Generic-Giant-Spider
Guest
So, Vagrant Story. Replayed the game entirely after having last touched it like fifteen years or so. Always considered this one of those quality titles that has been lost to time and never enjoyed the same level of success other Square titles around that era did.
And you know what? I can see why.
This game is so fucking weird in its mechanics/systems that it is a pain in the ass to decipher on your own. The reason being there are so many damn calculations going on behind the scenes and the game doesn't bother telling you anything of actual importance. Your only practical help is the Analyze spell just to get an idea of what the enemy is susceptible to and then you can actually go from there.
But god does this game reek of that bullshit design where you're expected to call a tips hotline or buy a strategy guide. Anyone that has gone through the forest knows what I mean. I doubt even the official guide knew much about the systems at play here, this is one of those games that requires diehard fans to really go under the hood of to try and understand what's going on here.
Luckily somebody did just that. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps/914326-vagrant-story/faqs/56772
It's a very odd RPG though because of how the combat is incorporated. Traditionally with an RPG the more you fight, the stronger your character grows, the better equipment you get to better augment that, it's a very linear process but in VS it's differently done. You could be kicking the shit out of enemies with some sword, then hit an absolute wall because now your sword is doing 1-5 damage on an enemy with 200 HP. Why you could be using a weapon that has a huge enemy affinity built up for it, but then find that same enemy type has a monster that is resistant to your weapon damage type and makes shit a headache. You also have limited inventory and storage boxes are a rarity especially with no Teleportation (magic skill you get maybe 70% through the game that lets you travel to workshops/save points).
Also this game LOVES buffs/debuffs. This is kind of typical in many jRPGs but VS will skullfuck you fierce if you don't adhere to your Lord and Savior, Degenerate/Tarnish/elemental weapon buff. Like hitting an enemy without any debuffs or buffs active puts your damage down by like 50% or worse.
Then there's that RISK bullshit, one of the most annoying systems in the game. Basically RISK makes it so you can't just spam like a lunatic and chain kill the whole game, the higher RISK you have the more damage you take and the less likely you are to hit. I don't like RISK. I think if I nail the timing to chain attacks I should feel that reward and not be penalized for it (after about 5-7 chains your RISK skyrockets).
This game also does some real dirty tactics to you. It'll throw you into sudden boss encounters or have you go through a gauntlet of bosses with no save point between. There's one enemy, some sort of birdface thing, that has an instant kill attack that it can spam and this is a single character game so if Ashley dies then it's game over and back to your last save point. Enemies will rush and immediately cast shit like Silence or Paralysis on you, if you debuff them they'll have an endless supply of curative items to remove your status effect immediately. You can kind of exploit the AI in this way but it's insanely annoying to have buffed yourself, only to have your buff canceled by their debuff (in this game if an enemy casts a -STR spell then it deletes your +STR spell... now if an enemy casts something like Curse it'll delete your buffs so you use a spell to remove the Curse but now you need to spend MP again to recast your buffs and then the enemy casts Curse again and you're put into this fucking hellacious loop).
The worst enemy in the game has to be the lich. FUCK liches. Has there been a single RPG where a lich doesn't make you go pale with terror? The VS lich is a cunt. It lacks hitpoints but it can nearly kill you entirely with some gay attack that does like 200-250 damage, then it has the best mana drain in the game and it is almost always accompanied by goons to finish the job if their one shot doesn't get you. And they teleport around like assholes when you try to close the distance so you have to do some Diablo 1 style "predict where Lazarus will go" shit. FUCK liches.
And don't get me started how at the end of the game it decides to throw you your only Light affinity boss in the form of the Arch Dragon. That's cool. A creature type you have zero spells to buff for, zero enemies to have built a weapon for. Let me give you a tip: use any Break Arts that have a Dark affinity to them because that's the only way you'll win that shitty encounter.
This sounds like a ton of bitching but I'm bitching with love. Because I love this game. I really do. The story is pretty cool, the music is nice, the atmosphere is top notch, the main character is wearing a thong for some reason, and once you get a few good hours into it the game really grips you. It's a damn fine dungeon crawler and has a pretty unique battle system that I don't think has been dared since. And for all its weird as fuck mechanical depth I can't lie... I love that shit deep down as much as it can annoy me. Seeing the numbers explode when you find that correct combination for an enemy and then making them explode more with gems and better blades/hilts. It even does crafting in a decent way and crafting actually feels like it matters and isn't just some bloated feature that was tacked on, it's actually crucial if you want to optimize your performance or not feel like you hit a wall. This is like calling your son an idiot or your lover a bitch. Vagrant Story is an idiotic bitch but I love it.
Just know if you do play this game to read that combat mechanics guide I linked up there because it'll make so much of this fucking piece of trash make sense and use a guide for that dumb forest section. There's also some platforming sections which has that "Are you sure I can make that jump" PS1 era jank. You may or may not like it.
But it's a fun game, a real unsung hero and a reminder that at one point Square didn't make an endless pile of teenager saves the world RPGs and remakes/remasters of previous glory. They actually had ideas and tried new things.
So I guess what I'm trying to say through all this is I'd fuck Mullenkamp and the Giant Enemy Crab died in 20 seconds.
And you know what? I can see why.
This game is so fucking weird in its mechanics/systems that it is a pain in the ass to decipher on your own. The reason being there are so many damn calculations going on behind the scenes and the game doesn't bother telling you anything of actual importance. Your only practical help is the Analyze spell just to get an idea of what the enemy is susceptible to and then you can actually go from there.
But god does this game reek of that bullshit design where you're expected to call a tips hotline or buy a strategy guide. Anyone that has gone through the forest knows what I mean. I doubt even the official guide knew much about the systems at play here, this is one of those games that requires diehard fans to really go under the hood of to try and understand what's going on here.
Luckily somebody did just that. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps/914326-vagrant-story/faqs/56772
It's a very odd RPG though because of how the combat is incorporated. Traditionally with an RPG the more you fight, the stronger your character grows, the better equipment you get to better augment that, it's a very linear process but in VS it's differently done. You could be kicking the shit out of enemies with some sword, then hit an absolute wall because now your sword is doing 1-5 damage on an enemy with 200 HP. Why you could be using a weapon that has a huge enemy affinity built up for it, but then find that same enemy type has a monster that is resistant to your weapon damage type and makes shit a headache. You also have limited inventory and storage boxes are a rarity especially with no Teleportation (magic skill you get maybe 70% through the game that lets you travel to workshops/save points).
Also this game LOVES buffs/debuffs. This is kind of typical in many jRPGs but VS will skullfuck you fierce if you don't adhere to your Lord and Savior, Degenerate/Tarnish/elemental weapon buff. Like hitting an enemy without any debuffs or buffs active puts your damage down by like 50% or worse.
Then there's that RISK bullshit, one of the most annoying systems in the game. Basically RISK makes it so you can't just spam like a lunatic and chain kill the whole game, the higher RISK you have the more damage you take and the less likely you are to hit. I don't like RISK. I think if I nail the timing to chain attacks I should feel that reward and not be penalized for it (after about 5-7 chains your RISK skyrockets).
This game also does some real dirty tactics to you. It'll throw you into sudden boss encounters or have you go through a gauntlet of bosses with no save point between. There's one enemy, some sort of birdface thing, that has an instant kill attack that it can spam and this is a single character game so if Ashley dies then it's game over and back to your last save point. Enemies will rush and immediately cast shit like Silence or Paralysis on you, if you debuff them they'll have an endless supply of curative items to remove your status effect immediately. You can kind of exploit the AI in this way but it's insanely annoying to have buffed yourself, only to have your buff canceled by their debuff (in this game if an enemy casts a -STR spell then it deletes your +STR spell... now if an enemy casts something like Curse it'll delete your buffs so you use a spell to remove the Curse but now you need to spend MP again to recast your buffs and then the enemy casts Curse again and you're put into this fucking hellacious loop).
The worst enemy in the game has to be the lich. FUCK liches. Has there been a single RPG where a lich doesn't make you go pale with terror? The VS lich is a cunt. It lacks hitpoints but it can nearly kill you entirely with some gay attack that does like 200-250 damage, then it has the best mana drain in the game and it is almost always accompanied by goons to finish the job if their one shot doesn't get you. And they teleport around like assholes when you try to close the distance so you have to do some Diablo 1 style "predict where Lazarus will go" shit. FUCK liches.
And don't get me started how at the end of the game it decides to throw you your only Light affinity boss in the form of the Arch Dragon. That's cool. A creature type you have zero spells to buff for, zero enemies to have built a weapon for. Let me give you a tip: use any Break Arts that have a Dark affinity to them because that's the only way you'll win that shitty encounter.
This sounds like a ton of bitching but I'm bitching with love. Because I love this game. I really do. The story is pretty cool, the music is nice, the atmosphere is top notch, the main character is wearing a thong for some reason, and once you get a few good hours into it the game really grips you. It's a damn fine dungeon crawler and has a pretty unique battle system that I don't think has been dared since. And for all its weird as fuck mechanical depth I can't lie... I love that shit deep down as much as it can annoy me. Seeing the numbers explode when you find that correct combination for an enemy and then making them explode more with gems and better blades/hilts. It even does crafting in a decent way and crafting actually feels like it matters and isn't just some bloated feature that was tacked on, it's actually crucial if you want to optimize your performance or not feel like you hit a wall. This is like calling your son an idiot or your lover a bitch. Vagrant Story is an idiotic bitch but I love it.
Just know if you do play this game to read that combat mechanics guide I linked up there because it'll make so much of this fucking piece of trash make sense and use a guide for that dumb forest section. There's also some platforming sections which has that "Are you sure I can make that jump" PS1 era jank. You may or may not like it.
But it's a fun game, a real unsung hero and a reminder that at one point Square didn't make an endless pile of teenager saves the world RPGs and remakes/remasters of previous glory. They actually had ideas and tried new things.
So I guess what I'm trying to say through all this is I'd fuck Mullenkamp and the Giant Enemy Crab died in 20 seconds.
