An Otaku World review of

Vagrant Story

SquareSoft

Reviewed by Jennifer Diane Reitz, May18 2000

Platform Reviewed	Playstation
Genre	Action RPG
Number of Players	One
Multiplayer Value	None
Length	30 hours or more
Difficulty	Moderate
Skills Required	Reading, Thinking, Puzzle Solving, Tinkering with Details
Interface Devices	Joypad
Interface Design	Excellent
Programming	Excellent
Game Design and Playability	With an advanced form of the Parasite Eve battle engine, a full featured crate-puzzle mode, amazing camera work, and a riveting story, Vagrant Story is one of the best novels you will have ever played.
Type Of Fun	Dark, Gothic Fantasy Detective with a Sword
Replay Value	Good to Excellent
Overall Value	Exceptional!
Quality	Exceptional!
The Best	Unbelieveable camera work, scene changes and general theatrical effect make this medieval fantasy detective drama possess the power of a movie with the gameplay one would expect from the best action RPG's
The Worst	The Playstation 1 just looks less amazing since the Dreamcast came out, and with the Playstation 2 coming. Some of the tinkering with weapon and tool parts, to create better weapons might be too detailed for some folks.
How much I would pay for this	60 bucks!

Description:

An action Role Playing Game with two interweaving plots, a powerful and entrancing story, entire new sections with each replay, and a rich and subtle battle system.

Story:

Two 'Risk Breakers', medieval gothic fantasy detective/enforcers, face a difficult case involving an authentic case of the forbidden use of magic, a seemingly immortal and eerily androgynous man of mystery, a curious plot, and a web of intrigue, deception, and political machination that would spin the head of Machievelli himself.

Review:

There is little more to say. This is one of Square's best efforts. The entire whole of Vagrant Story came to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and the game has been out of bubblegum for as long as anyone can remember. It could be longer. It could be a little less fussy about details and subtle arrangement of statistics. Other than that, it is just simply a cracking good game. Very, very recommended.

Jennifer Diane Reitz is a Game Designer and Computer Artist, one of the co-founders of Otaku World, and, in an earlier time, a co-founder of Happy Puppy Games OnRamp (where she was also wrote many game reviews). She is the creator of numerous games and software products, including Boppin', Kokoro Wish, and many others. She has worked for such companies as Activision, Sculptured Software, Epyx, SRI, and Electronic Arts, and founded Accursed Toys. She has been active in the computer gaming industry since its earliest days. She considers games to be works of artistic merit and achievement, and views computer entertainment as the most important media of our era.