Vandal Hearts II Guide: Chapter II

Killea Bog
00,22 - Naigama
08,23 - X-boom
09,06 - Map-A
09,13 - Magibook
11,18 - Map-4

It's fairly easy to take out all but the healing mage, then send your treasure hunter flying around to get all the treasures.  Give the magibook to whichever one of your mages didn't take the other one.

Fortuna
02,37 - Dirtball
14,37 - Urn

The dirtball is an important piece of the good ending, and it's only available at night.  Make sure the little clock in the top right on the worldmap is pointing between 10pm-12am.

Put your mages right up front, near the bridge.  That'll give them just enough reach to damage the first group of four when they move in, especially if you put the one with both a magibook and philbook on the right, or give the other a little extra movement with the runners. 

Have Maria and Pike take out the group on the wall with orbs, and then just go on from there.

Polata Ruins
08,15 - Angelrod
00,00 - C-heels
12,00 - E-punch
18,00 - G-coater

Send your fliers down to support Joshua early on.  You can also use blockmake, rather than going down the stairs at the side.  You can also use blockmake to trap one or two enemies on top of the wall, and leave them there while you hunt for treasure.

At this point, you can reach earlier maps in the game to pick up some additional treasure.

Danjou Forest
00,14 - Novacula

For this one, it's easier to give your treasure hunter the blockmake ability, rather than a shield.  Kill off all but one enemy, then tease them while your treasure hunter makes his way up the tree.  I found it easiest to put everyone back over the bridge, behind a barrier of guys with shields loaded up with recovermarks.   It takes a while to build a staircase of blocks.

Yuta Plain (W)
15,09 - Boots

Put the boots on your treasure hunter, and it'll all get slightly easier.

Dybosa Ridge
01,03 - Beacon
18,07 - Hint-7
30,03 - W-cape
 14,17 - Pickax
17,16 - Stoneye


I found it easiest to have my treasure hunter pick-up the three hidden items along the bottom of the hill while the rest of the party made their way up the middle, carefully dodging arrows.  I left one of the mages alive (drained of MP) while the treasure hunter picked up the chests.

Aposs Port

20,31 - Tower
22,30 - F-socks
20,21 - G-cap
22,00 - Tower

You can send the rest of the party off to deal with the various groups while your treasure hunter goes after the Tower and the F-socks.  When you get down to Mohosa, you can use two blocks to trap him on his island, then pelt him with magic at your leisure.  Or send your fliers in.

Tehapi Dunes

There's no treasure here initially.  Come back after fighting the Sand Worm.

10,17 - Map-6
13,20 - Bugeyes
18,12 - L-vase
23,15 - Zebra

The Zebra shield has the Reanimator skill, which is the first time in the game that you can revive characters who die.  It's still game-over if Joshua dies.

The Rock
11,15 - Puggio
29,16 - Iron-fan

Lots of mages here, but you can generally dodge one attack then pound them with your own magic.

Liuki Checkpoint
04,03 - Puggio
05,04 - Philbook
07,08 - Urn
05,16 - L-slab
06,16 - Hint-8
15,23 - Ancient

Go up the left side, and send your treasure hunter and his assistant up to get the three treasures right in front of you.   I had them take out the mage and one of the fliers, while the other went after the main group.  Try to make the mages move before you attack the group on the side because they can both heal.

Yuggor Station
00,28 - Ringrod
07,28 - Runners
13,17 - Shades
14,15 - Tower

You'll need blockbreak to get near the chest containing the Tower.  After this battle, you can buy re-animator orbs.  Expensive but worth it.

East Railroad
02,32 - Bullion

It's pretty easy to get the bullion, and equally easy to get Manon to use up her MP.  You'll want all of your guys to move in at once, because she has recovermarks.

Gabhul Castle
02,17 - Ancient
15,17 - Saviorod

The items are in chests, so hard to miss.

Gabhul Castle (2)
01,22 - Bugeyes
14,22 - W-cape
07,00 - Hint-9

Vandal Hearts II Guide: Chapter 1

Set-Up

From here on, I found it easier to have a designated character for each type of weapon.  I generally set it up like this;


James: Sword, shields, L-Armour.
Vlad: Axes, Lances, shields, A-Armour.
Lira: Ballistics, ie, Bows/Throwing Weapons, L-Armour.

Prateau, Mage: Staff, shield, R-Armour.
Gilti, Mage: Staff, shield, R-Armour

Pike, Treasure Hunter: Knives, shields, S-Armour.  Should always have the Unlock and Searchmark skills available.
Maria, Treasure Hunting Support: Special Weapons, S-Armour.  Give Blockmake, Blockbreak, and Terraform as they become available.



Battles

Railroad

4,53 - Halbert

You start this battle without a chance to change your equipment.  Vlad has Clive's stuff, and Pike has Yuri's.

You can ignore the Halbert for now - you'll have to come back once you've gotten some flying armour, anyway.

Visit the shop only, re-equip your characters and head back to the Railroad.

Railroad
4,35 - H-Ring

The Halberd is still here if you haven't gotten it before.  Use this battle to learn new weapon skills.

Luxar Village
04,24 - Cutlass
07,13 - V-cape
15,17 - Bandana
16,24 - Graver

This battle will begin as soon as you enter and exit the tavern.

After this battle, stock up on weapons.  There are also two goblin shields, which you should buy.  Sell the Bullion.

Bahtar Plain
01,12 - Shades
01,28 - Urn
09,29 - Ballast
11,13 - Hint-5

Go after one group at a time.  Be careful when sending your treasure-hunter out by themselves.  I suggest that you work along the side left of where your characters start, where most of the treasures are.

It's easier to go after Godeau with only one character at first.  He'll move first, and if you know who he's going to target, it's pretty easy to dodge until his mp runs out.

Fort Gusta
Return later for treasure.
15,02 - S-coater
15,02 - Runners
15,12 - [I]-ring

If Maria stands on 15,25, the enemies can't get high enough to attack her or Gilti, but they can both rain arrows and thunderbolts down.

The Runners are hidden under the chest with the S-Coater.  Open the chest first, then stand on the spot where it was.

There are a couple of new weapons for sale in Luxar after this battle.  In the Tavern, speak to the man, who mentions Triangle.  Go to the shop, scroll down below 'items', and click on '???' until he sells you Map-3.

Triangle
03,03- Goblin
03,03 - Clump
10,08 - Pipe

If you come here now, you'll only face four enemies.  The clump is hidden underneath the chest with the Goblin Shield, and it's an important piece of the best ending.

Kumenu Canyon
18,08 - Goblin
33,01 - Hint-6
33,08 - L-vase

Use the select button to see where your enemies are able to reach, and dodge the archer and mage.  If you're lucky, the enemy mage will move into attack range and you can take him out early. 

Use your two teams to carefully take out the guys near them while moving together.  That should leave you with only the archer and Thorpe herself to deal with.  Send your treasure hunter over to grab the Goblin at this point, while your team takes out the archer and sends someone to tease Thorpe into using up her MP.

Porta River
01,01 - L-glove
14,17 - Magibook
14,29 - Nailbat

The nice thing about this battle is, you can kill all the enemies and then collect the treasure at your leisure, as long as you keep someone on the wrong side of the bridge.  Give the Magibook to one of your mages, it's a great accessory.

Ghote Plain
01,01 - Balloon

You can get an extra Recovermark here if you prepare properly.  Equip a character with nothing but a Shield with Weapon Trade, and have them swap with Yuri at some point.  You can steal your other allies weapons in a similar way, but those skills are easy to get so I don't usually bother.

This is an easy one.  You can grab the balloon on the first turn, and Yuri and his friends are fully capable of raining down hell on the foot soldiers near them.

Barm Mountain Range
05,14 - Pickaxe
23,08 - Maracas

You can steal Yuri's items in this battle, if you prefer.

With the Pickaxe and Maracas equipped, head back to Fort Gusta.

Fort Gusta
06, 27 - Joule

Use the blockmake ability to help your treasure hunter climb on top of the big post.  The Joule has the 're-move' skill, which lets another character move twice.  This can be useful.

Mine Level 1
09,07 - V-cape
09,13 - Philbook
13,20 - Map-11
15,20 - T-ring

Bring a couple of c-potions along.

Split your team at first; your two mages can take out the two bugs coming up along the [x,0] edge, while your physical attackers can take care of the two on the [23,X] flank.  Your two flyers can take out one of the nearby bugs below you immediately.

Blockmake is essential for getting half of the treasures here, and it'll make getting down off the ledge easier too.

JackBlade
01,38 - Pole-ax
30,38 - Goblin

Make life easier, and move everyone up near the top of the map.

Mine Level 2
21,00 -  Hi-Herb

One of the simpler levels.

Mine Level 3
03,08 - Hi-herb

Mine Level 4
00,24 - B-insect
14,24 - Goblin

This battle becomes easier if you use blockmake to create a path straight up the middle, rather than going down the sides.  As long as you're careful to dodge the mages, you should be fine.  And you get a lovely new Recovermark!

Chamber
07,07 - C-potion

My dilemma here was whether to have Lyra learn the bow or the ballistic.  I went with the bow.  You won't need 'blockmake', so you can always have Maria use the ballistic if you're in the same situation.

After taking out the foot soldiers, use flyers and mages to take out the bosses.  It's much easier trying to dodge with a few people than all of them.

Vandal Hearts II Guide: Prologue

In order to get the best ending, you will need to obtain at least one of every weapon in the game so this guide will include that goal.  I aim to master each of these, so I can move the skills around and sell the empty ones.

The percentage shown on the save screen is the percentage of weapons you've found.  2-Handed is 1% while 1-handed is equal to 0.5%.

Set-Up

I generally leave the characters with the type of armour they started with - Clive with A, Joshua with L, and Yuri with R. 

Battles

Tutorial

No Treasure.


Polata Village

Buy a Bowie Knife and an Antennae, and equip them both on the same character.  Otherwise, buy whatever mixture of weapons and armour you like, and equip them on whoever you like.  You goal is to eventually buy all of them. 

Rosace Hill
22,22 - Hint 1

Defeat the three enemies, and send your little guy with the antennae to stand on 22,22.  Have him attack empty squares if he hasn't learned the Searchmark tech by then.

Mastha Canyon
20,10 - Hint 2
01,00 - Mallet


Transfer your learned skills onto the highest weapon of that level, and sell them to buy a few different weapons.  Again, equip these on anyone you can, but make sure someone has the unlock skill.

Kill all but one enemy, and then go for the chests (use 'unlock' to unlock them).  The trick is to tease the enemy; if only one character is in range, they'll go for that one.  Just make sure you don't get too close to the rest of the group.

Return to Polata, buy new weapons, and deliver the Muherb to Dr Bonner.

Yuta Plain (w)
00,11 - Hint 3
15, 23 - B-Light
Return for Extra Treasure in Chapter 2


Yuta (E)
03,14 - Hint 4
04,05 - Goblin Shield
14,21 - Goblin Shield

You are going to want to grab as many Goblin Shields as you physically can, because they carry Recovermarks, which restore 15hp per turn, and stack to heal more.  There's only one point in the game where they're sold, and the rest you have to find.

Danjou Forest
00,23 - Pinwheel 
Return for Extra Treasure in Chapter 2

You'll need to go up the stairs to get to the pinwheel in the treasure chest.  There's more treasure here, but you'll need the blockmaking skill to grab it.

Go to the Hideout.

Kutao Mt.
06,11 - Urn
11,11 - Map-12 

The two treasures here are very close together, so you won't need to waste much time.  Map-12 opens a bonus area.

Queentia (Map-12)
04,05 - Hi-herb
04,09 - Hi-herb
09,08 - Graver
10,04 - Hi-herb
12,13 - Rebelrod
15,08 - Hi-herb
17,04 - Hi-Herb

All of the treasures are in chests.  If you come here now you'll only face two enemies.

Byron Manor (Sewers)
13,16 - Bullion
14,28 - Cutlass
15,05 - Halbert

This map is non-repeatable, so grab the treasures now.  Particularly the Bullion.  Consider bringing along some c-potions, too.

If you choose to go back, you'll get a chance to change your equipment and visit the shop again, though there isn't anything new.  There are two battles in a row after this point.

Byron Manor (Dining Room)
04,09 - Herb

This map is also non-repeatable.

Review: Vandal Hearts II

Vandal Hearts II is a fairly old game, released in 1999 for the psx. It's one of my favourite tactical RPGs, and has an epic, overarching storyline that spans something like fifteen in-game years, over five chapters.

Storyline

A group of young people grow up together, nobles and commoners alike.  They are forced apart as they grow up.  Eventually, they are forced to take sides in the civil war which is carving up the continent. And all of that is just the prologue.
The plot is essentially political in nature, with the bitter flow of a tragic romance underneath it.  It's long, and sometimes a little hard to follow, as some gamers have complained. The game does include a story log, which makes remembering where you were going a little easier, but it still requires a fair amount of time and commitment. I couldn't tell you how many hours I spent playing it. To be fair, it probably wasn't any more than fifty or sixty, a little short for an RPG. Still, it felt longer, and part of that may have been the battles.

Battles

Fighting, in Vandal Hearts II, is serious business.  It's also my favourite feature of the game.

Like many other strategy games, the Vandal Hearts II battle system involves your characters and the enemies moving around a 3d battle map, trying to destroy each other.  However, unlike most games, where the enemies get a turn and then your characters get a turn, when one of your characters move, an enemy character moves at the same time, until every unit has taken their turn.  Then another turn starts.

This battle system opens up a lot of strategical maneuvering.  As frustrating as it is to waste mp trying to cast a spell on an enemy who just moved out of the way, it is equally satisfying to second guess the enemy, and send the character they were about to stab in the back to hit them from behind instead.  This also means that being a 'good' fighter is more than a case of brute strength and a lot of levelling up (incidentally, the exp ratio is set slightly low, so over-levelling is more of a pain than it's worth).  Whether you like the battle system or not depends a lot on you as a person.  Personally, I like trying to predict what's going to happen, and, over time, I've gotten rather good at it.  A couple of basic tips, while I'm here;

The enemy will try to attack your weakest character from behind.  That's their priority.  Check their movement, and it'll give you a good idea of their options.

Secondly, before you move a character, make sure you won't be moving them right into the middle of a group of enemies, especially not early in a turn.  They'll pound on the little dude while you're unable to move him out of the way.  Hitting "select" will show you the total move range of every enemy - try to stand somewhere that no one can reach for the rest of the turn.

Anyway, since the battles are tactical, each one takes quite a while, rather than the ten second Final Fantasy random battles.  Each fight is rather a big deal, and with enough care and forethought, you can get through the game without dying once.  However, if  you become impatient, you may make a mistake that will cost you a character.  You don't get any revival spells until around halfway through the game, and although death is not final, and each battle starts with a clean slate, if your main character dies, its an instant game over, which can be very frustrating.  If other characters die, you lose your perfect win bonus (double the money you gain from the battle), and a percentage of your battle spoils.

I want to keep those battle spoils.  I need them to buy weapons.

Going back to my point about random battles, there are none in the game, like in most tactical games (a notable exception being Final Fantasy Tactics Advance).  You can choose to go back and fight again, if you want to level up a character or their armour, but you won't run into a random fight just by running around the world map.  There are, however, hidden battle maps, which can be found in a variety of ways - by digging up the maps, or by talking to the right person in a pub, for instance.

The World Map

The world map of Vandal Hearts II is simply a map, with glowing lines drawn on it, along which the characters travel.  One thing I found interesting is that more of the world is implied than you actually see.

There's also a clock in the upper right corner.  Although the hour of day will affect some battles (ie, whether you fight at night or in daylight), the clock doesn't count individual days, so they won't make any difference.

Weapons and Armour

All characters can equip any kind of armour and any weapon.  However, I find that having characters specialize in various weapon types is much easier.  The game seems to have planned for this, since you end up with just enough characters to have one specialize in each weapon, and an extra mage, just in case.  I've personally found that to be the most effective set-up.

Skills start on weapons, and are learnt after a certain amount of use.  They can then be transferred to another weapon of the same type, similar to the specialists in Disgaea.  There is no limit to how many copies of any given skill you can have; you just need to buy another shield or sword or whatever with the skill you want, and then simply learn it.  However, some items, like the Goblin Shield (with the very useful recovery skill) are limited within the game.

Specialise might actually be the wrong word, since you can change any character instantly, by changing their weapons/armour.  I just find it more convenient to allocate certain things to certain characters, rather than switch.

Subquests

There are a few side-quests in Vandal Hearts II.  The largest one would be collecting 100% of the weapons in the game, which isn't technically a sub-quest.  It does, however, relate to which ending you see.

There are also sixteen or so extra battle fields which can be accessed if you get ahold of the right maps.  Most of this is achieved through the use of a single skill, Searchmark, which is held on the dagger weapon.  This allows you to dig up various items at certain points of the maps; most of these are rare weapons or accessories that you couldn't get elsewhere in the game.  Be warned - finding these can be a complete pain in the arse.  I have to admit, I used a guide purely to know where to dig.

The multiple endings are worth mentioning here.  There are, essentially, four, although, if you count the slight variations, it's more like eight.  These endings are determined based on choices made within the game, although your weapon percentage will mean the difference between the good ending and the best ending.

Graphics

The graphics really aren't amazing, and weren't at the time.  The characters are sprites, which are very sweet, but not incredibly detailed.  They're close, in style to those of Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, and yes, the latter is a GBA game.  The backgrounds are functional and clear, but not astonishing.

In fact, here's the intro.  Take a look.

...the music's nice, too.

Characters

There are far too many characters to do justice to them all, and many of them don't get nearly the amount of screen-time they deserve.

The main character is, of course, Joshua.  Since his childhood, he's never felt comfortable as a commoner around nobility, and the events of his teenage years hardly help.  Throughout the years, he does somewhat manage to hold on to his sense of honour (although whether to make excuses or amends for his actions is, literally, a choice for the player).

Although his childhood friends, Yuri (the bookish one) and Clive (the brawny one) do make an appearance in Joshua's adult life, they don't show up much.  Yuri is an important element in the St Nirvath element of the plot - St Nirvath being the founder of the country's religion - and both influence the ending.  Then there are Baron Pratue, Lira, Agress, and Gilti, members of the original White Dragons.  They aren't developed much, although Gilti provides a little camp humour (camp being the operative word - his homosexuality is heavily implied within the game).

My favourite characters, however, are Pike and Maria.  Pike is a member of Joshua's Red Wolves, while Maria was an original White Dragon.  It's hate at first sight for the pair of them, and we all know what that means.  Their constant sniping is one of the more amusing parts of the game, particularly when they start yelling insults at each other mid battle.

Adele is also, of course, worth mentioning.  Although as a young girl, she is attracted to Joshua, his mixed signals both intrigue and infuriate her.  His apparent betrayal would appear to be what causes her to turn from a child to an adult, and has a large bearing on her future actions.  Although not always seen, Adele remains an important part of the plot, and of the ending.

Summary

As I said above, the game's pretty long and involving.  The plot is fairly complex, and the characters develop well, creating an intriguing web of relationships.  It's interesting the way the plot forces the characters into changing, and occasionally sacrificing their old ideals as events change the world around them.

The game has multiple endings, which does allow a little replay value.  However, the game is so long and involving, that you probably won't feel like replaying it again immediately.  Considering there are at least six permutations of the ending, this means that most people won't see all of them.  One of the most frustrating things about the varied endings is that one of the main differences is affected by how you answer a question very early on in the game.  In other words, you have to replay the bulk of the game to change which ending you see, unlike in other games, such as the Breath of Fire series, where it is determined by a choice much later on.

In summary, Vandal Hearts II is a great retro tactics game.  It's long and complicated, particularly when compared to, for instance, Disgaea, and it's a little harder to find than Final Fantasy Tactics.  However, the dual-turn battle system is unique, and an amazingly fun way to fight.  The weapons and ability system is just complicated enough to be interesting while still being fun, and the characters are curiously endearing for such odd little sprites.  The game's hard work, and although not as obviously 'fun' and lighthearted as simpler games, it's satisfying and enjoyable.