![]() ![]() What their provocatively-dressed cultist, and the game's (supposed) antagonist, Sydney Lasstarot ultimately wants from the town of Leà Monde is uncertain, but it involves Ashley and the rest of the cast, as well. ![]() Among the hunters are VKP (Valendia Knights of the Peace) Riskbreaker (member of a special task force of pseudo-knight/detectives with a 30% survival rate) Ashley Riot, and the bible-thumping Crimson Blade Romeo Guildenstern, captain of the Cardinal's men. Vagrant Story follows the hunt for a notorious cult leader through the literal ghost town of Leà Monde, a prosperous city that had been abruptly devastated 25 years prior, and left uninhabited since. It is actually much more complex than, and different from, that. STORY: Ah, and (d'uh) here is where VS truly shines! To debunk all the marketing blurbs plastered across the game's jewel case, it is not about a murder suspect fleeing to a haunted city in order to clear his name. It really is real-sounding, but more than that, it's good. A particularly powerful scene in the forest is made all-the-more potent by Sakimoto's musica track that is aptly-titled "Brainwashing." From the toe-tapping jingle in the abandoned mines, to the meticulous and orchestral theme haunting the cathedral, it is a delicious soundtrack to rival real instruments (and I know how tacky it is to say that). Reminiscent of Final Fantasy Tactics', but with a darker tone to complement the story, it is also indicative of a great artist working within his limitations. SOUND: To add even more to VS's cinematic presentation, is Hitoshi Sakimoto's epic score. ![]() Yasumi Matsuno is a better director, anyway. But in the end MGS took its style from modern cinema, as does VAGANT STORY. ![]() In fact, VS also uses the game engine alone to weave its tale, to which many gamers have piped up and denounced it as a Metal Gear Solid-"clone" in response. Smith's antiquated Shakespearean screenplay, and demonstrates what could be done with the console's hardware limitations better than METAL GEAR SOLID did, in the day. VS's overall-sepia palette and stylish detail line up greatly with Alexander O. GRAPHICS: Five years after its American release, VAGRANT STORY's late-PS1's graphics still hold up (made even better if you set your PS2's PlayStation driver to "smooth") and I can say so because it wasn't until five years after its American release that I got around to playing it. It is an intense, richly-constructed masterpiece, excelling in every area they could grade a game graphics, sound, story, game play, et cetera. What's more is how a video game is perceived in this day and age, as this is hard evidence of the medium's artistic potential. It includes loads of tidbits on its development, and how Matsuno and his team were able to get so much out of the PSone.It is a crime and heresy that this game is as underrated as it is. There's a superb Twitter thread on Vagrant Story by that's well worth checking out, too. And more than this, proof of what a talented team can uncover when allowed off the leash, given a chance to create away from the shackles of iteration and influence to create rather than, Losstarot-style, re-conjure". Writing in a Vagrant Story retrospective for Eurogamer, Simon Parkin called the game "a daring, ambitious trek then, one that woos the susceptive mind with its riddle and consequence while confounding the impatient. The setting is Leá Monde, a beautifully-realised French city-inspired 3D world. You play Ashley Riot, a member of a peacekeeping force hot on the heels of a cult leader named Sydney Losstarot. Vagrant Story was praised for its stunning visuals, atmosphere, rewarding combat system and engrossing story. More specifically it was developed by Yasumi Matsuno and the team behind Final Fantasy Tactics, and while it never achieved the same level of success as some of the company's other PSone JRPGs, such as Final Fantasy 7, it is considered by some to be the best of the bunch. Vagrant Story was developed by Squaresoft (what would later become Square Enix). It first launched in Japan on PSone on 10th February 2000, right at the tailend of the console's lifecycle and just a month before Sony released the PS2. Vagrant Story, one of the greatest Japanese role-playing games of all time, turns 20 today. ![]()
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