What was the most memorable part of the Vandal Hearts series to you? Please consider supporting me at www.patreon.com/xygorgaming OR through RUclips membership by clicking the JOIN button above!
VH 1, when we get ambushed by the 5 Crimson Guard generals in one single battle, and being able to defeat all 5 of them. And the trials to become a Vandalier.
never played the first game but i have beaten the 2nd game several times and absolutely love the story and gameplay as well as the characters... once you figure out the mechanics of the way the AI thinks, the game becomes mostly very easy... im really old school when it comes to gaming, having played Final Fantasy 1 when it first came out as well as Dragon Warrior 1 and Suikoden 1.... Love your content
Fun fact, with VH, you can skip the looong intro by slapping the PSX top. It causes the disk to skip, and for whatever reason, causes the game to skip over all the intro and jump right into the game.
Vandal hearts 2 baby. one of my favorites. I personally loved the dual turn system. I liked the uncertainty to your actions it brings. I wish it would be used again. The music, the story, the endings. A great follow up to play after FFT.
I remember having the system totally figured out, or I may have just read an FAQ that explained it, or whatever, but you had to check a bunch of stuff on the battlefield... the AI prioritized magic attacks, then archers, then melee, and they'd go for anyone's back before their front, etc... you could determine exactly where the enemy was going to go. I remember doing a ton of moves where my guy would end up facing their guy's back at the end of the move, then you'd get someone to watch that first character's back, etc... I also remember spending tons of time pondering over strategy in that game... some of the battles were pretty epic and took what feels like hours in my memory. I'm playing Fire Emblem Three Houses right now, and the battle system is so simple and basic compared to stuff like Vandal Hearts. The terrain doesn't matter for anything but movement, height doesn't factor in, back/side attacks don't do anything... everything is just a big flat square... it's still a great game, don't get me wrong, I'm having a good time with it, (I'm on my third playthrough right now and plan on four) but it's not in the same league at all as Vandal Hearts. After this I'll probably do Triangle Strategy, and I'm hoping that's more like VH... I think it somewhat was from the demo I played a long time ago... we shall see.
I was introduced to the Vandal Hearts franchise in 2002-2003 range, I was in the 4th grade and my aunt and uncle introduced me to them. These games and Final Fantasy X were the gateway I needed to get into more RPGs and I always re-visit them every few years and play them like its the very first time, they will always be special to me and I'm just dying for a remaster/remake
Vandal Hearts 1 is really my favourite game of all time, and I agree a lot with you. That makes me happy to find someone who think of the three games as me. I discover VH 1 at the time by renting it, the first blood geyser got me, then the story and his characters. Years has passed, got a copy and each year I play it without fail. It's always and really a very nostalgic trip, it's like returning to my childhood/adolescence but interpreting the game with the eyes of my actual age. Vandal Hearts is more than a game is a part of me, I was 13/14 years old when I discovered this game, very insecure of myself thinking that others were better than me and Ash Lambert was a model for me, I empathize with him. I admire how with his friends and his courage surpass his fears and gets the courage to become a hero, I wanted to be like him. Today my adolescence friends are still with me and helped me as Ash's friends, I still have some personal fears, but I'm proud of my personal improvements and how I gained courage and maturity through my friends , family and how this helped to make alone important steps in my life. I try to be a better person with those I love and show respect and humanity in front of things I consider unfair. If I become what I'm in part is thanks to this game. Vandal Hearts 2 was a very cool sequel, not as good as the first. VH 2 lacks the character's charisma and story of the first, but has a very interesting story and more importantly a lot of customization, spells, weapons and a lot of extra battles. I still remember that summer, each afternoon me and another friend were watching a third friend who bought the game playing it. We still best friends, and it was another example of good memories where we were enjoying a game but also speaking about our things and learning from each other perspective, I will never replace that for anything. Vandal Hearts Flame of judgement was a game that I never played, for me the graphics and the story (I read and watched videos about it) put me away even to the point that the game did not deserve to be called Vandal Hearts. But maybe one day, if I have the chance, I will play to give a better opinion. Thanks for this video and to invest time reading m comment (and all the others, I enjoyed a lot watching it and make me remember such a wonderful thing. Thank you.
The contrast of somber calmness from its intro, to the prologue by colonel from metal gear solid, to the first blood splatter. I was hooked to see this game. The need to level my guys to the point of promoting to new sprites, spells, and animations made this game so sweet.
You can learn to outsmart the computer in VH2 and it's a lot of fun to move your character to be behind where the computer unit ends it's turn and backstab them
Yeah.... I loved that when I first played. I forgot the system though, and when I go back now, I get frustrated with it pretty quickly. I've played the first game a whole lot more as a result. If I ever have the patience to learn the system again, I'd like to go through the game again one day.
this is the first strategy RPG that I played and it still owns a special place in my heart. I feel it's underrated and definitely need to be mentioned more often
which makes ya wonder about the paradox with the pendant.. eleni gives leena the pendant and says she had it when magnus found her.. we know how she got it (by another eleni i guess), but how did the pendant came to be?
I love how some characters’ swords are sheathed in their shields. It’s a unique way of carrying the weapon that I’ve not seen anywhere else. And also how the archers end up wielding portable turrets.
9:30 Hell yes, Hiroshi Tamawari mentioned on RUclips. I emailed him once to tell him what a fan of his music I am and he and his wife were very kind, he even gave me a free code to download one of his more recent albums. Azure Dreams is my favorite soundtrack by him but the Vandal Hearts games have incredible OSTs too!
Vandal Hearts 1 all the way. I think what I liked the most about it was playing it with my brother. We would divide the characters up and play only the ones we preferred. So I think definitely the characters are pretty memorable and just really fitting. They feel like they have a lot of personality, even from the start
I was so good in this game i beat the crimson knights when you had to run away, love this game. My mom gave me this game as a gift for my 8th birthday back in the day, she never knew what kind of awesome game she got me.
Wow, amazing video. I have this on my PSX and havent gotten to try it yet. Cannot wait to explore all 3 of the series. FYI the 3rd Vandal hearts seems to be available digitally if anyone wants to try it and it is backwards compatible.
I remember trading this with a friend at school for command and conquer… I fell in love with as soon as I started playing it. This game, in my eyes, has never received the recognition it deserves
a long time ago, i played the first 3 to 5 stages of the original vandal hearts. i was new to the type of game. so i got stuck on the the stage that bad a church we are supposed to get to. after killing all the enemies. you are supposed to move all your characters in front of the church. but i had no idea and re did the battle. was frustrating they didn't just give the victory when no enemies were alive. that aside though, i loved the beautiful 2D sprites, the blood, the dark story, the tactical turn based battles, no pointless random battles, and that your characters could level up to new classes (i just wish it gave us more information about them) definitely a good retro game that aged well. and would be on a list of games i wish was on steam for easier access. at least PS2 is backwards compatible with ps1. so that is the best bet to get it.
The first Vandal Hearts is one of my favorite games of all time. The graphics haven't really aged well, but the deep story, music, and unique gameplay keeps me coming back. The sequel was pretty good, but not as memorable as the 1st. Flames Of Judgment was a major disappointment.
Great video!!! I loved these games ... ... I remember liking the first one a bit more. Both were fun. ... That first game was a classic and broke a lot of ground at the time. I need to play these two games again!! It's been over 20 years!!
The dual movement system is a topic we will have to disagree on. At the time it was pretty awesome and I have had a very distinct memory for 20 years now of how the further you got in the game the more you were able to predict enemy movements and use the dual system to your advantage, almost to the point of being game-breakingly unfair in your favor by the time you got to the end of the game. I also remember that when I played 2 a year or so later that I just bowled the game over due to my experience predicting the enemy movements gained from playing through 1. There was very little innovation in tactics games at the time and it was nice to see something different. I'm sorry it didn't click for some people, but it definitely did for me and made for some fun battles
Oh man, my weekends consisted of rushing to the video store after school to hire out either Suikoden or VH for 2 nights and jam out. Come Sunday, me and my buddies would bike to the video store to return the game and then just hang out at a skate park and talk about the game. None of us could afford to buy them but we could at least pool our money together for games and junk food and a weekend of awesomeness
I always thought it was dumb to rent RPGs since you'd never be able to finish them. I guess that would have been okay on the Playstation since you had your save on the memory card, not the cart you had to return. By that time though I'd sold a bunch of pirated VHS tapes on ebay and earned enough to get an expensive as hell CD burner (2x speed!!!) and started doing copied CD games... back then a pirated copy of Dracula X Rondo of Blood went for $50 on ebay... Thrill Kill (unreleased) was a good one too. It was still a bit out of the question to download Playstation games then though.. I did it, but they'd take several days sometimes and I had to sit around waiting and waiting in IRC chatrooms to get all the parts from fileservs and stuff.... so... I often went to Blockbuster to rent Playstation games. I just copied and returned them. One of my less proud moments is renting a game that was scratched enough to not be able to be copied in my burner... so, feeling cheated, I scratched the game to the point it wouldn't boot up in my playstation so I could tell the store it didn't work. My plan worked and they let me rent a different game. So anyway, I wasn't thinking about rentals the same way at that time I guess... I did a lot of "normal" rentals in the SNES/Genesis days though.
Vandal Hearts I and II, Saiyuki Journey to West and Vanguard Bandits are all hidden gems man. Dang, awesome games 🤩 can tell how many times i ve beaten them
Phew, I almost watched one of the endings for Vandal Hearts II that you had shown. I saw a bit, but not enough to get what it had shown. 🤣 Now, I wanted to say. In regards to Vandal Hearts, I personally thought that the character visuals, background visuals and music were fantastic. I still listen to the OST to this day. I must mention that I am a huge fan of horn instruments; so I may be biased about that.
I hated dual movement system, because of it i didn't even touch VH2...Vandal Hearts 1 on the other hand was one of the best gaming experiences in my life.
@@kingsouther Agreed. I loved everything else about the original more except the story even though I thought that it had a great story. To me, II has one of the greatest story that I have seen in a JRPGs and I have only beaten chapter 1. I am planning on returning to it and beating it because the story is too good.
Can you guys tell me, i never played the first one but extremely love the second one and the gameplay. You think if i ever got to play VH1 would i appreciate anywhere near as much as you guys love it? Because its my only chance to play a new VH that doesnt suck.
Just completed Vandal Hearts II today... Regarding the dual turn system which turns everyone off: When you realise that the AI has fixed habits and attack patterns, you can predict it and second guess it. The AI on the other hand will never do that to you & will stick to its script. Once this clicked, I loved it! I preferred the Swash Buckly vibe of the first game though: the second game tried to mimic Final Fantasy Tactics' tone a little too much. Great game all the same.
I bought Beyond the Beyond because it was the only RPG on the Playstation. It kinda sucked and I never got very far into it. Magazines then said Suikoden was pretty cool, so I went ahead and bought that one basically because it was the only RPG other than Beyond the Beyond and seemed to be better. Suikoden was REALLY cool, and it advertised another Konami game on the back of the manual called Vandal Hearts. I bought it simply because it was made by the same company as the awesome Suikoden. I didn't know it was a tactical RPG.. maybe the ad said so, but I didn't research it at all, I just bought it when I saw it at a game store. I played Shining Force before, and loved that... so... new RPG following up Suikoden AND it's like Shining Force? Fuck yeah.... Vandal Hearts is better than Final Fantasy Tactics I think. I'd even say Suikoden is better than Final Fantasy VII. I was a massive Final Fantasy fan and incredibly hyped up for FF7.... FF7 was good in certain ways, for sure, but I've gone back to Vandal Hearts, especially the first one, and Suikoden a whole lot more than I have FF7 or FF8 or FFT...... I liked FF9 quite a bit but only played it once.... Anyway, Vandal Hearts was really great.
You are wrong about the battle sistem of vh2 you can easily manipulate the ai to do what you want and it's fun to waste enemy magic attacks or showing your back to manipulate the ai attacking that unit while moving it away from that spot before it does
Yeah, I had a lot of fun exploiting that system that way too. Looking back though, it doesn't make much sense... no battle would ever work like that. Anyway, its different, and it was fun trying to figure out what the computer was going to do. When did we start saying "AI" anyway? It used to be "the computer".
After Final Fantasy Tactics i was looking for something to scratch that itch. I picked up VH2 and really dug it. I then went out and got VH and loved it more.
As an all-time Shining Force fan (I have completed that game so many times that I could not play it again no matter how much I love it), I basically considered Vandal Hearts the Shining Force of the Playstation, along with Vanguard Bandits, the mecha Shining Force.
=[ I remember this game and want it back in my life so badly, My grandpa let me borrow the game, and as a kid, I kept it and over time I sold it, before he passed away we use to talk about the games him and I played together, I got most of them back, but this was one of the games him and I sat down together and actually tried to beat together....
I have fond memories of the 1st Vandal Hearts game. From the captivating intro theme to the unforgettable blood fountain deathblows. I played the game religiously until the release of FFVII. I did not like Vandal Hearts 2, though. The characters' avatars looked a bit ugly, and the dual turn system added confusion rather than a strategy element to the game. I haven't played the 3rd one, and looking at the art and presentation, it's severely lacking. I think it's very rare for a different team to capture the essence a game. I thoroughly enjoyed the vid. Thank you.
Do you think the blood geysers happen when people die from other causes? Father: I'll miss you my dearest. And I wish a happy and fulfilling life for you and your husband. Forgive an old man his stubborness I could not see the love was so strong between you. Daughter: ...I forgive you. (Father smiles as his eyelids close and passes on. There is five seconds of silence, suddenly ended as a geyser of blood errupts out of the old man.)
Still got first two sitting (UK), remember breaking the first game by never using Ash in my second playthrough thus making the secret level childsplay as the enemy scaled with Ash.
@Xygor Yes. I beat the first one multiple times. I remember the optional key quests that you had to find in order to unlock a secret class for Ash. I believe it was called "The Vandalier." That class was satisfying since you could cast any spell in the game!
I've only played the 3rd one, interestingly. It was my first downloaded RPG on PS3 (times were so simple back then). I literally didn't know it was part of a series until now, but I had the same feeling about the graphics. Story wasn't great either, but it was a fun enough time for how small the game is.
I have this game. There was a special weapon you could get for the hero if you searched a specific set of tiles to get certain items. But for whatever reason, I could never get the final item, so I never go the weapon. Considering how much time and effort one had to put in to do this, I got pretty frustrated.
Feel like it wad worth mentioning that flames of judgment was literally a 10-15$ download..i feel its a a fun little title i never considered it a proper full feature title...just worth mentioning i guess
Vandal Hearts 1 was a great game, but could not get to enjoy VH 2 as a kid because the portraits felt too "ugly" as compared to 1, and the dual turn system completely turned me down. I hope Konami realizes they have a treasure trove of potential re-releases and re-masters in their hands, especially the Suikoden series.
Yeah, I don't like the portraits in VH2 either. Dual Turn is cool when you learn it, which I did the first time I played, but have since forgotten and it's just frustrated me when I've tried to go back to VH2 over the years. I had a blast the first time I played it though. Give it a chance someday.
I remember for the LONGEST time when the Nintendo DS first came out, Vandal Hearts was among the title line up for it, but later on got cancelled. =[ Pretty FoJ is the reason, ugh...
Vandal hearts combat was the best thing about the game,it reminds me a lot of final fantasy tactics and tactics ogre commanding your entire Squad and killing enemies is super satisfying it's not like i like to see blood but seeing all the Enemy blood is super fun lol,the battle sounds are also pretty good you can hear the sound of your metal sword hitting the Enemy shield/flesh or other weapons like rod,and bow and Arrow, unfortunately the characters from the First game are very mediocre and don't get a ton of development time,the villains are even worse with generic and bad reasons to destroy the world and no character development, the soundtrack is mediocre aswell with 1 or 2 memorable songs here and there,the ending was also very anticlimatic and didn't feel satisfying,overall i give it a 7 out of 10 not One of the best jrpgs in the console but if you just want a bit of class customization and a combat that is similar to final fantasy tactics try it,but don't even think that it gets close to final fantasy tactics quality
I was one of the fortunate ones who played the original Vandal Hearts when it was new. One of my PlayStation favorites. I was excited to try part 2, but was severely disappointed. So much so that I quit playing it after a few hours. I didn't even know there was a third came, but boy is it look like shit. I don't get the mentality with wasting time and resources like that. Why squeeze a game out of a dead franchise that you know isn't going to sell, and go out of your way to purposely make it as bad as possible?
I hate that. They then say "oh well, that series isn't popular, so I guess we'll never make one again" after they killed it themselves by doing such a shitty job. It's happened to a bunch of series. The series isn't dead, you just made a shitty installment!!! Do it right?
I rented this game so many damn times from blockbuster... this was not comical it was fucking insane in 1996 dont you get that wrong.. this game was all you could ask for on a friday night back in the good ol 96' .. they were spectacular graphics ... youngster. you know how long ff7 took to beat being only 8 years old and a time where parents just kicked you until dusk .... Ill let you know im on disc 2 though.. Suikoden .. lol idk how you said it... its correct.. but it def pronounced - Sook oh dee in .. if your american
The 2cnd games prologue is sooo long and drags after a cpl of play throughs to get to the better portions of the game where you can really start to customise your group. But after playing VH2 a few times the Third instalment was pitiful and shallow, in most aspects and felt like a short cash grab that didn't have its soul. I mean VH2 was well over 50 hours more if you played a few times and VH3 at just 15 a playthrough which was enough after 1 run...sad really.
What was the most memorable part of the Vandal Hearts series to you?
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Going out of my way to collect all the Paragon items
Definitely the story and music. I return to it every few years like I would a favourite movie.
Do you(or anyone) know if it works on ps3?
VH 1, when we get ambushed by the 5 Crimson Guard generals in one single battle, and being able to defeat all 5 of them. And the trials to become a Vandalier.
never played the first game but i have beaten the 2nd game several times and absolutely love the story and gameplay as well as the characters... once you figure out the mechanics of the way the AI thinks, the game becomes mostly very easy... im really old school when it comes to gaming, having played Final Fantasy 1 when it first came out as well as Dragon Warrior 1 and Suikoden 1.... Love your content
@@briandaniel7514 that truly is some Old School gaming
VH1 will always hold a special place in my heart.That was definitely the golden age of gaming.
I completely agree with both of these statements.
Damn right. PS 5 has NO games at all.
VH1, where are they now? Pop-up video.... ah.. VH1...
I played this game months at a time
The ending was the most memorable for me about that game.
The original Vandal Hearts has been one of my favorite games since I was kid. I still have a copy of it and 2.
Fun fact, with VH, you can skip the looong intro by slapping the PSX top. It causes the disk to skip, and for whatever reason, causes the game to skip over all the intro and jump right into the game.
“You can fit so many unnecessarily long intros into this bad boy…”
I don’t think that’s a fun fact. Probably messing up your PlayStation.
@@tarantinoish It lasted 15 years beyond that date before I finally got rid of it, so I think it survived.
@@LunaticEdit You're pathetic...
The spray of blood made me rent this game as a kid. The lyrical intro with the sword in the water made me fucking love it.
Vandal hearts 2 baby. one of my favorites.
I personally loved the dual turn system. I liked the uncertainty to your actions it brings. I wish it would be used again.
The music, the story, the endings.
A great follow up to play after FFT.
I remember having the system totally figured out, or I may have just read an FAQ that explained it, or whatever, but you had to check a bunch of stuff on the battlefield... the AI prioritized magic attacks, then archers, then melee, and they'd go for anyone's back before their front, etc... you could determine exactly where the enemy was going to go. I remember doing a ton of moves where my guy would end up facing their guy's back at the end of the move, then you'd get someone to watch that first character's back, etc...
I also remember spending tons of time pondering over strategy in that game... some of the battles were pretty epic and took what feels like hours in my memory.
I'm playing Fire Emblem Three Houses right now, and the battle system is so simple and basic compared to stuff like Vandal Hearts. The terrain doesn't matter for anything but movement, height doesn't factor in, back/side attacks don't do anything... everything is just a big flat square...
it's still a great game, don't get me wrong, I'm having a good time with it, (I'm on my third playthrough right now and plan on four) but it's not in the same league at all as Vandal Hearts. After this I'll probably do Triangle Strategy, and I'm hoping that's more like VH... I think it somewhat was from the demo I played a long time ago... we shall see.
@@anonamatron Your words speak to my heart and nostalgia.
I feel the same way about Three Houses as well.
Hope you enjoy Triangle Strategy, I did
Played the heck out of these games. Vandal Hearts 2 my favorite.
I preferred the first, but I respect this opinion.
I was introduced to the Vandal Hearts franchise in 2002-2003 range, I was in the 4th grade and my aunt and uncle introduced me to them. These games and Final Fantasy X were the gateway I needed to get into more RPGs and I always re-visit them every few years and play them like its the very first time, they will always be special to me and I'm just dying for a remaster/remake
Right on! Thanks for sharing your memories of them. I hope they do remaster at least the first two.
Vandal Hearts 1 is really my favourite game of all time, and I agree a lot with you. That makes me happy to find someone who think of the three games as me. I discover VH 1 at the time by renting it, the first blood geyser got me, then the story and his characters. Years has passed, got a copy and each year I play it without fail. It's always and really a very nostalgic trip, it's like returning to my childhood/adolescence but interpreting the game with the eyes of my actual age. Vandal Hearts is more than a game is a part of me, I was 13/14 years old when I discovered this game, very insecure of myself thinking that others were better than me and Ash Lambert was a model for me, I empathize with him. I admire how with his friends and his courage surpass his fears and gets the courage to become a hero, I wanted to be like him. Today my adolescence friends are still with me and helped me as Ash's friends, I still have some personal fears, but I'm proud of my personal improvements and how I gained courage and maturity through my friends , family and how this helped to make alone important steps in my life. I try to be a better person with those I love and show respect and humanity in front of things I consider unfair. If I become what I'm in part is thanks to this game.
Vandal Hearts 2 was a very cool sequel, not as good as the first. VH 2 lacks the character's charisma and story of the first, but has a very interesting story and more importantly a lot of customization, spells, weapons and a lot of extra battles. I still remember that summer, each afternoon me and another friend were watching a third friend who bought the game playing it. We still best friends, and it was another example of good memories where we were enjoying a game but also speaking about our things and learning from each other perspective, I will never replace that for anything.
Vandal Hearts Flame of judgement was a game that I never played, for me the graphics and the story (I read and watched videos about it) put me away even to the point that the game did not deserve to be called Vandal Hearts. But maybe one day, if I have the chance, I will play to give a better opinion.
Thanks for this video and to invest time reading m comment (and all the others, I enjoyed a lot watching it and make me remember such a wonderful thing. Thank you.
The contrast of somber calmness from its intro, to the prologue by colonel from metal gear solid, to the first blood splatter. I was hooked to see this game. The need to level my guys to the point of promoting to new sprites, spells, and animations made this game so sweet.
Right on! Such a fun game that stood out from everything else.
@@Xygor if only we can get a rerelease... damn pachislots... Konami did become the Spites family... or worse...
VH was my first PS1 game. I loved the class system. Ninjas were op.
You can learn to outsmart the computer in VH2 and it's a lot of fun to move your character to be behind where the computer unit ends it's turn and backstab them
Yeah....
I loved that when I first played. I forgot the system though, and when I go back now, I get frustrated with it pretty quickly. I've played the first game a whole lot more as a result. If I ever have the patience to learn the system again, I'd like to go through the game again one day.
Thanks for this video Xygor. It's definitely scratching the itch I've got to play this at the moment
this is the first strategy RPG that I played and it still owns a special place in my heart. I feel it's underrated and definitely need to be mentioned more often
Yes it is underrated!
I love this game, and the moment when Eleni realizes that she is the little girl that they meet in the time-warp
Yes same thing for me . Me and my cousin was amazed . And the blood squirting was great
which makes ya wonder about the paradox with the pendant..
eleni gives leena the pendant and says she had it when magnus found her..
we know how she got it (by another eleni i guess), but how did the pendant came to be?
I love how some characters’ swords are sheathed in their shields. It’s a unique way of carrying the weapon that I’ve not seen anywhere else.
And also how the archers end up wielding portable turrets.
9:30 Hell yes, Hiroshi Tamawari mentioned on RUclips. I emailed him once to tell him what a fan of his music I am and he and his wife were very kind, he even gave me a free code to download one of his more recent albums.
Azure Dreams is my favorite soundtrack by him but the Vandal Hearts games have incredible OSTs too!
Wow, very cool!
I played the crap out of this game as a kid. One of my favorite rpgs outside of square at the time. This and wild arms were where it was at.
Vandal Hearts 1 all the way. I think what I liked the most about it was playing it with my brother. We would divide the characters up and play only the ones we preferred. So I think definitely the characters are pretty memorable and just really fitting. They feel like they have a lot of personality, even from the start
The first one was also my favorite!
All; comes full circle. Doing a multiplayer Baldur's Gate 3 playthrough. So much nostalgia.
I was so good in this game i beat the crimson knights when you had to run away, love this game.
My mom gave me this game as a gift for my 8th birthday back in the day, she never knew what kind of awesome game she got me.
Wasn't the first one a timeless classic? I didn't play II as much.
@@Xygor god knows how many times i played VH, but VH II only played once, i didn't like it as much as 1
this is my favorite tactical rpg ever
Which one, the first one?
@@Xygor yes, but personally didn't like VH2 and flames of judgment all that much
This game definitely fell under my radar back in the day, but it looks great!
Wow, amazing video. I have this on my PSX and havent gotten to try it yet. Cannot wait to explore all 3 of the series. FYI the 3rd Vandal hearts seems to be available digitally if anyone wants to try it and it is backwards compatible.
Man I love the first one so much.
Me too!
@@Xygor would love a remaster on current Gen consoles…
I remember trading this with a friend at school for command and conquer… I fell in love with as soon as I started playing it. This game, in my eyes, has never received the recognition it deserves
i still everytime i repeat playing this game , wow incredibly amazing this game is .
I could watch those blood geysers for hours
a long time ago, i played the first 3 to 5 stages of the original vandal hearts. i was new to the type of game. so i got stuck on the the stage that bad a church we are supposed to get to.
after killing all the enemies. you are supposed to move all your characters in front of the church. but i had no idea and re did the battle. was frustrating they didn't just give the victory when no enemies were alive.
that aside though, i loved the beautiful 2D sprites, the blood, the dark story, the tactical turn based battles, no pointless random battles, and that your characters could level up to new classes (i just wish it gave us more information about them)
definitely a good retro game that aged well. and would be on a list of games i wish was on steam for easier access. at least PS2 is backwards compatible with ps1. so that is the best bet to get it.
The first Vandal Hearts is one of my favorite games of all time. The graphics haven't really aged well, but the deep story, music, and unique gameplay keeps me coming back. The sequel was pretty good, but not as memorable as the 1st. Flames Of Judgment was a major disappointment.
Great video!!!
I loved these games ... ... I remember liking the first one a bit more. Both were fun. ... That first game was a classic and broke a lot of ground at the time.
I need to play these two games again!! It's been over 20 years!!
Glad you enjoyed!
The dual movement system is a topic we will have to disagree on.
At the time it was pretty awesome and I have had a very distinct memory for 20 years now of how the further you got in the game the more you were able to predict enemy movements and use the dual system to your advantage, almost to the point of being game-breakingly unfair in your favor by the time you got to the end of the game.
I also remember that when I played 2 a year or so later that I just bowled the game over due to my experience predicting the enemy movements gained from playing through 1.
There was very little innovation in tactics games at the time and it was nice to see something different. I'm sorry it didn't click for some people, but it definitely did for me and made for some fun battles
Awesome video! I love vandal hearts.
Thank you, glad you enjoyed!
Oh man, my weekends consisted of rushing to the video store after school to hire out either Suikoden or VH for 2 nights and jam out. Come Sunday, me and my buddies would bike to the video store to return the game and then just hang out at a skate park and talk about the game.
None of us could afford to buy them but we could at least pool our money together for games and junk food and a weekend of awesomeness
I always thought it was dumb to rent RPGs since you'd never be able to finish them. I guess that would have been okay on the Playstation since you had your save on the memory card, not the cart you had to return.
By that time though I'd sold a bunch of pirated VHS tapes on ebay and earned enough to get an expensive as hell CD burner (2x speed!!!) and started doing copied CD games... back then a pirated copy of Dracula X Rondo of Blood went for $50 on ebay... Thrill Kill (unreleased) was a good one too. It was still a bit out of the question to download Playstation games then though.. I did it, but they'd take several days sometimes and I had to sit around waiting and waiting in IRC chatrooms to get all the parts from fileservs and stuff.... so... I often went to Blockbuster to rent Playstation games. I just copied and returned them.
One of my less proud moments is renting a game that was scratched enough to not be able to be copied in my burner... so, feeling cheated, I scratched the game to the point it wouldn't boot up in my playstation so I could tell the store it didn't work. My plan worked and they let me rent a different game.
So anyway, I wasn't thinking about rentals the same way at that time I guess... I did a lot of "normal" rentals in the SNES/Genesis days though.
Vandal Hearts I and II, Saiyuki Journey to West and Vanguard Bandits are all hidden gems man. Dang, awesome games 🤩 can tell how many times i ve beaten them
Ya'll remember the first time you cast Salamander or Phase Shift?
Getting ash the robot gold armor is broken lol
Phew, I almost watched one of the endings for Vandal Hearts II that you had shown. I saw a bit, but not enough to get what it had shown. 🤣
Now, I wanted to say. In regards to Vandal Hearts, I personally thought that the character visuals, background visuals and music were fantastic. I still listen to the OST to this day. I must mention that I am a huge fan of horn instruments; so I may be biased about that.
I hated dual movement system, because of it i didn't even touch VH2...Vandal Hearts 1 on the other hand was one of the best gaming experiences in my life.
Love your reviews man. Was looking forward to this one and once again you dont disappoint. Excellent content!
So much ppl slept on this game i think, i will never forget this game.
I agree, same here!
I love the Vandal Hearts series. Currently playing VH1 at the moment. Remind me of Front Mission 3 and 4! 😊
Vandal hearts 2 and 3 we're just terrible, part 1 is a classic for the ages
2 had the waaaay better story tho.
Heard there was a mod where it changes the gameplay back to 1. Eg turn bases, not dual turn based
@@kingsouther Agreed. I loved everything else about the original more except the story even though I thought that it had a great story. To me, II has one of the greatest story that I have seen in a JRPGs and I have only beaten chapter 1. I am planning on returning to it and beating it because the story is too good.
Thanks for showing me these games! Really interested in checking them out!
Glad you like them!
Can you guys tell me, i never played the first one but extremely love the second one and the gameplay. You think if i ever got to play VH1 would i appreciate anywhere near as much as you guys love it? Because its my only chance to play a new VH that doesnt suck.
wow memory unlocked. this was such a good gem.
Xygor is the closest thing to a father I've ever had.
Wait, what
Still my fav SRPG, all these years later.
It really was a classic!
Just completed Vandal Hearts II today...
Regarding the dual turn system which turns everyone off: When you realise that the AI has fixed habits and attack patterns, you can predict it and second guess it. The AI on the other hand will never do that to you & will stick to its script. Once this clicked, I loved it!
I preferred the Swash Buckly vibe of the first game though: the second game tried to mimic Final Fantasy Tactics' tone a little too much. Great game all the same.
Have you finished Advanced Mode?!
One of my favorite RPGs of all time.
Late to the party. But the blood geysers in VH1 on the moving train was awesome
I bought Beyond the Beyond because it was the only RPG on the Playstation. It kinda sucked and I never got very far into it.
Magazines then said Suikoden was pretty cool, so I went ahead and bought that one basically because it was the only RPG other than Beyond the Beyond and seemed to be better.
Suikoden was REALLY cool, and it advertised another Konami game on the back of the manual called Vandal Hearts.
I bought it simply because it was made by the same company as the awesome Suikoden. I didn't know it was a tactical RPG.. maybe the ad said so, but I didn't research it at all, I just bought it when I saw it at a game store. I played Shining Force before, and loved that... so... new RPG following up Suikoden AND it's like Shining Force? Fuck yeah....
Vandal Hearts is better than Final Fantasy Tactics I think. I'd even say Suikoden is better than Final Fantasy VII. I was a massive Final Fantasy fan and incredibly hyped up for FF7.... FF7 was good in certain ways, for sure, but I've gone back to Vandal Hearts, especially the first one, and Suikoden a whole lot more than I have FF7 or FF8 or FFT...... I liked FF9 quite a bit but only played it once....
Anyway, Vandal Hearts was really great.
Thanks for these memories!
You are wrong about the battle sistem of vh2 you can easily manipulate the ai to do what you want and it's fun to waste enemy magic attacks or showing your back to manipulate the ai attacking that unit while moving it away from that spot before it does
Yeah, I had a lot of fun exploiting that system that way too.
Looking back though, it doesn't make much sense... no battle would ever work like that.
Anyway, its different, and it was fun trying to figure out what the computer was going to do.
When did we start saying "AI" anyway? It used to be "the computer".
One of my very favorites!
Can't believe Shining Force isn't mentioned.
These days we pretend like we always knew about Fire Emblem even though it didn't exist in North America at the time.
1st Vandal Hearts is the best and the only worth playing.
After Final Fantasy Tactics i was looking for something to scratch that itch. I picked up VH2 and really dug it. I then went out and got VH and loved it more.
As an all-time Shining Force fan (I have completed that game so many times that I could not play it again no matter how much I love it), I basically considered Vandal Hearts the Shining Force of the Playstation, along with Vanguard Bandits, the mecha Shining Force.
=[ I remember this game and want it back in my life so badly, My grandpa let me borrow the game, and as a kid, I kept it and over time I sold it, before he passed away we use to talk about the games him and I played together, I got most of them back, but this was one of the games him and I sat down together and actually tried to beat together....
Wow, what a memory, thanks for sharing it!
When there is a option to name a character in a game, I name him Ash or Lambert as a tribute to this masterpiece.
I have fond memories of the 1st Vandal Hearts game. From the captivating intro theme to the unforgettable blood fountain deathblows. I played the game religiously until the release of FFVII. I did not like Vandal Hearts 2, though. The characters' avatars looked a bit ugly, and the dual turn system added confusion rather than a strategy element to the game. I haven't played the 3rd one, and looking at the art and presentation, it's severely lacking. I think it's very rare for a different team to capture the essence a game.
I thoroughly enjoyed the vid. Thank you.
I loved this game so much
Underrated gem
1 was amazing. I liked the bigger scope that 2 had, just wished it had the sorta the same art direction 1 had but better, still loved both.
Do you think the blood geysers happen when people die from other causes?
Father: I'll miss you my dearest. And I wish a happy and fulfilling life for you and your husband. Forgive an old man his stubborness I could not see the love was so strong between you.
Daughter: ...I forgive you.
(Father smiles as his eyelids close and passes on. There is five seconds of silence, suddenly ended as a geyser of blood errupts out of the old man.)
Still got first two sitting (UK), remember breaking the first game by never using Ash in my second playthrough thus making the secret level childsplay as the enemy scaled with Ash.
It's my absolute favorite game on PS1 of all time!
Which one, the first one?
@Xygor Yes. I beat the first one multiple times. I remember the optional key quests that you had to find in order to unlock a secret class for Ash. I believe it was called "The Vandalier." That class was satisfying since you could cast any spell in the game!
Vandal hearts was fking good.
Agreed!
I've only played the 3rd one, interestingly. It was my first downloaded RPG on PS3 (times were so simple back then). I literally didn't know it was part of a series until now, but I had the same feeling about the graphics. Story wasn't great either, but it was a fun enough time for how small the game is.
I hope you've gone back and given the first one a try by now... it's really good stuff.
Cool game, will check it out
Underrated game
But who played it...just love it10/10
Which one, the first?
This game deserves a remake.
Chess meets JRPG
I have this game. There was a special weapon you could get for the hero if you searched a specific set of tiles to get certain items. But for whatever reason, I could never get the final item, so I never go the weapon. Considering how much time and effort one had to put in to do this, I got pretty frustrated.
But...why are the skeletons spurting blood?
Feel like it wad worth mentioning that flames of judgment was literally a 10-15$ download..i feel its a a fun little title i never considered it a proper full feature title...just worth mentioning i guess
Vandal Hearts 1 was a great game, but could not get to enjoy VH 2 as a kid because the portraits felt too "ugly" as compared to 1, and the dual turn system completely turned me down.
I hope Konami realizes they have a treasure trove of potential re-releases and re-masters in their hands, especially the Suikoden series.
Yeah, I don't like the portraits in VH2 either. Dual Turn is cool when you learn it, which I did the first time I played, but have since forgotten and it's just frustrated me when I've tried to go back to VH2 over the years. I had a blast the first time I played it though. Give it a chance someday.
@@anonamatron Thanks! I think I will give it a try!
Can someone please suggest a game like vandal hearts?
Can we get a remaster or remake of this and vandal hearts 2
Is there a way to play it again?
I always get this game confused with Vagrant Story... I'm not sure why. :P
Haha, who knows! I need to review that one too.
I remember for the LONGEST time when the Nintendo DS first came out, Vandal Hearts was among the title line up for it, but later on got cancelled. =[ Pretty FoJ is the reason, ugh...
I wish these games were on the playstation network
Vh3, horrible. But the first two were awesome
Way too easy on the 3rd one. That game looks like it was made by college students.
Till this day, Ash Vandalier is still the most broken unit in any SRPG.
Wow. VH3 has some really rough artwork huh. It's like each game gets a little worse art wise
I adore VH1. For some reason, VH2 just couldn't hook me. I would love a decent quality remake of the VH1.
I remember Vandal Hearts 2 disappointing me. It just didn't have the magic of the first one.
have you checked Vandal Hearts for Sega Saturn?
What about Vandal Hearts 3? You missed that one.
Edit:
Never mind. Was thinking of Valhalla Knights.
Forever Ash Lambert ❤
loved the first Vandal Hearts game. Those other two look ugly af though, especially that last one. What were they thinking??
Vandal hearts combat was the best thing about the game,it reminds me a lot of final fantasy tactics and tactics ogre commanding your entire Squad and killing enemies is super satisfying it's not like i like to see blood but seeing all the Enemy blood is super fun lol,the battle sounds are also pretty good you can hear the sound of your metal sword hitting the Enemy shield/flesh or other weapons like rod,and bow and Arrow, unfortunately the characters from the First game are very mediocre and don't get a ton of development time,the villains are even worse with generic and bad reasons to destroy the world and no character development, the soundtrack is mediocre aswell with 1 or 2 memorable songs here and there,the ending was also very anticlimatic and didn't feel satisfying,overall i give it a 7 out of 10 not One of the best jrpgs in the console but if you just want a bit of class customization and a combat that is similar to final fantasy tactics try it,but don't even think that it gets close to final fantasy tactics quality
A Chronotrigger theme with a Phantasy Star intro graphic.. what blasphemy is this 😂😂😂. I kina like it
Vandal Hearts Flames of Judgement DID NOT EXIST! Deny its cursed existence!
I was one of the fortunate ones who played the original Vandal Hearts when it was new. One of my PlayStation favorites. I was excited to try part 2, but was severely disappointed. So much so that I quit playing it after a few hours. I didn't even know there was a third came, but boy is it look like shit. I don't get the mentality with wasting time and resources like that. Why squeeze a game out of a dead franchise that you know isn't going to sell, and go out of your way to purposely make it as bad as possible?
I hate that. They then say "oh well, that series isn't popular, so I guess we'll never make one again" after they killed it themselves by doing such a shitty job. It's happened to a bunch of series. The series isn't dead, you just made a shitty installment!!! Do it right?
I rented this game so many damn times from blockbuster... this was not comical it was fucking insane in 1996 dont you get that wrong.. this game was all you could ask for on a friday night back in the good ol 96' .. they were spectacular graphics ... youngster.
you know how long ff7 took to beat being only 8 years old and a time where parents just kicked you until dusk .... Ill let you know im on disc 2 though..
Suikoden .. lol idk how you said it... its correct.. but it def pronounced - Sook oh dee in .. if your american
SOSTAGARIA
Vandal Hearts 3 is....wow. its bad.
The 2cnd games prologue is sooo long and drags after a cpl of play throughs to get to the better portions of the game where you can really start to customise your group. But after playing VH2 a few times the Third instalment was pitiful and shallow, in most aspects and felt like a short cash grab that didn't have its soul. I mean VH2 was well over 50 hours more if you played a few times and VH3 at just 15 a playthrough which was enough after 1 run...sad really.