


Finally, Ashley can also develop various offensive and defensive skills during combat (Chain Abilities and Defensive Abilities, respectively): the activation of these abilities requires precise timing, and is thus especially rewarding for gamers with better reflexes. The 'catch' is simple - Break Arts consume Ashley's own HP when used.Īdditionally, a large selection of magic spells becomes available later on in the game, allowing players to cast destructive spells, weaken their enemies or protect themselves from harm. After using a specific type of weapon for a certain amount of time, special moves, known as Break Arts, become available: these are, in a nutshell, powerful offensive abilities you can use to strike down your enemies more efficiently. To be successful in battle, players must customize their equipment and forge different types of weapons in order to combat the different types of foes that they might encounter - this can be done in various workshops scattered around Lea Monde. Players, therefore, must be prepared for a large variety of different battle situations in order to successfully exploit their opponents' weaknesses. This variety in opponents plays an important role in the game, as enemies fall into different categories (dragon, undead, human, beast, and so on), with different strengths and weaknesses. Vagrant Story throws a variety of different enemies at the player including soldiers, lizardmen, zombies, even dragons.

The battle system might remind some of Parasite Eve, with players moving on the field in real time and pausing only to issue commands such as attacking, casting spells or using items. The game's mechanics are refreshingly complex, but still not frustratingly complicated. He encounters Sydney Losstarot, the leader of the dangerous religious cult Mullenkamp, and proceeds to pursue him to the dead city of Lea Monde. Players take control of Ashley Riot, a member of the Valendia Knights of Peace - one of their elite agents known only as the Riskbreakers. Revealing too much of the plot would ruin it for potential players - however, the basic premise is quite simple. Various things can be brought up to support such a claim, some of which will be mentioned below, accompanied by a brief description of the core game mechanics. This was a game where you could clearly see how in those long gone days there was true passion and love to making games there was commitment, and an untainted desire to create something that would blow people's minds off.Vagrant Story is one of those games that countless gamers cite as being one of the very best titles on the Playstation.

man, it was perfect in almost every way the story, the characters, the art direction, the gameplay, and of course the fantastic soundtrack this game has in my opinion the most beautiful and emotive theme played during the credits roll of any game I've ever played. What happened to these people? Vagrant Story alone. It's just so very hard to believe the same people that brought us this amazing game and countless unforgettable others on both the SNES and PSX, are nowadays hopelessly buried up to their necks in sheer complacency and mediocrity like so many other old-time developers, showing no interest whatsoever in living up to their glorious legacy. Man, what a game! Truly a masterpiece from a bygone age this was Square at their utmost best, when they could rightly so consider themselves the indisputable monarchs of the JRPG genre.
