Vagrant Story

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vagrant Story
Developer(s)	Square Co., Ltd.
Publisher(s)	Square Co., Ltd.
Release date(s)	JPN February 10, 2000 NA May 15, 2000 EUR June 21, 2000
Genre(s)	Role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: T (Teen) ELSPA: 11+ OFLC: MA15+
Platform(s)	PlayStation
Media	2 × CD-ROM

Vagrant Story (ベイグラントストーリー, Beiguranto Sutōrī^?) is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square Co., Ltd. (now Square Enix Co., Ltd.) for the Sony PlayStation video game console in 2000. The game was released on February 10, 2000 in Japan, on May 15, 2000 in North America and on June 21, 2000 in Europe. The game was developed largely by almost the same team responsible for the development of Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XII.

The game centers around Ashley Riot, an elite agent who travels to the ruined city of Leá Monde to investigate the link between a cult leader and a senior Parliament member. The game's unique feature as a console action/adventure role-playing game is that it features no shops and no player interaction between other characters.^[1] The game also focuses on weapon modification and creation, a skill needed to battle the many creatures that hold various aspects.^[1]

Contents 1 Gameplay 2 Plot and setting 2.1 Characters 2.2 Story 3 Development 4 Audio 5 Merchandise 6 Reception 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Gameplay

In its broadest sense, Vagrant Story is a solo dungeon crawl, in which Ashley (the protagonist) explores the ruined city of Leá Monde and its caverns and catacombs. Crimson Blade knights patrol the streets above, hunting for Sydney (the antagonist); the corridors below are infested with foul beasts, goblins, phantoms and the undead.

The battle system of the game involves the player chaining different attacks to achieve large combos and deal damage to the enemy. This is done by pressing buttons in timely succession; in this way, combat almost resembles a rhythm game. The player can target different areas of the body, and damage is done according to the part of body attacked and the affinity of the weapon used by Ashley. The longer Ashley fights, the more his Risk raises, making it harder for him to concentrate -- lowering his accuracy but increasing critical hits. Defense abilities allow Ashley to reduce or reflect damage, or avoid status ailments; a variety of spells can be used to attack, heal, buff, and debuff. Lastly there are the Break Arts, powerful attacks that drain Ashley's hit points.

In addition to fighting, Ashley can run, jump, and push a variety of crates and cubes to get around impassable obstacles, adding a minor puzzle and platforming element to gameplay. During the course of the game, the player will run into a variety of block puzzles requiring the player to solve them to continue the story. When the player returns to any room containing a completed block puzzle, a time-attack mode called "Evolve, or Die!!" will begin, requiring the player to reach the end of the room, solving the puzzle, in the shortest time possible. A ranking will be given to assess the player's performance in solving puzzles.

Vagrant Story's crafting system nearly constitutes a game in itself. In designated "workshop" areas, players can customize and create weapons and armor which have different ranges, strengths, and statistics. All weapons fall into one of three main damage types: the familiar RPG classes of blunt, piercing, and edged. In addition, there are six "creature type" affinities and eight "elemental" affinities. Weapons gain the affinities of the enemies they are most commonly used to attack; armor gains the affinities of attacks it receives. What a weapon or piece of armor gains in one area it will lose in another (not always the case, as gaining is far more common), so no single weapon or shield is equally powerful against all foes. However, powerful weapons and armor can be combined, merging their affinities (and possibly creating a new type of blade or armor in the process). The key to defeating most foes in the game is carrying a weapon of the right damage type; inherent affinities add a considerable bonus but are not as important, as gems that improve affinities or spells that imbue a weapon with an element are readily available.

Like a few other Square titles starting with Chrono Trigger, the New Game Plus option is made available to the player upon first completing the game. In Vagrant Story, starting a 'New Game+' replays the story using the player's end-game weapons, items, and stats instead of the defaults.

[edit] Plot and setting

Most of Vagrant Story takes place in the fictitious city of Leá Monde, situated within the kingdom called Valendia which has been engulfed by civil war. Leá Monde is described as an old town with a history of over 2,000 years. Located on an island surrounded by reefs, its walls have been the "witness of many battles" and was quoted to be a "fortress stronger than the mightiest forts of Valendia".^[2] Leá Monde in its golden years was a thriving community of 5,000 inhabitants, however, an earthquake that struck the town 25 years before the story brought ruin to the city, and its grounds have not been stable ever since.^[3]

The Grand Cathedral and the Temple of Kiltia is located at the center of the dead city. Beneath the ground can be found an abandoned mineshaft and limestone quarry, the darkened labyrinths of an "Undercity", and the dark Iron Maiden dungeon.^[2] A maze-like Snowfly Forest, named for the so-called snowflies that can be found within, grows around the city. Other locations include the Graylands, the setting for the prologue event; and Valnain, the city where the Valendia Knights of Peace's Headquarters is located. While Valendia and Leá Monde are fictitious, the game's scenery are inspired to some extent by real-life landscapes of the South West of France, notably the city of Saint-Emilion.^[3]

[edit] Characters

The protagonist is Ashley Riot, a member of the Valendia Knights of the Peace (VKP), who is in pursuit of a cult leader named Sydney Losstarot. Sydney, the leader of the religious cult Müllenkamp, laid siege on Duke Bardorba's manor in search of a key and kidnapped Bardorba's only son, Joshua. Selected as Ashley's ally is Callo Merlose, an agent of the VKP Inquisitors. Also attempting to capture Sydney is Romeo Guildenstern of the Crimson Blades, whose mission was made without the approval of the VKP.^[4] The story also presents other supporting characters complete with their own backstory.

Ashley is a Riskbreaker, a militia division of the VKP responsible to upholding state's security and law. ^[5] Though Callo accompanies him, Ashley decides that he will not accept her as a combat partner for her lack of combat experience.^[6] Callo, however, ends up being Sydney's hostage and in the process discovers the truth to Müllenkamp's activities. Another Riskbreaker, Rosencrantz, also appears during Ashley's trek in Leá Monde, briefing to him the plans of the VKP, Sydney and the Cardinal, and subsequently his take on Ashley's past.

The Crimson Blades, under direct orders of Cardinal Batistum, are a group that is part of the Cardinal's Knights of the Cross in charge of seeking heretics and quelling cults.^[7] Romeo Guildenstern, their leader, is described as a pious man, deeply faithful to his belief and consequently immune to the Dark's powers. Under orders of the Cardinal, he pursues Sydney along with the unquestioning Samantha, Duane, Grissom, Tieger and Neesa.^[8]

Müllenkamp is a religious cult based in the city of Leá Monde.^[9] The city suffered a catastrophe where its population was vanquished in an earthquake.^[10] The city, now filled with corpses controlled by Darkness, is still believed to be cult's stronghold. Sydney and his accomplice Hardin manage to survive the pursuit of the Crimson Blade, hiding in the dead city, though Hardin sometimes doubts Sydney's intentions.

[edit] Story

Vagrant Story begins in the Graylands, where Ashley Riot and Callo Merlose were sent by the VKP to Duke Bardorba's manor to investigate the Duke's involvement with the cult Müllenkamp^[11] and the Cardinal's interest in Sydney Losstarot.^[4] Ashley infiltrated the manor alone and encountered Sydney, witnessing his powers first hand.^[12][13] Sydney escapes with his accomplice Hardin and the Duke's son Joshua, leaving Ashley with one clue to his whereabouts.^[14] This event was dubbed the Graylands Incident.

Ashley and Callo arrives in Leá Monde, Ashley infiltrating the city alone through the underground wine cellars. Along the way he learns of Grimoires, objects holding magical power,^[15] and the city's power to spawn the undead and a number of fantasy creatures. His trek also introduced him to Guildenstern, the Cardinal's right-hand man commanding the Crimson Blades, and his lover Samantha. Learning of the condition known as incomplete death^[16] and the Cardinal's true intention for his pursuit of Sydney: immortality,^[17] Ashley faces against a few Crimson Blades, revealing his presence to Guildenstern.

Ashley also encounters Rosencrantz who intends to join him, though Ashley declines.^[18] Rosencrantz told him of the VKP and Parliaments' knowledge of the dark powers of Leá Monde, and that the hidden powers deep within a person can be unleashed with the help of the Dark. In his encounters with Sydney, Ashley was shown visions of his past, where Tia, his wife, and Marco, his son, were killed by rogues, though later the rogue turned out to be Ashley himself. In his encounter with Rosencrantz, Ashley learns that they were not his family, but mistaken targets during their mission. Ashley's guilt over their death was manipulated by the VKP so they could turn Ashley into a loyal Riskbreaker.^[19] Ashley also begins to recall his hidden battle skills and experiences "clairvoyancy", seeing the progress of the Crimson Blades, which leads him towards the Great Cathedral.

Sydney had captured Callo earlier and brought her with them. Callo learned that Hardin was skeptical, though loyal, of Sydney's plans.^[20] She also begins to experience the powers of "heart-seeing" as they continue their escape deeper into Leá Monde,^[21] learning of Sydney's intentions^[22] and Hardin's reason to join Müllenkamp and his closeness to Joshua. ^{[23] [24]} Sydney left them to stop the others from advancing; taunting Guildenstern and Samantha, and provoking Ashley to follow him,^[25] probing his mind to reveal his past. Sydney also secured Rosencrantz's death when the latter forced Sydney to surrender his powers.

While discussing about the Gran Grimoire,^[26] Guildenstern and Samantha discovered ancient Kildean letterings carved upon walls throughout the city. Their encounter with Rosencrantz earlier revealed that the city was the Gran Grimoire. Guildenstern continues on to the Great Cathedral in the center of the city, bringing them to Callo, Hardin and Joshua. Interrogating Hardin about a certain "key" known as the Blood-Sin,^[27][28] Guildenstern reveals his intentions in acquiring the Dark's powers.^[29] Sydney arrives to teleport Hardin and the rest away, leaving him to Guildenstern. Ashley arrived in the Great Cathedral to learn of Sydney's intention.^[30] Guildenstern had killed Samantha for the dark powers, and attempted to persuade Ashley in joining him. The Riskbreaker faces off Guildenstern in the final battle.

Upon Guildenstern's defeat, Ashley, now bearing the "key", carries Sydney out of the city, which was upon collapse. The dark creatures that have spawned within the city began to disappear. Callo, Hardin and Joshua manage to escape the city. In the epilogue that follows, Duke Bardorba's manor receive a visit from Ashley. In a report received by the VKP a week after the Graylands Incident, Duke Bardorba was found murdered, and Ashley became the prime suspect, though Ashley was never found again.

[edit] Development

The programming team was largely the same as the team responsible for Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XII. Team members include:

• Yasumi "YAZZ" Matsuno: Game producer, game director, battle designer
• Hironobu Sakaguchi: Executive producer
• Jun Akiyama: Event director
• Akihiko Yoshida: Character designer and background art director
• Hiroshi "Nigoro" Minagawa: Art director
• Jiro Mifune: Effect designer
• Eiichiro Nakatsu: Character modelling
• Tsunataro Yoshida: Motion designer
• Taku Murata: Main programmer
• Hitoshi "YmoH.S" Sakimoto: Music composer

The English localization, credited to Alexander O. Smith, is often considered one of the finest Japanese to English video game translations existing today.^[31][32]

[edit] Audio

Main article: Vagrant Story Original Soundtrack

The tracks of the game's soundtrack album have been composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto. The album was first released on two Compact Discs in Japan by DigiCube on March 8, 2000 bearing the catalog number SSCX-10042. The soundtrack album was re-released by Square Enix on March 24, 2006 with the catalog number SQEX-10068/9. The CDs featured 57 tracks, of which two are bonus tracks and did not appear in the game, and packaged with it is a small booklet featuring interviews with the composer.

The sound effects of Vagrant Story is credited to Minoru Akao, the game's sound programmer and Tomohiro Yajima, the sound editor and engineer. The game's sound effects was lauded as "well done and impressive, straying from Square's synthed noise",^[33] and all details such as background sounds of moans and groans created a belieavable world for the player.^[32]

[edit] Merchandise

On April 13, 2000, Digicube published the Vagrant Story ULTIMANIA, the official 496-page guide book for the game with the ISBN4-925075-75-6. The contents of the book include staff interviews, the detailed background story and many aspects of the game including information on monsters and items. On July 20, 2006, the book was republished by Studio BentStuff and Square Enix.

[edit] Reception

During its release on May 16, 2000, Vagrant Story is already known as the 5th Best Selling PlayStation Title in that month. In addition, in the first 20 days of the game's release, 100,000 units were sold.^[34] However, due to it being overshadowed by Square's Final Fantasy IX and Chrono Cross, among others which was released during the same season, Vagrant Story did not achieve enough publicity to be as well-known as the above mentioned titles.^[1]

Vagrant Story was the third game in history to receive Famitsu magazine's perfect score of 40/40, an honor held by only six video games to date^[35], and the first earned by Squaresoft. It is also the one and only Playstation game to receive such honor. This honor was not even achieved by one of Square Enix's most popular franchises, Final Fantasy, until March 2006, when Final Fantasy XII received a perfect score. Final Fantasy XII was also written and mainly directed by Yasumi Matsuno, making him one of only two directors to have earned the honor multiple times. (The other is Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto.)

Reviewers critiques were positive on each aspect of the game. Multimedia news websites IGN and GameSpot lauded the gameplay and story, with IGN describing it as being "so deep and intuitive that it'll likely please fans", ^[1] with the varying elements in battle system such as Risk Points and Chain Abilities "maintaining a needed element of strategy and balance".^[1] Even so, the battle system was described by GameSpot as being too complex for beginner players ^[33], and IGN pointed out that even with the suitable equipments, enemy character encounters can be more difficult than with boss battles.^[1] Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine also pointed out that the game's inventory was too limited for the vast number of customizations that the player can do for their equipment.^[36]

Vagrant Story was named the "Best PlayStation Game" in the E3 2000 IGN Awards.^[37] It was also nominated in the "Console Action/Adventure" category in the 4th Annual Interactive Achievements Awards held by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.^[38]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Japanese site
• Vagrant Story at PlayStation.com
• Vagrant Story at MobyGames
• Vagrant Story at IGN
• Vagrant Story at RPGamer
• Vagrant Story Original Soundtrack (disc 2) at MusicBrainz
• Vagrant Story at the Internet Movie Database
• Translated Vagrant Story Ultimania
• RPGClassics' Vagrant Story shrine