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Vagrant Story is often touted as one of, if not the most technically impressive game on the PS1, far above Metal Gear Solid 1. However, the most impressive thing was that this full 3D game was done primarily by people who had no experience with 3D!pic.twitter.com/ba3cnIYMyS

The Vagrant Story team was the Final Fantasy Tactics team, which was itself an incredible showcase of 2D pixel art. These people tackled 3D with only their experience on 2D under their belt, and yet this skill was enough to create a timeless game that is still impressive todaypic.twitter.com/fPnoUuAJlu

One aspect in which their experience in 2D helped them is in creating 3D models. Being a full 3D game, each character had limited memory and polygon count to work with. In fact, characters had less than half of the polygon count of Final Fantasy VII and VIII. 700 to 320!pic.twitter.com/WjLY3hZtLT

Despite having less than half of the polygon count of FFVII and FFVIII for characters, you can check for yourself how much more expressive and detailed the 3D models of Vagrant Story can be in comparison. This feat was done by 2D artists using every trick up their sleeve.pic.twitter.com/eJh19E23m7

This doesn't even stop there. Compared to another juggernaut of its time, Vagrant Story managed to feature eyes and animate mouths instead of featuring head bobs to simulate a conversation.pic.twitter.com/t6n3J8KRJn

Just look at the difference in quality! The way her mouth animates! The way her head moves alongside her eyes to look at Ashley! The distinct textures of her clothes! To say nothing of the diffused lighting! It still floors me to this day.pic.twitter.com/IZZarSSWJ6

This was only possible because an artist with a background in pixel art took it upon himself to do all the facial expressions, and animate mouths with sub-pixel shading. His name is Eichiro Nakatsu. He was most recently the art director of Dragon Quest XI.pic.twitter.com/OOikvOOPTK

As if all of that wasn't enough, they had also simulated lighting displaying on 3D models. How so? By creating a second set of 3D models, brightening them up, and slightly moving them to the direction of the light. Their ingenuity knew no bounds.pic.twitter.com/HhVtjjO93d

But the characters would be nothing without a background to set them in. And that's where Vagrant Story's environment comes in. An extremely impressive showcase that simulated a lighting environment despite not having a lighting engine.pic.twitter.com/4LBb53KCCn

The artistry on display is still absurd to this day. They went on a trip to Saint-Emilion in France and used it as a framework for the city of Leá Monde. A magnificent and lush area that hides some of Ivalice's darkest secrets in its underbelly.pic.twitter.com/8HK4xHlfzU

They shaded the environment of Vagrant Story using vertex colours, that they used to brighten or darken parts of the textures. This means that they effectively simulated lighting in a convincing manner for a console released in 1994. Let that sink in!pic.twitter.com/aDZLq6jtSq

All of this was made possible by a bunch of 2D artists who used everything they learned making 2D art and applying it to 3D. With their knowledge, they used 3D in special ways in order to reach their goal. 3D became another tool to express themselves in different ways.pic.twitter.com/hi5rM0CI9E

But these visuals wouldn't mean much if there wasn't someone to frame them in a way that made them pop out. That's where Jun Akiyama comes in, the cutscene director of Vagrant Story (and FFXII). His camerawork is still nothing short of fantastic. Just look at this!pic.twitter.com/juKTEThNS6

Akiyama used these gorgeous visuals by framing them in the best way possible. The camera emboldens the visuals and makes a well-written story into an engrossing cinematic experience. He would go as far as simulate depth of field on the PS1.pic.twitter.com/VUHt3AVgvW

The introduction cutscene is one of the best showcases of how good Akiyama's cutscene direction can be. It also has one of the best transitions I've seen here Also, here's a link to the intro on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rchMpwBfZ4 …pic.twitter.com/VRmeTtcjDQ

Jun Akiyama also worked for a way to implement seamless "cutscene to gameplay" transitions, and he succeeded with the help of the dev team. You could look at a cutscene and be into a fight immediately. No loading time, no camera cut, just straight to the action!pic.twitter.com/ZsJ6K0uFjS

To accompany the visuals, Tomohiro Yajima, the sound effect director decided to create all the sfx by himself, by manipulating noise and waveforms instead of using sampling. An absurdly complex task that immensely benefited the game. He recently worked on NieR: Automatapic.twitter.com/5sOvRWJ4bi

The spirit of the whole dev team was for Vagrant Story to *not* be Final Fantasy. They didn't want any CGI in the game because they wanted the same excitement players would feel watching them to happen in the real-time visuals, with the player in control.pic.twitter.com/iLMwjsIfbp

Remember what I've said about Hideo Kojima? An interview between Kojima and Yasumi Matsuno (director of FFT, Vagrant Story and FFXII) shows that he refused to play the game the moment he saw its introduction. Even wondering if there was a flaw he missed in his Metal Gear staffpic.twitter.com/g50RoYQqfA

Kojima had also praised Matsuno in other ways, saying that he had "a good sense of direction" and can "create situations that draw players in emotionally". Kojima had a lot of respect for Matsuno's work.pic.twitter.com/HCjzLHZ0sh

All of this wouldn't have been possible without Matsuno helming the project. He is the one who made it a cohesive package and managed to steer the staff in a direction that pushed them to success. Here's what Jun Akiyama had to say.pic.twitter.com/9vw0UY6VKj

Hironobu Sakaguchi, the father of Final Fantasy had even revealed in a Famitsu column that he *cried* while playing Vagrant Story and became Matsuno's biggest fan. Vagrant Story's prowess was the reason the team was entrusted to make Final Fantasy XII. An equally ambitious gamepic.twitter.com/oYkjfiz6A0

Matsuno would dare go into heavy themes for games made for the mainstream. For example, Final Fantasy Tactics' themes were inspired by his experience in the workplace at Square. He figured that without social capital, you wouldn't succeed there despite your skill.pic.twitter.com/7oyO0aTNnT

At the crux of VS' story is the death of Ashley Riot's wife and child, murdered at the hands of bandits. A tragic event that eats at Ashley's soul every day. But is there more to it?pic.twitter.com/TRq3cwqZH8

In the dark city of Leà Monde, where the dead becomes alive and the alive turns dead, your own eyes can turn against you. What really happened that day?pic.twitter.com/POd3xKEizu

This is exemplified by Matsuno's way of writing characters. They are never truly villains or truly heroes, all you see are shades of grey on each side, making you question who is it you should trust, and even question what is there to trust in the first place!pic.twitter.com/3i4WxtHuvU