Sometime ago my friend told me that this game called
Vagrant Story was a pretty good game. Taking him
seriously, I got the game and played it. This is what
I found...
GAMEPLAY
In this game you play a
medieval warrior (a "Riskbreaker" according to the
story) and all you basically do are kill evil
monsters & enemies, solve cube puzzles, and explore
uncharted areas real time 3D RPG style. In short,
Vagrant Story is similar to Parasite Eve, but in my
opinion, more complicated.
Killing your foes isn't
easy. You'll have to worry about: 1) what armor you're
wearing (its strength, its agility, its elemental
def & weakness, etc.), 2) what weapon is best for the enemy
(bow, axe, sword, dagger, etc.), 3) what shield you have
(if you have one on), 4) what chain & defense abilities
you have (i'll explain later), 5) what gems you have
equipped (they add special attributes to your weapon or
shield), 6) which spells are useful, 7) which part of
the enemy is best to hit (head, arm, legs, etc.),
8)whether you should use Break Arts (special attacks
for a type of weapon that consumes HP), and 9)
especially you Risk Bar. Whew! That's a lot to worry
about, huh?
Well, as I promised, I'll
explain about chain & defense abilities. With chain
abilities, you can continue to attack an enemy after
your first hit. It's sort of like combos in fighting
games. However, they're not just regular attacks. For
example, one chain ability allows you to poison the
enemy if you're successful. When I say successful, I
meant whether if you have great timing. Yes, chain
abilities require timing. Watch for a red exclamation
mark to appear on top of your character, because
that's the time to press a button to do a chain ability.
With great timing, you can practically go forever.
With defense abilities, you can...defend attacks. Again,
you don't just defend normally. For example, one
defense ability allows you to attack back a certain
percent of the amount of HP damage you have taken
(my favorite). Yet again, timing is important. Watch
the red exclamation appear during the enemy's attack,
because that's the time to press a button to do a
defense ability. Chain & defense abilities are gained
through experience and when you acquire the amount
needed, you get to choose which Chain or defense
ability you want. Here's an important tip: don't over
do chain abilities! Every time you use one, your Risk
Bar goes up.
Now let's talk about the
Risk Bar. This concept is the worst thing about
Vagrant Story. When this bar is full, you're
practically screwed! This is how it works: As the
bar goes up, your overall offense & defense goes down
and visa versa. This Risk Bar is the major cause of
long, long, long, long, long battles. It is very
annoying! Even magic is affected also! When you're
fighting bosses, I recommend you to use Break Arts
more often than regular attacks.
The cube puzzles are
great additions to the game. In some parts of the
game, you aren't able to reach a certain door with
out arranging boxes (cubes) to step, climb, or
jump on. It's very challenging! The cube puzzles are
a break from all those time consuming battles.
What's also a good
addition to Vagrant Story, is the concept to make new
weapons, armor, and shields. Just go to a workshop and
start customizing!
GRAPHICS
The Graphics are very
impressive in Vagrant Story. The characters are
very detailed, the environment looks great, the
spells look stunning, ...what else could say! Maybe that's why
Squaresoft decided to just use game graphics for the
cinemas instead of CGI movies. Think about it...
SOUND/MUSIC
Prepare yourself to be
amazed! Vagrant Story offers the best sound effects
I've heard from any Playstation game so far! I'm
just speechless... There isn't really any music
playing in Vagrant Story...well except for some parts.
The music is pretty good in those short times...
but the sound is what you should care about!
CONTROL
There's no problem in
this category. You could easily attack, run, climb,
jump and so on. Also, Square added a quick options
button to quickly access your commands instead of
going though menu sub-menus. Good job (as usual)
Square!
CONCLUSION
Well, my friend was
quite right about this game. Vagrant Story has great
Graphics, incredible Sound/Music, and good control.
Though, he should have told me how Vagrant's gameplay
could be annoying at times. I must emphasize this
before ending this review: THIS GAME IS FOR EXTREME
RPG PLAYERS ONLY.
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Number of players: 1
Genre: RPG
Developer: Square Soft
Peripherals: memory card
Number of CDs: 1
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Slice & dice with a great sword.
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Stabbing a jelly...
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Using the spell "Drain".
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Casting a spell on a rock boss.
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Using "cure" to damage the undead.
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Casting antidote...
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A dieing boss...
"kneel down before
me, hehe!"
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Picking a place to hit...
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There's the exclamation! Time to do
a chain ability!
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Eat this!
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Ouch!
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Hiiiiiiyaaaaa!
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Screen shots are from
www.vagrantstory.com
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Incredible & realistic
sound effects.
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Long & time consuming
battles.
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"Hey @?#!%* die already!
-RJ2
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