Vagrant Story Retrospective | An Extremely Comprehensive Critique and History 

While he's only mentioned briefly in the video, I thought some others might be interested in hearing more about Hitoshi Sakimoto (composer from Quest). He is well known among Sega Genesis / Megadrive fans as having crafted some of the most exciting and dynamic soundtracks on consoles full of excellent soundtracks. What not as many know is that he also developed the software he used both to compose and to play back his music, the Terpsichorean Engine. There was a much deeper overlap between software development and composition than typically encountered in modern times with DAW software and complex digital audio playback. I've personally dived fairly deep into the sound chip driver code of Terpsichorean from Gauntlet IV and Verytex and I wish more people could appreciate the elegance of his work. In gauntlet IV, for example, the yamaha YM2612 is driven entirely from game processor, freeing the z80 sound coprocessor to be used exclusively for sound effect playback. The effect playback code itself is incredibly elegant, supporting playback of four different PCM formats in

What an absolute underrated gem of a game, it's wild how well the comic book aesthetic still holds up 20 years later.

Matsuno originally studying foreign politics in college feels like it explains everything to me.

I always feel sorry for Matsuno. He made an incredible masterpiece that most people will never finish, and got his campaign setting stolen by a huge corporation who just does whatever they want with it.

Hironobu Sakaguchi and Yasumi Matsuno were some of the greatest storytellers in the medium. I like to think in an alternate universe Sakaguchi and Matsuno are still at Square giving us amazing titles.

In any case and regardless of the details everything. I hope Matsuno is living a fulfilling life and enjoying his day to day life these days.

This is the level of gaming journalism I'm looking for. Well done, sir!

Wow, you did not disappoint! so many details and behind-the-scenes information on this one game from over 20 years ago. Thanks for putting so much effort into both the editing and research on creating this documentary-style video. I remember as a kid reading in a gaming magazine about Matsuno leaving FFXII due to an illness, and it was such a vague and mysterious reason for something very uncommon in Japanese game development. Thank you for clarifying the details of that. Again, I can't wait for your next video, its honestly such a treat to get these retrospective videos, especially for these games I enjoyed as a kid and teenager. Keep up the great work!

This isn't the first hours long retrospective on Vagrant Story that I've watched but I'm honestly shocked at how much more I've learned from this one compared to others. The in depth detail on the game itself more than suffices whatever interest the video title would draw but you go out of your way to put us into the history of its development and impact the work has had on its creators and industry. Thank you for your hard efforts in creating a masterwork of a game retrospective.

Matsuno's story is so unfortunate. Hideo Kojima's regard for him wasn't just words, and everything Matsuno touched was absolute gold. Case in point was Naoki Yoshida's asking him to write what is still to date the most positively regarded 24-man raid content and exploration content in FFXIV with Ivalice and the Bozjan Resistance. Not to be hyperbolic, but in my mind, everything that "the big three" (Matsuno, Sakimoto, and A. Yoshida) touch is absolute gold and I'll always be there for it. I admit though that if I hadn't been such a shill for Squaresoft in the late 90's, I might have missed Vagrant Story. Marketing for anything in the 90's that wasn't a massive blockbuster movie was pretty lackluster, and I actually had a conversation about this with my older brother about just how many amazing musical artists from the 70's didn't make headwinds at all because they weren't armed with the viral marketing and streaming services of today. Then of course there was Playstation 2 release hype... Man, we got a masterpiece of a game and hardly anyone remembers it. As always, I love your writing and editing style, and I'm constantly learning new stuff about games I played ages ago, but this one is really special to me, so thanks so much for making it.

This may be the earliest I've even been to a video, see y'all in 3 hours.

Vagrant story is my favourite game of all time.A 3 hour video on it makes me really happy. Thank you for this treat.

Low-key the greatest JRPG ever made. Artistically, one of the greatest games ever made in general.

I remember beating Guildenstern's final form by catching him in an endless chain as he swoops across the arena, nickel-and-diming his health 1 point at a time for about 10 minutes.

I truly can't think of a game on PSX that blows me away more than Vagrant Story. Everything about it is truly astounding, though what always impresses me most is the use of the engine. It looks amazing for the time and it's file size is mind blowing.

Damn what a good week this was for top tier retrospective videos

That final scene where Ashley Riot masks himself as the VKP inquisitor and is dressed in his black attire struck me with such style that it inspires me to try to create a character based upon that idea alone

Excellent, glad this underrated gem is getting some love! Also, it’s a bit late but congrats on 100k mate, well deserved

i wish a money guy would come along and fix the videogame industry and put the right people back in charge.

It blew my mind to find out that this game is in the same world as Final Fantasy Tactics and FF XII. I really wish more FF titles would be in Ivalice. I love the sceneries and the amount of lore in each game. Also the fact that there's many different prominent races in Ivalice that adds so much character to the games.

Matsuno studying foreign policy and his first job being an international journalist explains SO much. I'm really impressed with this video, VS is my favorite collection of cutscenes of all time, and not only there's a bunch of production and post-release information I didn't know, but you've managed to pace the ABSURD amount of systems that need to be explained pretty well as you cover the rest of the game. Congratulations again on the 100k!

Yasumi Matsuno is one of the most underrated creative figures in the entire industry. After playing the FF Tactics games as well as Vagrant Story, I finally understand why Naoki Yoshida has such a deep admiration for him

Been insanely busy lately so won't be able to watch this right away. I want to give it the time and attention it deserves rather than breaking it up too much. I Really love your presentations, in-depth and well-structured with steady pacing. Just wanted to compliment your work and add to the algorithm. I follow several game retrospective channels and these long-form reviews are right up my street. They take an incredible amount of effort on your part and the reason they are watchable is because the quality is so high. I hope your channel keeps growing and you keep enjoying what you do.

The ending is such a strong setup for a sequel that never came. I don't think this masterpiece could be remastered, or even matched, in execution. There are of course great and amazing games out there, but there is only one Vagrant Story.

If they had put a Mission Briefing option on the main menu it would make the whole thing even more like Metal Gear Solid, since some people would call it Medieval Gear Solid as joke already.

Matsuno is my idol. I have made D&D campaigns based on his settings and storytelling techniques. I have immersed myself in every game of his. I love his writing and worldbuilding so incredibly much. I hope, cope, and pray that we get Final Fantasy Tactics Reborn, and Vagrant Story remade as a Soulslike. That'd be so sick ;_; LOL

For all its flaws Vagrant Story is a game I'll never forget and one I still hold out a faint hope will get a sequel. The games aesthetics are sublime and the story wonderfully written and presented. Your video is a worthy tribute as well as an excellent critique. Thank you.

What an absolute superb treasure you've put together here. I've loved Vagrant Story for years, and to see you honor it in such a way truly does justice to the legacy it deserves. Over the past week I've been watching this piece-by-piece during my lunch breaks. You brought me nostalgia in a way I'd never expected. In-depth, smartly written, and without any fluff, you've truly taken this retrospective look to a masterful level. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for this magnum opus report of a legendary game.

Bro, this is some immensive amount of work you put into this script. I am glad I found your channel as you are some of the best second monitor content out there.

I bought this game based on the CG ad alone. I didn’t understand a thing about it, never quite realized how in-depth it’s mechanics were, but damn, game’s still one of my top games ever played, with one of my only sticklers being how laborious crafting is just by how often it forces you to save while doing it. Fantastic retrospective. Really appreciated the background info and even the “what happened to him now?” segment.

I think the most mind-blowing detail about this game is one that never gets mentioned: the total file size for this game is under 100mb. That's insanely efficient for just how much content the game provides, and really shows off that the use of the game engine itself and its "painted faces" for cinematics is more than just an artistic stroke, it was a practical one as well.

Had no idea that FFT's reputation had fallen off over the years 😂. Still my all time favorite game

I love this game, it has my favourite narrative for a single game, though my favourite narrative over a series goes to Legacy of Kain. I loved these both so much that I recorded the cutscenes mixed with some gameplay onto VHS so I could watch them as movies. Later I recorded them to DVD, then finally uploaded them to youtube (along with the Sands of Time trilogy) as playlists (due to having a ten minute limit at the time). I've been pretty in depth over Vagrant Story as a result, I'm still pleased with myself from when I realised that all the weapons in the game were named after alcoholic cocktails, except for Rosencrantz's weapon 'Pussyfoot' being the only one named for a _non-alcoholic_ cocktail (as he has no magic). So yeah, I love this game but I did have a hell of a time playing it at first, I think I actually completed it before I even realised how the analyse spell worked. I'd use it then not know that you needed to go into Ashley's own status menu and press the shoulder buttons to see his enemy's stats, I just got confused over what it was supposed to be doing before finally giving up on it. I've actually written the script for a primer on how to play Vagrant Story which was made into a video on the Resonant Arc channel for their podcast series on the game (Vagrant Story | 10 Tips To Get Started) just last year and I had a devil of a time trying to break the whole thing down into an understandable format. There are still one or two things I would have changed, most notably explaining how the readout of the weapon stats work on the attack screen. The readout will say something like *EGD/FIR/Beast* telling you that your blow will use the values for blunt, fire and beast but the tricky thing is that there is a different reason for why each of these values are chosen against their rivals. In explaining this to Mike at Resonant Arc we kept talking (well, typing via discord) in circles over what we were trying to communicate when I realised he had misspoke the explanation. In essence he thought the readout was telling you what would be most efficient but it doesn't, after a lot of back and forth we stumbled in the right direction and I felt my poor explanation was the cause of the confusion but in his words the system was 'insane' in its complexity. (it was corrected before the video went live luckily) Because the readout tells you what Class of enemy you are facing it seems reasonable to conclude that the Affinity section would be telling you which element is most effective as well but this is simply not true, the element used is always whichever is currently highest on the weapon with any other elemental values completely disregarded. If you approach the readout thinking it is telling you _what_ to use (based on it telling you what enemy you are facing) then you are coming at it backwards. What is is telling you is which values _will_ be used regardless of how well they will be used. As much trouble as the game originally gave me I still loved every minute for the story it was telling and when I saw Ashley walking off into the rain in his new badass longcoat at the end I don't think I've ever topped that feeling of satisfaction in a game's ending... Discovering the extra narrative elements in the ultimania translations years later though, that made me love it even more.

You have found a focus on tragic stories (the downfall of parasite eve and castlevania, for example) that I think often go overlooked due to the industry's nature, where the creators only rarely become celebrities and drama unfolds over years and sometimes decades. I'm so glad you are making these.

Why in gods name are they not remaking this.

It always endlessly amused me how much Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are foils to each other. In both of their motive rants they are saying much the same thing but Rosencrantz blames all the world's troubles on the rich nobility while Guildenstern blames the world's trouble on grasping commoners. Something else that I really liked was the obvious explanation for why Lea Monde is destroyed in the ending, the city itself is a grimoire and in the game once a grimoire is read it dissolves to nothing and imprints its magic permanently onto its user.

At a certain point as I was watching this, a tear came to my eye. Your video is exceptionally good. Even great. You nailed the mythos of the game, you understand Matsuno's masterpiece, and your in-depth research has made me realize a lot I didn't know about the behind the scenes of the greatest game of all time. The use of the game's motif at the beginning of the chapters was perfect! Excellent work man. You've got a subscriber.

Such a waste that Matsuno burned out and retired, he should be the Kojima of RPGs, his fanbase is so massive I've played all games he's responsible for, even the 3ds eshop Crimson Shroud, he should be having free reign to develop games in this generation, even if it was a small indie studio, I'm sure people would shower him with money if he opened a kickstarter

Vagrant Story and Tactics Ogre are two of my favourite games ever, along with FFXII. To know that Matsuno studied foreign politics makes the depth of the narrative and cohesion so much more understandable now. I'm barely even 30 minutes in, and this video is already a greatly researched documentary. Great work! Edit: I have to correct you on the section of weapon crafting. You say that you can accidentally downgrade a piece of gear because the end result is not disclosed. That's not true. You can hover over the new item, found above the 2 materials used for crafting, to see whether or not it's worth it to craft. You can also hover over the ‘OK’ button to see the same item before confirming. Edit 2: Tactics Ogre: Reborn did not add crafting. It improved the already-existing crafting system that is in Let Us Cling Together.

I think it's definitelly worth stating that as well as your reviews of the games themselves which are as comprehensive as they get, something that desserves equal praise is the way you build up to them by going into detail on the history behind the games and all the behind the scenes stuff it really does a great job hyping up the game to come

I still listen to the music of Vagrant Story. The Ending music is a masterpiece. Every time I listen to it brings back memories of my own room in my parent’s house.

I’ve never played Vagrant Story but I love watching your videos, and I especially loved your segment about the localization for this game! More and more I see criticism of creative localization, which is sometimes criticized as ‘inaccurate’ simply because it isn’t a <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="61">1:1</a> translation, but this game’s English script seems like everything I’ve ever enjoyed in a good localization. Im happy to know Alexander O. Smith has had such a long and successful career in the field!

Incredible video. Thank you for doing this!

Dude yes, I haven't even watched yet but I'm so glad you're covering this absolute diamond of a game

Your retrospectives are Easily my new favorite series. I listen twice, once awake and also while I’m trying to sleep.

Really, I need to pick this up again. It was awesome when I was 12 when I first played it will be now I am 35, and I understand so much. It is always good to relieve childhood experiences through adult understanding

I Finished Your Channel. I’ve watched/listened to it all. I’ve already started PD saga, Sands of Time is sitting in my Steam library, and I might even brave a horror game (Parasite Eve) thanks to your channel. Thanks Matt for your amazing work here, and for livening up my commute these last few weeks. Excited for whatever you’re working on next

So glad you did this video! vagrant Story is a "hidden" gem for many and should get the attention it deserves. One of the best RPGs ever in gaming history.

I've spent thousands of hours on watching RU-vid videos. Quite a lot of them meaning a lot to me, enriching my life with their entertainment, nostalgia, perspectives etc. So much so I consider them a work of art by themselves. Most of those meaningful ones are about gaming history, design, philosophy and the like. And this one here just jumped to be one of my absolute favourites. Such a detailed video about what I consider to be one of humanities greatest works of art, about one of the very few persons I consider myself a fan of (one of the other few being Kojima-san ironically). This is truly beautiful and I wanna thank you deeply for making this! I watched it once now and will definitely watch it dozens times more in the future.

I always thought it was fitting that your profile pic is a picture of silver surfer, a character filled with so much dread and existentialism. And the fact that you make these long videos after playing all the games in a series, But i could just be overthinking this.

Wow, thank you so much for this! This is one of my favorite games ever, and to hear about its beginnings to where we might end up just tugs at my heart strings.

One of my beloved Childhood games. Thank you for all this effort that you put into this video. The German Community dosen't know much about pieces like that.

WOW - the revelation that Solstice and Tactics Ogre share any connection is mind blowing to me, let alone that Tactics Ogre started with a different title entirely. Solstice was one of those games i wanted to play incessantly as a young young kid, if you want to hear something truly incredible for the NES check out the opening theme for that game.

I absolutely adore the direction and cinematography of the cutscenes in this game. Phenomenal video btw😊

Such an amazing game from my childhood I’ll never forget. And this is gaming journalism at its finest that dives deep into what went into the making of this gem

You are like this really intelligent friend that would help us get past difficult areas in videogames. This video is incredibly insightful and amazing. Keep doing such a great work. Thank you for a nostalgic journey to the past!

I always get excited when I see a new video from you. The amount of time and effort you put into these isn't lost on me. Appreciate you 🙏

I absolutely loved this game when it first came out! I still have it and my memory cards and have recently played it for a 5th continuation play through on my PS2. Not sure if I missed it in this video or if it didn’t say but once you beat the game, you can obtain Guildenstern’s final boss weapon, the Holy Win. It is obtainable on second play by entering The Iron Maiden B2 with less than 150 health and defeating the Last Crusader at the entrance to B3. The drop rate for The Holy Win is between 1 and 3%, and as such, it is extremely difficult to obtain. This weapon is OP and has great reach. Best weapon in the game by far!

Have been keeping a tab opened on this video for months. Usually by this time I just lose interest and close it, but something told me to keep it. Finally watched, and I'm completely amazed! Thank you for such great presentation and analysis of a masterpiece! Really surpassed my expectations, as sometimes such lengthy "video essays" are just waaaay over-padded.

I cannot stress enough how much I like your videos, last year when I discovered you I watched a lot of them back to back, and today I'm rewatching this one after rewatching the Eve one. I actually haven't watched the Metroid one just because I want to play the remake first, because I know that you talk in so much detail and in such a comprehensive way that I won't be able to stop the video when the "spoilers" start, they are entertaining to watch as well as to just listen to, I hope you continue this year with many more videos (quality over quantity of course). I know this donation is nothing in the way of money, but I just wanted to make sure you know that your content is awesome.

They should bring this back, SERIOUSLY, imagine a remake of this. or atleast give us a remaster.

Vagrant Story has been in my list to play game for a very long time now, I'm debating on whether I should just watch this entire video or play it by myself first (which I really have trouble finding the time), what do you guys think?

About the intro video playing only on the startup menu: Back then it was understood that everybody waited for the demo to play when starting up a new game for the first time. It's not something games do much these days, but at the time it was standard. The developers genuinely assumed people would watch that on their own without needing to be prompted, which is probably why a modern player could easily miss that.

I loved this game, and you did amazing, as usual.

Your retrospectives are works of art. The depth with which you deliver into the subject and the obvious passion with which you speak on the games you present is genuinely a marvel.

I still own Vagrant Story... i remember my brother maxed out the Timer on the Save File and STILL was finding secrets and perfecting his already OP equipment. Vagrant Story is, at least in my eyes, a "Perfect Game". A game that has long lasting value and replayability that exceeds it's price tag....a game that, all things considered with this game industry, is deserving of a remaster...but should NEVER get it, for to do so would no doubt destroy/butcher/ruin what is already a masterpiece. EDIT: i was about to comment on Crimson Shroud but i see ya mentioned it. I LOVE that game! It's like playing D&D to a degree and despite it's budget-ness, it still oozes that "style" Matsuno has in his games. The story isn't too bad either.

Watching this now, all these years later, I get aggravated at hearing how good this game was. The PlayStation I had developed the accursed laser head reader failure issue when I got this game, and I was never able to play it. The initial battle area would load after there cutscenes, then I was not able to progress beyond that area since nothing else could load. To hear the accolades, the praise, and generally see how good the same was, it's frustrating beyond words to know something as seminal as say FF8 or MGS was always sitting there in front of me, but that I never had the chance to experience. It's indescribable. Thank you for the indepth video, to learn about how good this story is now only motivates me to find a way to experience it for myself.

Wow, I’ve played games my whole life and I never heard of this, we’ll done on making this, capturing 3 hrs of footage as well as writing what must be one hell of a script! Well done 👏

Yay!!!! You finished it. I’m so looking forward to watching this. Cheers!

Given Tactic's Ogre Reborn, the very likely upcoming Final Fantasy Tactics Reborn, I do hope Vagrant Story Reborn is in the near future.

I really love your work, it helps me chill out

Vagrant story was a gift from my then fiance (now wife) over 20 years ago. She got me the game and the guide and lets just say that even till this day, we stll dont talk about it lol. I absolutely loved this game. Even the what some consider to be the convulted crafting system and the complexity of the affinity system, weapon health, weapon leveling; it was so deep and unlike anything i had ever played before. I spent hours/days/weeks farming weapons, gems, hilts. I practiced chains endlessly on the dummies that you encounter in each area and the story/presentation -- so wonderful! Your video essay in my opinion gives this masterpiece its rightful due.

I'm about 52 minutes into the video (fantastic work so far btw), and to throw my 2 cents on the Durai quote at the beginning, it connects Vagrant' Story's concepts of "body" and "soul" with the story's main themes. While Vagrant Story's lore deals a lot with literal lost souls tainted by The Dark forcefully attacking the living for fresher bodies to inhabit, it *also* serves as an extended metaphor for humans' tendency to manipulate and subjugate others for their own ends. The common thread between every faction in Vagrant Story is that those with power deceive their followers because the "bodies" of the latter (or: an individual's capacity to serve their master) are valued more than their "souls", which we can define as the hopes, fears, and agency of those being manipulated. Ashley is said to have no soul because he's waived his right to his own body, he'll fight and die in service of the VKP, and they've warped his mind so that he may continue to do so. It's only by holding onto the love he had for Tia and Marco that Ashley's soul resurfaces. Sydney chooses Ashley because the latter fights out of devotion to those he loves rather than any desire to subjugate others, which mirrors what Sydney is doing for Duke Bardorba. So again, to reiterate, I think the Durai quote at the start is there to frame the conflict between those with ambition and the people they subjugate, and it does so in a way that begs the audience to consider the horrific nature of this subjugation

This is one game that needs a remake.

Another thoroughly captivating video. I very rarely get so invested in video games outside of the genres I usually play, but you've managed to light a fire in me to finish this game (which I've only first heard of thanks to this video). There are so many cool ideas being used here, and I think my favorite concept is the idea that the weapons you use are your typical party members. It's odd really; I wonder why other games never chose to try going that route. The story is insanely interesting, and I'd love to try and play it past the end credits to see how fighting the post-game bosses play out. This honestly was such a treat to watch, and I'm hoping to watch more of you in the future. I know you've already got a schedule of new videos that obviously take a very long time to research, play, and record, but I personally would love to listen to a Star Ocean series as I've only played Till the End of Time and really want to know how the series as a whole plays out. Again, keep up the fantastic work and I'll continue to watch more of your content.

I keep going though this video thinking "Man this reminds me of FFXII" and I kept chucking it off to aesthetics, but then I remembered Valendia is a place in FFXII and Lea Monde is mentioned too and my mind exploded with the connection

I’ve wanted to play this game for so long. And when I say play this game, I mean THIS game. No ground up remake. I want PS1 texture warping, early 3D camera and borderline obtuse gameplay. Gimme gimme gimme. Cause it won’t just be playing an old game. It’ll be reigniting the time in which it was made. The Zeitgeist going on around when Vagrant Story was birthed, the mood, the soul, that is what art does as well as speak to the individual. It’s pieces of history. Pieces of us. And video games are art, right? 🤔

This is amazing, thank you OP. I first tried Vagrant Story when I was a teenager, was heartbroken I couldn't play it because of a defect CD back then. I was so close to crying like a baby when I recently found a ROM of it and now spending my gaming time playing it. I genuinely appreciate the work put into this video.

Great video! I really loved Vagrant Story when it released and look back on it fondly. It's funny to learn about the crafting game system that I never fully engaged in. Now it all makes sense why the final boss was so hard. I remember fighting him so long that my weapon actually built up affinity so I was doing decent damage at the end.

Another phenomenal documentary on a piece of history I missed out on in my youth. Thank you for sharing these stories and these masterpieces that would otherwise fall unknown to history.

The amount of people who don't read through the manual in the options menu is astounding. I never had any difficulties with this game as a kid, since you can always check the manual. One of my favorite games ever, 10/10.

I think I turned off the block puzzle reset the instant I had the chance, checking through menues was just a thing back then. I remember using one certain break art every time my risk got a bit too high, instead of using the consumable. I didn't interact with the systems quite as much, things were slightly harder, but I had a good rhythm and a good pace. (I don't remember if I took down azura... but I remember I did time trial bosses, so I must have?) I want this re-released. I want steam achievements for the challenges. I want this to thrive with content on ff14 as a crossover. I want people to know it exists, I want it to matter that I remember this, that this existed. It deserves better then my half memory.

Sorry for spamming comments but My GOD the opening sequence is an absolute masterpiece. I love how the first wyvern you fight is clearly battle-worn and weakened; but the next one is not so weak. So good!

only half an hour into this, and I have stopped the video to congratulate you. Something i would never normally do. it's incredibly good. this is the first video of yours i've seen, and really i'm highly impressed.

PS1 was the greatest home console of all time

This game is so beautiful it'll probably never look bad, and i like to think it inspired the guys who made xenoblade chronicles 1 on the wii, as they also did as much as they could with what they had, and created a game much more beloved than the final fantasies we had on ps3

Come for the Vagrant Story retrospective, stay for Matsuno's story :P . I'm still watching the video, but here's some possible context for the decision to set the intro sequences "hidden" from the player ( <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="3044">50:44</a> ). At that time, many games would usually loop a trailer (like Vagrant Story's CGI trailer) in the menu screen if there was no input. This way, brick-and-mortar stores (which were where most people would buy most games in the 90's and 00's) could just leave the new hot game release running on a TV, trying to peak the curiosity of potential customers. Matsuno essentially added a couple of "inciting events" trailers to it, and took advantage of this to directly throw the player in the game. Remember, all this was before video over the internet was a thing: RU-vid was launched in 2005, and GameTrailers in 2002. Actually, if I remember correctly, you can also skip the "tutorial" part as if it was a cutscene, and then the game just drops you directly in the cellar.

Thank you for bringing back those (mostly) beautiful memories

This is honestly one of the best video essays I've ever watched, I just found the whole story captivating.

Love the channel. keep up the great work!!

It's high time I did my yearly replay of this game, and for those people that found the barrier of entry a little high, fret not, I'll be streaming this game on my channel real soon!

I wondered if anyone else ever wondered about Tia's necklace, though somewhat hard to make out on the character model. Why would she have "that" and was it showing the memory to be fabrication of that power, a red herring of sorts or something else?

OMG I loved this game and I love you for making this video! ❤ I grinded all the way to the perfect Damascus 1h sword and 2h holy win sword. This takes me back I would pay full price for a remake

Amazing video and such a good dive into a legendary developer and game. The facial animations are something else!!

Vagrant Story, MGS1, Silent Hill 1, and FF7 are the only PS1 games I still have to this day. I return to them every few years or so, and outdated control schemes aside, they all hold up so well! I hope that we see another renaissance in this kind of game design. The indie scene is belting out some amazing stuff atm, but I'd love to see what the generation that grew up with the above listed games has to offer as they grow older and reflect on their inspirations.

I stand by the opinion this game is a masterpiece and more people should give it a shot if they can.

I have waited for this video for months, ever since I threw out four video ideas and you said three of them were in the works. I had high hopes this was one. I'm still holding on to the hope that Onimusha is another. Vagrant Story is such a phenomenal game, and I think both a testament to the industry then and how far it has fallen now. The fact that I, and many others, have such fond memories playing VS to the point that it still feels great to play 25 years later illustrates how great the game is. That there are so many great games from that era of gaming that meet the same replayable standards speaks to the quality of games and the caliber of storytelling of the time. That I can only think of a handful of games that have that replay value today, and many of them are FromSoft titles, is a sad statement for today's gaming landscape. I've played Vagrant Story so many times over the past 2 ½ decades, and I still don't feel I've completed the game. It is, by far, one of my all time favorite games in 44 years on this rock. I've completed the game and lost the save file to time, moving losses, and data corruption numerous times. I know the story by heart, but still get lost in that damned forest. I still need to make the highest tier armor and weapons. I still need to max out all the break arts. I would love to introduce my wife to the game and see how she enjoys it (or doesn't, but I don't see that happening). As usual, your retrospective is amazingly well researched, incredibly comprehensive, and remarkably enjoyable. I look forward your next video.

Amazing video. Just pure amazing. I am at a loss for words

Thank you so much for making such an incredible, informative video on this game. It's a fascinating game with an equally fascinating background, it's the epitome of a game that is special exactly for the way and time it was made even if it's far from perfect

Dude, you have done retrospectives on two of my favorite underrated gems, Jade Empire and Vagrant Story. They were both amazing (as well as your other videos). I do wish they would give these two the remake treatment (although I get your reasons for not with Vagrant Story). I kind of feel like Final Fantasy XVI was more of a follow-up to VS than to the FF series, which I think is why I liked it so much.