Looking Back on Vagrant Story
It’s from Yasumi Matsuno, the genius designer behind the recently released Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together for PSP, as well as Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XII. Which means you should expect rich gameplay, a haunting score by Hitoshi Sakimoto, and an equally rich story about a man who comes to grips with the death of his family as he hunts down a religious zealot through Lea Monde, an ancient city where dragons, zombies, and phantoms roam the streets.
Originally released in May 2000, Vagrant Story was the first release that was part of Squaresoft’s “Summer of Adventure,” a promotional period that also saw the release of Chrono Cross, Threads of Fate, Legend of Mana, and Parasite Eve II, with Final Fantasy IX later that year. Truly a golden age.
My second favorite of the bunch (Final Fantasy IX is my number one) looks complicated on the surface, and it can be intimidating, but its various systems work in tandem to create a deeper experience than most action-RPGs provide. Weapons can be found, dismantled, rebuilt and even renamed in workshops throughout Lea Monde. Beating dragons up with a two-handed broadsword nicknamed “Tallywacker” can be very satisfying. There’s light platforming, block puzzles to break up the pace, and timing-based combat akin to Super Mario RPG and the Mario & Luigi series. Boss battles are appropriately epic, though normal enemies can do you in as well if you aren’t careful. There are also plenty of extra areas to explore, and plenty more demonic bosses and baddies for those looking for extra challenge once New Game + (which carries all your weapons and magic from the previous playthrough into the next) is unlocked upon beating the game. An atmospheric and oppressive medieval dungeon-crawler, it’s like Demon’s Souls before there was a Demon’s Souls.
The story is one of the best to be found in a video game, even to this day. Like a combination of Silent Hill 2 and Christopher Nolan’s Memento filtered through Final Fantasy, Vagrant Story is about a man with a troubled past who enters a mysterious city and learns way more about his past than he’d like. To say too much would do a disservice, but there’s plenty of intrigue, betrayal, and twists that ought to satisfy anyone looking for a good game yarn.
Since the game’s release, Vagrant Story has been retroactively included as part of the Ivalice branch of Final Fantasy games that include Final Fantasy Tactics, its portable spin-offs, and once again,Final Fantasy XII. In my humble opinion, it is one of Square’s best games of all time, right up there with Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI. If you’re looking for a challenge, for one of the medium’s most artistically accomplished examples, or just something off the beaten path, you can’t do much better than Vagrant Story.
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