Vagrant Story: Difference between revisions

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The game is easily one of the most [[Genre Busting|complicated]] Squaresoft RPGs: a combination of 80's dungeon crawling with French graphic novel aesthetics, [[Flowery Elizabethan English|Shakespearean dialogue]], elaborate [[Item Crafting]], [[Rhythm Game]] combat and the structure of a Greek drama, with the characters dressed in... well, fairly homoerotic bondage gear. It's a gorgeous but polarizing game, due to being [[Nintendo Hard]], and features ''very'' mature themes compared to other [[Final Fantasy]] installments.

''Vagrant Story'' is set in the [[Medieval European Fantasy|dark ages]] of [[Ivalice Alliance|Ivalice]]. The player is [[One-Man Army|Ashley Riot]], a knight of the kingdom of Valendia and a ~~Riskbreaker -- a~~ medieval [[James Bond]]. He is sent to investigate an attack on the manor of Duke Bardorba by [[Designated Villain|Sydney Losstarot]], a charismatic cult leader. Our man Ashley does his job, infiltrates the manor and shoots Sydney dead with a bowgun. All in a day's work? Not ~~quite -- Sydney~~ calmly pulls out the bolt from his heart, summons a wyvern spoken of only in hushed legend, and leaves the scene, with the Duke's 6-year-old son Joshua Corrinne Bardorba as a hostage.

''Vagrant Story'' is set in the [[Medieval European Fantasy|dark ages]] of [[Ivalice Alliance|Ivalice]]. The player is [[One-Man Army|Ashley Riot]], a knight of the kingdom of Valendia and a Riskbreaker—a medieval [[James Bond]]. He is sent to investigate an attack on the manor of Duke Bardorba by [[Designated Villain|Sydney Losstarot]], a charismatic cult leader. Our man Ashley does his job, infiltrates the manor and shoots Sydney dead with a bowgun. All in a day's work? Not quite—Sydney calmly pulls out the bolt from his heart, summons a wyvern spoken of only in hushed legend, and leaves the scene, with the Duke's 6-year-old son Joshua Corrinne Bardorba as a hostage.

Pursued by the Knights of the Cross, a Church army lead by the [[Knight Templar|righteous but sinister]] Romeo Guildenstern, Sydney makes for the [[Temple of Doom|lost city of Leá Monde]]. Ashley, accompanied by [[Mr. Exposition|intelligence officer]] Callo Merlose, follows, trying to avoid the Knights of the Cross at all costs while hunting Sydney down. In the style of classic dungeon crawlers, the player takes Ashley through Leá Monde's catacombs and ancient temples, killing vast quantities of equally ancient monsters. The plot unfolds rapidly, and becomes more and more intricate as new parties reveal their own schemes: there's [[The Mole|Valendia operative]] and ex-Riskbreaker Jan Rosencrantz, who wants the city's power for himself; General Grissom, who seeks revenge for the death of his priest brother Duane (at Ashley's hands); and John Hardin, Sydney's gentle accomplice, who slowly realizes that he's being [[Locked Out of the Loop]].

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The city itself is a [[Cosmic Keystone]], and everyone is fighting for power it holds. A cat-and-mouse game ensues, as Ashley tails Sydney through the lost city, while Sydney starts to tease Ashley by [[Mind Probe|searching his memories]]. But does Ashley's [[Dead Little Sister|backstory]] add up? Have [[Brainwashed|his memories been altered]]? As Ashley fights on, the game becomes an exploration of the [[The Rashomon|subjectivity of memory]], concluding in what is surprisingly ''not'' a [[Gainax Ending]]. Oh, and it features what's probably [[Woolseyism|the most celebrated localization in video game history]].

The game's difficulty lies in its stat-based and menu-based combat. ''[[Vagrant Story]]'''s battle system is perhaps closer to ''[[Nethack]]'' than it is to most games in the ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series. Instead of gaining traditional experience points, Ashley -- also a skilled blacksmith -- [[Item Crafting|crafts]] a collection of weapons and a full set of armor, planning around elements, weapon types, weapon range, creature types and Ashley's own reaction abilities. In practice, this means you may end up switching and re-configuring your equipment for every enemy you encounter. Difficult? Horribly so. Rewarding? ''Yes''. It's [[Nintendo Hard]], with a very steep learning curve, but of the "difficult to learn, easy to master" variety.

The game's difficulty lies in its stat-based and menu-based combat. '''''Vagrant Story''''''s battle system is perhaps closer to ''[[Nethack]]'' than it is to most games in the ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series. Instead of gaining traditional experience points, Ashley -- also a skilled blacksmith -- [[Item Crafting|crafts]] a collection of weapons and a full set of armor, planning around elements, weapon types, weapon range, creature types and Ashley's own reaction abilities. In practice, this means you may end up switching and re-configuring your equipment for every enemy you encounter. Difficult? Horribly so. Rewarding? ''Yes''. It's [[Nintendo Hard]], with a very steep learning curve, but of the "difficult to learn, easy to master" variety.

Finally, the game caught some considerable flak for using (and [[Trope Codifier|codifying]]) [[Block Puzzle]] ~~mechanics -- perhaps~~ from critics who failed to realize that the time attack puzzle mode can simply be turned off.

Finally, the game caught some considerable flak for using (and [[Trope Codifier|codifying]]) [[Block Puzzle]] mechanics—perhaps from critics who failed to realize that the time attack puzzle mode can simply be turned off.

In short, it's a complicated, odd, beautiful, maddening game that ''definitely'' [[Needs More Love]].

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Character Sheet is [[Vagrant Story/Characters|here]].

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=== Tropes used in ''[[Vagrant Story]]'': ===

== Tropes used in ''Vagrant Story'' ==

* [[A Fate Worse Than Death]]: {{spoiler|Grissom, whose wandering soul searches for a body to possess - and finds his own cold corpse}}. By the end of the game, he's not holding together very well.

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* [[Blessed with Suck]]: Sydney, and {{spoiler|Ashley}} in the ending, after {{spoiler|inheriting the Rood Inverse}}.

* [[Block Puzzle]]: Virtually every room in the game has a block puzzle to solve. This is the game that inspired the trope page in the first place.

* [[Boss Rush]]: A passageway in the heart of Leá Monde leads to doors containing every boss in the game, including, in a [[New Game+]], the [[Bonus Boss~~|Bonus Bosses~~]]. Each door must be unlocked with sigils earned through the game to proceed.

* [[Boss Rush]]: A passageway in the heart of Leá Monde leads to doors containing every boss in the game, including, in a [[New Game+]], the [[Bonus Boss]]es. Each door must be unlocked with sigils earned through the game to proceed.

** The final dungeon has no respawning enemies, yet has lots of bosses and mini-bosses and only one or two run of the mill encounters.

* [[Brains and Bondage]]: It's not quite clear ''why'', but about half of the cast is walking around in BDSM gear. And spouting faux-Shakespearian dialogue.

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* [[Mind Screw]]: SO, SO MUCH. Most of it is Sydney's fault (and boy does the man have FUN doing this), but the entire game is fraught with hidden truths and equally-hidden motives. Don't expect any moments of dramatic irony to last or be fruitful for long.

* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]: "Riskbreaker Ashley Riot?" Yeah, not gonna piss him off.

** He can also amass a number of titles during the replays. Such as "Blood Thirsty Conqueror" or "Grand Master Breaker." It only sounds pretentious until you realize how [[Game Breaker|utterly broken]] Ashley is after ''one'' replay. By the time you get Grand Master Breaker, Ashley is the patron saint of [[Physical God~~|Physical Gods~~]].

** He can also amass a number of titles during the replays. Such as "Blood Thirsty Conqueror" or "Grand Master Breaker." It only sounds pretentious until you realize how [[Game Breaker|utterly broken]] Ashley is after ''one'' replay. By the time you get Grand Master Breaker, Ashley is the patron saint of [[Physical God]]s.

* [[Naming Conventions]]: A lot of characters seem to have names derived from Shakespeare...

** Significant ones, too.

* [[Narm]]: Probably fully, completely intentional, but a crafty player can discover that the name of Rosencrantz's sword is Pussyfoot. ''Pussyfoot!'' Given Ashley's Fandango, one has to wonder whether there's some Riskbreaker 'dorkiest swordname ever' tradition.

** explained below in theme naming.

* [[New Game+]]: It allows you to keep whatever is on your person, as well as any equipment you saved in a Container. Additionally, the {{spoiler|Rood Inverse}} grants Ashley access to [[Bonus Dungeon~~|Bonus Dungeons~~]] and their respective [[Bonus Boss~~|Bonus Bosses~~]], such as the [[Blackout Basement|the]] [[Dug Too Deep|Iron Maiden]] [[The Maze|B2]] ~~--home~~ of [[The Grim Reaper|Death]] and [[That One Boss|Asura]].

* [[New Game+]]: It allows you to keep whatever is on your person, as well as any equipment you saved in a Container. Additionally, the {{spoiler|Rood Inverse}} grants Ashley access to [[Bonus Dungeon]]s and their respective [[Bonus Boss]]es, such as the [[Blackout Basement|the]] [[Dug Too Deep|Iron Maiden]] [[The Maze|B2]]—home of [[The Grim Reaper|Death]] and [[That One Boss|Asura]].

* [[Nintendo Hard]]: Unlike most [[Role Playing Game|JRPGs]], ''Vagrant Story'' likes to keep the player on his toes... by kicking him in the balls every half an hour or so. Boss fights consistently cream poor Ashley, and random encounters are even worse. Success depends largely on mastery of the game's near-inscrutable [[Item Crafting]] system, and there's even a random enemy with an instant death spell... in a game with only one [[Player Character|PC]]. Rumours tell of gamers that actually enjoy this, but it's possible they have been conditioned to it by [[Cosmic Horror|experiences too horrible to comprehend]].

* [[Oh Crap]]: {{spoiler|This is probably the expression on Rosencrantz's face as he is about to be cut in half by the Kali statue that Sydney summons}}.

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* [[Quickly-Demoted Woman]]: Callo is on the box and is hinted to be the brains to Ashley's brawn, but Ashley's good intentions (keeping a non-combat agent out of combat) backfire, as Callo meets an abrupt Sydney from nowhere and is taken hostage. She does become a very epic psychic, however. Demoted from sidekick, promoted to seer..

* [[Randomly Drops]]: Since there are no shops, it's the only way of getting new equipment most of the time. [[Item Crafting]] somewhat makes up for the low drop rates of high-end items, however the very best weapons in the game can only be dropped by certain enemies. Chances are, of course, abysmal.

* [[Rare Candy]]: Elixirs can raise a stat by as much as five points. The various wines Ashley can find also have the same effect. Note that outside of boss fights, this is the only way to raise your ~~stats--there~~ are ''no'' experience points.

* [[Rare Candy]]: Elixirs can raise a stat by as much as five points. The various wines Ashley can find also have the same effect. Note that outside of boss fights, this is the only way to raise your stats—there are ''no'' experience points.

* [[Restart At Level One]]: "Ashley has recovered this skill from repressed memory."

* [[Roar Before Beating]]: Wyverns and Dragons.

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* [[Synchronization]]: {{spoiler|[[All There in the Manual|Duke Bardorba and Sydney cannot live if the other dies due to the pact that Duke Bardorba made in order to save Sydney's life in the past.]] This is also why after killing Sydney, Duke Bardorba dies as well.}}

* [[Terminally Dependent Society]]

* [[Theme Naming]]: All assembled weapons found in the game are named after alcoholic cocktails. It is easy to miss the connection due to the inherent randomness of cocktail names, so while some may work as weapon names ([[The Hobbit|Balin’s]] revenge, death sentence, eviscerator, rib splitter), some are more obviously cocktails (Mojito, rusty nail, shandy gaff) and then some are just plain bizarre (Dog’s nose, fandango, pink squirrel, pussyfoot). The descriptions of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7D8EaOw9kE these] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxfj5Ds-BAs two] videos lists most weapons and the main ingredients of such cocktails.

* [[Theme Naming]]: All assembled weapons found in the game are named after alcoholic cocktails. It is easy to miss the connection due to the inherent randomness of cocktail names, so while some may work as weapon names ([[The Hobbit (novel)|Balin’s]] revenge, death sentence, eviscerator, rib splitter), some are more obviously cocktails (Mojito, rusty nail, shandy gaff) and then some are just plain bizarre (Dog’s nose, fandango, pink squirrel, pussyfoot). The descriptions of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7D8EaOw9kE these] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxfj5Ds-BAs two] videos lists most weapons and the main ingredients of such cocktails.

** [[Fridge Logic]] extends the theme a little further with the weapon Pussyfoot as it is the only cocktail in the list which is non-alcoholic and the weapon itself is wielded by the [[Smug Snake|one character]] [[Anti-Magic|immune to magic]]. While the name may lack the [[Incredibly Lame Pun|threatening edge]] it is appropriate for an alcohol-free cocktail.

* [[Title Drop]]: {{spoiler|The last line in the game.}}