Heh, I finished this game almost an entire year ago. Only due to my stupidly annoying schedule and that I wanted to get other franchises out of the way, I put the review for this one aside until later. In any case, Vandal Hearts is Konami's own Final Fantasy Tactics. Or perhaps their own Shining Force? There's not a whole lot I can really say about it all, it's an isometric tactical RPG, but in this case both sides get their respective turns instead of whenever their turns show up, so it's a lot more basic. The standard equips are there, and the battles play as tactical RPGs go. The class changes are quite nice, but the big thing here is that the monk and armor classes are HUGE losers in the long run, so it's important to figure out the best choice for mages and knights beforehand.
Then there's the whole deal with all the hidden stuff. Besides the squares for getting hidden items and such, there's those trials of Toroah for getting the Vandalier class, and good lord, is that thing overpowered. I would almost say it shouldn't be that way, though having to worry about Kain's Plasma Wave spell early at the start of the final chapter does even things out slightly. The Vandalier class has access to all spells including that one, but I'd be damned if that thing didn't cost me a lot in terms of party. Thankfully this game has no permadeath, despite all the blood that gets spewed from kills.
The plot certainly has that Final Fantasy Tactics feel to it, a hero is sort of fallen because of his own father's status, while another villainous person likes to spit in his face often. He at least has the help of many others who will do whatever it takes against the tyrannical oppressors. Yet despite their efforts, the tyrants do get their way before their demise, they slaughter any sort of opposition when necessary, and it gets even worse when the bigwigs start backstabbing each other. Lust for power, this is a big issue in a lot of video games and there's always that political intrigue that loves to show face.
