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.
2 Comments
@Detectivefail Thanks so much! I agree, this is peak gaming at its finest. I might prefer WOTL with the fan patches, but the original will always be a classic masterpiece.
Detectivefail
1 month ago