of the Church and the wile Mullenkamp.
Sydney is the main antagonist, who has a unique runic powers and a personality that stands out on it's own.
Vagrant Story, is an Action-RPG, so it does not contain any random battles and enemies can be seen and fought just like any normal game. You can call it a mixture of Zelda and Final Fantasy. Unlike, Zelda the action involved here isn't seamless. When you press the attack button, the game screen freezes to allow a dome shaped sphere to come in.
Enemies around this sphere can be attacked. To put more detail, Square made attack choice. A player can choose to attack any body part, like head, Right arm, left arm, legs, abdomen etc. However, in another intricate manner, the damage you do to the characters, depends upon a large variety of factors. The weapon system is so highly detailed that it amazes you. The weapons of different types are all made up of two parts- the blade and the hilt. They can be disassembled at forges and then can be combined in a variety of combinations to form powerful weapons. Your weapon stats consists of DP and CP. DP is the Durability points, which decreases as you fight more enemies and CP is the basic Experience points that increases as you fight more.
The weapon's effectiveness is at it's optimal when both the CP and DP are full. So, this does make a good sense,indeed. Also, in a weapon's and armors damage section, which is divided into a variety of parts. Human, Beast,Dragon,Undead,Phantom etc, are the enemy types you will face during the game. BASED on that the Weapons & Armor's section contains these types with a specific numerical which tells which type will take the most damage from this weapon. The higher the number the more damage it will do to your enemy.
This number can be increased by defeating enemies of that type. Also, another type in weapon & Armor's section is that of the affinity. They are like the basic elemental types, and some enemy types are weak against light while others are weak against dark. Your affinity hence increases as you defeat more number of enemies of a particular type.Apart from this, the weapon's section contains a sharp,edged,blunt type which describes the type of weapon structure.
In the game, you have HP which get depleted as you take damage and MP which decreases on the use of magic. Magic can be learnt only through items called the Grimoire obtained mostly after the boss battles.
There are two modes in the gameplay. A normal mode where you will not equip any weapon and shield and can jump, climb and solve cube puzzles.
By pressing the circle button(the attack button) you can switch into the Battle Mode. In the battle mode, you can attack enemies, but won't be able to climb and stuff. Also, the HP and MP recovery will be relatively quicker in the normal mode than in the Battle mode, so even the use of potions is reduced.
Also, there are special attack and defense abilities that you can learn through AP. These can be assigned to certain buttons, and then when Ashley attacks an enemy, at the exact time an exclamation appears on top of his head for a fraction of a second, if you can press the button at this exact moment then you can conncet a chain attack. Pressing similarly, you can combine a chain combo of as many attacks as you want. In the other side, when an enemy is about to attack you or cast a spell on you, at the exact moment when an exclamation appears on Ashley's head you can press a button to apply the assigned defence abilities. So, on being attacked Ashley, hence counter-attacks.
Perhaps, the newest and the unique thing about it is some known as RISK.
It is something quite opposite of limits in FF series. Risk is increased as you combine more attacks, and are attacked by the enemies. In the case of chain combos, they sometimes double. As your RISK increases, Ashley's concentration decreases and you will then keep missing or do a very minute damage on your enemies. Plus your enemies will cause damage at a higher rate if your RISK is high. On the bright side, if you have the correct defense ability you can counter-attack for a higher rate of damage, if your RISK is high.
The stats like HP and MP increase rarely,mostly with items and after the boss battles. This proves as a little difficulty as growth becomes stagnant. However, the boss HP never goes above 1000 till the later stage.
Graphics wise, you might not find it attractive like FFVIII but Vagrant Stoyry has it's own charm in the cinematic beauty it possesses. The dialogues take place in comic like bubbles.
Sound wise, Vagrant Story is decent though can come NO WHERE near the class of FF's and Chrono. The deadly groans of the undead might sound freaky in the start but get too repetitive in the end.
Replayabilty is stored in richness in this game. fter you complete the game the first time, a New Game+ option appears on the Main Menu, something like Chrono Trigger and FFX-2. Plus, you can try out the various weapon possibilities and improve existing weapon and armor, visit newer areas in the New Game+ mode.
At the end of this rather, long review, I would like to state that the few gamers who have indeed played Vagrant Story are lucky as this game indeed deserves more fanfare and a DESERVED sequel rather than Chrono Cross. Vagrant Story is awesome!
It was unfortunate that it was released around the period of games like Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy IX and Dragon Warrior VII.However, from those few who have indeed played Vagrant Story will tell you even to this day, that how it's unique gameplay and it's immersive storyline can keep you hooked for hours.
Vagrant Story follows an engrossing tale which tells of Ashley Riot, a fighter of the Valendia Knights of Peace, who are sort of the peacekeepers. The player actually never gets the real idea that who the main enemy is as you constantly battle the clever forces of the Church and the wile Mullenkamp.
Sydney is the main antagonist, who has a unique runic powers and a personality that stands out on it's own.
Vagrant Story, is an Action-RPG, so it does not contain any random battles and enemies can be seen and fought just like any normal game. You can call it a mixture of Zelda and Final Fantasy. Unlike, Zelda the action involved here isn't seamless. When you press the attack button, the game screen freezes to allow a dome shaped sphere to come in.
Enemies around this sphere can be attacked. To put more detail, Square made attack choice. A player can choose to attack any body part, like head, Right arm, left arm, legs, abdomen etc. However, in another intricate manner, the damage you do to the characters, depends upon a large variety of factors. The weapon system is so highly detailed that it amazes you. The weapons of different types are all made up of two parts- the blade and the hilt. They can be disassembled at forges and then can be combined in a variety of combinations to form powerful weapons. Your weapon stats consists of DP and CP. DP is the Durability points, which decreases as you fight more enemies and CP is the basic Experience points that increases as you fight more.
The weapon's effectiveness is at it's optimal when both the CP and DP are full. So, this does make a good sense,indeed. Also, in a weapon's and armors damage section, which is divided into a variety of parts. Human, Beast,Dragon,Undead,Phantom etc, are the enemy types you will face during the game. BASED on that the Weapons & Armor's section contains these types with a specific numerical which tells which type will take the most damage from this weapon. The higher the number the more damage it will do to your enemy.
This number can be increased by defeating enemies of that type. Also, another type in weapon & Armor's section is that of the affinity. They are like the basic elemental types, and some enemy types are weak against light while others are weak against dark. Your affinity hence increases as you defeat more number of enemies of a particular type.Apart from this, the weapon's section contains a sharp,edged,blunt type which describes the type of weapon structure.
In the game, you have HP which get depleted as you take damage and MP which decreases on the use of magic. Magic can be learnt only through items called the Grimoire obtained mostly after the boss battles.
There are two modes in the gameplay. A normal mode where you will not equip any weapon and shield and can jump, climb and solve cube puzzles.
By pressing the circle button(the attack button) you can switch into the Battle Mode. In the battle mode, you can attack enemies, but won't be able to climb and stuff. Also, the HP and MP recovery will be relatively quicker in the normal mode than in the Battle mode, so even the use of potions is reduced.
Also, there are special attack and defense abilities that you can learn through AP. These can be assigned to certain buttons, and then when Ashley attacks an enemy, at the exact time an exclamation appears on top of his head for a fraction of a second, if you can press the button at this exact moment then you can conncet a chain attack. Pressing similarly, you can combine a chain combo of as many attacks as you want. In the other side, when an enemy is about to attack you or cast a spell on you, at the exact moment when an exclamation appears on Ashley's head you can press a button to apply the assigned defence abilities. So, on being attacked Ashley, hence counter-attacks.
Perhaps, the newest and the unique thing about it is some known as RISK.
It is something quite opposite of limits in FF series. Risk is increased as you combine more attacks, and are attacked by the enemies. In the case of chain combos, they sometimes double. As your RISK increases, Ashley's concentration decreases and you will then keep missing or do a very minute damage on your enemies. Plus your enemies will cause damage at a higher rate if your RISK is high. On the bright side, if you have the correct defense ability you can counter-attack for a higher rate of damage, if your RISK is high.
The stats like HP and MP increase rarely,mostly with items and after the boss battles. This proves as a little difficulty as growth becomes stagnant. However, the boss HP never goes above 1000 till the later stage.
Graphics wise, you might not find it attractive like FFVIII but Vagrant Stoyry has it's own charm in the cinematic beauty it possesses. The dialogues take place in comic like bubbles.
Sound wise, Vagrant Story is decent though can come NO WHERE near the class of FF's and Chrono. The deadly groans of the undead might sound freaky in the start but get too repetitive in the end.
Replayabilty is stored in richness in this game. fter you complete the game the first time, a New Game+ option appears on the Main Menu, something like Chrono Trigger and FFX-2. Plus, you can try out the various weapon possibilities and improve existing weapon and armor, visit newer areas in the New Game+ mode.
At the end of this rather, long review, I would like to state that the few gamers who have indeed played Vagrant Story are lucky as this game indeed deserves more fanfare and a DESERVED sequel rather than Chrono Cross. Vagrant Story is awesome!
