The Final Word game review

Vagrant Story -- SquareSoft

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Vagrant Story is an example of an extremely well thought out story with a strong cinematic feel. The in-game graphics are beautifully textured and detailed. The visual style is dead on with the game's concept art. The dramatic lighting adds a wonderfully "dark" feel to the game. The in-game cutscenes move the story along at all the right points. The music is very moody , lending itself to the well executed and oftentimes creepy sound-effects. The gameplay is reminiscient of Parasite Eve, when you hit the attack button the action freezes and a sphere appears, showing which targets are with the range of your weapon. However, VS allows you to target specific body parts and thus be able to cripple your opponents as well as damage them.

The weapons and armor actually gain an affinity for the target they are used most against, or attacked by. Unfortunately this forces the player to devote seperate weapons to use against different types of creatures, which means a lot of switching out your weapons during a battle that involves more than one enemy. You can also learn magic, however the offensive spells are pretty weak until your second or third time through the game. The battle system also allows you to use combos, granted you time each strike perfectly. The more you use combos, the higher your RISK meter gets, which can be good and bad. As your RISK goes up you lower your accuracy with your weapon, but you also increase the chances of a critical hit. High RISK also increases the potency of your magic, while simultaneously lowering your defense to physical and magical attacks, a double edged sword indeed.

The dungeon structure is very similar to games like Solstice and Equinox, where you need to manuever your character through each room, whether by jumping, pushing blocks, or even stacking the blocks to reach the various exits.

When you beat the game you acquire an item that will allow you to access the other 16% of the game. When you continue your game in this manner you get to keep all of your stats, weapons, and armor, thusly becoming an extremely powerful character. The story is extremely well executed, and sufficiently dark to keep the player enmeshed.

>>>>> 21.5/25 <<<<<		????
Graphics		5.0
Sound		4.5
Gameplay/Control		4.0
Longevity/Playability		4.0
Overall		4.0
Total		21.5

(03/2001)