A look back at: Vandal Hearts II

The old fantasy ages were rife with all sorts of political intrigue, something that is realistically still happening in certain nations. Nations divided into two different types of governments will find some way to reunify by force, while specific storyline people get caught in the intrigue as they go along. Vandal Hearts II is definitely all about that. We have Joshua, Adele, Yuri, and Clive, four known friends from a small town who all have different backgrounds and such, separated by the powers that be in scandals and such. Reminds me a lot on the kids in Suikoden II, coincidentally also made by Konami. Man, Konami knew how to write fantastic stories, didn't they?

Poor Joshua, the guy had to go through a lot, trying to figure out right from wrong, accidentally having to kill Lord Kossimo, and then forced to live a life as a (at least badass) bandit. But still wanting to make sure he can at least make some sort of amend to Adele, the woman he wanted to love. Plus wanting to see his old friends Yuri, Clive, as well as adopted sister Rosaly again. Yeah, in case you're wondering, the endings of the game deal with how Joshua deals with these characters, as Clive, Yuri, and Adele are in danger of permanently dying during the course of the game if things aren't met well.

Unfortunately the character development is the weakest part of Vandal Hearts II, as aside from Joshua, the only playable character to get enough focus is Baron Pratau, the fifth character you permanently acquire. And even then, he's a politician by nature and the only one to get some centralization. At least he's the good politician, fighting for the good of this country even when assassins try to come after him. Every other character you have with you is a subordinate of some kind to either Joshua or Pratau, with Hammet being the only exception as he just wants vengeance on his village. On the non-playable side, we see a ton of characters that either are enemies, or simply unfought, as the many gray area characters in the game tend to off each other. The most interesting villains have to be Agatha's three main lieutenants as well as the three Blood Knights, all of which at least get some sort of representation in that they do flee after having been beaten a few times before their eventual deaths. Godard is of course the overarching villain and a psychopath by nature, with puppetry and brainwashing at his disposal.

Oh did I forget the battle system? No way was I going to forget that. Having two units from both sides move simultaneously is an interesting idea, but not the best in execution. It can actually make battles annoying if you end up trying to attack a certain enemy who just moved from the spot you were attacking, though this tends to be an issue enemies have to deal with themselves too, so it's appropriately double-edged. Also weapons do require percentage levels to use special skills on them before you can have those abilities, and you can then swap those abilities on better weapons and such. Missing an attack still ups the percentage of the weapon levels. As for difficulty, yeah, the battle system will make things all over the place, but the level curves just fine. Practicing on easier battles helps gain the stats needed too. A long game for sure, interesting with mechanics and plot, but this will likely be the last Vandal Hearts I play due to the series dipping afterwards.

A look back at: Vandal Hearts

 

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.