Vagrant Story in itself is an extremely well rounded and crafted experience of a game. My time playing it was very enjoyable and I don’t have many gripes with it besides the combat system feeling repetitive at times and the often tedious weapon/equipment system. I can always appreciate a detailed and thorough means of getting complete control over your character’s stats in a game, but with Vagrant Story you’re constantly having to swap Ashley’s equipment depending on the different enemy types you encounter. You get used to it but at the end of the day there is a high frequency in which you have to navigate through menus simply to ready yourself for a group of enemies, just to change everything again in the next area which, to me, leads to a disruptive flow of battle.
I actually really like the unique approach that Vagrant Story takes with the weapon system however. Being able to combine and craft different pieces of equipment that you obtain to get even better equipment can lead to some really insane stat buffs. I found that the game honestly became easier as I progressed through because I was able to hoard a lot of good items and then combine them to get way better equipment. That’s not to excuse the fact that Vagrant Story is actually quite difficult, I guess the better way of putting was that I got used to the mechanics of the game and was able to construct the proper equipment for their respective situations. I could go on for a long time about how detailed the stat system is for this game but if you’ve played it then what’s there to say, it’s extremely intricate and detailed with a lot of player customization involved; pretty fun overall.
Difficulty wise, Vagrant Story is definitely not for the casual player. As I mentioned early there is an abundance of menu navigation and equipment sorting, but even some of the standard enemies you approach can be brutally difficult unless you’ve been consistently powering up weapons with certain enemy and elemental affinities. Boss fights feel threatening and are equally challenging. Honestly I think the most difficult part of the game was figuring out where to go half the time lol.
Let’s talk about the best part of Vagrant Story; graphics and presentation. Holy shit this game immediately blew me away with how gorgeous the opening cutscene looks. Every single area is intelligently crafted and dungeon crawling feels extremely immersive thanks to the dark ambience present throughout most of the game. The entire setting of Lea Monde is ultra intriguing, and I truly believe that Vagrant Story is the best looking game on the PS1. Every enemy type and character model flows with life and seeing actual facial expressions in an original PlayStation title was so fucking cool. Even the dialogue bubbles and old English writing were nothing short of brilliant.
As far as the plot goes, I think it’s fine. Nothing in particular stood out to me as being mind blowing, but it was by no means boring. The pacing felt off at times, mainly due to multi-hour long segments of running around underground dungeons fighting enemies only to get a short 2 minute cutscene of antagonistic characters talking, only to go back to more dungeon exploration. I do think the varying characters seen throughout the story are all interesting in their own right, particularly Sydney, but there isn’t much character building to begin with outside of the main protagonist. You don’t always need insanely in-depth and complex stories for a game to be good, and Vagrant Story is a great example of that. It keeps things simple while also maintaining enough intrigue for the player to continue and wonder what’s going to happen next.
The music is, as expected from any Squaresoft game, masterfully composed and ever fitting to any moment of gameplay. Most of Vagrant Story’s soundtrack consists of deep ambience with a more or less threatening or ominous vibe, with a few light hearted melancholic tracks sprinkled in. I particularly like Town Center of Lea Monde and the Crimson Blades. In general it’s fucking amazing.
In summary, Vagrant Story is an exceptional video game with a one of a kind balance of simplistic yet incredibly interesting story telling. Visually, the game is a work of art, and the use of lighting, camera angles, and Shakespearean dialogue deliver a grand presentation. I feel the gameplay is really great in some areas such as customization, but at the same time struggles from rinse and repeat methods of casting Herakles and Prostasia, and whacking away at enemies. This game was well worth playing and presents a unique and fun challenge that upon completing is super satisfying. Please play this if you enjoy literally any Squaresoft PS1 games, Vagrant Story really is something special.
I actually really like the unique approach that Vagrant Story takes with the weapon system however. Being able to combine and craft different pieces of equipment that you obtain to get even better equipment can lead to some really insane stat buffs. I found that the game honestly became easier as I progressed through because I was able to hoard a lot of good items and then combine them to get way better equipment. That’s not to excuse the fact that Vagrant Story is actually quite difficult, I guess the better way of putting was that I got used to the mechanics of the game and was able to construct the proper equipment for their respective situations. I could go on for a long time about how detailed the stat system is for this game but if you’ve played it then what’s there to say, it’s extremely intricate and detailed with a lot of player customization involved; pretty fun overall.
Difficulty wise, Vagrant Story is definitely not for the casual player. As I mentioned early there is an abundance of menu navigation and equipment sorting, but even some of the standard enemies you approach can be brutally difficult unless you’ve been consistently powering up weapons with certain enemy and elemental affinities. Boss fights feel threatening and are equally challenging. Honestly I think the most difficult part of the game was figuring out where to go half the time lol.
Let’s talk about the best part of Vagrant Story; graphics and presentation. Holy shit this game immediately blew me away with how gorgeous the opening cutscene looks. Every single area is intelligently crafted and dungeon crawling feels extremely immersive thanks to the dark ambience present throughout most of the game. The entire setting of Lea Monde is ultra intriguing, and I truly believe that Vagrant Story is the best looking game on the PS1. Every enemy type and character model flows with life and seeing actual facial expressions in an original PlayStation title was so fucking cool. Even the dialogue bubbles and old English writing were nothing short of brilliant.
As far as the plot goes, I think it’s fine. Nothing in particular stood out to me as being mind blowing, but it was by no means boring. The pacing felt off at times, mainly due to multi-hour long segments of running around underground dungeons fighting enemies only to get a short 2 minute cutscene of antagonistic characters talking, only to go back to more dungeon exploration. I do think the varying characters seen throughout the story are all interesting in their own right, particularly Sydney, but there isn’t much character building to begin with outside of the main protagonist. You don’t always need insanely in-depth and complex stories for a game to be good, and Vagrant Story is a great example of that. It keeps things simple while also maintaining enough intrigue for the player to continue and wonder what’s going to happen next.
The music is, as expected from any Squaresoft game, masterfully composed and ever fitting to any moment of gameplay. Most of Vagrant Story’s soundtrack consists of deep ambience with a more or less threatening or ominous vibe, with a few light hearted melancholic tracks sprinkled in. I particularly like Town Center of Lea Monde and the Crimson Blades. In general it’s fucking amazing.
In summary, Vagrant Story is an exceptional video game with a one of a kind balance of simplistic yet incredibly interesting story telling. Visually, the game is a work of art, and the use of lighting, camera angles, and Shakespearean dialogue deliver a grand presentation. I feel the gameplay is really great in some areas such as customization, but at the same time struggles from rinse and repeat methods of casting Herakles and Prostasia, and whacking away at enemies. This game was well worth playing and presents a unique and fun challenge that upon completing is super satisfying. Please play this if you enjoy literally any Squaresoft PS1 games, Vagrant Story really is something special.