| Vagrant Story Vagrant Story was hyped as the best RPG of the year. Many people were hungry for fresh ideas after the slightly disappointing Final Fantasy 8. It promised a new level of excellence, with real time 3D characters and backgrounds, pushing the Playstation to its limits, and a story up to par with Final Fantasy 7�s. The public waited and waited for it to find it�s way over to these shores. Now that it has, how does it weigh up to the competition? You play as Ashley Riot, an elite soldier in the �Valendia Knights of the Peace� or VKP for short. They, as the title suggests, are the group that keeps peace in the realm. Ashley has a troubled past, his wife and children were killed at the hands of a ruffian, so he decided to join the �Riskbreaker�s�. They are a group in the VKP that handled the most dangerous assignments and work alone. Ashley has a wide range of skills that are gradually learnt as you progress through the game, by reclaiming them from his memory. The villain of this tale goes by the name of Sidney Losstarot, a sorcerer who is able to read minds and much more�. He is the leader of a cult, which the story is centered around, called the Mullenkamp. He is one of the coolest villains around, maybe even a rival to Sephiroth. He kills with no remorse and his motives are as clear as mud, which adds mystery to his character. The graphics are amazing, the first time you see them you�ll say, �Holy crap, is that my crusty old Playstation doing that?� They are that good, the 3D models are superb and the scenery is beautiful, in a Gothic kinda way. The spells look fantastic too, the fire attacks light up the whole room while flame engulfs the enemy. All in all the graphics are probably the best seen on the Playstation and are unlikely to be beaten. When you first pick up the game it plays a lot like Metal Gear Solid, the camera is suspended over head and it even has MGS�s motion blur. That is until you get into a fight, that�s when you realize that this game is like nothing you have played before. Square really have to be praised for the battle system, it is original, easy to use and really shows off the graphics. In battle you draw your weapon and press O. Then a �battle sphere� appears around Ashley and anything within that sphere you can attack in a variety of ways. The range of the battle sphere depends on the type of weapon or magic you are using. If you attack normally you choose what part of the body you want to attack, then the instant you hit them you press a button and he hits them again. This process can be repeated until you have huge 50 attack chains. Ashley can use any skill he has and they are assigned to a button in battle so that the chains can have many special attacks. When an enemy hits Ashley, by pressing a button to which a defensive skill is assigned, Ashley blocks or uses a special blocking skill if one is assigned. Now we come to the magic, the most impressive of all the graphics in the game. Magic is acquired by reading �Grimoires� which are magical scrolls. The first time you read a Grimoire you cast the spell, but the Grimoire crumbles to dust, but don�t worry because Ashley has memorized the spell and can use it from then on. Of course to cast a spell you have to use MP and you get more of that as you progress in the game. The story is diverse and dramatic, all the characters speak in �Ye old English� so it is sometimes hard to understand, but it fits in with the Gothic atmosphere.The translation is perfect and the speech bubbles add a new twist to the RPG.The plot follows Ashley as he enters the duke�s mansion to try and catch the Dukes murderer.It soon cascades into a story where you doubt even Ashley�s own memories and evil lurks everywhere. I don�t want to spoil it for you but let me just say the story rocks, with more twists then a rollercoaster and a fantastic setting.Zandramas |