Vagrant Story Cheats & Secrets for PlayStation

Originally released on February 10, 2000, Vagrant Story is Square Enix’s critically acclaimed action and tactics RPG hybrid. Coming from the mind of creator Yasumi Matsuno, the game would begin its life as a sort of passion project for Matsuno following his work on Final Fantasy Tactics. Matsuno would conduct extensive research on the history and architecture of medieval Europe to help make the game’s setting and plot feel authentic, deciding to have the game take place in the same fictional kingdom from Final Fantasy Tactics. Similar to other games of the era, Square would release a demo disc for Vagrant Story packaged in one of its other games, Legend of Mana, to help drum up hype for the title.

Success for Vagrant Story proved to be immediate, with the game selling 100,000 units in the first week of its release. The game is the only title on the original PlayStation to receive a perfect 40/40 score from gaming publication Famitsu and has a strong review aggregate score of 92% across 43 critics. Despite Vagrant Story‘s release in the proximity of Final Fantasy IX and Chrono Cross, the title would go on to become a best-seller and earn the PlayStation Greatest Hits label just a year after its release. Thanks to its incredibly complex and multi-layered battle system and rewarding RPG mechanics, many players consider Vagrant Story to be one of the PS1’s greatest titles.

Vagrant Story Premise

The plot of Vagrant Story begins with main character Ashley Riot and his partner Callo infiltrating the manor of Duke Bardorba. The Duke is somehow involved with the Müllenkamp cult and its enigmatic leader, Sydney Losstarot. After confirming Sydney’s power over the dark arts, the two knights escape into the catacombs beneath Leá Monde, which they then use to traverse the city and follow Sydney with hopes of arresting him. Vagrant Story‘s plot embodies themes of corruption, power, and religious theocracy, much like creator Yasumi Matsuno’s work on both Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XII.

In terms of its gameplay, Vagrant Story is a cross between turn-based and real-time RPG gameplay. Players control one character, hero Ashley Riot, as he traverses a series of dungeons. Combat allows players to utilize real-time positioning and target individual body parts of enemies. Inflicting enough damage on a particular body part will cripple it, affecting the enemy’s suite of abilities. The same is true of Ashley, who has health and endurance meters for each region of his body and needs to use careful movement and positioning in battle to avoid being crippled. There are several weapon types to use and multiple different enemy classes. Players earn experience based on their weapon type (which improves its proficiency in battle) and from enemy class (which improves effectiveness against enemies of the same type in subsequent encounters).

Vagrant Story Main Characters

The main character and hero of Vagrant Story is Ashley Riot, an elite operative in a group of agents known as Riskbreakers. These clandestine warriors operate in the shadows to investigate rising threats and quell them before they get out of hand, and Vagrant Story sees Riot responding to growing tensions between a member of the nobility and a cult leader of rising influence. Together with his fellow Riskbreakers, Riot will travel throughout the principality of Leá Monde to ensure the safety of the Kingdom of Valendia. The main characters in Vagrant Story include:

• Ashley Riot: The hero and main character of Vagrant Story. Ashley is a high-ranking member of the Valendia Knights of the Peace (VKP) and is part of a secret order of knights known as the Riskbreakers. He is dispatched to stop a rising cult leader with aims to disrupt the status quo.
• Callo Merlose: Callo is Ashley’s partner and a member of another order within the VKP, the Inquisitors. Her lack of experience in the field puts her at risk, eventually leading to her capture and being held hostage.
• Sydney Losstarot: A nefarious cult leader with rising influence, Sydney is the presumed main antagonist of Vagrant Story. However, later story revelations show him to be a secondary antagonist to the game’s real threat.

Games in the Vagrant Story Series

Despite the near-universal acclaim and success of Vagrant Story, the title would end up being a one-off. Creator Yasumi Matsuno would go on to help with the conceptualization and design of Final Fantasy XII following Vagrant Story, leaving Square Enix shortly thereafter and passing on the project to director Hiroyuki Ito. Along with other PS1 Square games of the era, Vagrant Story remains a cult classic and is highly regarded as one of the greatest games ever made, RPG or otherwise. Notably, several ideas from Vagrant Story would go on to influence Final Fantasy XII, including both games taking place in the fictional setting of Ivalice from Final Fantasy Tactics. Games in the Vagrant Story series include:

• Vagrant Story (PlayStation, 2000)

Vagrant Story Cheats & Secrets

Like most other Square games on PS1, there are no official cheats for Vagrant Story. However, there are plenty of secrets for players to uncover as well as a plethora of Game Shark codes players can use, provided they have a Game Shark device or an emulator with cheat functionality.

Vagrant Story Secrets

New Game + Mode

After completing Vagrant Story, save the game. After, start a new game using the clear game save file. This will unlock the “New Game+” feature. Similar to other New Game + modes, players will be able to carry over their level, items, and weapons.

Infinite Human Class Experience for Weapons

Early in the game, immediately after defeating the Minotaur Boss and receiving the Chain ability, an attack dummy will appear in the Save Room outside the Minotaur’s lair. The dummy not only gives you points toward learning new battle abilities (gained by chaining your attacks), it also gives Human Class experience to the weapon you use as you attack the dummy. Interestingly, the dummy awards Human Class experience at the same rate as attacking a real human enemy.

Rare Grimoires

At Sinner’s Corner and the four rooms immediately surrounding it is a Phantom Class enemy called the Dark Eye. After a Dark Eye is defeated it may drop a Grimoire for one of five different, rare, Warlock Class spells. Those spells are Solid Shock, Lightning Bolt, Fireball, Vulcan Lance, and Dark Chant. Players can repeatedly reload and grind this spot to get the rare Grimoire drops.

More Efficient Healing

Instead of casting healing spells outside of battle, wait and cast them while in Battle Mode. This will restore more HP than when healing in Normal/Relaxed Mode.

Training Dummy Locations

Throughout the game you will find training dummies near save points. These training dummies allow you to practice combos and power up your weaponry. Additionally, the enemy class of the dummy corresponds to the type of experience players earn from attacking it. The locations of the training dummies are as follows:

• Wine Cellar, “Blackmarket”, Human Dummy
• Wine Cellar, “Worker’s Restroom”, Human Dummy
• Abandoned Mines B1, “The Dark Tunnel”, Beast Dummy
• Catacombs, “Hall of Sworn Revenge”, Undead Dummy
• City Walls North, “From Boy to Hero”, Phantom Dummy
• City Walls South, “The Boy’s Training Room”, Dragon Dummy
• Town Center East, “Gharmes Walk”, Evil Dummy

Weapon and Shield Combinations

Combining weapons or shields can result in the creation of superior items with better stats. Below are some noteworthy weapon and shield combinations to get some powerful items.

• Combine any two Hagane Double-Blades to get a Hagane Halberd
• Combine two Nodachi Great Swords to get a Rune Blade
• Combine two Kopesh Swords to get a Wakizashi
• Combine an Oval and Heater Shields to get a Knight Shield

Obtainable Titles

There are several titles players can unlock by completing specific in-game tasks.

Recruit Enemies

During fights with any non-boss or non-zombie enemy, players can use a trick to get the foe to fight on their behalf. During the fight, repeatedly use healing or Risk-lowering items. Eventually, a heart will appear above the enemy’s head. The enemy will now follow you anywhere in the room you are currently in and fight other enemies for you.

Vagrant Story Game Shark Cheats

There are several Game Shark codes available for Vagrant Story that players can take advantage of. Note that playing the game natively on a PlayStation requires also having a Game Shark device. Alternatively, players using an emulator can enter any of the following cheats into the emulator’s “Cheat” menu.

General Cheats

Battle Ability Cheats

Defense Abilities

Break Art Cheats

Dagger

Sword

Great Sword

Axe and Mace

Great Axe

Staff

Heavy Mace

Polearm

Crossbow

Unarmed

Character Cheats

Teleportation Location Cheats

Using the following codes will unlock the corresponding location as an available teleportation spot.

Vagrant Story Cheat FAQs

Are there cheats in Vagrant Story?

While there are no “official” cheats for Vagrant Story, the game does have dozens of available Game Shark codes. These codes significantly alter gameplay by giving the player character max stat values, access to powerful weapons and abilities, and unlocking locations that players can teleport to and sequence break the game.

Does Vagrant Story have a sequel?

Currently, there is only one game in the Vagrant Story series, the 2000 original on PlayStation. That said, the game does come from renowned creator Yasumi Matsuno, who would incorporate many ideas and references from Vagrant Story into his work on Final Fantasy XII. Despite not being directly connected to one another, both games take place in the fictional realm of Ivalice. Ivalice is also the setting of Matsuno’s critically acclaimed Final Fantasy Tactics.

What kind of game is Vagrant Story?

At its core, Vagrant Story is a classic dungeon-crawling RPG. Players do not interact with NPCs and visit towns like in traditional JRPGs. Instead, the game focuses on a lone character, hero Ashley Riot, as they traverse complex, labyrinthine dungeons and fight enemies. Along the way players will need to improve their weapons and gear, using the game’s unique hybrid of real-time movement and positioning with turn-based attacks to tackle the game’s challenges.

How long to beat Vagrant Story?

As far as RPGs go, Vagrant Story is a fairly concise experience. Most players will complete the main story in 25-30 hours, with brisk playthroughs easily erring on the side of 25 hours. A completionist playthrough in which players 100% the game can take anywhere from 65-70 hours.

The image featured at the top of this post is ©CheatCC/Matt Karoglou.