Vagrant Story: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|"''The body is but a vessel for the soul, a puppet which bends to the soul's tyranny. And lo, the body is not eternal, for it must feed on the flesh of others, lest it return to the dust from whence it came.Therefore must the soul deceive, despise and murder men.''"|'''[[Final Fantasy Tactics|A. J. Durai]]''' }}

[[Square Soft]]'s ''Vagrant Story'' is a genre-defying, stat-based [[Playstation One]] RPG by videogame auteur [[Yasumi Matsuno]]. It's a standalone [[Non Linear Sequel]] to ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'' and ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'', and as such, is part of the [[Running Gag|God-Rapingly popular]] ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' Series.

[[Square Soft]]'s ''Vagrant Story'' is a genre-defying, stat-based [[Playstation One]] RPG by videogame auteur [[Yasumi Matsuno]]. It's a standalone [[Non-Linear Sequel]] to ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'' and ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'', and as such, is part of the [[Running Gag|God-Rapingly popular]] ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' Series.

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.

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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 ~~Plus~~]], 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|Bonus Bosses]]. 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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* [[Functional Magic]]: Subverted hard. The premise is that magic doesn't exist in the normal world at all - and as a result, all magic is [[Black Magic]]. Casting any kind of spell is [[The Dark Side|an unnatural act]] that [[Fate Worse Than Death|sentences your soul to a horrible fate beyond imagination.]] While spells exist, most magical powers come as special gifts.

* [[Genius Loci]]: Leá Monde has a will of its own.

* [[Giant Enemy Crab]]: [[That One Boss|One in the Undercity]], [[Curb Stomp Battle|another beneath the Cathedral]], and yet another, the Damascus Crab as the [[New Game ~~Plus~~]] [[Bonus Boss]]. [[Attack Its Weak Point|Attack their mouth]] [[Memetic Mutation|for massive damage]].

* [[Giant Enemy Crab]]: [[That One Boss|One in the Undercity]], [[Curb Stomp Battle|another beneath the Cathedral]], and yet another, the Damascus Crab as the [[New Game+]] [[Bonus Boss]]. [[Attack Its Weak Point|Attack their mouth]] [[Memetic Mutation|for massive damage]].

* [[Glowing Eyes of Doom]]: {{spoiler|Guildenstern once he gains the power of the Rood Inverse by sacrificing Samantha.}}

* [[Government Conspiracy]]: It's [[All There in the Manual]] but {{spoiler|the earthquake that destroyed the city of Lea Monde and killed off all of its inhabitants were caused on purpose by the Parliament - or perhaps the Cardinal? - in order to feed the souls of the dead to the darkness within the city and seize the control of that power. This is why the Duke Bardorba and Sydney, not wanting the Dark to be misused, enact the [[Gambit Index|plan]] to transfer its power to Ashley, completely destroying the city in process.}}

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* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|Sydney}}

** {{spoiler|Tieger as well, to a lesser extent.}}

* [[How Do I Shot Web]]:

* [[How Do I Shot Web?]]:

{{quote| {{spoiler|Grissom}}: ...Please, a moment. My body is not... cooperating."}}

* [[Ho Yay]]: Pick a pairing. ''Pick a pairing''. The evidence is there for it.

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* [[Item Crafting]]: This game has no shops or vendors (it's an abandoned city, of course). If Ashley wants more powerful weaponry and armor, he's got to locate the workshops scattered around the city and forge the equipment himself. [[Elemental Crafting|The materials he uses in the process]] determine the basic strength of the weapon and armor, while their original affinities determine [[Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors|their effectiveness against specific foes]].

* [[Knight Templar]]: The St. Iocus church and their Knights of the Cross. Guildenstern seems like this at first but turns out to be [[Complete Monster|even worse]].

* [[Lady Not Appearing in This Game]]: {{spoiler|Müllenkamp, who only appears in the opening sequence.}}

* [[Lady Not-Appearing-In-This-Game]]: {{spoiler|Müllenkamp, who only appears in the opening sequence.}}

* [[Large Ham]]: Some characters have their moments, but none come close to Sydney. [[Magnificent Bastard]] that he is, Sydney dominates every scene he's in.

* [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]]: Ashley. So goddamn much.

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* [[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 ~~Plus~~]]: 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|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]].

* [[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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* [[Physical God]]: Ashley becomes this at the end of the game.

* [[Power Tattoo]]: The Rood Inverse on Sydney's back. {{spoiler|It's inherited by Ashley during the ending scenes--and during new game plus it can unlock doors that were originally sealed on the first playthrough. "The Blood Sin on Ashley's back burns!"}}

* [[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..

* [[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.

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* [[Sarcastic Clapping]]: Sydney. Made unnerving by the fact that Sydney has arms and claws made out of enchanted metal. Plink, plink, plink...

* [[Scenery Porn]]: Yes.

* [[Shout Out]]: [[The Eye of Argon]] is one of the items you have

* [[Shout-Out]]: [[The Eye of Argon]] is one of the items you have

** A room was named [~~http://en.~~wikipedia~~.org/wiki/Kilroy_was_here~~ Kilroy was Here]

** A room was named [[wikipedia:Kilroy was here|Kilroy was Here]]

** [[Evil Dead|His name is Ash, and he is beset by zombies.]]

** [[Metal Gear Solid|A One Man Army is dispatched to complete an impossible mission within the span of several hours in-game.]]

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

* [[Training Dummy]]: That allow you to build weapon stats.

* [[Trauma Induced Amnesia]]: Discussed by Sydney, who claims that the trope works because people are willing to forget things that pain them and much prefer to replace them with pleasing lies. {{spoiler|If you believe Sydney's version of events, Ashley has invoked this trop against himself, convincing himself that he once lost a wife and son to help himself forget murdering two innocent people.}}

* [[Trauma-Induced Amnesia]]: Discussed by Sydney, who claims that the trope works because people are willing to forget things that pain them and much prefer to replace them with pleasing lies. {{spoiler|If you believe Sydney's version of events, Ashley has invoked this trop against himself, convincing himself that he once lost a wife and son to help himself forget murdering two innocent people.}}

* [[The Undead]] - A lot of enemies. Justified as this is your fate if you die in the Lea Monde. {{spoiler|And all the inhabitants of the city died or succumbed to the Dark due to the certain event}}.

* [[The Unfought]]: {{spoiler|Rosencrantz. The first fight ends with him running away and saying he [[We Will Meet Again|won't be defeated so easily next time.]] Unfortunately, when Ashley does meet him again, it's only to see him getting killed like an idiot by Sydney.}}

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* [[Unwitting Pawn]]: A very rare inversion. Ashley gets tricked into {{spoiler|saving the world}}.

* [[Utopia Justifies the Means]]: {{spoiler|Guildenstern's motivation for claiming the power of Lea Monde. Sydney calls him out for this when they meet in the Cathedral.}}

* [[The Verse]]: [[Word of God|Said]] to take place in the same baseline universe as ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'' (and now also [[Final Fantasy XII]]!) and has [[Shout Out|references]] in the shape of relics and accessories.

* [[The Verse]]: [[Word of God|Said]] to take place in the same baseline universe as ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'' (and now also [[Final Fantasy XII]]!) and has [[Shout-Out|references]] in the shape of relics and accessories.

* [[The Watson]]: Callo is there for revealing the details of the plot that the players in Ashley's perspective would have no way of knowing. It's executed damned well, too.

* [[What Could Have Been]]: Callo was originally planned as a playable character.