Vagrant Story, Square's cult work turns two decades old. A title that surprised at the time for its complexity, style and history. Why is it so special and how has it survived the passage of time?
There was a time when everything Square did (known at that time in our territory as Squaresoft) was expected and followed religiously, a golden age of the JRPG that began in the 16 bits and continued in the 32. The Sony PlayStation It was the main reference of the genre at this time, making the JRPG conquer the West permanently.
The launch of a new Tokyo-based company title was synonymous with greatness: the Final Fantasy saga, its spin-off Tactics, Xenogears … Among all these releases for the first Sony console, our protagonist is Vagrant Story, a little or nothing conventional title, with an atypical story, characters and style but that conquered and remains in the memory of all those who tried it. A masterpiece that turns 20 years old.
Vagrant Story, the great work of Yasumi Matsuno and Square
Vagrant Story puts us in the mysterious city of Leá Monde, a place that once was the most important city in the kingdom of Valendia. A priest named Müllencamp came to power and ended up obtaining a magical power of enormous dimensions. Unable to control it, a great earthquake ended its life, the entire city and its more than 5000 inhabitants. Currently, it is said that the forces of darkness inhabit the once bright Leá Monde.
The game puts us 20 years after the fall of the city, the followers of the Müllencamp cult, led by the priest Sydney Losstarot attack the mansion of Duke Aldous Bardorba, taking hostages in his path and demanding the abdication of the Cardinal and the release of some prisoners. Under this context, the Clergy intervenes with his personal guard, the Order of Crimson Blades, led by Romeo Guildenstern. It is here, trying to avoid a confrontation with the Clergy, where the VKP (Valendia Peace Knights) decide to send one of their most powerful members: Ashley Riot, our protagonist.
Ashley Riot is a Riskbreaker, a special agent of the VKPs, who accompanied by agent Callo Merlose, will try to investigate what Sydney Losstarot intends and thus stop him. Under this initial premise, we enter the ruined city of Leá Monde to persecute Sydney and its cult, who have kidnapped Joshua Bardorba, the Duke's youngest son. The Order of Crimson Blades also participate in this persecution, believing that Ashley is a traitor, who must not only combat the dangers of Leá Monde, but also escape from Guildenstern and his men, search for Sydney, save the Duke's son and his companion Merlose which has fallen into the hands of the enemy. As if this were not enough, the Duke has his own plans and has hired another Riskbreaker: Jan Rosencrantz.
A spectacular premise in a game where not everything is as it seems. We have to scratch well above the surface, devour it calmly and go deep into Matsuno's work to understand everything it offers us. Plot twists, flashbacks that will help us empathize with our protagonist, his crudeness and development make up one of the best scripts in the history of the video game.
Yasumi Matsuno, a developer of enormous personality
Yasumi Matsuno, director of Vagrant Story, is an unconventional figure in Japanese industry. Its titles include political and sociological issues to which the Japanese video game industry was not too accustomed. His career began in the missing Quest Corporation, where he developed the saga of tactical role Ogre Battle, which did not enjoy much visibility in our territory until a remake of the second title of the franchise launched for PSP in 2011.
After the success achieved in Quest Corporation, Matsuno joins Square in 1995, where he received the important task of developing a spin-off of the Final Fantasy series. It was FF Tactics, heir to Ogre Battle, Matsuno knew how to give FF Tactics a personality that markedly distanced him from the main saga, with plot themes and a design that until then were not usual in the franchise. Ivalice, a world since then recurring in the saga, with a personality and charisma as few in the industry was the work of Matsuno. A huge and important legacy.
With all of the above in mind, after the release of Final Fantasy Tactics, Yasumi Matsuno and his entire team would start working on the next great Square title: Vagrant Story.
A brave game, an unprecedented bet
Vagrant Story has one of the most overwhelming introductions in the history of the videogame, a tremendous and cinematic beginning that it is hard to believe is a videogame that is two decades old. An opening signed by Hideo Kojima himself, who is a renowned fan of the title,
The enigmatic city of Léa Monde, located in the kingdom of Valendia, owes its great personality to the hard work of Yasumi Matsuno and his design team. To develop a western medieval environment in the most realistic and reliable way they moved to France, taking as reference the town of Saint-Émilion in the New Aquitaine region, near Bordeaux.
A technically overwhelming game for its time, and that today is preserved in an exceptional way, a compliment for a 32-bit game, a generation in which a large number of titles in three dimensions has not taken well the step of the weather. His development team had no experience with all three dimensions beyond an isometric perspective that simulated three-dimensionality in some of his previous works.
This lack of experience increases the legend of Vagrant Story, recreating 3D modeling with fewer polygons than other games of the time, but with an exceptional artistic design that gave them more detail, as well as facial animations or the use of the camera and its rotation during the game. The great merit of Vagrant Story as a work is explained perfectly in a fantastic Twitter thread made by @dreamboum.
Everything is connected in Leá Monde, although all the action takes place in the city, we will enjoy during the adventure of enormous and beautiful scenery, all interconnected. It is usual to try to access an area for once achieved, realize that we had already been in that area. The cruel nature of Vagrant Story is one of its greatest virtues.
A mature history, full of politics and intrigues, and with an unusual development in the JRPG no longer at the time, if not especially today. Characters and protagonists of advanced age and hard appearance, all very far from the conventional canons of the genre, give even more charisma to a title that is unique in all its aspects.
An underrated classic
Why does a work by Square in one of its golden ages continue to be so undervalued? It is a question with many answers, but in an era in which we continually see a large number of remakes and remasters appear in the industry, the name of Vagrant Story does not usually appear among those mentioned in these types of requests. There is not a great legion of followers behind that allows to make the necessary noise, and it is possible that in its day, the departure of PlayStation 2 just one month after its launch in Japan, impaired its rise among other legends of the RPG.
Vagrant Story was a complex title at the time and continues to be today. We do not progress through a system of levels but through mastery with weapons. Some mechanics of progression that can end up turning against us given their complexity.
The combat system remains unique today. This allows us to choose which area of the body to attack, chain attacks, the weapon to use … all this we must do and decide in a matter of seconds. Matsuno's work also offers us the possibility to explore the map and choose different paths, its verticality, the resolution of puzzles, as well as its system of development of equipment and weapons with which we can spend hours and hours endow the title of Square de A huge number of options to overcome everything that lies ahead.
Vagrant Story received the once legendary perfect score from Famitsu magazine. It was the third title to achieve it after The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Soulcalibur. The first video game from the year 2000 to achieve it, a milestone at a time when the renowned Japanese medium did not give perfect scores on a regular basis.
The art of Vagrant Story, a masterpiece that has survived the passage of time
Yoshitaka Amano and Nobuo Uematsu are possibly the most recognized Square artists in their history, but it is convenient not to forget or leave Akihiko Yoshida and Hitoshi Sakimoto behind. Always next to Yasumi Matsuno from Quest Corporation.
Yoshida is a referential figure in all the art and design of the Ivalice universe. Under his hands has passed the Tactics saga, Final Fantasy XII, FF XIV, Bravely Default, Nier: Automata and, of course, Vagrant Story. Yoshida's art has a clear personality, is recognizable at first sight and has played an important point when it comes to relating this to all of Matsuno's work.
On a musical level, Hitoshi Sakimoto usually endows his works with an orchestral style. With a well-defined personality, the soundtrack of the Square games and, in this case, Vagrant Story is another of the strengths that prevent us from releasing the command, helping to connect with the whole work of Yasumi Matsuno.
The future of Vagrant Story
It has been more than two decades before Final Fantasy VII, possibly Square's most popular and idolized game, receives a remake. With this in mind, it is difficult to think that Vagrant Story, with a much smaller number of fans, can enter the company's plans in the short or medium term. Its history and world deserve it, a game ahead of its time that would fit perfectly today, surprising a large number of players because of its atypical context and development within the JRPG genre.
Currently, we can only enjoy Vagrant Story in its original system (PlayStation) or in digital version on PlayStation 3 and PSP within the PSOne Classic that you can in the Sony PlayStation Store. The title came to our territory in full English, and given its complex history, it requires a moderately high level to understand everything that its world offers us. There is currently a translation made by fans into Spanish.
The universe developed by Matsuno transcends his own work and is already part of the entire Final Fantasy universe. Although Vagrant Story is not part of the saga, its universe develops within the world of Ivalice (FF Tactics and FF XII) and the city of Leá Monde has subsequently appeared in the saga, being the capital of one of the two regions that make up the kingdom of Dalmasca in Final Fantasy XIV.
Vagrant Story is unquestionably the most obscure and adult game of Square, a work that transcends its time, which in its time was hated by some and loved by others, but that over the years everyone has ended up accepting its greatness . Vagrant Story is undoubtedly one of the best and most special games that Square has made in its history.
