What strategy guides does Vagrant Story have?

There is an irony at the root of this shelf: Matsuno designed Vagrant Story for hardcore players who, in his words, do not ask for hints and read strategy guides. The market answered with five official books across three regions, because the game’s systems, weapon affinities above all, are close to illegible without one.

The American book is BradyGames’ Vagrant Story Official Strategy Guide, written by Dan Birlew and published in 2000 (ISBN 1-56686-971-4), roughly 175 pages of full-colour area maps, bestiary and equipment data. It has two collector fingerprints. Some copies carry a poster, which the price record now tracks as a separate, pricier variant; and its weapon combination tables were posted to BradyGames’ website instead of printed, a shortcut contemporary readers complained about in print and which leaves every surviving copy permanently incomplete on the shelf.

Japan got the deeper shelf. DigiCube published a slim Fastest Strategy Book for Beginners (ISBN 4-925075-74-8), basics only, more guidebook than strategy guide. Famitsu’s editors produced a Complete Guide Book through Aspect (ISBN 4-7572-0754-9) with a flourish no Western guide attempted: subtitled the Ashley Pursuit Investigation Report, it retells the story from an outside investigator’s viewpoint, though its maps stop before the late game, its documented flaw. And above them sits the Ultimania: Studio BentStuff’s 496-page deep book from DigiCube (April 13, 2000; ISBN 4-925075-75-6), with complete data, the setting materials, developer interviews and a novelization by Benny Matsuyama. Square Enix reprinted it on July 20, 2006 (ISBN 978-4-7575-1734-3, priced 1,870 yen) on the same day as the game’s Ultimate Hits reissue, a pairing that tells you exactly who it was for.