Hey Magus...(Vagrant Story)

[Perversion]

Two in two days! Never before, never again!


So I picked up Vagrant Story on your (and the other guy's comment on my blog) suggestion from this guy at work for $20.


What do I need to know before playing?


I'm trying to redeem myself a bit in the eyes of the Pav elite, seeing as how I'll probably never get around to playing Super Metroid. Does playing Vagrant Story count for anything?

[marcus]

Re: Hey Magus...(Vagrant Story)

Playing Vagrant Story and actually beating it counts for a lot because the game will chew you up and spit you out. Someone else can explain the nuances more than I can because I barely made my way through it without a guide, but it has one of the most rewarding stories in a video game and it's a testament of Square's originality in the late 90s before they discovered the cash cow that is Kingdom Hearts.

Edit: It also represents a mature, dark and politically driven Ivalice that we'll never see again until Square decides to drop the "apocalypse" that killed all the bunny girls, destroyed the old technology and turned all the non-humans into aggressive beasts. *** SPOILERS ***
This will never happen
*** END SPOILERS ***

[Kefka Jr.]

Re: Hey Magus...(Vagrant Story)

Heavy Shot, Instill and Temper are the first chain abilities you wanna get, and they're gonna be helpful throughout the game.

You want one weapon for each enemy class. Spears are good for dragons, but otherwise I find that the stats are more important than the actual type of the weapon. But maybe I haven't been paying attention.

When it comes to making weapons, pay attention to the grip. Some grips got more room for stat-boosting gems than others, which goes a long way in evening the score for certain boss fights.

Also, always take advantage of sorcerer spells to buff yourself and debuff bosses.

And wait at the title screen. There's at least two scenes that illuminate a lot, and are also awesome.

Oh, and, man, conserve those Vera items and Mana items.

[Perversion]

Re: Hey Magus...(Vagrant Story)

Vagrant Story is set in Ivalice? Wow, bonus!




Are there "bunny-girls" in it? I'm guessing not.

[marcus]

Re: Hey Magus...(Vagrant Story)

The most important tip is to always save. If you beat a boss and there's a save point in the previous room, save. If you're simply backtracking, which you'll do a lot, save. Basically, every single time you see a save point take the 10 seconds to save.

I'm serious. This game has a way of putting you through gauntlet situations where you fight like 4 bosses in a row, go through a challenging series of rooms followed by a boss fight, or simply tossing new and powerful enemies at you in previously safe areas. This is one of the toughest, most hostile JRPGs I've played and the game hates you. Everything hates you. If it exists it wants to kill you. Even early game enemies can put up a challenge.

[Goufunaki]

Re: Hey Magus...(Vagrant Story)

Vagrant Story is set in Ivalice? Wow, bonus!




Are there "bunny-girls" in it? I'm guessing not.

I don't recall bunny girls in Vagrant Story.

[John Mora]

Re: Hey Magus...(Vagrant Story)

I don't recall bunny girls in Vagrant Story.

That map's been proven inaccurate.

Anyways, another skill you want is the one that inflicts the enemy with the amount of damage you've sustained. You won't always be low on HP, but it'll cut through any enemy's defenses, so the damage might seem small at first, but as long as you keep chaining, it'll accumulate and eventually take 'em out. I got through a lot of impossible-seeming fights using that trick.

And for the love of god, learn the affinity system for weapons ASAP.

[Jamos]

Re: Hey Magus...(Vagrant Story)

One important thing to remember is the process of chaining the attacks together themselves. A ! will pop up and you have very little time to take advantage of it. While this is elementry it is something that can be easier said than done (especially when switching from one weapon you have the hang of to another.) If you time things just right and can keep it up for periods at a time you can take out enemies before they can attack you. Remember that you can start off doing 0 damage (depending on the enemy or whatever reason), but the longer you keep up the chain the more damage that is done with each attack. If you don't do things just right you will get raped.

[John Mora]

Re: Hey Magus...(Vagrant Story)

Once I got a lucky Defense Art off during the last boss when he does his super attack. I just about fell out of my chair and have never been able to do it again.

[marcus]

Re: Hey Magus...(Vagrant Story)

One important thing to remember is the process of chaining the attacks together themselves. A ! will pop up and you have very little time to take advantage of it. While this is elementry it is something that can be easier said than done (especially when switching from one weapon you have the hang of to another.) If you time things just right and can keep it up for periods at a time you can take out enemies before they can attack you. Remember that you can start off doing 0 damage (depending on the enemy or whatever reason), but the longer you keep up the chain the more damage that is done with each attack. If you don't do things just right you will get raped.

Racking up high combo also lowers your defense.

I don't know who designed this game but **** him for making something that's both frustrating and engaging.

Once I got a lucky Defense Art off during the last boss when he does his super attack. I just about fell out of my chair and have never been able to do it again.

And **** this guy. I don't think it was possible for anyone in the world, unless they were lucky or had super human reflexes, to defend against that attack during the first time they fought the boss and didn't know what to expect. That final attack can be spammed multiple times once he hits 1/3 hp, the animation is stupidly long, and you have a 1 second margin of error or else instant death. If the scene right before fighting him weren't so good (you know which scene I'm talking about) and if I wasn't looking forward to the ending, I would have set the game aside permanently after the 5th time I tried to perfect the "SPLIT SECOND PRESS BUTTON MIDWAY THROUGH THE CAMERA ZOOM-IN ON ASHLEY'S FAC-- OOPS, TOO LATE, 998 POINTS OF DAMAGE"

[Toaster]

Re: Hey Magus...(Vagrant Story)

None of this matters, guys.

He'll never play it.

[John Mora]

Re: Hey Magus...(Vagrant Story)

And **** this guy. I don't think it was possible for anyone in the world, unless they were lucky or had super human reflexes, to defend against that attack during the first time they fought the boss and didn't know what to expect. That final attack can be spammed multiple times once he hits 1/3 hp, the animation is stupidly long, and you have a 1 second margin of error or else instant death. If the scene right before fighting him weren't so good (you know which scene I'm talking about) and if I wasn't looking forward to the ending, I would have set the game aside permanently after the 5th time I tried to perfect the "SPLIT SECOND PRESS BUTTON MIDWAY THROUGH THE CAMERA ZOOM-IN ON ASHLEY'S FAC-- OOPS, TOO LATE, 998 POINTS OF DAMAGE"

If you have armor with the right affinity, it's not totally fatal. Although I did thank the designer of the game for clemency when my HP dropped to 0 and the defense art regenerated health. :3

[Loki]

Here's some good advice on how to play the game. I didn't write it but I will claim it as my own.

If someone would like to try and play Vagrant Story, but was having difficulties, I have a pretty simple guide for you to follow!

If you do not want to play Vagrant Story, or if you played it and did not like it, that is okay too. Don't bother reading any more of this!

So:

Problem: I'M NOT DOING ANY DAMAGE

I. Your weapon is the cause of this.

A. Check its damage points (DP)

1. If the DP is low, you need to repair it
a. use the Temper chain attack; best for when you can't get to a workshop
b. use a workshop to repair it
c. it's better to use a substandard weapon with full DP than a perfect weapon with no DP


B. Check its phantom points (PP)

1. PP increases when you kill things, and drains whenever you have your weapon out

2. Don't walk around with your weapon out unless you are prepared to kill something right then
a. You can use the Instill chain attack to boost PP quicker than just killing things alone would


C. Check its affinities against your target

1. Affinities are important but not super strict.


2. You do not need a special weapon for every enemy type to make it through the game. A single all-purpose weapon will work.
a. The best way to proceed is to simply hot-swap gems on your weapon when you encounter a new group of enemies.
b. Always keep an eye out for bigger and better gems.
c. Upgrade your weapon's hilt to one with more gem sockets when you get a chance.
d. SMALL EXCEPTION: it's useful to keep one silver weapon with you for undead.


3. If you want to manually raise a weapon's affinity, you can do so against enemies of that type or against a training dummy.
a. Training dummies are outside of most boss rooms (Human dummy outside of Minotaur room is the first one).


4. Enemies often have different physical affinities on different parts of their body!
a. Cycle around available targets to find one with a good damage/accuracy blend.


D. Your weapon is a little out of date.

1. Check your inventory or storage for a better weapon of the type (sword, axe, et cetera) you're using.
a. Combine them at a workshop.
b. You lose a little in the affinities and DP potential, but you gain STR and sometimes a stronger material.


II. You can't chain.

A. Chaining is very useful but not necessary to win.

1. Chains of 2-4 are as much as you need to do.
a. In fact, high chains build a lot of RISK, and should generally be avoided.
b. There are practice dummies outside of most boss rooms for you to practice on without danger.


III. Poor use of spells.

A. Spell use is super important.

1. When fighting a boss you should always try and have a Stat+ and an Affinity+ spell on you.
a. Herukles and Prostasia are the two best general-purpose spells, respectively.
b. When fighting something very strongly elementally-aligned, use the appropriate Weapon Affinity+ spell (if you have it) instead of Prostasia.
c. You can have a Weapon Affinity+ or an Armor Affinity+ spell on you, but not at the same time, so use some tactical planning and watch your RISK.

2. When fighting a boss you should always try and have a Stat- and an Affinity- spell on them.
a. Degenerate and Tarnish are the two most-useful spells, respectively.


IV. Poor RISK management.

A. High RISK increases the damage you deal but lowers your accuracy.

B. High RISK increases the damage that you take from all sources.

1. You can and will get OHKO against late-game elementals and dragons if you let your RISK get too high.
a. This isn't a big deal because Vera Roots/Bulbs/Tonics are fairly common and will knock off a nice chunk of your RISK instantly. Just keep an eye on it.
b. A little RISK (in the 5-12 range) can give you a nice boost on your damage without putting you in too much danger or harming your accuracy too much.
90% of the time, your trouble is going to be in I. When all else fails, use your Break Arts and use the shoulder-hotkeys to pop healing items. Break Arts will often have useful damage types to get around difficult bosses you might not have the edge for.

Print that out and keep it by your bedside when you sleep at night. Refer to it when you are not doing damage! You will probably be a-okay.

EDIT:

tl;dr: repair your weapon, keep its phantom points high, swap out your gems, learn a couple of chain attacks, use the right spells, don't let your RISK get high, use Break Arts sometimes.

[Vanilla Iced Tea]

Re: Hey Magus...(Vagrant Story)

Yeah, I want to be excited about someone giving Vagrant Story a shot, but considering that it's such a hard game to complete along with Perversion's history of completing games -- how long do we really think this is going to last? I put the over/under at 2.5 hours.

[Perversion]

Re: Hey Magus...(Vagrant Story)

I'll try my best!