Absolute perfection. I've probably played this game all the way through 20 times at this point. And I can tell you that this particular experience comes nowhere close to anything else, besides one other game.
Let me blunt, play the rerelease of this game on PSP for the story. At the time, there was absolutely nothing like this game when it came to the kind of story it was trying to tell. A kingdom riddled with war and betrayal at every turn. The story is so captivating, and it's constantly shifting in tone and expectation. I adore the story of this game, it was ambitious at the time, but it works. Again, play the PSP version for story, the original PS1 release has a patchy translation that's hard to follow and loses a lot of details. PSP also added a lot of new scenes to make the story even better.
The gameplay is superb. Masterful execution of the tactical RPG style condensed into smaller battles where your decisions matter so much earlier than other games like this. The sheer variety of maps, types of units, skills, combinations of skills, unique armor, weapons etc. I can go on forever, this game can be replayed multiple times with new combinations and ideas for strategy or map specific strategies that it never gets old. The classic Final Fantasy job system returns in this game, and it's amazing. There is so many to choose from, and while some classes might not inherently be useful, they might have an ability you can use on another class to make it useful. Combat is rather simple, run up, attack, end turn. But there's a lot of little details between these rather simple exchanges that reward you for knowing them. But they're not so cryptic or hard to understand, all you need to do is observe and you'll continue learning.
Art style is awesome. Incredible pixel artwork for the units. All of them have so much personality and are super charming and unique. The more realistic maps in comparison mesh so well with the characters, it's seamless. And each map is a treat to look at, although sometimes it might get hard to see some of your units on certain maps, and that can be annoying, but it's not too bad. Spell animations are so cool. They feel so old school but have these brilliant effects and lighting. It's truly a spectacle every time, and I never get tired of seeing them.
Music is also stunning. You have incredible battle themes that feel very epic, and there's a ton of variety. You have happy songs, really sad songs, tension. It's so diverse in emotion and is able to make story sequences have so much more impact. Definitely listen to the OST sometime, it's honestly impressive.
Sound design, once again, is just incredible. Sword slashes have such a satisfying sound effect, critical hits have a loud piercing noise to emphasize the damage. Every spell has beautiful sound effects that are loud and powerful. It's also really unique sound design, like I couldn't compare this game's sound design to anything really except maybe Suikoden 2.
Final Fantasy Tactics, while not being as well known, is a masterpiece. It has absolutely everything you want both from a Tactical RPG, and a Final Fantasy game. If you love breaking games and getting overpowered, or love trying something new every time, this game is perfect for that. You can get it on PlayStation 1, and PlayStation 3 via PlayStation store. You can get the rerelease of the game with a ton of new content added to it for PSP called "War of The Lions". Do be aware the PSP version suffers from a lot of its own issues, so just be aware of that before making a decision.
Let me blunt, play the rerelease of this game on PSP for the story. At the time, there was absolutely nothing like this game when it came to the kind of story it was trying to tell. A kingdom riddled with war and betrayal at every turn. The story is so captivating, and it's constantly shifting in tone and expectation. I adore the story of this game, it was ambitious at the time, but it works. Again, play the PSP version for story, the original PS1 release has a patchy translation that's hard to follow and loses a lot of details. PSP also added a lot of new scenes to make the story even better.
The gameplay is superb. Masterful execution of the tactical RPG style condensed into smaller battles where your decisions matter so much earlier than other games like this. The sheer variety of maps, types of units, skills, combinations of skills, unique armor, weapons etc. I can go on forever, this game can be replayed multiple times with new combinations and ideas for strategy or map specific strategies that it never gets old. The classic Final Fantasy job system returns in this game, and it's amazing. There is so many to choose from, and while some classes might not inherently be useful, they might have an ability you can use on another class to make it useful. Combat is rather simple, run up, attack, end turn. But there's a lot of little details between these rather simple exchanges that reward you for knowing them. But they're not so cryptic or hard to understand, all you need to do is observe and you'll continue learning.
Art style is awesome. Incredible pixel artwork for the units. All of them have so much personality and are super charming and unique. The more realistic maps in comparison mesh so well with the characters, it's seamless. And each map is a treat to look at, although sometimes it might get hard to see some of your units on certain maps, and that can be annoying, but it's not too bad. Spell animations are so cool. They feel so old school but have these brilliant effects and lighting. It's truly a spectacle every time, and I never get tired of seeing them.
Music is also stunning. You have incredible battle themes that feel very epic, and there's a ton of variety. You have happy songs, really sad songs, tension. It's so diverse in emotion and is able to make story sequences have so much more impact. Definitely listen to the OST sometime, it's honestly impressive.
Sound design, once again, is just incredible. Sword slashes have such a satisfying sound effect, critical hits have a loud piercing noise to emphasize the damage. Every spell has beautiful sound effects that are loud and powerful. It's also really unique sound design, like I couldn't compare this game's sound design to anything really except maybe Suikoden 2.
Final Fantasy Tactics, while not being as well known, is a masterpiece. It has absolutely everything you want both from a Tactical RPG, and a Final Fantasy game. If you love breaking games and getting overpowered, or love trying something new every time, this game is perfect for that. You can get it on PlayStation 1, and PlayStation 3 via PlayStation store. You can get the rerelease of the game with a ton of new content added to it for PSP called "War of The Lions". Do be aware the PSP version suffers from a lot of its own issues, so just be aware of that before making a decision.
had a similar experience as ffxii in that no matter how dense, well-written and ideologically sound a game's themes and messages may be, i have a hard time getting invested enough in them to care if i'm not interested in the characters, setting or writing. with ffxii i was at least extremely invested in fran and balthier and charmed by the refreshing mediterranean/middle eastern/south asian setting of dalmasca, but i didn't feel any of that about tactics or its particular portrayal of ivalice.
i think it's really that i honestly just don't care for medieval fantasy
i think it's really that i honestly just don't care for medieval fantasy
A really well done strategy game. The pretty graphics really complement the incredibly deep battle system and heavy story. There are a large amount of classes but at the same time not enough where you are overwhelmed with options. A really well made game overall and a true shame SE never really made another on of this caliber.
I'm usually not one to be entertained by the politics of an in-game world, but this is absolutely an exception. It was beyond compelling, the story had so many plot twists that I couldn't believe, and it was just all around immersive. It's difficult and tedious at times but well worth it.
The number of hours I've wasted on this game as a child...
Did not fully complete my first replay since the 2000s (I did a lot of grinding to gain Cloud, but then got bored and too overleveled for the final stretch) but still I had a great experience. One of the top tier RPGs and Final Fantasys. The sprites are an eyesore for the first level or 2, until your eyes adjust and it becomes beautiful, and consistently are belied by the dramatic story with great twists and death scenes. The soundtrack is truly one of the greats.
Peak: the library chapter. If you watch those levels on YouTube and aren’t convinced immediately that you want to play it, there is no other way.
Peak: the library chapter. If you watch those levels on YouTube and aren’t convinced immediately that you want to play it, there is no other way.
Absolutely one of my most favorite games of all time. I have beaten it multiple times.
joguei mais o de psp, esse aqui eu ficava mais olhando meu tio jogar e rindo que tinha uma mina chamada teta
音楽もストーリーも素晴らしい。
Masterpiece. There isn’t another title in this genre of tactical RPG that gets close to this imo. The job system allows for wild character customization and that equates to endless replay ability. The story is amazing as well. Delita and Ramza’s story is so beautiful and tragic that it gets me everytime.
There was a point when Tactical RPGs were a hard sell for me, but FFT turned out to be the perfect antidote. The inclusion of the job system in the game is one of the greatest strokes of genius in game design and carries the game into top-tier category. The world and narrative are excellent (though sadly some of the characters themselves could have been more compelling) and makes for an immersive low-fantasy epic. Not many games hit the right notes like FFT does.
Los personajes, el mundo y el entramado político con un writting exquisito en los diálogos y escenas hace de Final Fantasy Tactics una de las mejores experiencias dentro de la saga.
Es complejo, apasionante y sus protagonistas están repletos de matices con muchas sorpresas a cada paso de la historia. So Good...
Es complejo, apasionante y sus protagonistas están repletos de matices con muchas sorpresas a cada paso de la historia. So Good...
O jrpg quem fez gostar do subgênero ''tactics'', aqui fugimos do básico de ''bate e espera'', aqui precisamos montar estratégias em cada batalha, explorando as diferentes classes e habilidades/magias/equipamentos (por conta da diferença de terreno e altura dos mapas, tempo de casting de algumas habilidades e magias, tudo isso implica nas lutas), movendo os nossos personagens em pontos chaves do mapa, para atacar e defender algo ao longo das lutas, claro que nem todas as lutas vão ser difíceis, mas se comparando com os jogos seguintes (o tactics de gba e ds), as lutas principais, e algumas aleatórias são bem difíceis de lidar (quem teve o ''prazer'' de enfrentar o bando de choccobos pretos e vermelhos em lutas aleatórias, ou até mesmo a luta principal, contra Wiegraf Folles e o seu corredor polonês sabe o que eu to dizendo kk), fora o post game, que te faz mergulhar em uma sequência de dugeons, pra pegar algumas recompensas valiosas, desde equipamentos/habilidades e um companheiro em especial.
Se você que estiver lendo isso, e nunca teve contato com o gênero de jrpg ou o seu sub gênero tactics, e estava atrás de jogar esse jogo aqui, eu recomendo fortemente você jogar antes a versão de gba (jogue a versão europeia, não jogue a americana, pois nela há um bug que te impede de recrutar 2 personagens especiais, coisa que da pra concertar com 2 editores de do game, mas é trabalho demais para ''leigos'' com o jogo e computação), e depois a do ds, e depois se possível, jogue essa versão aqui do ps1 ou jogue a versão de psp, o motivo é muito simples, como ele é de longe o mais difícil dos 3 jogos, muitos podem acabar desistindo do jogo ou do subgênero em sí como todo, mas se você gosta de
se desafiar, pode seguir a ordem dos jogos normalmente.
Se você que estiver lendo isso, e nunca teve contato com o gênero de jrpg ou o seu sub gênero tactics, e estava atrás de jogar esse jogo aqui, eu recomendo fortemente você jogar antes a versão de gba (jogue a versão europeia, não jogue a americana, pois nela há um bug que te impede de recrutar 2 personagens especiais, coisa que da pra concertar com 2 editores de do game, mas é trabalho demais para ''leigos'' com o jogo e computação), e depois a do ds, e depois se possível, jogue essa versão aqui do ps1 ou jogue a versão de psp, o motivo é muito simples, como ele é de longe o mais difícil dos 3 jogos, muitos podem acabar desistindo do jogo ou do subgênero em sí como todo, mas se você gosta de
se desafiar, pode seguir a ordem dos jogos normalmente.
okay we all know it's one of the greatest rpgs of all time, certainly one of the best tactical rpgs, and it taught me more about class stratification than an entire social anthropology course during my junior year; but let's focus on the fact that this gem brought of some of the best bad translations ever, featuring iconic gibberish such as:
innocent: magic sword makes enemy disrespectful and not believe in god
"live, know, become a frog! frog!"
this's the way
and the absolutely timeless
L I T T L E M O N E Y
innocent: magic sword makes enemy disrespectful and not believe in god
"live, know, become a frog! frog!"
this's the way
and the absolutely timeless
L I T T L E M O N E Y
Even Matsuno said this was Tactics Ogre but for normies.
Anyone else get their ass handed to them by the late game non-story Chocobo filled maps?
Imagine playing this game with PSX loading times
I really wanted to like this -mostly because of the beautiful soundtrack and art style- but I couldn't get into the slow gameplay itself.
It isn't suprising to me that Ivalice has established itself as a recurring universe in the FF canon, considering how rich and elaborated its inception was with Final Fantasy Tactics. A far cry from the high fantasy grandiose storylines familiar to the main series, FFT presents instead a self serious political crown succession conflict with a vast number of morally ambiguous characters clashing their ideologies and inner struggles with honor and duty on a shakespearean stage. While not to say that these ideas haven't been explored in previous FF titles, it's clear that director Matsuno has a particular interest for real life history events that make his storytelling more akin to Game of Thrones than to The Lord of the Rings.
So much so, that the FF iconography present in Tactics is for the most part just superficial acknowledgement of the franchise, with the obligatory presence of chocobos, familiar spell names and screen filling summons. The biggest FF contribution in Tactics is however the class system, which allows a plethora of options and strategies in creating a deeply personalized party that feels constructed and earned by the player, giving the game a level freedom comparable to something like Symphony of the Night. But like Symphony of the Night, Tactics freedom is simultaneously its biggest strength and biggest flaw.
Notorious for its lack of difficulty balance, it becomes extremely easy to accidentally build a team in Tactics that can decimate every late stage battle in a few turns. And while you could have the prior knowledge of how not to break the game, the infamous difficulty spikes permeated throughout FFT make it very hard to not do so. Getting save trapped in a sequence of battles with no opportunity to grind inbetween, just to find yourself against an opponent that can one hit kill you if you do not have a very specific set of abilities and stats, is hardly what I would consider fair. While I appreciate the unique challenge of FFT, I find that its chess like diorama battles felt more like fighting an AI calculating my stats and my exact moves instead of an equal battle of the minds.
Still, despite its shortcomings, FFT has maintained its status as a classic for good reasons. A representation of a time when Square owned the world and had free reign to experiment, Tactics remains a deeply engaging SRPG that also boasts one of the most compelling and well written storylines in the franchise, with Ramza and Delita's rivalry being a worthy take of the trope and the ambiguous ending successfully book ending the themes explored in the game. I reccommend going for the PSP port over the PS1 version, the overthought flowery dialogue is essencial to the Tactics aesthetic.
So much so, that the FF iconography present in Tactics is for the most part just superficial acknowledgement of the franchise, with the obligatory presence of chocobos, familiar spell names and screen filling summons. The biggest FF contribution in Tactics is however the class system, which allows a plethora of options and strategies in creating a deeply personalized party that feels constructed and earned by the player, giving the game a level freedom comparable to something like Symphony of the Night. But like Symphony of the Night, Tactics freedom is simultaneously its biggest strength and biggest flaw.
Notorious for its lack of difficulty balance, it becomes extremely easy to accidentally build a team in Tactics that can decimate every late stage battle in a few turns. And while you could have the prior knowledge of how not to break the game, the infamous difficulty spikes permeated throughout FFT make it very hard to not do so. Getting save trapped in a sequence of battles with no opportunity to grind inbetween, just to find yourself against an opponent that can one hit kill you if you do not have a very specific set of abilities and stats, is hardly what I would consider fair. While I appreciate the unique challenge of FFT, I find that its chess like diorama battles felt more like fighting an AI calculating my stats and my exact moves instead of an equal battle of the minds.
Still, despite its shortcomings, FFT has maintained its status as a classic for good reasons. A representation of a time when Square owned the world and had free reign to experiment, Tactics remains a deeply engaging SRPG that also boasts one of the most compelling and well written storylines in the franchise, with Ramza and Delita's rivalry being a worthy take of the trope and the ambiguous ending successfully book ending the themes explored in the game. I reccommend going for the PSP port over the PS1 version, the overthought flowery dialogue is essencial to the Tactics aesthetic.
Amazing OST. One of the best ever made IMO.
The core game here is amazing. Pixel art is great, gameplay is great, story is well above average for this kind of game, characters are good, so on and so on.
Only reason this doesn't get a 5 from me is the gameplay loop is very slow. Grinding takes forever and if you end up losing a story mission it can be hard sometimes to bring yourself to want to go through an entire map again because of the pace of the game
The core game here is amazing. Pixel art is great, gameplay is great, story is well above average for this kind of game, characters are good, so on and so on.
Only reason this doesn't get a 5 from me is the gameplay loop is very slow. Grinding takes forever and if you end up losing a story mission it can be hard sometimes to bring yourself to want to go through an entire map again because of the pace of the game
Sí, hombre, sí
Probably the greatest game ever made
"Blame yourself or God"
What a game. This game was an introduction to tactical RPGs for many, and may be the Final Fantasy game that holds up on the PSX to this day (and FF9) The art style and music are both fantastic and does not feel dated.
The best thing about this game is the replay value. The idea of being able to craft your team whichever way you like would introduce tons of different ways and challenges to complete this game.
What a game. This game was an introduction to tactical RPGs for many, and may be the Final Fantasy game that holds up on the PSX to this day (and FF9) The art style and music are both fantastic and does not feel dated.
The best thing about this game is the replay value. The idea of being able to craft your team whichever way you like would introduce tons of different ways and challenges to complete this game.
Actually one of the best Final Fantasy games, up there with my favorite in the mainline series. The gameplay is excellent, requiring actual strategy & planning even in the random battles, but without feeling too taxing. The job system is great, and it's fun to find what combinations can work well together. The story is interesting, but this version of the game is marred by a terrible translation that's chock full of awkward wording, typos, and inconsistent names. I'll definitely revisit this on the PSP to see how its newer translation fares.
This review contains spoilers
mixed feelings about this one. it's very beautiful, map verticality adds both immense visual appeal and an extra tactical layer, the mechanics are cool to explore and exploit in a similar way as ff5's are, and i do think delita's entire tragic trajectory all the way until the final cutscenes is an extremely well-crafted story...
but the original translation blows chunks, characters besides ramza and delita kind of rotate in and out making it very clear that they're not really the ones that matter, and the ancient evil that the church is keeping under wraps is just not really well integrated with the political intrigue, so these two plots (and whatever's going on with mustadio and his optional dungeon) end up fighting for screentime. in the end, neither of them feels like it really mattered.
i do think the final impression of "none of this really mattered" is a strength in a story about the grand machinations of nobles and priests, and that it's to some degree what we're expected to take away from this; a somber and bitter counterpoint to delita's ambition to rise from his humble origins to the highest positions in the land.
it's certainly not unintentional either that most of the events and characters responsible for the direction the plot takes are just constantly offscreen, somewhere in the lofty halls of power, in a parallel to the true history of ivalice being something that's buried and out of reach that ramza only stumbles onto by chance.
the game is full of these conspicuous little chance encounters and crossings of paths -- especially important is ramza running into orlan or orran or whatever the astrologian kid's name is. a friend of mine feels that the point being made is about fate or inevitability; i don't necessarily think so, but it's definitely a theme.
however, living in the future year 2022, and with the benefit of future sight into further ivalice games, it's clear that some of this stuff is just bungled. there's a limit to how much of the story you can have happen offscreen before i completely stop caring about it; and ramza, outside of his family business with his brothers, is less of a character than a leaf in the wind. alma and ovelia just get george rr martined, each in her own way, and while it's clearly meant to compound the tragedy, there's a lot to say about the suffering of women being a cheap medieval fantasy cheat code for gravitas -- and in the end, i do think it's delita who we're meant to think of as the tragic antihero, not ovelia (i feel vindicated in this reading by, of all things, the ivalice raids in ff14, where ovelia doesn't even survive as a footnote).
i do think it's a hugely better story on the whole than ff12, anyway.
but the original translation blows chunks, characters besides ramza and delita kind of rotate in and out making it very clear that they're not really the ones that matter, and the ancient evil that the church is keeping under wraps is just not really well integrated with the political intrigue, so these two plots (and whatever's going on with mustadio and his optional dungeon) end up fighting for screentime. in the end, neither of them feels like it really mattered.
i do think the final impression of "none of this really mattered" is a strength in a story about the grand machinations of nobles and priests, and that it's to some degree what we're expected to take away from this; a somber and bitter counterpoint to delita's ambition to rise from his humble origins to the highest positions in the land.
it's certainly not unintentional either that most of the events and characters responsible for the direction the plot takes are just constantly offscreen, somewhere in the lofty halls of power, in a parallel to the true history of ivalice being something that's buried and out of reach that ramza only stumbles onto by chance.
the game is full of these conspicuous little chance encounters and crossings of paths -- especially important is ramza running into orlan or orran or whatever the astrologian kid's name is. a friend of mine feels that the point being made is about fate or inevitability; i don't necessarily think so, but it's definitely a theme.
however, living in the future year 2022, and with the benefit of future sight into further ivalice games, it's clear that some of this stuff is just bungled. there's a limit to how much of the story you can have happen offscreen before i completely stop caring about it; and ramza, outside of his family business with his brothers, is less of a character than a leaf in the wind. alma and ovelia just get george rr martined, each in her own way, and while it's clearly meant to compound the tragedy, there's a lot to say about the suffering of women being a cheap medieval fantasy cheat code for gravitas -- and in the end, i do think it's delita who we're meant to think of as the tragic antihero, not ovelia (i feel vindicated in this reading by, of all things, the ivalice raids in ff14, where ovelia doesn't even survive as a footnote).
i do think it's a hugely better story on the whole than ff12, anyway.
My opinion on this version of the game isn't the same compared to the War of the lions version due to how confusing the translation script was. But the story is still the same, more or less, and it is still one of the greatest stories ever told in a video game.
It is still a near perfect game and one of the best final fantasy games to ever made, it's just not the best version of FFT in my honest opinion.
It is still a near perfect game and one of the best final fantasy games to ever made, it's just not the best version of FFT in my honest opinion.
I actually really don't like the latter half of this story ;__; immmmmmaculate vibes on this game tho
The job system really makes the game for me, it introduces a lot of depth into the game and allows for unique job combinations that really suit your playstyle. What hurts this game, so much, though are the random encounters. Why they felt the need to include that along with difficulty spikes that meant you absolutely HAD to go out of your way to grind, I will never understand.
Final Fantasy Tactics was the previous holder of George's Favorite Final Fantasy of All Time until I played Final Fantasy IX, but being second best is still pretty good, and man, it was a hell of a run. Tactics is an excellent game, one that I think remains unrivaled by other tactical RPGs to this day. I've played some of the Ogre games and the Tactics' sequels, as well as stuff like The Banner Saga, and nothing quite compares.
I also play this game like a total psychopath, grinding random battles during the prologue chapter in order to make sure every member of my squad has at least one job mastered. I can usually do this by gaming just a couple of battles, inflicting grievous acts of harm on my own troops in order to build character. JP gains by a thousand cuts. By the time I'm on chapter 2 I've got a full fleet of chemists chucking elixirs and knights that can easily slay their enemies in a single blow, but instead break every piece of their armor systematically in order to cause the maximum amount of torment before death.
Perhaps somewhere along the way I've lost sight of the "tactical" part of Final Fantasy Tactics, opting to dominate through raw numbers, but I don't care. I'm still having a good time. At least until I get to Wiegraf. Easily one of the most sadistic moments in gaming, pitting you one-on-one against a foe who can easily put you into a corner where two strikes will kill you, and who doesn't afford you enough distance to break out of a cycle of perpetual healing. I've always trained Ramza as a ninja to compensate, since their two-strike ability definitely gives him an edge, with auto-potion as a passive ability for extra protection. However, if you don't already have knowledge of the Wiegraf fight then it's entirely possible to softlock yourself here, as this battle comes right off the heels of another. If you save inbetween (as the game gives you the option to do), there's no way to go back to the world map to grind experience. You're just dead in the water. It's a little funny then that you unlock Cid not too long after this fight, because even if you aren't rolling with an over-leveled party, this guy kinda breaks the whole game in your favor. Tactics is not balanced by any metric, and this unevenness is probably its greatest weakness.
There's a bunch of named characters you can unlock through sidequests, and I always do these once they're available, even if I might not use them in battle (except for Cloud.) Maybe that has something to do with me wanting to wring as much as I can out of Final Fantasy Tactics, but I also genuinely love the character interactions in this game. The story is one of the more complicated narratives in a Final Fantasy, with enough intrigue and back-stabbing to make your head spin. The climax, Ramza's fate, and the post-credit scene have stuck with me in particular. It also seems like it was localized by someone who has suffered multiple traumatic brain injuries, so it might take a few passes before you pick up on everything. That is if you don't play War of the Lions, the PSP remake, which features a new translation along with other improvements. This is probably the best version of the game to play, but for some reason Square refuses to make it available on modern consoles (and given the quality of some of their modern ports, maybe that's for the best.)
Despite a few shortcomings, I'm still rating Tactics pretty highly, because I can't deny how much fun I have with it. Mixing and matching job abilities to create the ultimate hybrid class, sending troops out on treasure hunts and recon missions, pouring over team formations tailored to specific encounters, all of it just sucks me in. The characters, lore, and world of Ivalice are just the icing on top. If you enjoy tactical RPGs or Final Fantasy and have yet to play Tactics then obviously I think you should check it out, but I would also suggest spending a little extra time getting a PSP emulator up and running so you can play War of the Lions.
I also play this game like a total psychopath, grinding random battles during the prologue chapter in order to make sure every member of my squad has at least one job mastered. I can usually do this by gaming just a couple of battles, inflicting grievous acts of harm on my own troops in order to build character. JP gains by a thousand cuts. By the time I'm on chapter 2 I've got a full fleet of chemists chucking elixirs and knights that can easily slay their enemies in a single blow, but instead break every piece of their armor systematically in order to cause the maximum amount of torment before death.
Perhaps somewhere along the way I've lost sight of the "tactical" part of Final Fantasy Tactics, opting to dominate through raw numbers, but I don't care. I'm still having a good time. At least until I get to Wiegraf. Easily one of the most sadistic moments in gaming, pitting you one-on-one against a foe who can easily put you into a corner where two strikes will kill you, and who doesn't afford you enough distance to break out of a cycle of perpetual healing. I've always trained Ramza as a ninja to compensate, since their two-strike ability definitely gives him an edge, with auto-potion as a passive ability for extra protection. However, if you don't already have knowledge of the Wiegraf fight then it's entirely possible to softlock yourself here, as this battle comes right off the heels of another. If you save inbetween (as the game gives you the option to do), there's no way to go back to the world map to grind experience. You're just dead in the water. It's a little funny then that you unlock Cid not too long after this fight, because even if you aren't rolling with an over-leveled party, this guy kinda breaks the whole game in your favor. Tactics is not balanced by any metric, and this unevenness is probably its greatest weakness.
There's a bunch of named characters you can unlock through sidequests, and I always do these once they're available, even if I might not use them in battle (except for Cloud.) Maybe that has something to do with me wanting to wring as much as I can out of Final Fantasy Tactics, but I also genuinely love the character interactions in this game. The story is one of the more complicated narratives in a Final Fantasy, with enough intrigue and back-stabbing to make your head spin. The climax, Ramza's fate, and the post-credit scene have stuck with me in particular. It also seems like it was localized by someone who has suffered multiple traumatic brain injuries, so it might take a few passes before you pick up on everything. That is if you don't play War of the Lions, the PSP remake, which features a new translation along with other improvements. This is probably the best version of the game to play, but for some reason Square refuses to make it available on modern consoles (and given the quality of some of their modern ports, maybe that's for the best.)
Despite a few shortcomings, I'm still rating Tactics pretty highly, because I can't deny how much fun I have with it. Mixing and matching job abilities to create the ultimate hybrid class, sending troops out on treasure hunts and recon missions, pouring over team formations tailored to specific encounters, all of it just sucks me in. The characters, lore, and world of Ivalice are just the icing on top. If you enjoy tactical RPGs or Final Fantasy and have yet to play Tactics then obviously I think you should check it out, but I would also suggest spending a little extra time getting a PSP emulator up and running so you can play War of the Lions.
Played the double-JP hack w/ the WOTL script, on my Anbernic RG353P. And mostly on fast-forward. So I just blew through this! And it was nice to reexperience the last two thirds of this game, as this is one I frequently restart, but rarely get deep into.
This time, I dug deep. I did it all - but once I hit that wide open final chapter, where I could've done the deep dungeon or this, or that, I decided to just blast through the ending. Done. Over.
And again - it was better than I remembered, but not as good as I hoped it would be? Does that make sense?
This time, I dug deep. I did it all - but once I hit that wide open final chapter, where I could've done the deep dungeon or this, or that, I decided to just blast through the ending. Done. Over.
And again - it was better than I remembered, but not as good as I hoped it would be? Does that make sense?