Douglas's game of the week: Final Fantasy Tactics

Final Fantasy Tactics is probably one of the best Strategy RPGs out there among the Ogre Battle series, Fire Emblem, and the overrated Shining Force 1-but-alot-better SF2 and SF3. Some people who have played Tactics Ogre first may be a bit familliar with the controls, that's because it was based off the same Engine as Tactics Ogre-Which wasn't released out here because they finished it too late but it was a hit in Japan.


Final Fantasy Tactics bumps Strategy RPGs to the 3D level, as the Graphics show with 3D backgrounds and 3D sprites, and they did a damn good job of it. The character's status portraits look pretty cool, and their individual sprites are also well-done-Primarily the Lancer's sprites. Another thing that should be mentioned is that the custom characters such as Delita have their own sprites. This is a major improvement on the Strategy RPG front. And speaking of custom characters...





This is Algus. He is a self-centered-stuck-up-son-of-a-*Restrains self from typing a long list of obsceneties* who deserves Every swear-word and insult I hurl at him. (I know, Algus uses a Crossbow in the game instead of a sword, but I was too lazy to make a crossbow and he does use a sword when you first get him) If I had gotten to him before Ramza did, I would take out the Spork and a Fountain Pen and (Edited for your sanity). There's an idiot like Algus in almost every strategy RPG. Tactics Ogre had Barbas and Vice (Except in the lawful chapters), who had acted near the same level of jerkiness as Algus. How jerky is Algus? Well, if FFT were an Anime, he would dethrone Davis of Digimon Season 2 and Ash Ketchum of Pokemon as the biggest anime jerks of all time, and he is probably Squaresoft's biggest jerk besides Tidus, but I'll rant about him when I decide to review FFX.

The soundtrack of Final Fantasy Tactics is probably one of the best yet. Where some games have like one or two musics that are really great, Final Fantasy Tactics has like 10. The battle music on Gariland Magic City was probably one of the most catchy themes ever, (Besides the annoying-yet-catchy-Big-O theme) Same with the Beltha Garrison theme, Battle on the Bridge, and let's not forget Sweegy Woods and Dorter Trade City. There are numerous others, but the battle music certainly plays a theme. It sometimes plays Peaceful music in a random encounter (Which may get annoying when you have to go across the world map and just want to find out what happens next), but it also plays fast-paced music. Final Fantasy Tactics probably has one of the best soundtracks on the playstation (Besides FF7 and Chrono Cross of course) period.


The gameplay isn't really too hard to catch on too. Sure, the battlefield's are isometric and your d-pads move only up and down (FFT is not Analog compatable), but that isn't really a problem. People who have played TO first should get the hang of the controls pretty quickly, but what I should mention is that you can rotate the camera and even zoom in and out. This is a major asset, especially in some areas like Goug Machine City where tall buildings can block out the characters.


The story of Final Fantasy Tactics is indeed pretty awesome-If not badly translated. One of the main drawbacks with FFT is the fact that it's linear-Ramza could have made a choice to go in several different paths, such as he could have chose to side with Gafgarion and not Agrais at the waterfall. Some opprotunities were just leaping out and you just have to go here, then there, then there again. The storyline is also a bit more realistic, how the Church was telling everyone that Delita was the hero of the Lion war but it was really Ramza, who had been declared a Heretic for defying religious beliefs. Poor Ramza-That almost happens to every hero of Strategy games, there's almost always a bounty on their heads or someone's out to kill them. Oh, I'm rambling on again. One of the problems with the storyline of FFT is that it can be easy to get lost when you pay attention-I've had people who didn't have a clue what was going on in Chapter 2 because they didn't know Chapter 1 was a flashback. You have to pay attention alot during the game.

One of the drawbacks of Final Fantasy Tactics is that the difficulty varies-Such as how you need to be at high levels or else you'll be killed. Such as in Dorter Trade City, the battles get harder, and then easier, and then once you move onto Goug, it gets harder, then it gets alot easier, and then Riovanes is just hell. And in chapter 4, once you get Orlandu a.k.a Cid, the game becomes alot easier-Some people even complain about Orlandu being too cheap and making the game too easy. And then comes Beowulf...

Overall, Final Fantasy Tactics is indeed a good choice if you're into strategy games. It's not the best strategy game out there, but it's damn close. If you're not into strategy games, then don't bother with this game. If you are a Final Fantasy fan, then it's well worth every penny-You can even get it for just 15-16 dollars at a game store, and even at Bloody Wal-marts which claim to have low prices and then sell their DVDs for 45 dollars and then have very terrible and overpriced selections. 9.02/10

Pros:
-=Great storyline=-
-=Soundtrack=-
-=Fun battle and job system that never gets boring=-
-=Great looking graphics=-
-=The Chocobos=-
-=Mustadio=-
-=Rafa and Malak as Chemists and other great classes=-
-=Great sound effects=-

Cons:
-=Storyline is badly translated=-
-=The Final Battles get pretty easy with the exception of Balk=-
-=RAAAAAMMMZZZZAAAA!!!!=-
-=Storyline is linear=-
-=Difficulty varies alot=-
-=Algus=-

[ May 26, 2004, 12:22 AM: Message edited by: Digitalpotato ]