Night Rhythms (Day 324)

With Vandal Hearts finally under my belt, it's time to resume Vagrant Story, a game that I greatly admire despite its infuriating tendency to mercilessly obfuscate its own mechanics. I was enjoying the game but I hit a brick wall in the Snowfly Forest, an area of the game that has evidently caused many a lot of trouble. I've always really despised mazes in video games, especially when they involve respawning enemies and nonsensical layouts. The Snowfly Forest has this in spades--unless you know exactly where you're going, in which case it takes very little time at all to traverse.

Not ashamed to say I used a guide to get through

I've spoken about this game before, but this time I'm determined to make it all the way through. After getting through the Snowfly Forest, I've finally progressed further than I ever have before. I continue to be impressed by the art direction, Hitoshi Sakimoto's score, and the excellent dialogue. The gameplay is also very unique, though certainly not without its share of frustrations. Chaining combos together is fun but repetitive--and in my case, also pretty difficult. I've elected not to use certain types of weapons because no matter how hard I try, I can't get accustomed to their animations, meaning I'm unable to press the designated button at the right time consistently.

Another pressing concern is the way affinities work. Every enemy in the game has a set of resistances and weaknesses. Some enemies might be highly resistant to edged and piercing weapons but vulnerable to blunt weapons--while also being resistant to air and fire, but vulnerable to physical. You might happen to have a blunt weapon on you but if it's not physical, you probably won't do very much damage with it anyway. Another factor that plays into this is the enemy's type. Suppose this enemy is a Phantom and your blunt weapon has negative Phantom affinity. It's likely you won't do any damage at all with your weapon despite the fact that this particular enemy is vulnerable to blunt weapons.

The interaction between the various different affinities is pretty interesting in theory, but switching weapons in the middle of combat is often a slow and tedious process, as is the act of analyzing every enemy that you come across. Let's not forget the fact that the Analyze spell can and will frequently miss for no good reason, especially if you've built up a lot of Risk. The obvious solution is to carry around a huge arsenal of different weapons tailored to every possible situation, but unfortunately this is impossible because of the inventory limit the game imposes on you. It is only possible to carry five or six weapons at a time and it's generally a good idea to keep a few slots open if and when you find new weapons dropped from enemies.

Hey, thanks!

I really like the style and production values of Vagrant Story, even if the blocky PlayStation graphics haven't aged terribly gracefully. They still certainly get the point across but I must admit this game would be a fantastic candidate for an HD remake. With its art direction there would be a lot to work with and expand on, especially compared to a game like Vandal Hearts, which wouldn't likely look great no matter how much the graphical fidelity were to be improved. 

9 hours in and only that much of the map completed. . .

I think Vagrant Story is going to take me some time to finish. I'm pretty bad about getting lost in games like these but beyond that, the combat system can be pretty time consuming, especially without optimal equipment and when you're not very good at maintaining combo chains (like me). I've also heard that some of the later sections of the game are pretty difficult. Considering the level of difficulty I've experienced so far, I'm not sure I'm looking forward to that--but I'm going to try my best to make it through.