The True King of Late 90s PS1 Strategy RPGs

A lot of kids in the late 90s had their first exposure to strategy RPGs with Final Fantasy Tactics. It’s not hard to understand why. It featured hours of strategy, an interesting story, and more customization than players knew what to do with. While it initially went under the radar in the West, that changed quickly, and soon original copies cost a fortune, which didn’t change until it saw a rerelease as part of Sony’s Greatest Hits program four years later.

In truth, though, Final Fantasy Tactics never really grabbed me. It’s undoubtedly an interesting game, one I started a handful of times and which I enjoyed well enough, but I could never fully connect with it. As interesting as its story was, the grind it required quickly grew old. That so many characters were generic units with no personality failed to engage me. Mostly though, I had just played a better strategy RPG on the PlayStation, which was released about a year earlier. That better game was Vandal Hearts.

Standing Apart

One of the few RPGs on the PlayStation before Final Fantasy 7 caused the genre to blow up, Vandal Hearts stood apart thanks to its dark and mature story, the deep cast of fantastic characters, and for its geysers of blood, something that stands out as a fascinating creative choice even 25 years later.

A deeply political story with heavy supernatural themes, Vandal Hearts is the story of Ash Lambert and what happens when he and his fellow security forces start to suspect something strange is going on in their government. General Magnus has vanished after a top-secret mission, and his daughter is terribly worried about what could have happened to him. Of course, in the grand tradition of JRPGs, it involves ancient relics and unspeakable power.

On The Backs Of Giants

From a purely gameplay perspective, Vandal Hearts isn’t that different from earlier games in the genre like Fire Emblem, Tactics Ogre, or Shining Force. It has terrain of various heights, but Tactics Ogre offered that first. It’s well executed, with snappy controls, camera control that lets you get a better look around the battlefield, and deep strategic battles, but it’s an evolution of an existing formula.

What stands out most, though, is the game’s personality. Each character has their own personality, and they all feel distinct from each other. Every person in my party was someone with a history, and connections to other characters, and I cared about keeping them safe. I quickly developed favorites who I knew I could count on in tough spots. What can I say, Diego is crazy good. Despite them all having preset personalities and classes, though, you also get to put your own stamp on your team.

While everyone starts off as one of seven classes, at level ten and then again at level twenty, you’ll have the choice to upgrade them. These are permanent choices that you can’t go back from, as each character initially has two different classes you can select. It’s crucial that you balance your group properly, as the different options can be quite different at times. For example, an archer can become a bowman or a hawknight. While a bowman is strong against airborne foes, a hawknight actually is airborne and would be weak against the alternative class. Hawknights, though have a huge range of movement and can get behind foes in a lot of situations. Your team can change classes again at level twenty, making them all the more powerful.

Buckets Of Blood

Vandal Hearts’ personality doesn’t end with its characters, though. It’s about its story, sometimes twisted visual style, and yes, those fountains of blood. The first time I watched my dad playing Vandal Hearts, I remember being in disbelief as enemies exploded into a red geyser of death upon defeat. Games unafraid to be truly violent were still somewhat rare, and most of what did exist in 1997 consisted of games that were going out of their way to be edgy. That wasn’t the case with Vandal Hearts, though. While Vandal Hearts tells an undeniably dark tale, it’s not trying to be over the top. It’s rooted in politics, a lust for power, and real-world wants and desires that most games simply didn’t have time for in those days. I’ve never found a satisfying answer to why the development team made this choice, but it certainly stands out, and it doesn’t feel out of place in the often dark story Konami wanted to tell.

You can beat Vandal Hearts in about twenty hours. Less once, you know what you’re doing. While it’s a linear game with the main difference between playthroughs being the option to try different class combinations, that hasn’t stopped me from returning to it a dozen times over the years. Between the great characters, an OST filled with themes which are permanently burned into my brain for good reason, and strategic gameplay that always keeps you on your toes, it’s one of the most underappreciated games ever made. Konami has tried to return to the series twice over the years, but 1999’s Vandal Hearts II made some strange choices with combat, which simply don’t work, and the less said about 2010’s Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment, the better. Still, if you’re a fan of strategy RPGs sitting around waiting for that Final Fantasy Tactics remake, you really should track down Vandal Hearts while you wait. It’s the true king of late 90s PlayStation strategy RPGs.