Vagrant Story PsX ISO

Vagrant Story PsX ISO

Vagrant Story is one of those games that countless gamers cite as being one of the very best titles on the Playstation. Various things can be brought up to support such a claim, some of which will be mentioned below, accompanied by a brief description of the core game mechanics.
Revealing too much of the plot would ruin it for potential players - however, the basic premise is quite simple. Players take control of Ashley Riot, a member of the Valendia Knights of Peace - one of their elite agents known only as the Riskbreakers. He encounters Sydney Losstarot, the leader of the dangerous religious cult Mullenkamp, and proceeds to pursue him to the dead city of Lea Monde.
The game's mechanics are refreshingly complex, but still not frustratingly complicated. The battle system might remind some of Parasite Eve, with players moving on the field in real time and pausing only to issue commands such as attacking, casting spells or using items. Vagrant Story throws a variety of different enemies at the player including soldiers, lizardmen, zombies, even dragons. This variety in opponents plays an important role in the game, as enemies fall into different categories (dragon, undead, human, beast, and so on), with different strengths and weaknesses. Players, therefore, must be prepared for a large variety of different battle situations in order to successfully exploit their opponents' weaknesses.
To be successful in battle, players must customize their equipment and forge different types of weapons in order to combat the different types of foes that they might encounter - this can be done in various workshops scattered around Lea Monde. After using a specific type of weapon for a certain amount of time, special moves, known as Break Arts, become available: these are, in a nutshell, powerful offensive abilities you can use to strike down your enemies more efficiently. The 'catch' is simple - Break Arts consume Ashley's own HP when used.
Additionally, a large selection of magic spells becomes available later on in the game, allowing players to cast destructive spells, weaken their enemies or protect themselves from harm. Finally, Ashley can also develop various offensive and defensive skills during combat (Chain Abilities and Defensive Abilities, respectively): the activation of these abilities requires precise timing, and is thus especially rewarding for gamers with better reflexes. Since a large number of the fights in the game -including the occasional bosses- are relatively challenging, a clever and conscious use of the tools listed above are absolutely necessary to achieve victory, making the overall gameplay exciting, and the eventual defeat of your enemies even more satisfying.
The way the story is presented to the players is highly cinematic, with visuals capable of showing what the console is really capable of. This, accompanied by a unique art direction, mature plot and a beautiful soundtrack composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto of Final Fantasy Tactics fame, all contribute to making Vagrant Story one of the most memorable titles on the PSOne.

Travis Chapman Vagrant Story is a Japanese-developed console role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the PlayStation video game console. The game was released in 2000, and has been re-released through the PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable consoles nine years later. Vagrant Story was primarily developed by the team responsible for Final Fantasy Tactics, with Yasumi Matsuno serving as producer and director.
The game takes place in the fictional kingdom of Valendia and the ruined city of Leá Monde. The story centers on Ashley Riot, an elite agent known as a Riskbreaker, who must travel to Leá Monde to investigate the link between a cult leader and a senior Valendian Parliament member, Duke Bardorba. In the prologue, Ashley is blamed for murdering the duke, and the game discloses the events that happen one week before the murder.
Vagrant Story is unique as a console action/adventure role-playing game because it features no shops and no player interaction with other characters; instead, the game focuses on weapon creation and modification, as well as elements of puzzle-solving and strategy. Overall, the game received positive reviews from gaming magazines and websites.

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The Used - VULNERABLE Full Album

The Used - VULNERABLE Full Album

Vulnerability is commonly defined as “the inability to withstand the effects of a hostile environment.” It can be a time frame, when “defensive measures are reduced, compromised or lacking” or more personally, the soul-shaking moment when we stare in a mirror, finally seeing every last flaw. The answer is to somehow find the strength to heal, repair and improve, and for the Used, music is that salvation.

Turning personal adversity into art is the Used’s trademark, and the band’s fifth full-length, Vulnerable, was a record that simply had to be made. It marks a particular triumph for singer Bert McCracken, who is now reenergized after suffering a broken hand and elbow last year, falling from a stage in Orange County, Calif., and then spending four months getting surgery and recuperating. The experience partially birthed the title and concept of Vulnerable.

“Me feeling that vulnerability kind of sparked this creative fire inside of me,” says McCracken. “This record’s really about becoming more than just who you are, and allowing yourself that vulnerability to be a more powerful person. It’s a lot more positive than a lot of records we’ve written in the past. I think everyone could use some positivity nowadays.”

The Used—which also includes guitarist Quinn Allman, bassist Jeph Howard and drummer Dan Whitesides (who replaced original drummer Branden Steineckert in 2006)—formed in Orem, Utah in 2001, signing to Reprise Records that same year. Championed by producer and collaborator John Feldmann, the band issued their gold-certified Self-Titled debut in 2002, quickly cementing the Used as leaders among the post-hardcore elite, thanks in part to unforgettable singles like “Box Full of Sharp Objects,” “The Taste of Ink” and “Buried Myself Alive.” The band then released the CD/DVD combo Maybe Memories in 2003, now certified platinum, featuring B-sides, live cuts, demos and unreleased tracks, while still another gold record followed—2004’s In Love And Death—spawning singles “Take It Away,” “All That I’ve Got” and “I Caught Fire.”

After Steineckert’s 2006 departure, the band regrouped and issued 2007’s Lies For The Liars, hitting #5 on the Billboard Top 200, later naming Whitesides as their permanent drummer. The retooled outfit’s newfound solidarity led to 2009’s Artwork, which peaked at #10 on the Billboard Top 200, and featured Whitesides on the recordings for the first time. As if that weren’t enough to keep a band busy, since 2001 the Used has also destroyed countless stages the world over, touring with a who’s who of modern rock and heavy music contemporaries, and have been featured acts at major festivals like Warped Tour, Taste of Chaos, Ozzfest, Projekt Revolution and the UK’s Reading and Leeds festivals.

Still, after more than a decade’s worth of relentless touring and recording, the Used’s members recently needed to take some much-deserved time off. McCracken’s longtime writing partner Allman tied the knot, while Whitesides also exchanged vows and welcomed a baby into the world. McCracken spent much of his recovery in a haze of painkillers, then “awoke” to a creative limbo, in an entirely unfamiliar emotional space. At this point 2 years had passed and the band had completed numerous writing sessions that would last for 2 months at a time and in the end came out with more then 60 songs ideas. Thus when McCracken’s inspiration struck to record the songs, it came about in an entirely different fashion than the band’s previous method; with his drummer and guitarist temporarily unavailable, McCracken and Howard teamed up with Feldmann to take on the initial writing on their own while incorporating the 60 ideas they had previously worked on.

“We went in with Feldmann and wrote 11 songs and recorded them in 11 days. It was pretty magical,” says McCracken. “It was a bit more of the record I wanted to make. I think Quinn and Dan were stoked about that. I could go in one day and be like, ‘I really like the vibe of ‘Bombs Over Baghdad,’ so let’s start with a bass line and a drum beat like that.’ It was the most amazing time; the most fun I’ve had making a record.”

McCracken and Co. emerged from Feldmann’s studio toting the 12 tracks that comprise Vulnerable, the band’s first full-length since departing Warner Bros. Records. Without a label for the first time since their debut, the band opted to go indie, forming their Anger Music Group imprint, which will be distributed through Hopeless Records. The release of Vulnerable marks a new chapter in the band’s enduring career, at a time when the Used’s music is organically evolving, as well.

“I think [Vulnerable] is really new for us. There’s a lot of hip-hop influence, beats and drum and bass kind of stuff, but it’s also still a Used record, by all means,” explains McCracken. “Just like any other Used record, it’s a horse of many colors: There are a lot of soft and heavy sounds, there are a lot of brutal, sharp, bright sounds, and the tempos are anywhere from ultra-slow to super fast and heavy. There are a lot of different conceptual feelings on the record.”

Opening track and leadoff single “I Come Alive” sets the tone for the record from the start, with the sort of “down, but not out” sentiment McCracken has always channeled into  his lyrics. “The song, for me, is about falling down or hitting the ground; when things happen to you in life,” says McCracken. “That’s pretty much what ‘Box Full of Sharp Objects’ was about as well, on the first record. Taking a hit can be the most inspirational thing that can happen to you.”

The drive to overcome all obstacles, whether physical or emotional, also informs “Put Me Out,” which McCracken says centers on “the turmoil from a relationship you could have with anyone in your life; how people just kind of feel cheated and fucked over sometimes. Falling down and rising above that can make you a more powerful and stronger person.”

Album closer “Together Burning Bright” ends the journey on a romantic, yet appropriately darkly tinged note. McCracken says the song was heavily inspired by the Chuck Palahniuk book Damned, as well as the film Melancholia.

“Maybe the end of everything, so long as you can be with the person you love, everything will be alright, no matter what,” McCracken says. “It’s kind of a sappy, end of the world song.”

That may be true, but for now the Used’s world is far from ending. With Vulnerable slated for a March 26^th, 2012 release, a world tour behind the record will follow, including appearances at Warped Tour, Soundwave in Australia, dates in Asia and Europe, and full headlining runs through the U.S., not to mention a DVD in the works to commemorate their decade-plus anniversary. The Used may have spent recent years nursing wounds and taking honeymoons, but 2012 and beyond will be all about bringing Vulnerability, and its uplifting message, to the masses.

“This record is for all those people who weren’t the coolest people around. We never were. This record’s for kids like us, who just love music, because it saves their lives every day,” McCracken says. “At the end of the day, I’m the only one who has to live and die with myself. I want to make it a good one for me. I only have one life to live.”

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