Vagrant Story 2: The Underrated Masterpiece That Deserves A Full Modern Remake

As game preservation and remakes for nostalgic reasons continue to drive a lot of modern gaming, fans are looking for more than just Final Fantasy VII or Resident Evil 4. More and more people are interested in cult classics that were ahead of their time but may not be fully appreciated now. Vagrant Story, a PlayStation 1 game from 2000 by Square, is one of these hidden gems.

It is still one of the bravest and most artistically rich RPGs ever made. The game, which came out near the end of the PS1's life, was a technical marvel that mixed tactical dungeon crawling with a political thriller plot. Even though it got good reviews, it never became as well-known as other movies of the same time.

Now that technology has improved enough to finally live up to its goals, Vagrant Story is not only a good choice for a remake but also one of the best reasons for Square Enix to bring it back to life in their entire library.

Before this craze for remakes, Square Enix had already started to look back at some of its many classic games. Square is willing to take creative risks to make new versions of their old games, as shown by the Final Fantasy VII Remake project. Because of this, now is a great time to remember Vagrant Story, a game that, even though it's almost 25 years old, still feels surprisingly new in terms of tone, structure, and vision.

One of the things that makes Vagrant Story stand out is the way it is presented. It looked amazing for a PS1 game, with character models that pushed the hardware to its limits and a cinematic style that used moving cameras and expressive animations. It didn't have an overworld or a party system like most RPGs do. Instead, it was about one main character, Ashley Riot, and his scary journey into the haunted city of Leá Monde.

The story was tight, mature, and told with a level of sophistication that wasn't common in games of that time. The dialogue was written in a Shakespearean style, which gave the already heavy themes of public corruption, religious fanaticism, and personal guilt even more weight.

With today's hardware, a modern remake could take these movie-like goals and make them bigger. Imagine Leá Monde with real-time lighting and gothic architecture that makes you think of Bloodborne or Demon's Souls.

Imagine characters like Ashley, Sydney Losstarot, and Guildenstern coming to life with complex facial animations. Voice acting could be added to make the emotional points stronger and give the already poetic dialogue more depth. With motion capture and dynamic direction, cutscenes could be rethought, making the story more than just memorable.

The story and graphics of the game are groundbreaking, but its gameplay is still the thing that divides people the most. Vagrant Story had a unique way of fighting that wasn't fully turn-based or fully action-based. Players could stop time to aim at specific parts of an enemy's body, time their attacks perfectly, and keep track of a huge number of risk meters, affinities, weapon types, and resistances.

It was deep and rewarding, but also very hard to understand, which turned off many casual players. The system was hard for new players to understand because it had a steep learning curve and not many in-game explanations.

This is the best place for a remake to make money. The first system doesn't have to be thrown away; it just needs to be made simpler. Using what they learned from the Final Fantasy VII Remake, Square Enix could create a mixed-type combat system that keeps the strategic depth but makes it more immediate and fluid.

It was easy for players to switch between real-time attacks and tactical menus, chaining skills with style while also being able to stop and make plans. This would bring the experience up to date without taking away from its soul.

Combat could also be set up like it is in God of War (2018), with heavy, deliberate melee combat, RPG-style stat management, and a skill tree with many levels. Ashley Riot was never a typical hero. He was more like a cursed knight meets inquisitor, and the tone of the game fits with his dark, brooding personality. That character might do really well with a slower, more intense style of combat.

Vagrant Story is a dungeon crawler at its core, and the way the levels were made was ahead of its time. There were clever connections between rooms, puzzles that made you go backward, and different kinds of enemies that needed different strategies. But compared to games today, the environments looked the same, and the lack of fast travel or clear instructions could get old.

If it were made again, it might add to these mechanics by using ideas from Metroidvania games. Give players a reason to go back to areas they've already been to with new tools or skills. Add smart shortcuts, quality-of-life features like map markers and loadouts that can be changed, and better ways to get around by adding climbing, gliding, or damaging the environment.

The most interesting and difficult thing about the game was its inventory and crafting system. In Vagrant Story, there were a huge number of different materials, affinities, and enhancements that could be used to make and customize weapons.

However, remembering a complicated set of interactions and keeping an inventory that could quickly become too much to handle was necessary. This level of depth should be kept in a remake, but it should be easier to navigate. It would be more fun and less frustrating to try new things if the user interface were more up-to-date and there were crafting previews and contextual tutorials.

Of course, the tone is very important for any remake to work. Vagrant Story had a lot of mood. It felt more like a psychological thriller than a typical fantasy RPG because of its dark gothic architecture, moody orchestral music by Hitoshi Sakimoto, and general feeling of dread. This tone must be kept in the remake.

It shouldn't turn into a flashy action game; it should stay deep, slow, and scary. The story shouldn't have its unclear parts or mature themes toned down. Instead, these parts should be emphasized in a remake, making the world feel real, dangerous, and full of moral questions.

Also, Vagrant Story has a loose link to the world of the Ivalice Alliance, which is home to Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XII. These links could be looked into more deeply in a remake, either through small hints in the story or even optional crossover content. Square Enix has been building a bigger storyline behind the scenes for decades, and this could help bring fans of those games into the fold.

Why do we need to redo this now? As the studio has finally reached a level where it can do Vagrant Story justice. The first one wasn't as good because it had hardware problems, no voice acting, and combat that only a few people liked. Its core, though, is that it is an RPG for adults that is emotionally complex and has a cinematic feel, and it is more popular than ever.

Single-player games with strong stories, deep systems, and atmospheric worlds are what people want these days. All of those things are in Vagrant Story, and a remake could make them much easier to get and more powerful.

Square Enix has the people, the tools, and the technology to make it happen. People are ready for bold new takes on beloved classics, as shown by the success of Final Fantasy VII Remake. Vagrant Story didn't sell a lot of copies in 2000, but the people who played it will remember it for a long time. That's the kind of game that, if it came out today with a few tweaks and updates, could find a new audience and get the mainstream attention it always deserved.

Remakes aren't just about bringing back memories; they're also about keeping promises. And Vagrant Story promised more: a world, a mystery, a combat system that was hard to figure out, and a story that was worth being told. It's time to read Leá Monde again. Let's try Ashley Riot again, not as a historical curiosity but as a story that has come back to life.

Also, check our other articles on remakes below:

• Xenogears: Deserves The Remake That Could Finally Finish the Game
• Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Needs A Remake For Sure
• The Evil Within Remake: Is Tango Gameworks Bringing Back The Horror Gem?
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• inFamous 1 & 2 Remastered: Why It's Time For A Definitive PS5 Collection
• Far Cry 2: A Cult Classic Ready for a Modern Remake
• Fallout 1 & 2 Remake: Why It's Time to Revive the Wasteland's Roots
• Devil May Cry: Why the Original Deserves A Full Remake In the Modern Era
• Deus Ex 5: The Cyberpunk Classic Needing A Modern Revival
• Alpha Protocol: The Cult Classic Spy RPG Poised For A Modern Revival
• Bloodborne 2: The Next Gothic Masterpiece Waiting To Be Reborn