Vagrant Story

 PlayStation
User Score
9.0

Universal acclaim- based on 247 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 222 out of 247
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 247
  3. Negative: 14 out of 247
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  1. drlowdon
    Feb 17, 2013
    4
    I first played Vagrant Story a number of years after its original release and so perhaps my judgement was clouded by more recent games in the RPG genre but I really struggled to get into the games traditional elements.
  2. VidM.
    Dec 8, 2004
    1
    Yuck...This game is ridiculously poor. I can't believe how hyped it is. The game is a dismal attempt at fast-paced, heavily stylized, comic-book fashion RPG. The developers had a worthy ambition, but a piss-poor execution of that ambition. The graphics are the only thing about this game that are not total crap. The battle engine is tedious and simplistic. The "world" (or one dungeon, Yuck...This game is ridiculously poor. I can't believe how hyped it is. The game is a dismal attempt at fast-paced, heavily stylized, comic-book fashion RPG. The developers had a worthy ambition, but a piss-poor execution of that ambition. The graphics are the only thing about this game that are not total crap. The battle engine is tedious and simplistic. The "world" (or one dungeon, more appropriately) is not so much dark and mysterious as it is bland. The story attempts to be engaging and profound, but is really just crack-brained nonsenese.… Expand
  3. QueenBrahne
    May 1, 2017
    1
    Vagrant Story is a painful and clunky attempt at an action RPG, with barebones story The level design is almost non-existent because every area is a generic dungeon of some sort, and enemies are all generic monsters. There are few characters you interact with at all outside of cutscenes and the story is pretty drab, relying heavily on obfuscated, contrived plot twists that the player couldVagrant Story is a painful and clunky attempt at an action RPG, with barebones story The level design is almost non-existent because every area is a generic dungeon of some sort, and enemies are all generic monsters. There are few characters you interact with at all outside of cutscenes and the story is pretty drab, relying heavily on obfuscated, contrived plot twists that the player could never possibly have predicted but are absurd. I can understand liking the story but this again lacks the depth you'd expect out of a Square-Enix RPG of this era, it's just so desperately trying to be different but comes up short in every respect compared to the turn-based games of its time.

    I'm not sure an action RPG on the PS1 was truly possible considering the console's limitations, but I would not be surprised if one existed far better executed than Vagrant Story. As you roam around the empty and vacant world of Vagrant Story, enemies will chase you down if you come within their scope - think Metal Gear Solid - and then you or they can initiate the battle. Once the fight starts, both the player and the enemies are frozen in place for the duration of either's attack, a weird, clunky hybrid of turn based and action. You can move around the stages but once either you or the enemy tries to attack, then everything comes to a grinding halt. This is very frustrating when you're trying to get away from an enemy then because they got in range of an attack, they freeze and attack you.

    The way the combo system works is pretty asinine too. You simply string together combos by timing them right like a QTE one after another, but there's a meter that goes up every time you do this. This punishes you heavily for the longer combos you do, and means your attacks do no damage. What to do to bring down this negative mechanic meter? You have to wander around the stage hiding from the enemy for a ridiculous amount of time until the meter goes down. This meter has an absolutely ridiculous cap that makes all your attacks do 0 damage, and combos are an absolute necessity to ever win the more challenging fights of the game. From every standpoint, the combo system is flawed: overly simplistic, aggravating when you do it successfully and hopelessly shallow.

    I wish I could say the art or the design was particularly inspired, or the music stood out as many of Square-Enix's games do in this era. Instead the main characters looks like a rejected concept for Edward Scissorhands with his idiotic costume and hair, while the other characters are about what you'd expect from the average anime-flavored JRPG. Nothing remotely original besides the plot's attempt at cheap plot twists. The level design as mentioned is incredibly generic, flat and lifeless, while the enemies are your stock wolves and bats at the beginning, evolving to generic RPG fare as the game progresses like lizardmen and skeletons. Nothing as inspired as the enemies in your typical Final Fantasy, SMT or Dragon Quest game, that's for damn sure.

    Ultimately what made me get this game in the first place and why it annoyed me enough to make me write this scathing review is that it has an obnoxious fanbase who sings its praises for being so different from the other Square-Enix games of the time. Guess what, this game and its "action" hybrid gameplay is now all the rage at Square-Enix in recent years, and it sucks. This game is meant to be super difficult, but this is not a good thing because the combat in this game is awful. It's not like it's a proper action game where player skill is involved, it's a weird kind of waiting game where you vaguely want to position yourself, but not exactly because once you're in range it becomes a pure numbers game. It's not like it's Dark Souls and you can outwit the AI or other players, you're still locked in a rigid JRPG system, but with the pain in the ass of having to navigate a boxed in dungeon at all times.

    I think what actually pisses me off the most about this game is the lack of towns, NPCs and other characters to interact with. It's positively soul crushing to wander around in this dreary and boring game world with no one to talk to or interact off, just waiting to get past the next generic enemy so maybe you can see a cutscene or any semblance of the charm you'd expect out of this era of Squaresoft. Instead you get the slow drip drip drip of a very boring story travelling at a snail's pace. There's nothing to interpret from your surrounding, it's just dull.

    I feel absolutely robbed paying just £10 for this game. I feel sorry for any poor saps who picked up this game in the 90s new and couldn't get a refund. Take my advice, do not buy this game and do not assume it gets any better after the start, it's just like this throughout the entire game and there is never any pay off for all the busy work and pain involved. Do not feel bad for failing to overcome the "difficulty" of this game's poor design.    … Expand
  4. JonG.
    Jul 1, 2002
    1
    Way too long.
  5. VLG
    Aug 23, 2023
    2
    Just impossible to play. Even if you endured the absurd difficulty, you only play with one character for some reason, which makes it repetitive and boring. I never understood the fame this game has, its barel playable.

Awards & Rankings

4
#4 Best PS1 Game of 2000
6
#6 Most Discussed PS1 Game of 2000
8
#8 Most Shared PS1 Game of 2000

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
92

Universal acclaim - based on 19 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 19
  3. Negative: 0 out of 19
  1. CheckOut
    90
    Despite all the disparate elements crammed into it, they all manage to complement each other and function as if Square has been secretly planning and polishing this gem for years now.
  2. CNET Gamecenter
    90
    It can get a little too technical and difficult at times, but the various systems in the game, such as Break Arts, chaining attacks, and the weapon creation system, are simply revolutionary for an RPG.
  3. Gaming Maxx
    100
    From the second you put this game in; you will not want to stop playing. It might consume your life until you finish it, or until you get stuck that you can't deal with the stress anymore.
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