=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Vagrant Story +=============================================================================+ + GMB Requirements Guide + + + + by RandomNumbers + + + + Version 1.00 - 12/20/06 + +=============================================================================+ ***WARNING: THIS DOCUMENT MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*** +-----============-----+ LEGAL NOTICE +----============----+ The following sites have express permission to post this guide: www.gameFAQs.com www.neoseeker.com www.supercheats.com www.1up.com If you would like to post this guide on your website, please contact me at and ask. Chances are good I won't turn you down. Please don't post this guide without permission. Thank you. +-----===================-----+ CONTACT INFORMATION +----===================----+ Email may be sent to . I try to answer all email that I receive, but sometimes it takes a while. Unless you specifically request otherwise, I may include portions of your email that I deem relevant in future versions of this document. If I do, you will be given proper credit for the contribution. +-----===============-----+ VERSION HISTORY +----===============----+ ======================= Version 1.00 - 12/20/06 ======================= -I've decided to close out this guide for now. It's not as complete as I would like it to be, but since I don't think I'll be working on it much anytime soon, I will go through, polish it as much as I can, and consider it 'complete.' ======================= Version 0.91 - 07/08/06 ======================= -Just a quick update to revise contact information and other minor details. Please note that I will no longer respond to emails sent to the old address. Also, I lost several emails that people sent me about this game, for which I apologize. If you email me at my new address, I'll try to include your information next time 'round. ======================= Version 0.90 - 10/26/04 ======================= -First version. Nearly complete. The main thing missing are some good strategies for getting points. Basics are covered, though. +-----=================-----+ TABLE OF CONTENTS +----=================----+ 1 - INTRODUCTION 1.1 - Purpose of this Guide 2 - BECOMING A GMB 2.1 - Requirements 2.1.01 - Titles 2.1.02 - Points 2.2 - Strategies 2.2.01 - 'Knight of Brilliance' Title 2.2.02 - Amassing Points 3 - CLOSING 3.1 - Knights of Brilliance 3.2 - Acknowledgements On to the good stuff! +-----================-----+ 1 - INTRODUCTION +----================----+ =========================== 1.1 - Purpose of this Guide =========================== The purpose of this guide is to outline the requirements for becoming a Grand Master Breaker (GMB). As you probably already know, Grand Master Breaker is the highest level you can attain in this game (specifically, Level 16). I accomplished this only recently myself, and I was only able to do it with the help of many of my fellow Vagrants on the VS message board. As a show of thanks, I decided to write this guide collecting this information that, as far as I know, does not exist anywhere else in its entirety. Hopefully it's of some use to those of you who are about to pour another 10-20 hours of your lives into a game that has probably already taken several times that. Time well spent, I'd say. Before I go on, let me just mention for the sake of having mentioned it that this document will contain some spoilers. To anyone who's actually played this game enough to contemplate going for GMB, this should not be an issue. Lastly, I should mention that this guide was written for the North American version of Vagrant Story. That does not necessarily mean that it won't apply to other versions, just that you should be aware that it may not. +-----==================-----+ 2 - BECOMING A GMB +----==================----+ ================== 2.1 - Requirements ================== For those of you interested in the quick and dirty version of the requirements to attain the rank of GMB, they are: (a) 16 of the first 16 titles and (b) 100,000,000 points. That's right, a cool hundred million. See below for more details --------------- 2.1.01 - Titles --------------- Of the 32 titles that you can earn in this game, only the first 16 are necessary to become a GMB. This is good because earning some of the other titles (two in particular) are very time consuming. Below is a list of the titles that are required, and what you need to do to earn them. Note that this requirement makes it impossible to attain the rank of GMB on a first play- through. 01 - SEEKER OF TRUTH - Finished the game once. 02 - CONQUEROR OF THE DARK - Finished the game within ten hours. 03 - TREASURE HUNTER - Checked all the chests in the game. 04 - WANDERER IN DARKNESS - Visited every map location in the game. 05 - DESTROYER OF GAEUS - Defeated Damascus Golem in Forgotten Passage. 06 - HUNTER OF THE SNOWPLAINS - Defeated Damascus Crab in Snowfly Forest East. 07 - ALLY OF THE WOOD - Defeated Ravana in Iron Maiden B2. 08 - SLAYER OF THE WYRM - Defeated Dragon Zombie in Iron Maiden B2 09 - VANQUISHER OF DEATH - Defeated Death and Ogre Zombie in Iron Maiden B2. 10 - WARRIOR OF ASURA - Defeated Asura in Iron Maiden B3. 11 - CONQUEROR OF TIME - Received an 'Excellent!!' rating for all the Time Attack battles. 12 - KNIGHT OF BRILLIANCE - Turned out more than 30 Chain Abilities in a row. 13 - BEARER OF THE NEW WORLD - Found the rare item Gold Key. 14 - HOARD FINDER - Found the rare item Chest Key. 15 - HANDS OF MIGHT - Mastered all Break Arts. 16 - HANDS OF SKILL - Mastered all Battle Abilities. --------------- 2.1.02 - Points --------------- A table of how many points are required to get each level is listed below. Note that for the last three titles, there are some Title requirements as well (though I'm no longer completely sure about the requirements for Levels 14 and 15). LEVEL RANK POINTS TITLES REQUIRED ----- --------------------- ----------- --------------- 1 Normal Agent 0 none 2 Gladiator 500,000 none 3 Daredevil 1,000,000 none 4 Berserker 2,000,000 none 5 Destroyer 3,000,000 none 6 Spectrebane 4,000,000 none 7 Paladin 5,000,000 none 8 Mystic Wanderer 8,000,000 none 9 Blade Master 12,000,000 none 10 Master Gladiator 16,000,000 none 11 Courageous Adventurer 24,000,000 none 12 Dragon Slayer 32,000,000 none 13 Raging Berserker 40,000,000 none 14 Radiant Knight 60,000,000 8 of the first 16 (?) 15 Grand Paladin 75,000,000 12 of the first 16 (?) 16 Grand Master Breaker 100,000,000 16 of the first 16 Notice that it takes 20 million points to get from Level 13 to Level 14, but only 15 million to get from Level 14 to Level 15. Strange. ================ 2.2 - Strategies ================ Now that you know what you're up against, you are no doubt wondering how best to do it. While most of the titles are pretty self-explanatory, there is one in particular that gives people problems. The 100 million points also seems quite daunting at first. The next few sections should help make things more manageable. ------------------------------------- 2.2.01 - 'Knight of Brilliance' Title ------------------------------------- This title is notorious for being the hardest title for some people to get. Personally, I think Blood-thirsty Hunter and Master of Arms are tougher (and in fact, these are the only two titles I haven't earned yet), but they are more a matter of having huge amounts of time on your hands rather than skill. Since those two titles aren't necessary for GMB status, anyway, I think it's safe to say that, in terms of titles, Knight of Brilliance (KoB) will be your biggest obstacle. I myself have met or exceeded 30 chains about four times (and, yes, 30 chains is enough; you do *not* need 'more than 30' as the description seems to suggest), and my record is 32. Not stellar, but respectable, I think. Unfortunately, there are no instructions I can give that will allow you to nail this title easily and every time. Instead, what follows is a short list of tips that, hopefully, will allow you to earn this elusive title without destroying your controller in a fit of rage: CHOOSE YOUR WEAPON Obvious enough, right? Some weapons are easier to chain with than others. Which weapons these are is a matter of opinion. I like Great Axes. I know Crossbows are a very popular choice. Try a bunch and see which you like. But once you find one, stick with it. Changing from a Great Axe to a Dagger isn't going to help your timing. CHOOSE YOUR CHAIN ABILITIES In my opinion, Chain Abilities are the most important choice you will make, for obvious reasons. I like the combination of Heavy Shot and Raging Ache. Certain Chain Abilities are much slower, and I would stay away from those. But again, try some things out and see what you like. CHOOSE YOUR DUMMY Why does this make a difference? Well, it doesn't really, but there are a few things to keep in mind. Although you won't be doing much damage to any of the dummies, unless you're some sort of chaining genius, you'll go through a few before you can call yourself a KoB. Picking one near an area exit will make it easy to quickly respawn the dummy. Having to teleport or going a few rooms away every time is a pain. The Dragon dummy works well for this, but I wouldn't recommend it; the Dragon dummy drops the Elixir of Dragoons item. Unless you already have your UDDA and UDDS* and don't plan on doing any more racking, Agility is BAD. Pick a dummy that drops something more useful. Finally, dummy hit points might also be a factor you want to consider, but I confess ignorance on the subject (I don't even know if different dummies have different HP). In case you're curious, I usually use the human dummy, just because it's the first you come across. *(If I remember correctly, these stand for Ultimate Damascus Dread Armor and Shield, respectively. See the appropriate guides or stop by the message board for more information.) CHOOSE YOUR ANGLE OF VIEW Another minor detail? Maybe, but like they say, the Devil is in the details. In case it's unclear, by 'angle of view' I mean how you rotate the map. Personally, I prefer the camera to be behind Ashley because it's easier for me to see when the weapon will make contact. Experiment to see what suits you best, but as with the others, once you find a good one, stick to it. ELIMINATE DISTRACTIONS Now that you've chosen your ideal setup, it's time to prepare your real world environment. Unless your concentration is about a scrillion times better than mine, having your brother/parent/best friend talking to you while you're trying to chain is a mistake. Music is also a no-no. I find that either music makes me miss like crazy, or the beat is such that it actually helps... until the timing changes (more on that in a bit). Sometimes I go so far as to turn down the volume on the TV as well to have complete silence. Every little bit can help (but don't underestimate the value of the aural cues the game provides, either). BEWARE THE TIMING I'm not sure exactly how many times or when the timing changes, but it happens once for sure around 15 chains. You'll notice this because as you start to get better and better, you'll find yourself messing up a lot at around 15-16. Even once you start watching for the transition, you'll find that it can catch up to you at around 18-19 if you're not careful. On the other hand, probably half of my failures were the result of overcompensating for this change. Not much I can really help with, here, except to assure you that you will get better with practice. Which brings me to my next point... BE PATIENT Expecting to nail 30+ chains the first time you try is only going to lead to frustration. It takes a while. Sometimes a long while. The key is not to get discouraged. Instead of shooting for the big three-oh, aim to consistently get above 15. One you can do this, try to get above 20. After a while, you'll be able to handle getting above 20, and eventually 25. As long as you can keep bringing your average up, statistically you'll make it to 30 eventually. I know how infuriating it is to fail at 28 or 29 chains, but instead try to think of getting that far as a good sign. AVOID ADRENALINE POISONING Right around the time you start hitting 20 chains, if not before, you'll start feeling those adrenal glands kick in. Believe it or not, fight-or-flight is not, repeat *not*, going to help your efforts. In fact, you'll probably have trouble doing anything that requires more precision than a violent spasm will allow. Now might be a good time to take a break. I know the feeling of wanting to try just *one* more time, so if you really feel like you want to keep going, then go ahead. The first time I got the title it was after a several-hour-long session. On the other hand, the last time I did it, I did it on my first try, *and* I got my highest score. Being 'in the zone' may be good, but if it's not working out, find something else to do for a while, and come back when you feel a little more relaxed. Hopefully the above will be enough to at least get you on the right track. Realize that this is tough, but also realize that it *is* possible. ------------------------ 2.2.02 - Amassing Points ------------------------ Yes, 100 million points is a lot. Killing a single enemy (even a tough one) and observing the effect it has on your score would make this task seem impossible. Fortunately, there are some interesting features of the Vagrant Story scoring system that can be taken advantage of. Most of the successful point building strategies are based on this. Basically, using one weapon type consistently will increase the number of points you get per kill. Not all weapons are equal, though. You get the biggest bonus for using Long Swords, Heavy Axes, or Heavy Maces. In addition, the same principle applies to killing monsters. The more monsters you kill of the same type, the more points you will get per kill. In this case, the Dragon class nets you the biggest bonus (for more details, see http://www.geocities.com/xo_pitseleh/VS-07.html). The catch is that if you goof up somehow, your 'points counter' gets reset. For example, killing a different enemy type or changing your weapon means that whatever bonus you were getting starts from scratch. Using magic, items, or Break Arts is also bad. I've heard that letting an enemy hit you or cast a spell resets you as well. One solution to this is to use dummies. You don't have to worry about them hitting you or doing something unexpected. Better still, you can get your HP very low to do maximum damage with Raging Ache (triggering a trap does NOT affect your points counter, and it can't reduce your HP below 1, so it's a good way to lower HP), and you can chain the crap out of them without having to worry about your Risk level. One method (and the one which I used) is to repeatedly kill the Dragon dummy (I'm trying hard to find out who came up with this method so I can give proper credit). The Dragon dummy is good because, as mentioned above, Dragon type enemies give you the most points. It's also next to a couple of area exits, meaning you can easily respawn it. It took me about 15 hours (game time) to get from ~27 million points to 100 million. Not too bad if you spread it out over the course of a week or two. Keep in mind the tip I mentioned above regarding the Elixer of Dragoons dropped by this dummy, though. If you're too weak and it takes you more than a minute or so to kill the dummy, here's another method I experimented with: instead of killing the Dragon dummy, kill one of the dragons in the Time Trials. I tried this for only a few minutes, but it seemed like it was working about as well as the dummy killing method. I would get less points per kill (call it half), but I was killing it much faster. Since I didn't experiment with this too much, I can't give much more advice, but it's something you might want to keep in mind. Above all, just be sure you can kill the Dragon without it hitting you. That's all for now. In the future I hope to have more information about some of the various strategies used for amassing points (relatively) quickly. I really could kick myself for not saving a copy of the message board topic that had all this info in it. +-----===========-----+ 3 - CLOSING +----===========----+ =========================== 3.1 - Knights of Brilliance =========================== The purpose of this section was originally to honor those players who had managed to meet or exceed 30 chains (along with their highest chain, weapon used, and Chain Abilities used) in the hope that it would also be helpful to those still trying to earn the title by showing what has worked well for others. Due to lack of response, however, and the fact that I likely wouldn't be able to maintain it anyway, I've decided to cut this section. Just for kicks, I will leave the setup I used. Maybe it can be used as a starting point for those still trying to accomplish this. Note that this DOES NOT imply that I was the first player to attain the title or that 32 chains is some sort of record (other than my personal best). PLAYER WEAPON CHAIN ABILITIES RECORD ------------- ------------------- ---------------------- ------ RandomNumbers Halberd (Great Axe) Heavy Shot/Raging Ache 32 ====================== 3.2 - Acknowledgements ====================== Thanks go to... Roz, Marty81, Abbumaru, and runningmonkey for replying to my topic on the message board. xo_pitseleh for creating his Vagrant Story web page: All of the regulars on the Vagrant Story message board that I haven't mentioned by name. Thanks again, guys! -RandomNumbers Level 16: Grand Master Breaker -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=