Vandal Hearts
Main game
3.79 average rating based on 101 ratings
- Developers
- Konami
- Publishers
- Konami
- Series
- Vandal Hearts
- Platforms
- PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation, Sega Saturn
- Genres
- Role-playing (RPG), Strategy, Tactical, Turn-based strategy (TBS)
- Themes
- Fantasy
Release Dates
User Stats
How Long Is Vandal Hearts?
WerqKween's review of Vandal Hearts
This review is for the PlayStation version
What an interesting little game. It's pretty good but mostly unremarkable. Economy of means is the theme here. That and being kind of like Final Fantasy Tactics. Straightforward and minimal amounts of story, scenery, customization, progression, discovery, strategy, and fine but forgettable music, characters, villains, and plot. The artwork stands out as memorable. Lots of strong noses. One side quest. It's all pretty bare bones and about 98% of the game is spent in battle. Which would be fine if there was any amount of thought and planning involved. I appreciate not having to slog through menus for hours, but there is almost zero planning. You spend a bit of the game feeling your way around, then try to level up adequately, and then at the midpoint, it all becomes the same - send your mages in guns blazing to do as much AOE DPS as possible, pluck off out of reach dangers with your archers, clean up with your melee dudes, then heal or throw out some additional damage with your healing capable folks. 10 hours later, it's over.
I'm debating whether I want to start another playthrough now to do the side quest and get the other ending. …
What an interesting little game. It's pretty good but mostly unremarkable. Economy of means is the theme here. That and being kind of like Final Fantasy Tactics. Straightforward and minimal amounts of story, scenery, customization, progression, discovery, strategy, and fine but forgettable music, characters, villains, and plot. The artwork stands out as memorable. Lots of strong noses. One side quest. It's all pretty bare bones and about 98% of the game is spent in battle. Which would be fine if there was any amount of thought and planning involved. I appreciate not having to slog through menus for hours, but there is almost zero planning. You spend a bit of the game feeling your way around, then try to level up adequately, and then at the midpoint, it all becomes the same - send your mages in guns blazing to do as much AOE DPS as possible, pluck off out of reach dangers with your archers, clean up with your melee dudes, then heal or throw out some additional damage with your healing capable folks. 10 hours later, it's over.
I'm debating whether I want to start another playthrough now to do the side quest and get the other ending. It would go fairly quick, but some of the more puzzly battles are a headache.
A true hidden gem.
This review is for the PlayStation version
While most of us were waiting for Final Fantasy VII release, Vandal Hearts came out but shadowed by bigger titles... What a shame I never played this game before 2021 ! The game release march 1997, and if I knew what a gem this game is I would've spent countless hours to master out the game. Clearly influenced by Tactical Ogre and Fire Emblem without the usual RPG options, Vandal Heart was a true surprise for me and a good one. I'm not that keen on tactical rpg games, but this one kept me glued on my seat. This is not the best visuals PS1 can offer, but it's definitely a fun game to dive in. Combat are tactical (obviously), fighter can evolve (not that much), the story and plot twist is enjoyable and the game is not that long to finish for this kind of genre. If I can give you an advice while choosing the new fighter classes : DO NOT PICK THE GUARDSMAN CLASS !!! It's the most useless class of the game and will barely be of any use during combat! So you've been warned ! A true PS1 gem, not meant to be played by …
Read MoreWhile most of us were waiting for Final Fantasy VII release, Vandal Hearts came out but shadowed by bigger titles... What a shame I never played this game before 2021 ! The game release march 1997, and if I knew what a gem this game is I would've spent countless hours to master out the game. Clearly influenced by Tactical Ogre and Fire Emblem without the usual RPG options, Vandal Heart was a true surprise for me and a good one. I'm not that keen on tactical rpg games, but this one kept me glued on my seat. This is not the best visuals PS1 can offer, but it's definitely a fun game to dive in. Combat are tactical (obviously), fighter can evolve (not that much), the story and plot twist is enjoyable and the game is not that long to finish for this kind of genre. If I can give you an advice while choosing the new fighter classes : DO NOT PICK THE GUARDSMAN CLASS !!! It's the most useless class of the game and will barely be of any use during combat! So you've been warned ! A true PS1 gem, not meant to be played by every one : you need to have some patience and sometimes not rush into combat as that tactic often results by your main character dying and you don't want that. So give Vandal Hearts a try, it's definitely worth your while.
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Why do so many people love this game?
Seriously I can't figure it out, the strategie is weak, character progression sucks And the story is meh
"I really don't like when translators add their own twist to Japanese works. The whole "we're not in Kansas anymore" line was very awkward and off-putting."
Enjoying this so far. It plays like a much more to-the-point FFT. It's scary because if I'm anything in JRPGs, it's a grinder, and in this, once you finish a fight, you're done. For each teammate that dies, you lose money. If someone misses out on EXP, that's it. And that's all the $ and EXP you get for the whole game. So that's terrifying.
But, it's not too hard, fights are long but don't feel slowly paced, the story is pretty straight ahead (so far), and I like the unique art style. For some reason the bridge of everyone's nose extends up into their forehead. The excessive fountain of blood when you kill something is comically obnoxious. Apparently it was even more in the Saturn version.
I thought I would face some tough decisions on character class changes, but after some brief reading, it was super clear how to progress. It seems like the armor class is essentially worthless, and moving mages or healers to monks instead of sorcerer or bishops seems like a severe loss of DPS and healing, respectively, in exchange for a bit more range, but sub par magic and damage.
Just had a moment of panic realizing I missed a key item and it apparently affects the ending? So I'm thinking of restarting, but then I'm like, shit dude, just play the game. I guess it's pretty short, I can do a second playthrough.
While most of us were waiting for Final Fantasy VII release, Vandal Hearts came out but shadowed by bigger titles... What a shame I never played this game before 2021 ! The game release march 1997, and if I knew what a gem this game is I would've spent countless hours to master out the game. Clearly influenced by Tactical Ogre and Fire Emblem without the usual RPG options, Vandal Heart was a true surprise for me and a good one. I'm not that keen on tactical rpg games, but this one kept me glued on my seat. This is not the best visuals PS1 can offer, but it's definitely a fun game to dive in. Combat are tactical (obviously), fighter can evolve (not that much), the story and plot twist is enjoyable and the game is not that long to finish for this kind of genre. If I can give you an advice while choosing the new fighter classes : DO NOT PICK THE GUARDSMAN CLASS !!! It's the most useless class of the game and will barely be of any use during combat! So you've been warned ! A true PS1 gem, not meant to be played by …
Read MoreWhile most of us were waiting for Final Fantasy VII release, Vandal Hearts came out but shadowed by bigger titles... What a shame I never played this game before 2021 ! The game release march 1997, and if I knew what a gem this game is I would've spent countless hours to master out the game. Clearly influenced by Tactical Ogre and Fire Emblem without the usual RPG options, Vandal Heart was a true surprise for me and a good one. I'm not that keen on tactical rpg games, but this one kept me glued on my seat. This is not the best visuals PS1 can offer, but it's definitely a fun game to dive in. Combat are tactical (obviously), fighter can evolve (not that much), the story and plot twist is enjoyable and the game is not that long to finish for this kind of genre. If I can give you an advice while choosing the new fighter classes : DO NOT PICK THE GUARDSMAN CLASS !!! It's the most useless class of the game and will barely be of any use during combat! So you've been warned ! A true PS1 gem, not meant to be played by every one : you need to have some patience and sometimes not rush into combat as that tactic often results by your main character dying and you don't want that. So give Vandal Hearts a try, it's definitely worth your while.
Read Less
Hey decided to play this PlayStation1 Vandal Heart game ! Don't know anything about it but it was time I got back to my PS1 backlog before I decide to buy another expensive PS5 game that I will not play before 2025 ...