Vagrant Story: Looking Back at a Classic
Sometime in 1998, a small team gathered together to spearhead one of the greatest role-playing games of the original Playstation. Directed by Yasumi Matsuno (known for his incredible resume that included Ogre Battle and Final Fantasy Tactics) and programmed by Taku Murata, this dream team of creators included artist Akihiko Yoshida and composer Hitoshi Sakimoto — brilliant minds who had also worked with Matsuno on FF Tactics and would create Final Fantasy XII some years later. The Vagrant Story project was an ambition to create a fully three-dimensional title for Squaresoft that refused to hold the player’s hand.
Vagrant Story was created from scratch due to Matsuno’s request that a fresh title at Squaresoft be a collaborative design from interior staff. A mix of role-playing, exploration, and action, Vagrant Story also included unique three-dimensional puzzles and camera, and a complex, robust weapon creation system. The battle system operated on an axis and allowed the player to attack specific body parts on the enemy in order to inflict maximum damage and cripple opponents.
The setting — inspired by the Bordeaux region of France — is a mixture of dark fantasy and religious…