A leather bikini, knee-high boots, and a sword.
Honestly, when I picked up Sword of the Vagrant to review, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’m usually a straight turn-based style his RPG guy and figured it would be a bit out of my box. After starting the game, I was pretty excited. The presentation and music were great. Your main character, Vivian, has had a rough road from the start. Hated for what she is, she is tasked with working with the very enemy she has pursued for most of her life. And I’m wearing knee-high boots, so it seems like it’s very difficult to get clothes.
A good story needs a bit of drama, and for the most part, this game has it. The game is filled with lots of marching and beating this guy, and opens up something new to the point where it’s a little easier to predict, so it definitely fits all the RPG tropes out there. Aside from Price’s typical RPG hero to-do list, the game has quite a bit of depth when it comes to character development. Killing enemies earns mana, which is primarily used to unlock new stats and skills. Characters have ability trees reminiscent of Final Fantasy 10. This is where mana is used to buy and open new paths in the tree. Weapons and armor can also be upgraded, which is a great feature that expands the usefulness of your gear.
The controls are very basic: attack and jump, skill buttons. Skill-unlocked combos are, for the most part, easy to pull off, and overall they’re pretty easy to learn, with little learning curve before figuring out the mechanics. The ease of movement and controls made navigating the platforming sequences easy and frustrating. My only complaint is the double tap used to run the character. If you use the stick, you can run at full speed, but the movement is awkward, and if you move it even a little, it will stop running. So use your joypad. This is not a problem.
Priced at $9.99, Sword of the Vagrant has a lot of content, plenty of challenges, and decent A story that makes you want to go to the end. I hope Vivian can finally buy clothes on the trip, because running around in leather underwear is airy and embarrassing!
