Aug 23, 2022

Looking back at Final Fantasy Tactics

 I could've sworn I made a review of this game, when the PSP "Enhanced Port" came out... well, I'm playing the Mobile version port of the Enhanced Port... so that means that Ramza sounds like Static Shock, Delita plays us like a damn fiddle! Agrias will... defeat... sin... so she can stop dancing and Princess Ovelia is none other than The Lady Ashe... whose game is connected to this one... man, I wanna play FFXII. But back to Tactics... the game that is hailed as THE BEST SPIN-OFF GAME of the Final Fantasy series.

Story:
The land of Ivalice has been ravaged by the 50 years war. After "achieving peace" war once again looms on the horizon. The King couldn't pay for the services of knights and peasants who acted as soldiers in the war. Distrust towards nobility increased as the people of Ivalice grew hungry and sick. Meanwhile, shadowy plots were forming around the king.
His two sons died and the king adopted his half-sister as an heir, due to his failing health... much to the surprise of everyone, the Queen gave birth to a young prince, Orinus... or Orinas in the PS1 version... which has created a dispute on who should be heir, the 15 year old "adult" Princess Ovelia, or the newborn Orinus with his mother acting as Regent. Dule Goltana, the Black Lion roots for Ovelia, while Duke Larg roots for Orinus. This royal feud is the base for the War of the Lions... A civil war in which both the Black and White Lions were severely weakened and led to the rise of the Mysterious Delita Hyralas the king who united Ivalice... but that's the sugar-coated version. The real version of the events, as told by Orran Durai, a heretic, were suppressed by the Church. The suppression and branding of Durai as a heretic had to do with Durai writing about another Heretic, who was the true hero of The War of the Lions. A man who stood against the world and uncovered the rotten truth of Ivalice... a man known as Ramza Beoulve. Now where does that leav us?

We're Ramza Beoulve, youngest child of Barbaneth (Balbanes) Beoulve, one of the Heroes of the fifty years war. Barely a Squire at the Gariland Magic Academy, Ramza gets entangled into the mess that became The War of the Lions... 
10

Graphics:
This is a PS1 game. Compared to current Generation graphics is a disservice to the game itself. The PSP "Enhanced port" didn't tweak the gameplay graphics much, but they added cutscenes in a stylized look. For its time, late 1997-early 1998, They are good. Personally, I think they managed to handle the 2D sprite on 3D background aspect better than say, Xenogears. The mobile port polished the art slightly, but it doesn't look that much different.
8.5

Music and sounds:
Squaresoft games have often excelled in the music department and FFT is no exception. Sadly the PSP port and the Mobile port suffer, because the music sounds slightly Off. But the Portable versions have voice acting that the original PS1 game lacked, so it's a trade-off...
Personally l, I prefer the PS1 version music wise...
9.5

Gameplay:
This is a turn based Strategy Game, not your standard JRPG, like the numbered Final Fantasy games. Here you control a Party of Five... I'm not even going to reference the show with Neve Campbell and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Most of you wouldn't get the reference... myself included.
Unlike your average Final Fantasy, Terrain is everything. You need to move through it to attack your enemies... and yes, Getting the High Ground CAN BE HELPFUL... but it doesn't guarantee victory... (getting flashbacks of PS1 army of Knights all armed with Excalibur and Math Skill as the second job using Level 3 Holy)
Or the terrifying Monk with the Ninja Dual Wield skill...
The Dual Wielding Monk setup makes the Wiegraf/Belias fight a piece of cake... for those of you who don't know THIS BATTLE is the one that Usually breaks people who are ill prepared and accidentally saved before this battle, forcing a hard Restart... not reset, but Restarting a new game. And yes, I used this strat on Mobile... since they patched A LOT of the PS1 glitches (9999 Job Point, Item duplication), the game takes a bit longer now. So, in order to progress with the game you need to learn multiple jobs and become a highly skilled warrior. You can go for physical abilities with jobs like Knight, Dragoon, Monk, Archer, or Ninja, to name a few. You could go for a Magic based job like White Mage, Black Mage, Mystic, or Arithmetician. Or you could make a Magical paladin type of character by combining Physical and Magic.

It can be overwhelming at first... back wjen I played it in 98, the game overwhelmed me enough to quit the game for over a year... and it wasn't on the infamous Wiegraf fight... it was WAY EARLY on the game.
Once I restarted a new game, everything fell into place. So taking that into consideration, i must give it an 
8.0

Controls:
This game was made for console in mind, but it works pretty decently on the touch screen. My fat fingers might have an issue with my small phone screen (you've all seen my typos) but it works as it should.
9.0

Fun Factor:
I know that kids nowadays can't stand turn based combat. Back in my day it was a niche genre, now it still is, but Final Fantasy has lost its way... Tactics is a reminder of how much Square Enix have been corrupted by Western Sensibilities and lost what made them appealing in the first place. While it's not exactly the best game for portable gaming (battles could theoretically take hours when not prepared against a flock of yellow chocobos Choco Curing each other). Personally, based on my experience with the game AFTER I got the hang of it, I give it a 10.0

Overall
As much as I love the game, I am trying to give it an unbiased look. Based on the ratings I used, Final Fantasy Tactics gets a 9.17 as its final score. Now while the game is a high ranking game for me, I'm aware that it has some issues and that Turn Based Strategy Games are NOT Everyone's cup of Tea.

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