Had an experience with this I've been internally referring to as "scratch and sniff gaming" in which I play a game with immaculate vibes just long enough for it to swallow me whole, but slamming the eject button before I get too irritable with actually playing it. I have successfully created an Imagination Polyhedron in my brain containing idealized projections of what the latter 3/4s of Vagrant Story could potentially look like. Playing any more comes with the risk of Vagrant Story becoming "known", the worst thing that can happen to a game with such an unlimited, mysterious potential.

Vagrant Story is better known for its legacy than for the game itself. Whether it's for the talented staff behind it or the excellent translation by Alexander O. Smith, who set a precedent in the way stories reach us from Japan. But how many people have actually played Vagrant Story? Very few... and, honestly, after a year since I finished the game, I'm not sure if it's worth it for everyone.

In the overall experience, the pros are greater than the cons. However, the obtuse menu screens, the lack of tutorials, the deep (in a challenging way) combat system, and the truly puzzling weapon and armor crafting system don't always make the game enjoyable. Not to mention the frustrating issue of consistently dealing 0 HP damage to the dungeon bosses 'cause you have to keep in mind the type of enemy, the element, your weapon and its shape and... Suddenly a platform room appears, and you have 10 seconds to solve a puzzle! They may appear as insurmountable obstacles, but with improvements to the interface and simplification of certain elements, we'd be talking about (and I'm not saying this in a pretentious manner) a genuine masterpiece.

Set in Lea Monde, an ancient city consumed by evil powers, the story is one of the best well-written from Yasumi Matsuno. It starts like a political dispute of powers between the church, the parliament, and the nobles, but in the end, the story speaks about the human condition and morality of the characters on-screen, as well as the dilemma inside Ashley Riot, the game's protagonist, about his dark past (or not). The atmosphere and level design, despite some pacing problems, are distinguishing and unique, and the cinematographic scenes don't seem proper from a PlayStation video game at all.

But the four stars from this game come from the final stretch represented in The Great Cathedral. A dungeon where everything that makes this action RPG great converges. From the dungeon's design with a network of rooms, traps, and enemies, as well as platforming sections and puzzles that are well-implemented here. The ending is one of my favorite moments in any piece of media or fantasy story.

Overrated for many, a masterpiece for a few, and a memorable installment on my game shelf.

Excellent game but definitely not for everybody. I have the same complaints everyone else does but besides that I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing it.

- No option for quick weapon switching. I didn't mind the menus and everything since at a certain point it was almost meditative but it takes a loooooot of time.
- Mandatory saves after containers. Pretty much all my issues in this game have to do with time. I get what they were going for but I wish you could just throw stuff in without sitting around for 25 seconds waiting for it to finish saving
- I thought I was gonna have more complaints but I guess not I will mention though the final boss is hard as fuck (same difficulty spike as Parasite Eve lol)

Oh what a unique game.

I never beat this game as a kid and now i see why, this game is hard and there's no holding hand here, the game expect you to learn and explore by your own. That's just so good and rare compared to today's industry.
The story is mature, cryptic, convoluted and is presented with a strangely good camera work for PS1 generation.

Only two things I would have liked to be better: first, I would have liked the armor changes to be reflected in Ashley appearance, just like weapons do. And more important, this game NEEDS a quick weapon swap! The game demands you to have the right weapon for the right enemy, you need at least 3 different affinity weapons at all time and it's a pain to be changing weapons on the normal menu, this game needs a d-pad quick weapon swap.

I can't believe Square just forgot about this gem, it totally deserve to have a sequel. I think i'm even going to do NG+

Having now played all of the games Matsuno directed during his time at Square and... I'm certain he is a brilliant director concerning story-telling, but apart from FFXII I hate actually playing his games.
Vagrant Story is definitely the pinnacle of his very intricate or rather obtuse design were you may find fun, if you can get into at all. The menu crawling, weapon crafting and weapon training however was too much for me to enjoy. Besides I think the level design here makes actually traversing the intriguing city of Lea Monde a pain to get through. I felt like having to walk through a field of needles to finally get to the good bit - the story.

Both the narrative in and of itself as well as its presentation and the dialogue make this game really shine... Only problem being it's only 2 hours of the 20-30 hour ride.

I do admire Matsuno, but I think it's best that FFXII was also supervised by Itou, leaving us with an actually enjoyable gameplay. Same goes for his last project with Square as writer for the Story of the Bozja content of FFXIV, while leaving the rest of the team in charge of gameplay.

This man has brilliant ideas, but the gameplay execution really makes it hard for me to enjoy his games. Everything about it is way to hardcore, which is a shame, cause his story are so god-damn unique.

I just gotta hope FFXVI will actually live up to being a game with a Matsuno-like story and great gameplay.

One of the most beautiful PSX title hands down. Its aesthetic and story carry it pretty far I found myself pushing through the extremely cryptic mechanics. Just so I can see the end of this story. Unfortunately, this is a video game and at the end of the day the mechanics and snail-paced gameplay holds this game back from being a four or five star game. Without a guide or almost detective levels of research and time you're not going to get far. I suggest only the most die hard JRPG players with an indomitable spirit play this title. Only someone of a peculiar character can make it through this one.

Um jogo que descobri do nada e amei demais as mecânicas de RPG de ação. A navegação pelos menus é extremamente complicada de início, mas depois você entende o que é importante e o que não é.

Pelo jogo simular um metroidvania em 3D, o jogo é confinado em lugares fechados cheios de salas com segredos. E eu estava adorando tudo no jogo... até chegar num dragão, que eu acredito que seja um chefe ainda antes da metade do jogo, que simplesmente não sabia como lutar contra ele... todo meus ataques são fracos e não consigo desviar dos dele. Então infelizmente acabei sendo parado ali. Mas se você saber como seguir em frente, eu recomendo muito o jogo sim

Vagrant Story was a huge breath of fresh air and one of the best games I've ever played. The combat is on-field and you can stop time to go into your menu and pick your action. The combat also rewards equipment preparation and allows you to change equipment during battles in order to adapt and counter the enemies you are facing. This game offers so much utility in combat and continues to get better as you gain more abilities and magic. The soundtrack is beautiful, and the story along with the characters are very interesting. The character designs themselves look very inspired.

This game opts out of using a tutorial and throws you in with absolutely no explanation of any of its complex mechanics. Most of it is explained in the in-game manual, which I thought I would point out. I prefer this method of explanation instead of the game treating you like a baby whenever a new mechanic is introduced. If I ever had questions, I could cite the manual whenever I needed.

I can't recommend this game enough. Anyone should try this if they're looking for a non-traditional JRPG, or just a good game in general.

First GOTM finished for May 2023. I'm conflicted on this game. This game has no desire to teach you any of its mechanics, and can be painfully obtuse at times. The crafting/affinity/elemental system is a complicated barrier to entry, the menu system is convoluted and has to be accessed constantly to change weapons, and the act of storing and removing items from the chest is painfully slow (as is saving in general). Obtaining and casting spells through the Grimoire mechanic feels unnecessarily complicated, and offensive magic as a whole feels unwieldy and unpleasant to use. However, I felt incredibly satisfied once I got the weapon and affinity system down, and once I figured out how to chain combos the combat really opened up. The menu was still clunky, and I'm still not sure what happened with that story even after finishing the game, but it felt good to wail on enemies and bosses using the full weight of the affinity and crafting system behind me. Despite Vagrant Story often actively trying to change my mind, I left feeling like I had an overall pleasant experience with this one.