Vandal Hearts II

Vandal Hearts II
Developer(s)	Konami Computer Entertainment Nagoya
Publisher(s)	Konami
Producer(s)	Tōru Hagihara
Composer(s)	Hiroshi Tamawari
Platform(s)	PlayStation
Release date(s)	JP July 8, 1999[1] NA November 30, 1999 PAL June 30, 2000
Genre(s)	Tactical role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single player
Distribution	1x CD-ROM

Vandal Hearts II (ヴァンダルハーツ II 天上の門, Vandal Hearts II: Tenjo no Mon) is a tactical role-playing game for the PlayStation and the sequel to Vandal Hearts.

Gameplay

Vandal Hearts II uses a three-map layout of an overworld map, town map and a battle map. The overworld features a basic map of the country with dots to mark the location of points of interest. Players travel over the overworld map by clicking on the points of interest and moving towards the location they have chosen.^[2]

The dots on the overworld map have been divided into two sections, battle maps and town maps with all but a select few maps being re-visitable. Some locations open up only to advance the story.

Town maps are a screenshot of the town with locations of interest selected from the menu on the right of the screen, featuring the local tavern, shops and little else except where the story determines otherwise.

Vandal Hearts II boasts over 120 different weapon and armour combinations and the game features non-set classes unlike many other RPGs. Warriors can be changed to Healers without any penalties. This is achieved through the armour and weapon systems, skills must be learned through equipping weapons and earning enough points to master them, while armour determines the characters hit points and magic points as well as movement rates and defence.^[3]

Combat in Vandal Hearts II is done using a new Dual-Turn System, stated as being an Active Time Battle system for tactical RPGs. The dual-turn system permits both the player and the computer to move one unit on the battlemap simultaneously.

Plot

Vandal Hearts II takes place in the country of Natra and follows the story of Joshua from childhood until adulthood, focusing his progress through the civil war that tears his home country apart.^[4] The early stages of the game introduce the hero and his childhood companions and acts as a prologue to future events in the hero's adult life.^[5]

The adult stages of the game shows the country of Natra immersed in a civil war with both warring factions having foreign backers. Joshua's renegade band of outlaws gets drawn into a plot to create a third faction to end the war and restore peace. The game has a branching storyline that can be altered by the player's dialogue choices and lead to multiple endings.^[6]

Characters

• Joshua

The protagonist of the game, he is only 13 years of age when the story begins, a farmer's son in the village of Polata. An orphan at young age, his parents died in a squabble with nobles and thus he is raised by his Uncle Kordif. Due to the former Governor Kossimo Byron's progressive education system he was allowed to socialise with Adele, a member of the aristocracy and Kossimo's Granddaughter. They became extremely good friends bordering on romance.

Joshua ends up being manipulated into killing Kossimo, forcing him to run away from Polata, resulting in his forming the Red Wolves bandit group. However he eventually falls into the company of Baron Pratau and the two men begin to shape and influence the country during the civil war. He would then help Pratau reform the White Dragons unit, and whilst Pratau is occasionally known as "the leader", he was more of a tactician while major decisions usually would lie in Joshua's hands, making Joshua the "actual leader".

• Adele

Adele was the chatelaine of the House of Byron, laird of the Polata village. Although she spent a lot of her childhood with Joshua, circumstances resulted in their parting. In her adult life she was manipulated by a religious cult to become their head public figure.

As a child, Adele is more inclined to think like her grandfather, Kossimo, than her step-father, who is elitist and believes that the commoners are little above savages and it's the responsibility of the nobility to keep them on a very short leash. However, when Joshua is tricked into killing Kossimo in self-defense, a broken-hearted Adele swears vengeance against him.

Playable Characters

• Vlad and Pike

Joshua's partners in crime in the Red Wolves Bandits. Together, this trio has been an unstoppable bane to both military factions during the Natra civil war. It was very early noted that these three possessed the equivalent strength of an entire brigade. Though bandits, these three have a rule not to attack civilians and have often rescued villages from a number of opposing bandit groups. While Joshua is their leader, their group functions on democracy, as they vote on which missions to go on.

Vlad is apparently a bruiser and speaks very poor English, but this is attributed to the fact that it's not his native tongue. While menacing in battle, Vlad is, more or less, the conscience of the group, often apologizing for Pike's behaviour, suggesting to aid those in need and frequently threatening Pike to shut up.

Pike is an acrobatic master, but his personality is much less elegant. An immature, arrogant profiteer, Pike is primarily interested in two things: money; women. His attitude often gets him in trouble, mostly with his teammates Vlad, Lira and Maria. He also seems to be very afraid of ghosts.

• Baron Pratau

While being of noble birth, Pratau flies in the face of the opinion of both the nobility and the masses; uncharacteristic of most nobles in this story, Pratau exhibits wisdom, kindness, humility, and though he does condemning acts, he does so for the greater good. He is also the commanding officer of the White Dragons, an elite band of East Natra knights and often fights alongside them. Despite his experience, the Baron concedes control on the battlefield to Joshua.

After a mission went south, Pratau was captured and en route to West Natra, where he was to be imprisoned or executed; the Red Wolves accidentally saved him, hoping to find military arms to sell in a train they derailed. When they discovered the only Cargo was the Baron and his companion, they declared the mission a wash and let them both go. The Baron then instantly offered a sizable amount of money if they would act as escorts to the White Dragons' barracks. After a vote, Joshua agreed to take them, though he constantly reminds the Baron that he's only helping for the money; Pratau leaves him to his illusions, but believes Joshua's motivations to be a little less selfish.

• Lira, Maria, Gilti and Agress

The last remaining members of Baron Pratau's White Dragons. All are arms masters and able to use any weapon in battle. However much of their stories are not explored in the game.

Lira was captured along with Baron Pratau, whom she holds in high regard. She barely ever speaks, though she is quick to jump to the Baron's defense should someone attempt to slur him. However, she does speak when Agress wants to say something, though the entire conversations are one-sided.

Gilti and Maria are the last survivors of the White Dragons' barracks. They are rescued when Joshua and his group arrive at their fort in time to see the attackers. They subsequently join Joshua's party soon after their rescue.

Gilti is an amiable character, and becomes social with Pike and Vlad. Upon arriving at the city, Yuggor, Vlad, Pike and Gilti all drag a very reluctant Joshua to a gentlemen's pub, where Gilti observes that Joshua's discomfort has made women believe that Joshua's sexual orientation does not sway towards women. This observation was immediately followed by a less than subtle offer from Gilti, indicating that his own orientation may not exclude men.

Maria is easily the most talkative of the Dragons, though when she does speak, it's often to threaten Pike. She's hot-tempered and impatient, and the quarrels between her and Pike provide most of the comedy in the game.

Agress the Swift is introduced later in the game, but her story only goes that far besides the admission that she ranks among the elite, in even the White Dragons, and that it was assumed by Joshua that she was a man. Throughout the game, she never speaks, and the only time she does, Lira is the one to provide a voice (a feat that confuses and annoys Pike.)

• Hammet

Hammet is the last member of the core party to be found. He arrives when the party docks their ship at a village that has been infected with some form of magic that has turned the populous into murderous zombies. He fully joins the party a few missions later.

As the sole survivor of a village that suffered a similar fate, Hammet is driven only by revenge against the ones responsible, the Kudur Cult. He joins Joshua as a means to exacting that revenge more swiftly than he could alone.

• Clive and Yuri

Joshua's childhood friends. The first playable characters in the game, they later become crucial in determining which of the multiple endings will be played. After the prologue, the equipment accumulated at this point transfer to your current group, Clive to Vlad and Yuri to Pike. They become playable again later in the game, but only as temporary party members with fixed weaponry.

Clive is the son of Polata's tavern owner, and is smitten with Joshua's step-sister, Rosaly. After the destruction of Polata, Clive and Rosaly barely manage to escape with their lives and wind up in Yuggor, where Rosaly works as a prostitute and Clive works as a bouncer.

Yuri is the village genius, and is a devout Nivathian. He is recommended for the Nirvathian Academy by the village's monk, and becomes a star pupil. He later discovers the political sway the church unofficially has, and becomes very adept at diplomacy. When he and Joshua cross paths, Yuri has become a prominent ambassador for the church.

• Nicola

Nicola, like Yuri and Clive later in the game, is a temporary ally, albeit a strong one. He joins the party in Joshua's childhood for a few missions en route to Kossimo's mansion and much later in the game when the party travels to fight Godard.

Nicola is of Royal lineage, but is hunted by both halves of a warring Natra. He is saved by Joshua and his friends; he soon returns the favour by saving Rosaly from a monster before succumbing to his wounds. Joshua and his friends quickly bring him to the village doctor where he is healed, but is soon asked to leave, as his wounds were not likely to have come from monsters, but from a sword. Nicola agrees to leave, but not before he humbles a tax collector that tries to bully an old man and tries to force himself on his daughter.

This act inspires Joshua, but he also becomes sickened with the villagers, as they cower in fear at the retribution that is sure to come once Nicola leaves. Joshua comes to idolize Nicola and Nicola inspires Joshua to follow his dreams.

When Joshua meets Nicola again in the future, Nicola is a drunkard, King only in title, with very little influence. He is self-loathing, jaded and heavily cynical, but a small spark comes back to him when he sees Joshua. They talk for a bit and Joshua asks Nicola to tell him again that he should follow his dream; Nicola horrifies Joshua by saying that Joshua is a naive and foolish child for still trying to follow his dream. Rather than crushing him, however, Joshua is heated to continue his path, if only to spite his fallen idol's words.

• Rosaly

The last of the playable characters, Rosaly is only available in the second mission, after which she remains non-playable. She is Joshua's foster sister, and daughter of the Mayor of Polata.

While her father considers Joshua as potentially marriageable to his daughter, Rosaly only loves Joshua as a brother, and Joshua reciprocates the same affection.

Clive has a romantic interest in her at a very early age and that feeling seems to have matured into adulthood as Rosaly and Clive are together in the future, and, though they are far from happy, they seem to serve each other as oases from the troubled times they have fallen upon. Rosaly ashamedly admits to Joshua that she has had to work at a gentleman's club as a prostitute to get by. Joshua angrily scolds Clive, heatedly asking how Clive could let the woman he loves go into that profession, to which an angry Clive retorts, saying that Joshua abandoned his family without a reason, and that they had no choice after the destruction of Polata. ^[7]

Reception

Vandal Hearts II is considered by Thegia.com to be vastly superior to its predecessor.^[2]

General criticism of Vandal Hearts II has mostly to do with the storyline. IGN considered the story lackluster enough to not even "remember it", CNET also agrees considering the storyline to be one that most people "won't care to follow". GIA on the other hand believes that the game lacks the variety of its predecessor, with standard "kill everything" missions.

The controls and battle system were also criticized for being stiff and laborious and the story as long and as twisting as it was linear.^[8]

On release, Famitsu magazine scored the game a 32 out of 40.^[9]

References

Vandal Hearts series Vandal Hearts II Flames of Judgment