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This is one awesome game...!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: December 10, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Before this game, I did not believe that another game could rival Final Fantasy Tactics in terms of storyline, gameplay, and graphics. But then I played Vandal Hearts II

This game begins with a simple plot: your main character Joseph lives in a village as a peasant forced to conform to the inequities of a Caste system in which Nobles control every aspect of peasant and middle class society life. He eventually leaves his village in the middle of a very tragic event. The story instantly becomes much more than that, but I won't go into detail.

This game features a dual-turn battle system, which, to my knowledge, is previously unprecedented in strategy role-playing games . This makes it so that each enemy moves at the same time as each of your characters do. This makes the game much more fun and challenging, and it causes you to have to think strategically when planning each of your moves; you have to be able to anticipate how the character will attack you and plan your movements and attacks accordingly. This gets harder as the game progresses because the enemies will use a greater variety of weapons and skills. You might have to spend some battles outside of the main quest getting used to this new system, but it is an awesome experience. (I think they used more blood than really necessary, though. Sure, when they get slashed to death and die they have to bleed, but not THAT much!)

Also, the game gets rid of the job system featured in Final Fantasy Tactics. Instead, your weapons and armor give you all of your stats, abilities and techniques. You can equip up to two weapons on a character (Your shield counts as one of those weapons), with the exception of certain ones. Different weapons give you different attacks and special techniques.Armor determines your movement in battle. Heavy armor gives you a great deal of HP. Light vests give you less HP, but you can move farther and through grass. Wing armor gives you little HP, but you have amazing mobility and can move to great heights and over any surface.

The graphics are not the greatest. The pictures of the characters during dialogue are kind of strange-looking, and others are downright ugly. The character sprites don't look nearly as good as in Final Fantasy Tactics, but hey, graphics don't make the game, right?

Overall, this is one of the greatest games I own for PlayStation -- the others being Star Ocean 2 and possibly Final Fantasy Tactics. Anyone who is a fan of strategy RPGs or just RPGs in general should have this.

A Tale of Betrayel

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: December 14, 2002
Author: Amazon User

When I first seen this game, I purchased it on the spot for the sole fact alone that I loved the first game. When I got home to play it a day later I was instantly hooked. The game is full of alot of political intrigue, and the story is very deep and moving.

You follow Joshua who is a young boy living on the land of a rich person, whose daughter likes him. Adele, the Baron's daughter, plays with Joshua all the time, when the Baron, and Josh's father both disapprove. To set up Joshua, the Baron's Advisor brings Joshua to the Manor and forces him to fight Adele's grandfather, killing him, and causing Adele to find the scene, and hate Joshua. Joshua is forced to leave his home, and thus the adventure truely begins.

The story is very deep and moving, as Joshua and Adele's stories take shape, and they are pushed together and pulled apart over and over again. The battle system is alot more flexible than Vandal Hearts and alot more strategy is needed to beat all the monsters. Now, when you move, a monster moves at the same time, meaning you sometimes will have to guess where that monster will move and anticipate it's move.

The menu system in towns and on the world map has still been kept in use, but it cuts all the [garbage] out of a game, and leaves you heading in the direction you are supposed to. There is no confusion on where to go here, like in other games.

Overall this game is great, and if you love alot of reading, and a great story then I suggest you find a copy of this great game as soon as you can!

A great sequel

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: June 15, 2000
Author: Amazon User

My first Playstation RPG/Strategy game was Vandal Hearts, and I immediately fell in love with it. I loved the job system, the cool armor and weapons, the items, the twisted storyline, everything. Now with Vandal Hearts 2, I can relive that amazing experience. The game leaned more toward the Final Fantasy Tactics-style gameplay (which is definitely not a negative), but there are some very cool and unique changes - this time around, you move while the enemy moves. This throws in a whole new element of strategy, as you can predict where the enemy will move and attack that spot as they reach it. There is a ton of armor and weapons at disposal, and another small feature I like is the ability to choose to enter random battles. There are some small quirks, however, such as the map being slightly bigger, and the camera angles are a bit cumbersome, but those minor details don't lessen the 5 stars rating this game deserves.

As Good As The First

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 6
Date: December 13, 1999
Author: Amazon User

Well,I wish the the gameplay and attack system were the same as the VH1 but it's still way cool. the magic graphics are better but,your men are the same graphic-wise.

To anyone who loves strategy RPGS, or fans of the original..

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 17 / 21
Date: December 01, 1999
Author: Amazon User

If anyone has played Vandal Hearts 1 then they would have high expectations for the sequel. Fortunatley this is at least, on par with it. I am still near the beginning of the game, but a few things struck me about this game. The dialoge is very witty, and (so far) has very little RPG cliches. This is a good thing, as one can only handle so many "search for parents" "find sacred sword" storylines in a liftime. Not to say this will stray too much from that, but it is certainly a welcome change. The graphics, on a sadder note are not on par with Final Fantasy Tactics, but, are just as good as Vandal Hearts (which isn't a bad thing) This game has a few changes for the battle system and so on. Overall though, if you are craving a good SRPG then wish for this on your christmas list.

With only a few flaws Vandal Hearts 2 delivers a solid title

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 14 / 15
Date: December 20, 1999
Author: Amazon User

I've decided to change the format of my review for games, please read on if to get an idea of the game, and whether or not it'll fit your idea of a good RPG or not.

STORYLINE/PRESENTATION: (92) The plot to this game isn't very original, your basic warfare with a handful of good guys who wish to make an impact and bring peace to the world. But what stands out is the unfolding of the plot, Konami did a good job weaving a very detailed and involving story. Personally I enjoy a good read, therefore I found this game very appealing; but for those of you who like to hack the enemies and move on, this might not be the game for you, because after each battle there are always scenes that reveals the plot and develops the story further, and there is no way to skip it. There are 2 annoy things to this game, first of all you will notice the extremely long loading time, its about 10 seconds. Now imaging having to wait for it to load for every battle (which is about 50+ according to Konami) and for every story scenes (another 50+,) then you'll get a picture of how long you'll be staring at a "NOW LOADING" screen. The other thing happens when you reads the conversation the characters are having, very often the sentence will break in the middle, and then picks up after 2-3 seconds when the character finishes shaking his/her head or shrugging their shoulders, talk about discontinuity, more often than not I would forget what the conversation was about.

GRAPHICS: (85)

Vandal Hearts II definitely improved on the graphics, better spell effects, backgrounds look a lot nicer than before. Unfortunately, when compared with the RPG/Strategy games out in the market, its just not as visual eye candy as FFVIII. There is also an absence of FMV sequences, an essential element in many current and most upcoming RPG games. The cool thing is that you can actullay see the weapon and armor change, but remember that the strength of this game lies in the plot and the strategy, not in the visual department.

GAMEPLAY: (87) I write this section with mixed feelings, there are a few changes made to the battle and weapon/armor system. First change you'll notice is that when you move a character, the enemy will move a character at the same time, a little twist to the turn-base style. Yes, you'll most likely to miss more often, but the AI follows a similiar pattern (a little hint,) weakest character gets attacked fist, the preference is to attack from the back, side and lastly the front, and more often than not, when magic user can attack, they will go first, then archers and lastly the fighters. So most of the time you should know who's going to get attacked, from where and to move to safety or heal or kill the attacker first. The problem is determining who gets to act first, so you see this game lives up to the strategy expectation.

Second difference you'll notice is the whole weapon/magic system, in VHII there are no character classes such as warriors or mages, it all depends on what the characters wear and use as weapons. Therefore stats such as HP and MP are not gained through leveling up but depends on your equipment. Furthermore, magic and skills are not class-specific, rather it is weapon-specific (similar to materia in FFVII,) and transferring techniques can only be done between the same weapon category. There are definitely a lot of strategy involved in deciding what kind of equipment to use, but a little too limiting, especially since each weapon only equip with certain number of magic/skills.

Lastly is the EP meter, which is like MP in the sense that certain skills can only be performed when you have a certain EP points available, but unlike MP you fill you EP meter by killing enemies. Personally I didn't use these skills requiring EP very much, therefore it is a nice addition to the game, but I'm sure it can do without also.

SOUND/REPLAY VALUE: (82) Not much to say on music, pretty average, nothing too memorable, tends to get a little dull though, but since there are so much strategy going on, you probably wouldn't even care.

Konami supposedly have address the problem of the game being too linear, but since I've only played the game through once, I can't really vouch for that. I however did noticed a few places where outcome of the game might be altered by the answer you choose.

OVERALL: (86) A very solid game, Konami should be praised for improving this game in many areas. Strategy games are a scarce commodity in the gaming world, while this game isn't as good as Final Fantasy Tactics (IMHO,) it is still an excellent game nonetheless. I hope this review has been helpful, and enjoy the game!

Vandalised game or Vandal heart?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: May 31, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I loved the first vandal hearts. It's style was brutal, the gameplay involving and a storyline to boot. Plus an awesome secret if you find the right keys...

The sequel I have anticipated for a long time, having managed to unlock the hidden class for Ash and seeing no extra ending to tie it up I expected this game to continue forthwith.

However upon placing my imported cd into the console and loading it up. I noticed that the title had undergone changes...

The first major change was battle system. In the last title you moved all of your characters and carried out actions, then you waited for ages for the computer to move all theirs. However this time when you move a character the computer moves one. While this paves the way for quicker battles in theory, they can actually take much longer, as it is easy to select to attack an opponent but for them to have moved and you wasting an attack and vice versa.

The game also has a stark absence of fmv, the last one featured many fmv scenes, where this time there are none! Why is a question that still hasn't been answered.

The game itself has also done away with the classes system for each character. Instead of getting to a set level and deciding which path to take, this time you can make any character into any class! Great in theory, but this means that you rely solely on your armour to keep up your Hp, rather than the class you follow. It also does away with class weakness, e.g arrow is weak against sword.

However faults aside there are many things that make the game play well. The decision to do away with in-battle saving means that you have alot more at stake, you can't simply load up your game and play through that turn again, adding a much needed degree of challenge.

You can also equip characters with two weapons should you choose to! Whether you decide to mix an axe with a short sword or any other combination allowed. With careful planning this means you can create many different types of spells.

Spells this time do not get added to a characters abilities through gaining a certain level, but instead must be mastered in battle! Also the spells are dependent on the weapon you have chosen.

Overall though while this game has many faults you can't help but feel drawn to it and wish to play it again.

One for the rpg players, although others may find some pleasure here...

VERY good storyline, very good game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 26
Date: November 17, 1999
Author: Amazon User

everyone should at least rent this game for a week to try it out...it is almost on par with FFVII and FFVIII!

Happy Time

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: June 01, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Vandal Hearts was great, so was it's succesor, Vandal Hearts 2. Vandal Hearts had a great inventory of weapons, they added to this feature in VH2....a lot. There are many diffrent types of weapons in VH 2 now, including swords, daggers, staffs, spears, shields, and even special weapons like....a text book? Yes, thats a weapon. Anyhow, VH2 defetes its previouse game by having a ton more of Special Abilitys. (Magic spells, special spells, etc.) Each weapon has a new technique it teaches, and each weapon can hold a certan amount of techniques, but only techiniques that are from the same type of weapon. A great new feature that makes the game much harder. The only bad part about this game is it has no movies, no Vandeliers, and vandal heart has nothing to do with the storie (But you can still get the sword, but its not the best weapon!) Its a great game though that i recomend to the RPG fan.

fun but trickey

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: June 23, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This game is great, except for a few spots. For instance, you learn special attacks when you use a weapon enough, and are able to equip that attack on other weapons as well. That is good in theory. But say that you learned that attack with an axe. You can only equip that attack on other axes, so basically you are stuck using an axe the entire game if you want that special attcak. I think that is ridiculous. Other than that, the game is great.

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