Vagrant Story

I was hoping this would be a homelessness sim. The porfessions of assasin, and mercinary are hugely overrepresented in video games, but even on the rare occasions a story focuses on a character with some other job, it is still a job. I was excited to play a game that explored the completely unexplored territory of playing as a hobo. Of course the moment I looked at the cover are it was immedately obvious this was a Japanese RPG. This is a genera I don't particularly care for, and the graphics are at the painfully ugly pixelated low end of the Play Station 1's already limited capabilities. That being said, they manage to pull of a very cinematic feel, and the combat system is unique and interesting. It allows free motion throughout the fight so you can dodge if you are fast enough. The action freezes when an attack is happening and the number of hit points taken pops up. When you attack it allows you to pick which part of the enemies body you want to target. This makes it much more engaging than Final Fantasy style rotational battle.

Game play video (Skip to 5:15 for the part that isn't boring)

In a five star rating system,
I give this game 3