With many games on this 1001 list, I've either known about them for decades (whether I've played them or not) or haven't got a clue what they are at all. The middle ground didn't seem to exist, but it's the best way to describe my awareness of Vagrant Story, an Action RPG that I've been aware of for only a few years at most, and only when it's mentioned in passing by gamers recounting memories of their childhood favourites.
From the precious little I've seen, I've always been interested in it, but not so curious that I had to stop what I was doing and try it out. It has always caught my eye as being a looker, brown and beige though it may be, but I suppose I've then been put off with it being a game that would require many hours to get the most out of it.
What, then, can I find out about this Vagrant Story in the here and now of the 1001 list? Will I confirm my interest in it? Will I see what other gamers love about it? It's time to finally find out.
Fun Facts
A short CG intro movie full of swords, dragons and belly dancers quickly cuts its way across the screen, telling us next to nothing about the game bar its title, Vagrant Story. It's a funny title. A little strange, but it sticks in mind.
The CG makes way for in-game graphics, and already I'm sold. You couldn't slap more atmosphere onto this image if you tried. Duke Bardorba's Manor is smouldering in the dark gloom of the Graylands. Why? What's going on?
Holy smokes, this presentation is on another level. I have to cast a tiny bit of doubt as to how good the graphics are because I believe my PlayStation emulation settings might be having some sort of smoothing effect on top of things, but if we imagine these images to be jaggier, and harsher, I'm still blown away.
The choice of camera angles, the lightings, the comic book dialogue boxes... this is a video game graphic novel. I'm a sucker for fantastic art in graphic novels and were this to be a book, it'd be in my library in an instant. But it's not a book. It's a video game. It's sadly not a voiced video game, but its musically on point, and graphically captivating.
We are this chap, whose name I do not know and whose sense of fashion is... debatable. But what is his skill set? What will we be getting up to in Vagrant Story?
Frustrations
If I'm going to be wowed by a game, it'd be much more helpful when I get into the gameplay if I knew the controls. That's on me - as usual, I haven't read anything before diving in. Being a Japanese title, the X-button isn't as important as the circle button, and I started this first fight by putting my sword away and getting walloped in the face. Not ideal.
Further Fun Times
Press Circle, however, and the game pauses, and this targeting sphere appears out of nowhere, giving you a breakdown of your possible attacks. Like the V.A.T.S. system from Fallout titles, you've got a percentage chance for hitting each specific body part, and each of those will have a different average damage amount associated with it.
I don't know if there are modifiers for hitting targets from behind, nor if there is a button or tactic for me to avoid hits, other than trying to run away from someone when they have an exclamation mark over their heads, but hopefully that knowledge will come through in time.
Combat, therefore, feels free-flowing, but stop-start. In real time it'd take seconds to dispose of these guys - whoever they are - but you've got to double or triple that time to go into the targeting sphere, pick a target, execute an attack, watch it take place... but I like it so far.
This whole introduction takes place during the opening credits, and this game is so damn stylish that even the transition between cutscene and credit list is impressive. This game just oozes something that demands attention, even when the PlayStation is freaking out trying to show it, warping textures with every movement of the camera. I'll take any amount of peculiar PlayStation-ness when it looks this damn impressive.
More cutscenes set up what I assume to be the big bad guy, young and childish though he looks, culminating with a dragon dropping through the ceiling. A mini-boss fight with a dragon to introduce us into the world of Vagrant Story? Don't mind if I do.
It's actually an easy fight, and at one point I even nudged the right analogue stick to reveal the first-person camera. Luckily for me, the entire world stops and allows you to enjoy the view in whatever direction you move your sticks. I was able to admire the damage this dragon has suffered before another hit would send it away for good.
At this point, I'm as on board as the captain of the ship, but more cutscenes make me wish for voiceovers. They could have added so much to this game. Could have ruined it, of course, depending on what voices they went with, but while we're dreaming, we might as well dream positively.
As I understand it, the translation into English wasn't one to one, and much of the praise for the writing should be aimed towards the translators wrapping up the plot into manners of speech that fit the theme, the world, the style. It's not Shakespearian, but it's dramatic. I don't know who anyone is, but they all feel like Chess pieces in a grand scheme of some sort. Something nefarious is afoot, and it's not as apparent as big bad guy turning up and destroying everything.
Most of the plot is told through dialogue, but some text screens punctuate the pictures, and they're a mix of your expected standard descriptive text to excerpts from reports of what has happened. I am given the impression that this story is being retold or pieced together by someone well after the fact. What time and place are we in? No idea. None whatsoever. Let's just buckle up and get going.
Dumped into a vibrant environment, we've got full control over our movement, and the movement of the camera, and we've even got a first-person camera to admire the wine barrels. A 3D mini-map for our 3D rooms, a HUD showing our health and magic, pointers for doors... this game is excellent even in its downtime.
Further Frustrations
It's got complications, though. After opening a chest containing a weapon and some armour pieces, I head into the menus to see how we can equip it all, and almost get lost. These are deep menus. They're sectioned off in sensible ways, but they don't give off the greatest user experience. Equipping something takes place in a different menu from merely viewing it, and viewing it reveals all manner of as-yet-unexplained stats. Weapons have classes and affinities? Or do we give them classes and affinities? Time will, I hope, tell.
Further Fun Times
Back into the game and we're introduced to platforming puzzles, requiring us to stack boxes and grab ledges. It's simple, and you won't be pulling off any Tomb Raider-like traversal acrobatics, but jumping around these environments feels ok. Because it isn't a platformer, it's a bit iffy to run and jump and whatnot, but it's not an absolute mess, and it gives you something to do that isn't just run to the next fight.
Another cutscene sets up a locked door in one room, and something unusual in another. I'm intrigued, to say the least.
Genius. This is the first time they've seen a floating block. Magic. Literally magic. They're talking about it, and how powerful it is, and how there are rumours that even those they work for are using it, but this is the first time they're seeing magic actually doing something. That's worldbuilding, folks, and the whole scene is another example of the translation re-writes selling the setting.
It is at this point that I get spooked by a hallucination and have to fight these guys. I don't know why we're fighting. We might have been on the same side, I don't know. It's a shame, but here we go.
Magic.
A platform puzzle leading to a lever leads to a timed automatic door lock, which - two seconds later - leads to my name being revealed for the first time. Ashley. Ashley Riot. Along with his goofy hair and strange fashion, this name isn't helping me to embody him, but I've got no choice.
Following the ghost child once more, I find myself in another boss fight.
That's a big Minotaur. He's got a big club too. I'm fortunate that attack pinged off what little armour I'm wearing and resulted in a miss. I bet I won't be so lucky for the rest of the fight.
It's a shame that the emulation faltered rather noticeably during this fight. The slowdown was annoying, the audio was stuttering, and I was racking my brains wondering if this had seen a rerelease in some form, but then I was distracted by a chest.
I hoped to be able to climb up and avoid this guy for a little while - enough to heal up, for example.
Nope. Okay, next plan. How about that door, can I open it?
Nope. Okay, next plan. Heal up as best I can (thank goodness for the action pausing while you do so) and attack head-on.
Oh boy. Maybe I should aim for his gigantic bull head.
Yeah, that'll do it. I'll take it. What did this guy drop?
Further Frustrations
A congratulations screen? Hhhhhhuh. I don't think I like the look of that. Takes you out of the world just a tad, doesn't it? Here we are, in this graphically impressive cinematic comic book, with a full orchestral score in the backgrou--NO! You're in a game! Well done for doing the game thing!
At this point, I thought that I had seen enough Vagrant Story to know what to write about. I liked it, no doubts about that, but that looked like a damn good point to stop playing. Ending on a bit of a letdown but after a nice Minotaur fight.
But then the cutscenes came around again...
Further Fun Times
What is happening indeed, Vagrant Story? How can you do this to me? How can you be so good and so different and so weird? Ashley, how the hell could you let two armed goons sneak up out of literally nowhere and stab your wife, then disappear completely? And who does your hair?
So many questions, but chief amongst them is what on earth these Battle Abilities are?
A training dummy in the next room allows us to find out. These abilities are mapped to whatever face button you want (as long as it's not the X-button), and are triggered by timing their inputs with your attack animation. If you, for example, hit the button that recovers health in time with your attack, you'll slash your opponent as usual, then chain together a health-recovery attack, which in turn allows you to chain into another attack of some kind, buffing you one way or another.
The timing is tight, but the options available to you add to the already likely vast amount of depth that is on offer here. There are even separate defensive abilities that you can trigger when an enemy successfully hits you, including reflecting a certain amount of damage back to them, for example.
I just want to play with all these tools, and just like that, it's time to backtrack through bat and wolf-infested wine cellars to that locked door...
 |
| Clever girl... |
What could be locked away here? A dying soldier coming back to life? Magic! Zombies!
Enough zombies to allow me to unlock another battle ability, and this Sword Break Art doohicky. Is this yet another mechanic to play with? How is this different from a battle ability? A special attack? Some kind of spell? What can we try it on?
Yup. You'll do. Animated armour. Whopping great big sword. These mini-bosses are getting better and better. Swinging away, I try to find the buttons for the Sword Break Art. The L2 button brings up a fight menu, mapping abilities and menu items to the D-pad and face buttons, allowing you to switch things up on the fly, or dive into your spell list to find the right one. With the stop-start fighting, these quick menus may end up getting quite a bit of use.
Ahhh nuts. I'll get the hang of it at some point. The battle system is supposed to be something whose details you learn over days, not hours, so I'm sure I'm missing something vital. I can already see there are weapon types and classes and whatnot, so switching up your arsenal to attack enemies with the right kind of weapon will no doubt come into play later on, as will wearing the proper armour, casting the right spells... you know what, this stop-start nature to the fights is a good thing after all.
Awww, whyyyy?!
Final Word
Wow. Just... wow. I had to force myself to stop playing Vagrant Story so that I could get on with the rest of my day. It was punctuated and repetitive in terms of the fighting, but the story has me gripped, and the presentation is remarkable. I thought Metal Gear Solid was the height of PlayStation cinematic styling, but I'm not so sure it's such a clear front runner anymore.
Vagrant Story has come from almost nowhere and dove into my brain like nothing else has for a long time, it seems. It's virtually Front Mission 3 levels of giddy excitement, it's that good. But it's not perfect, nothing is. The menus require a bit of explaining and tweaking, I feel, and a lot is going on with that combat system. I'm reminded of how little I cared for mixing oils for my blades in The Witcher 3, to the extent where I installed a mod that did it for me, providing I had the resources, and even then I wasn't sure on what benefit I was getting. I can't do that here. I'd have to learn or have a guide by my side, and I get the impression it'd be a dense document that guides my hand.
I thoroughly recommend you play this game, even if you don't think action RPGs inspire you as a genre. This game doesn't conform so rigidly to even these genres, so you've got a chance of finding something you like, and if you don't see anything, you can at least say that it looked great, even if it wasn't for you.
I'm going to have to carve some time out for more Vagrant Story. I don't know how the difficulty will hit me, I don't know how many repetitive fights will entertain me, but I'm certainly interested in finding out much more. What a great idea it was to go through this 1001 list...
Fun Facts
Creating for early consoles meant pushing up against memory limitations and restrictions on the scope you wanted to achieve. Sadly, this meant that as much as half of the original Vagrant Story plot was cut out, just to get it down to a game that could actually be put onto store shelves.
Vagrant Story, developed by Square Product Development Division 4, first released in 2000.
Version played: PlayStation, 2000, via emulation.