Hello travellers and drifters...
It's time to play Vagabond, a complete adventure game made by Zeuzio with RPG Maker VX Ace, whose last version was released in 2016.

Vagabond seems like a classic RPG Maker VX Ace rpg but has some interesting aspects, anyway let's start from the plot: in this game we play as a novice member of the Adventurer's Guild. This man or woman (you decide this and his/her name) while wandering (tha's why the title) gets lost and find himself inside a cursed land called Granti. To be able to go home our hero has to visit the seven zones of Granti, meet the seven sages and defeat the seven fiends, terrible evil creatures. Easy? well not at all since this journey must be done by himself alone... well more or less!


This is an important choice! What will be your pet-companion? By the way this is only the first upgrade of our little slime, later you can have far better companions!

In fact our hero protagonist soon encounters a friendly creature, a slime that joins him in his travels, providing assistance in battle. With the help of the sages this little creature can be empowered, changing its form into something different: a wolf? A raven? A unicorn? A werewolf? Well your decisions will shape the form of your companion defining also its abilities and powers, of course (you can even have a Torima, the hideous Rpgmaker eyeball creature!).
Anyway that's not all! In the beginning you also have a short "character creation moment" in which you will determine the class of the protagonist: this can be an Sorcerer that can cast elemental spells, a gun wielding Alchemist, a Druid with the powers of nature or an Astrologer (that's similar to the Sorcerer for the use of various similar elemental attacks).

Combat is apparently similar to most rpgmaker games with the exception of the absence of the standard attack command: all abilities cost TPs or MPs (that's tactical pointa and mana points and they are earned in different ways), except defending and using items that are free actions that you can make in your turn.
Enemies are always visible in this game and avoidable, because they actually never chase your character.


Granti is a dangerous land, and not even in civilized areas you may be safe! Luckily thanks to our pet we'll never be alone!

There are also no experience points in this game: all enemies are just a source of money or useful items, like stones that are permanent upgrades (and can also be bought with money). There is also equipment like Relics that give resistance or stat boosts and Tomes that teach new spells. These are all items for your character, not for the pet anyway it will get its set of gear at a later point.
You can actually level uf fighting some minibossess hidden in the seven areas called Shapeshifters, and after each victory you will learn a new skill.
Finally there are the sages: in three instance they will let you choose how your pet will change, plus one final evolution, and trust me there are a good number of different forms for your pet.

Despite all these helps the game is challenging, I mean most battles are of medium difficulty but after the third area the games becomes harder, not to mention a boss that is anticipated by a series of battles (eleven!) and, as you can guess, you canno save between them!

Visually the game uses RTPs but this the case in which they're used very well! Mapping is good and the various locations are done with attentions to the detail, moreover there is no shortage of loot and hidden chests in the various corners of the maps, and exploration is clearly enforced. Sounds are also RTPs while music comes probably by some music pack, in any case it's alright!


LOOT! This item will become surely useful! Oh as you can see not only you can choose a different pet, but also the protagonist can have a different class and appearance!

Final Verdict
Vagabond is a game that does a lot of things pretty well (especially exploration) and others not so well (combat is a bit repetitive after a while), the story isn't so complex or important (it's very basic: just kill the seven bad guys!) nor expect to meet particularly interesting or well written characters (the protagonist is a blank slate, and the petis probably the only character that will you care for!). Still this is an enjoyable fantasy adventure with some original features, probably not a must play game but a pretty good one if you like this kind of gameplay with battles and party management. Ok? Maybe give it a try, it's not bad at all!