Vagrant Story Review (PS1) – Retro Review

Last Updated on: 18th July 2021, 11:40 pm

When gamers think of Square games on the PlayStation 1, it is understandable that Final Fantasy 7-9 is quite often the names that come to mind, after all, they are some of the great RPG games of all time. But, Square, now Square-Enix, had many other great games in the PS1 library, including the likes of Parasite Eve, Bushido Blade, Chrono Cross, and Vagrant Story.

Released in the west a few months before the release of Final Fantasy 9, Vagrant Story is often overlooked by players, also partly due to it releasing towards the end of the PlayStation’s lifecycle.

But, let’s not overlook it any longer and dive into this JRPG that likely flew under your radar back in the day.

A Very Intricate Story

Like many RPGs, Vagrant Story is full of lore with an incredibly detailed and complex story. This perhaps isn’t the game for you if you’re more of a fan of simple stories where more of the focus is on the gameplay.

If you like complex and detailed stories, then this certainly could tick all of the right boxes for you.

Vagrant Story centres around Ashley Riot, an elite soldier known as a Riskbreaker, as he travels to Lea Monde to investigate a possible connection between Sydney, the leader of the religious cult Mullenkamp, and Duke Bardorba, a senior Valendia Parliament member.

Early on in the game, Ashley is blamed for the assassination of the Duke, which causes Lea Mondre to become engulfed in a civil war.

Lea Mondre has an incredibly rich lore and history, with the old town being built over 2,000 years ago. While it makes for a great setting for the game’s story, it isn’t simply a backdrop for the story to take place, instead, it plays an active role as it is prone to earthquakes which helps unlock new areas for the player to explore.

If you’re already a fan of other JRPG games, such as Final Fantasy, then this story could certainly be one that you should check out and experience for yourself.

Not Just Another JRPG

Vagrant Story is different from most JRPG’s in that the entire game is set on a maze-like grid system. This helps with encouraging exploration, which thankfully you have a map to help you with.

The map also tells you which rooms you can unlock with a new key, which saves the player time as they don’t need to aimlessly explore trying to find which key goes where.

Later in the game, you also unlock a powerup that lets you warp to save points you already visited, reminisce of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

One aspect of the game that differs greatly from most other RPGs is that players only control one character throughout the entire game and there isn’t a party system like we see in the majority of RPGs. This helps make the game stand out and is a welcomed change of pace as it affects how you strategize battles and enemy encounters.

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Speaking of which, there are no random encounters in the game, instead, you get to see every enemy before the fight takes place, allowing you to run past them if you wish. If you do decide to stop and fight there are no transition screens which were common in many games of the time such as Final Fantasy.

But, although you can choose to avoid enemies in the game, it isn’t always in your best interest as players unlock new attacks by fighting enemies, with each weapon having its own unique skill set, which encourages the player to try different weapons rather than just sticking to one. There is also no levelling system in the game.

As you’ve seen, the game features many elements that set it apart from traditional RPGs, which may not appeal to some gamers that are more comfortable with the traditional style that games such as the Final Fantasy series offer.

However, if you’re getting a bit tired of the same old style of JRPGs that we’ve seen for the last 30 years or so, Vagrant Story could be the breath of fresh air that you’ve been looking for.

It’s Easy To Forget How Good PS1 Games Can Look

Since the release of the PS1 back in the mid-90s, gaming has changed a lot when it comes to graphics. Gone are the days of low polygon counts and blurry graphics. But, there are still plenty of games that hold up really well even today, and Vagrant Story is certainly one of them.

Unlikely many RPGs of the time, as well as other series such as Resident Evil, the game uses no pre-rendered backgrounds, instead rendering the entire game in 3D.

The developers really focused on the sound design and music for the game, adding a tonne of atmosphere which really helps with immersion, although I do suspect that a certain sound effect is recycled from another game. But I won’t spoil that for you, if you play it yourself and hear it too, be sure to let us know on Twitter @TheClickGG.

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It’s Not All Sunshine And Rainbows Though

While my review of the game so far has been fairly positive, there are some issues I found with the game that I can’t ignore.

The camera is a ley down in the game, with it often glitching through solid walls, particularly when you are in a narrow area.

FMV cutscenes became more common with the 32-bit era due to the increased power and use of CDs to store the game, allowing developers to create much larger games, as well as including full motions videos and uncompressed soundtracks.

Unlike games such as Final Fantasy 7-9, Resident Evil, and Tekken, there are few FMV cutscenes in the game, in fact, there is only one at the start of the game. Instead, all cutscenes are rendered in-game which is a shame because we have to try and imagine what the characters and their surroundings would look like in a 3D animated cutscene.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Vagrant Story is not only one of the best JRPG’s on the PlayStation, but also one of the best games on the system overall.

While it does have some issues as mentioned above, coupled with an insanely high difficulty curve, the game provides a great RPG experience, an engaging story, and some of the best graphics on the 32-bit console.

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Vagrant Story flew under many people’s radar back in the year 2000, and if it did then now is a perfect time to change that and go and check the game out.