While attempting to track down Sydney and the baron's son - Ashley also faces the Crimson Blades, who are sent to completely exterminate all members of Mullenkamp and interfere with Valendia's agenda as well. Ashley Riot, an elite "Riskbreaker" of the Valendia Knights of Peace, is sent to liberate a baron's mansion from the Mullenkamp religious cult and their leader, Sydney. Vagrant Story has a fascinating plot, as a mystery unfolds in the abandoned city of Lea Monde. Despite the immense amount of options in the interface, they often become a hindrance to the progression of the story. This often becomes frustrating as weapons that can vanquish zombies have little effect on humans, and vice versa. Depending on the materials used in each part - the weapons (which can be named by the player) also have elemental and monster affinities that are modified by gems and changed by battling monsters.įighting dragons with a spear causes that weapon's dragon affinity to increase, but also causes some other affinities to decrease, so it will not be as effective against humans, undead, and the like. For example, a weapon often consists of two different parts - the hilt and the blade. Throughout the game, the status menu is visited quite often - as essential stats are listed here. Victory is achieved by analyzing weapons and armor, and this is the most complex part of Vagrant Story's extensive interface. Careful planning is also necessary in some cases for boss battles, as a status spell or fire-enchanted piercing weapon against a dragon may mean the difference between victory and defeat. Ashley's entire arsenal is put to good use, as some random monster encounters can kill him with a single hit. In addition, he can learn defense abilities to reflect or absorb damage - as well as learn powerful "Break Arts" that drain his hit points but cause considerable damage to a foe. This system is useful, as it allows for multiple-hit combos that come in handy against Ashley's enemies. After executing the attack, Ashley has a chance to "chain" his attacks by using chain abilities that increase the number of hits performed. A number of factors go into calculating the damage - weapon type, monster affinity, and elemental affinity all can dramatically affect the amount of damage dealt (or show if any damage can be dealt at all). Possible damage and the chance to hit a chosen body part are displayed in a status menu. The player controls medieval spy Ashley Riot, who in battle mode may select the area of an enemy's body to strike. Much of this difficulty lies within the battle system, which is done in a semi real-time mode. Does this combination work? Yes and no - while it is refreshing to see a different twist on the RPG genre, the amount of status windows, relatively slow load times, and (sometimes) insane difficulty may discourage some gamers. To round it out, the game has an extremely high replay value and the ability to customize weapons and armor to almost no end. In addition to having one of the most compelling plots of any title to date, it also has one of the most complex interfaces ever in a console RPG. It is an interesting hybrid: part adventure, RPG, and platform game - and a challenge to conquer. Coming straight off the success of Final Fantasy VIII, 2000 was a good year for Squaresoft - and they decided to take a gamble by releasing Vagrant Story. Once in a great while a game is released that is heralded by some, and lauded by others.
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