Final Fantasy Tactics

In 1997 Final Fantasy Tactics was released by Squaresoft for the PSX (PlayStation 1) alongside one of the most famous JRPGs (Japanese Role-Playing Games) of all time: Final Fantasy VII. Final Fantasy Tactics was almost completely overshadowed by Final Fantasy VII’s overwhelming success. Tactics became a less popular game because of its competitor, but remains a terrific game with an engaging plot, smart gameplay, dazzling visuals, and memorable music that deserves your full attention.

In the words of Jay Boor, “For those who are expecting an in-depth story, prepare yourself, because it is deep,” and he was not wrong in his assessment. Ramza, the main character, is the youngest and only half-blood son of a noble family called the Beoulve family. The Beoulves are trying to remain in power during a vicious power struggle after the Kingdom of Ivalice had suddenly lost its King; leaving only a two-year-old son, a young daughter, and the throne. Prince Larg, represented by the White Lion and Prince Goltanna, represented by the Black Lion are two duke princes, both of whom are fighting over who the next ruler of Ivalice should be. The powerful nobles supported Prince Goltanna and Parliament, while disenfranchised nobles and knights supported Prince Larg and the Queen. Ramza and his best friend Delita, a commoner, are both aspiring to be knights under the Beoulve family name. As a result they are thrust into the conflict known as the War of the Lions as low-ranking supporters of Prince Larg and the Hokuten White Lion Knights. However, Ramza's and Delita's role in the war becomes far greater than that of mere supporting knights.

Both Ramza and Delita are forced to do the bidding of the Hokuten Knights and Prince Larg in order to achieve knighthood. Eventually, Ramza and Delita find themselves in a dire situation. Delita's little sister is taken hostage by a group of rebels called the Death Corpse Brigade and Ramza must choose between following the orders of the White Lion by killing his best friend’s sister in order to kill the leader of the rebels, or refuse to follow orders and let her live. One results in achieving the dream of knighthood at the cost of an innocent person's life (a hostage, and friend no less), and the other results in shaming the family name and receiving the brand of a deserter. This is only one example of the many tough decisions that Ramza must face. Plot that is as developed and as interesting as this is what turns a good RPG into a great one.

Ramza is just a normal person struggling to survive in a harsh and treacherous world. This is clear even in the gameplay because Ramza’s special job (due to him being a special character) is only that of a mere Squire. He is never given special status like some of his other “special character” friends such as “Thunder God” Cid whom is considered a “Heavenly Knight.” Also, the storyline in FFT is much more believable in comparison to FFVII’s where the main character has to save the planet from a giant meteor conjured by use of powerful magic.

The gameplay of Final Fantasy Tactics is just as deep as the story and challenging too, as hinted by the main character himself in his tip. “Be aware of your unit’s turn order at all times. Such is the swiftest path of victory!” Tactics is a turn-order based SRPG (Strategy Role-Playing Game) similar to games like Fire Emblem or Tactics Ogre set in a top-down isometric point-of-view. All characters, including Ramza, start off as lowly squires and chemists, but later advance into much stronger classes such as the archer, knight, wizard, thief, or priest. Later you will gain access to some of the more powerful classes such as the Dragoons, monks, time wizards, summoners, and samurai. Also, if you decide to put the extra effort into it, you can unlock some of Tactic’s more unique classes that have more specific requirements and more powerful abilities. Aside from the dozens of job classes for you to choose from, there are hundreds of abilities and dozens of skills. You can customize your characters to have any job, ability, and skill that you want. If you wanted to, you could even create a wizard that has the ability to turn invisible in order to surprise attack a poor guy while dual wielding purses and handbags. Or you could give your thief the ability to control elements of the earth and temporarily hold your victims down with vines so that you could steal from them more easily. You could also make a knight that can use the ancient art of samurai fighting, Bushido. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination. Your characters can advance in classes by receiving experience and job points that are later used to unlock new skills and abilities. Gaining experience and job points are easily achieved either by slashing someone with your sword, summoning an enormous fire demon, giving a friend a potion, or tossing a diamond sword at an ailing opponent. While you’re delving into the gameplay, you will also be subject to the charming graphics that blanket the screen.

The graphics and art, designed by Akihiko Yoshida (Senior Artistic Designer for many other Final Fantasy games), are a bit outdated but are still good for a game that is a little over fifteen years old. The character models are smooth and simplistic yet distinct enough so that you can tell the difference between characters. They are unique and add a lot of charm and personality to an already quirky game. The vivid visuals for the various spells, summonings, and special abilities match perfectly with the excellent music too.

Composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata, the music in Final Fantasy Tactics is catchy, powerful, and memorable. All the tunes properly match the tones of the locations, the situations, and the story. The sound effects are crisp and clean and also fit the style of the game. However on rare occasions the sound effects for very elaborate looking spells will de-sync for a second or two. Despite that, the sound and music is stellar, and will remain deeply ingrained in your mind.

If you love a video game with a great story that is deep, complex, and engaging, then you will love Final Fantasy Tactics. The graphics still look amazing after all these years; the music is marvelous and will leave a memorable impression on you, and the replayability of this game is through the roof. Aside from the main storyline, there are tons of side quests to do, plenty of jobs to unlock, monsters to recruit, secret characters to find, and secret ultimate weapons to obtain. To top it all off, the game only costs $10.00 at the PlayStation Network Store. If you are still not convinced, then I recommend that you check out the remake of FFT called Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions. FFT: War of the Lions is just like FFT, but with more juicy content in it. Final Fantasy Tactics is a fantastic game that harks back to the Golden Age of video games and RPGs and is well worth your time and money.

If you have any criticisms about my review pls leave some feedback because I'm really trying to improve my writing skills.