Grimbeard - Vagrant Story (PS) - Review 

Note: Apparently there is a SECOND cut-scene that you can easily miss that plays after the first one you can easily miss, that displays a title card that spoils the death of a character late in the game, but I've never seen that in my damn life, so I dunno what to do with this information. Seems poorly implemented. Thats what I'm going to tell myself to cope about getting something wrong. I'm sure I'll wind up remaking this a year from now or whatever.

Keeping the dramatic Toshiba section energy leading into Randy dropping his USB at a medieval themed restaurant made me scream "FUCK YOU" out loud. That's good shit dude.

The Toshiba flash drive bit was absolutely fantastic. It was also educational. You sir, have a gift.

over the past half year or so i've found a lot of comfort rewatching your videos, and seeing a new one pop up always puts me in a good mood. keep on keeping on grimbo

It's rare seeing a channel

You are still at the top of the game. Not just your game. The whole youtube retrospective game. You're better than everyone else.

I love that Grim is so goth having to talk over a murder of crows becomes a legitimate concern.

Two hours holy moly Video game video essays are now higher quality than Hollywood movies

Fun fact: this game is only 70MB in size. Pretty amazing.

I STILL can't get over the art direction. The blending of a highly grounded pixel art style with low poly characters, I've never seen it done quite like this ever since. Every eye movement, every blink, every facial expression, each with different angles and even light sources and lighting conditions being made specifically for every scene. 20:50 like jfc just look at that. Absolutely bonkers.

"It's.. it's fine, it's whatever" Killing it already

I am SO glad you covered this game. It is my second favorite PSX game of all time. I would honestly take a remake of this over any MGS title as I think many gamers today would resonate with the story, the world, and the game play. Not to get too personal in a RU-vid comment, but life has been tough for the last couple weeks and that situation was resolved today. To then have a Grim Beard video covering MF'ing 'Vagrant Story' to welcome me back to normal life... I can't thank you enough. Keep up the EXCELLENT work!

Holy shit. More proof art direction is worth its weight in gold. Game still looks fantastic 23 years later.

You are so underrated, it's not even funny. Your channel is my favorite and always puts me in a great mood with new video. I hope you will continue what you're doing, you're super talented and deserve huge recognition

Thank you Grim. I think it’s cringey for fans to wax poetic about stuff like “your content saved/changed my life.” But I was in a dark place when I found this channel and I’m not the type of guy who has many friends. I’m doing better now and making moves to start my own channel. So thanks I guess. I’d offer to buy you a drink but I bet you live someplace weird like Arizona or something.

I swear, the whole toshiba intro, music that felt 65 days of static, was like a trip and a trance. You are awesome. And grim. I thank you.

I can’t believe we’re awake together this early good morning cupcake.

Im a brazilian musician that makes a lot of tours around here. Your videos kept me awake while driving and put me into a much deserved sleep when lying in far away beds. Never stop making videos, man. You have a duty to me and to my bands.

Damn man these preambles are getting too good. As much as I am impressed by veteran creators on here that have had a consistent presentation and voice from the beginning (lookin at you Internet Shaquille), I am also absolutely blown away by your sort of tonal seasons as you consistently evolve into new framing devices and rhythms.

Ah, yes, Vagrant Story. The game whose skill names made me never forget words like vermillion and mistral. I know I've still got the original in a box somewhere around here. 1:37:30 Note that ankle shot of Mullenkamp, that's actually something you can obtain in the game called the "Beaded Anklet", whose description also comments on her being the head priestess of ancient Kiltia.

Love your work Dude, looking forward for re-watching this review several times as the others

Ashley Riot has decided to use his scene name, and I respect that 😂 As always, well done! Lotta fun

The goth gods bless us again with another Grim Beard video. I need it to fall asleep and dream of giant centipedes. 😊

Really good video. Regarding Niesa and Tieger, I remember rading an interview stating they where first designed to be the party members at some point. That idea and their story was probably scrapped when so much of the planned content had to be cut. I'm really amazed by all your research and preparation in doing the game justice. Nice content man!

grimbeard saying “dont laugh” is guaranteed to always make me laugh

That was quite possibly the most INSANE intro to the story section I have ever seen. Bravo, sir. Bravo.

I loved Vagrant Story and almost never hear folks talking about it. Also that flash drive non sequitur went in a direction I didn't expect but very much enjoyed. Always glad to see a new video of yours!

Ah yes the game that crosses tattoos, bdsm and skin flaying (and a couple homoerotic overtones) with a rpg and horror mechanics. That's like all my favorite things.

Thank you sincerely for the effort you put in these videos. I wish you all the best for future endeavours 👍

Just finished the Q&A and now we get 2 more hours of Grim! What a treat

I'm with everyone else, I watch each new episode every night to sleep to for the whole month until the next one drops. I owe you my life Grim!

That Toshiba/flash memory/randy pitchford/medieval times montage in the lead up to the backstory was delicious. i need you to know i appreciate that extra, unnecessary effort in the service of a bit

Brother, you never disappoint with the videos. Nobody does it quite the same, and rare is it they're so rewatchable too

Oh fuck yes, can't wait to watch this, watch it again to fall asleep to and then watch it in full again a week later. Thanks Grim

You keep coming out with these awesome videos one right after another. While I really enjoy the amount of content I hope you are getting the rest you need in between videos.

Absolutely incredible and neck breaking change from usb Randy shenanigans to main story.

Amazing storytelling, the flash drive, parapug, the demon, etc. You are a truly hidden gem, kinda how Caddicarus used to be and hopefully you can have a similar success! Thank you so much for the effort you put in your videos!

one thing i love about your videos is that you add a lot of context about why this is a game worth covering or what makes it interesting enough to talk about. That goes a long way to me trusting that they'll be worth my time (and they always are)

I think Vagrant Story offered a pretty unique gameplay experience : that of scrounging around for weapons and knowledge, scavenging out an efficient arsenal out of scattered bits. Meta-knowledge is heavily rewarded, so when you use the right tricks to create a weapon of a superior material early, or continuously upgrade a blade upwards, preserving the stats you grinded on it, and they demolish the opposition, it feels great. Getting a new weapon is exciting, you wonder about what you're going to be able to do with it. Learning that a certain enemy has a chance to drop a powerful weapon for the stage of the game they're in, is cool, and even cooler still that enemies that wield weapons use the actual model of the weapons, that they are actually using, and that they can actually drop. And since there is some randomness in what equipment-wearing enemies wear, the same lich can oneshot you one time, and barely tickle you the next, just because its staff is different ! Not that mastering it doesn't require guides, like, for example, how else would you learn that in the damage calculations, enemy type counts for far less than element and blade type, etc, or that shield defense applies to your entire body, cutting aoe damage dramatically, or that your three main stats pull double duty as both offensive and defensive stats, or that the final boss equally resists each damage type and element, except for light and dark, making him essentially a test of how high you can stack a single element of your choice, etc.

It's always great to see a niche and excellent JRPG like this to get a 2 hour review,i haven't even watched video yet,but you earned a subscriber

Grim and Marsh are the only 2 people on this site that make me genuine happy when they upload.

Every time a new Grim longform vid pops up in my feed it legit feels like Christmas.

You work keeps surprising, man. I was not expecting Vagrant Story in a Tuesday. Thanks!

Man this was one of my fave PSX games and definitely one of my fave games of all time. I rented it so often as a kid. I would love a remake so much. God, the cutscenes are so fucking well-directed.

I love this game so much, it has such a fascinating atmosphere that until now only demon's souls managed to capture, at least for me.

Bro when I understood where you were going with the flash drive + medieval times talk I had to pause cause I was choking on my own saliva 😂 I love this channel so much

Your documentary style is sooo good, man. Really enjoy your stuff.

2 hours of Vangrant Story, what a treat

Haven't watched it yet and I already love the review.

Vagrant Story is one of my favorite games on the sony playstay. I'm so happy Grim covered it. Loved the cloned voice gags and the history segment was insightful. I'm also glad we're done with the bitter recompense segment.

i'm sure a bunch of people have said the same, but these videos are such a lifeline. thank you for your hard work

Babe, Grim just dropped another banger.

Grim, I've got nothing to add to your video but wanna drop a comment to show my appreciation. You're easily the best Patreon account I've put money towards, your style is all it's own, your work ethic is off the charts, and your use of Homer Simpson AI voice synthesisation is inpspiring a new wave of absurdist comedy in me. Thanks for the good shit my man ♥

Holy fark you are getting good at this Grimmy boy. I fell asleep on my first play within *minutes* ...And the subsequent replay was excellent.

I have never been so invested in a story about flash drives... like it came and went so quickly. 😢

This is crazy I've been on a huge Grim Beard tear and was interested in more Vagrant Story content o-o

Holy shit I did not expect this channel to review one of my favorites of all time. Grim really delivering coverage on something special yet again.

I genuinely loved the flash drive sequence, you didn't have to go all out like that for a bit but you did and I appreciate it.

Vagrant Story has always seemed like a really interesting game--thanks for doing a dive into it! love your humor

Really cool to see you cover this gem of a game. Vagrant Story really just wants to make you think. About the story, the complex crafting system, the environment, why my spirit - attunted dagger does 0 damage to the Fire Djinn grilling my exposed ass... By far definently one of my favorites. Like you said, it needs a rerelease because the gaming audience has gotten so much more diverese and accepting...it could have a second life...23 fucking years later. Damn. Dungeon crawling through Iron Maiden with the help of Guides from GameFAQs. Good times.

So Damn Happy we Got a Grim Video today! I just finished the physical and mental shit show that was me working 3 weeks straight. Thank you I needed this!!!

This is one of the best gaming/darker content channels out here PERIOD! SO UNDERRATED

I'm gay and this game rules

This is the game that I want an HD release of. If I ever were to hit the lotto, I'd drop a bag on square to make it happen, Bring the whole gang back to do it

Not eloquent enough to get across why I love your videos, I just do. Never stop making them please.

I would never skip the parts where you're talking to a robot dog. They're so silly, I love them.

No Mr Beard my watch later list is already bloated lately please have mercy.

The sync with the in-game subtitles with your narration at 16:32 was just amazing. Chefs kiss!

I love your content, bro. You're literally my current favorite content creator with long form review/essays like that. Good stuff.

God, so much of this makes me so happy, but especially the continuation of the meditative essayist bit aka the Toshiba montage. It's fantastic, funny, and wonderfully bizarre, and I cannot wait for more of your videos!

Wonderful video on a wonderful game, you absolutely nailed it Grim. I had such a good time playing the game and finding more of the story and just absolutely eating up the atmosphere and little bits of world building and narrative everywhere. I was surprised and kinda heartbroken to see years later people mostly say how they never got into it or how "you need a guide to play it" as a reason to not play it. I went through the whole game without a guide, so this confused me so much. This is such a good week. New Zelda, the AMA video going public and an awesome VS video. Treats!

I love you so much grim. Like everyone always says, its always a surprise that you arent bigger, you deserve the world. That being said, i do like feeling like im part of some super secret goth gamer club

That build up with the history of Toshiba and the flash drive and then Medieval Times and all just 👌

Fantastic work, Grim. Quality as always. I always look forward to your uploads.

The story chapter came out of nowhere and the moment you mentioned *the* location, I died.

"who knows what else because that's as far as i played to get this footage" had me rolling 😂 😂

Im so glad the algorithm led me back here. Amazing content, as always.

oh look my best friend Grim uploaded. glad we can hang out again, bud

I used to love the graphics when I was a kid, something about it was so edgy and classy at the same time

This is your best work yet, and that's saying a lot. You covered a vastly underappreciated game with both thoroughness and wit, got all of your channel's delightful quirks in (the Chad cameo was just perfect), and the slow-burn Pitchford joke might be the best segment you've ever done. Playing it mostly straight with the ASMR music and detailing the history of Toshiba until the realization of where you were going dawned on me... I couldn't stop laughing. I know every other comment you get is "why don't you have more subs?", but I'd rather be thankful that you've managed to gain a decent following at all in an absurdly crowded field, and that the oft-hellish algorithm finally led me to you a year or so ago. Thank you for all the hard work you do to keep us entertained, and (on a more personal level) becoming one of my top comfort channels.

Nice vid, bro. Nice crow too. Caw. That explanation of what a flash drive is put it all into perspective.

Fantastic! Your comedic abilities are astounding. Every video of yours I see is great. In awe.

Just finished watching the entirety of your channel's videos

Finally, more goodness to digest. Before being back to rewatching older vids for the mood every so often. More like, each day 😂

1:33:49 - That's called a dolly zoom, where you zoom the camera in while pulling it away from the subject, so the subject comes forward while the background moves away. I learned about this from Jaws.

Grim upgraded to Monster Energy Drink. He deserves it.

I've been on youtube for awhile now Grimbo, and i gotta say. You are the best video game critic on here. I would also venture to say on the planet, now and for all eternity. Forever. FOREVER.

Awesome! This is my first time catching a new upload of yours, recently discovered the channel and was actually just binging your backlog of content lol

The fact that this game is subtitled "The Phantom Pain" while the creator just happened to have corresponded with Kojima wherein they espoused their admiration for each other's work, decades before MGSV released; just... can't be a coincidence.

Grimbeard, I just want to say, you are my 2nd best gameing chanel discovery of this year. I really like your videos and their delightfully grimdark humor. My only, if minor, complain is that I definietly prefered format when your videos were around 10-15 min, not hour+, but oh well :) .

8:30 i fucking LOVE these new "obscure-subjects-loosely-strung-together-then-barely-connected-to-the-games-plot-story-intros" things. this is my new favourite thing. seriously.

"I am reinforcements!" - "... Holy shit"😂 I need that version of a game - dubbed by grim, with occasional sprinkles of voicegenerator homer simpson

Dude I love your videos so much, this is def one of my top favorite gaming commentary channels. Keep up the great work!

Dude that transition from wtf story back to the game was gd brilliant 👏🏻

I genuinely enjoy your videos brother. You're funny as hell and pretty fucking witty as well. I look forward to what you bring to youtube in the future

1:08:59 The reason Ashley was named as the suspect of the duke’s murder is because Sydney transformed into Ashley to enter the duke’s chamber to share his last moment with the duke. So from the guards’ perspective, Ashley entered the room, then later they found out that the duke is dead and Ashley is nowhere to be seen.

Love your content, excited for new stuff to come out, I hope you're doing all right, take your time.

honestly babe, love that sailor mercury was on your edited PC image for a while. You really *get it*. II love your prescence. Well done and thank you.

Babe wake up, 2 hour GrimBeard video just dropped

Loves to see another grim beard upload before bed😍