Final Fantasy Tactics

"Surprisingly enough, this game is superb..."

There are a lot of Final Fantasy games that we can find. Those range from the original three Final Fantasy games on NES to the three GameBoy Final Fantasy Legends games to the SNES games (FF4-6 and Mystic Quest), Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles and Final Fantasy Adventure, as well as Final Fantasy 7-9 on the PSX. One of the weirdest Final Fantasy games that was ever released was without a doubt, Final Fantasy Tactics. That's not to say that Final Fantasy Tactics was bad though. In my opinion, Final Fantasy Tactics is one of the best FF games ever released.

Final Fantasy Tactics is a little unusual for one reason: instead of being an RPG like almost any other FF game, Final Fantasy Tactics was a strategy game instead. It featured 3D graphics with lots of characters with job classes, and it allowed the characters to move within battle, as well as make a lot of other rather strategetical options. There's also the storyline, which is quite unlike any other story that we've seen from a Final Fantasy game, as well as a mix of 2D and 3D graphics. This is something we've never seem from a common FF game.

As I have mentioned, Final Fantasy Tactics deals with a very complex story, and one that you will likely have a very hard time trying to understand. The game's main character is a young man named Ramza Beoulve. His family is a very famous family of knights. He is part of a group of military cadets called the Hokuten, and he and his friend Delita, as well as a group of unimportant cadets who mean absolutely nothing are cadets of the Hokuten, and at war with the Death Corps. A huge battle, and this makes up Final Fantasy Tactics.

There is one huge problem with the storyline though, and that is the characters. Ramza and Delita are just about the only characters you have for a while that have any development whatsoever. All of your other characters are just in the battles and that's it. They have nothing to do with the story. Hell, they can even have different names! The names are totally random. There are some other units that join you like Agrias the holy knight, but those aren't permanent. This is the reason why I am forced to give Final Fantasy Tactics only a 9 out of 10.

Gameplay is quite worthy of the Final Fantasy name, indeed. Final Fantasy Tactics has pretty good control, which is always good for a strategy game. The O button is used to select, the X button is used to cancel, the D-Pad is used to move the cursor, etc. Unbelievably enough though, you never use the D-Pad to control Ramza in Final Fantasy Tactics. This is mostly good because using it can be very tiring. In battles, it is simply a list of options like moving and attacking. Overall the controls of Final Fantasy Tactics are splendid.

Final Fantasy Tactics also has a job system that will definitely remind us of the good old system in FFV. There are about two dozen job classes in this game. Those include Knight, Monk, Chemist, White Mage, Black Mage, Time Mage, Oracle, Lancer, Geomancer, Ninja, and many more. But the jobs are not where this system stops. When you change your job, your HP and MP are changed. For example, Squires have high HP and low MP. If you changed a Squire to a White Mage, the Squire would have much less HP and much more MP. And that's not to mention that the characters have speed as well...

And that is also not to mention that Final Fantasy Tactics features an ability system, similar to Final Fantasy V. The system is like this: a character has a certain job. Let's say that you have the Basic Skill abilities of a Squire. If you changed to a Chemist, you'd get the Chemist's abilities, but it's not a total loss. You can learn abilities by exchanging JP that is gained from battles for them. Also, even if you have a different job you can have ONE other job class's abilities with you... but you have to make some clever choices. Characters also learn support abilities, counter abilities, and other certain things like that.

Final Fantasy Tactics has to be one of the single most difficult games in the entire series. Since it falls under the category of a strategy game, you'll need to know _exactly_ what to do, when to do it, and exactly how you have to do it. Since you can move in this game, it also requires some brainwork. And to make matters worse, you even have to choose the job classes. In most battles, you get only 4-5 members in them. You have to choose... four ultimate powerhouses, or two strong characters, paired with a black mage with white magic powers and a white mage with pure white magic and items? You also have to decide where to put units at the beginning of the battle. Get this wrong (it's hard to do so), and you could easily be doomed.

The game doesn't really have too much replay value... but no despair. Since the game has a great storyline, you will certainly want to complete it when it is your first time through, but since battles get immensely hard and you'll definitely need to build up in forests and places like that, you probably won't have to do it all over again. Still, it is worth completing Final Fantasy Tactics and seeing what's going to happen is well worth the time and difficulty that it takes to complete it. The battles in the game are still extremely fun though, so don't worry about anything.

Graphics in Final Fantasy Tactics aren't that awesome, but it's slightly better than Final Fantasy VII. FFT mixes 2D graphics with 3D graphics. If you didn't understand what I meant, it used 2D sprites (don't worry, 2D-haters, the sprites are big enough), along with 3D backgrounds. The characters in the game are well-designed, and the backgrounds are spectacular. Enemies are also very nice looking, and most of the bosses are great too. And that's not to mention that Bahamut, who isn't a boss, looks absolutely excellent. Overall Final Fantasy Tactics can't compete with FF8 or FF9, but it beats down FF1-7 in terms of graphics.

There is also no doubt in mind that Final Fantasy Tactics has one of the best soundtracks of all time. Gee, I cannot begin to tell you just how great the music is. First of all the music that plays in the first battle is perfect an upbeat, to get you ready for kicking some enemy butt, the theme that plays when you choose the units you want for a battle is a softer, but still spectacular theme, and those that play in regular forests cannot be stressed how great they are. The sound in this game is also pretty good, although it really cannot compete with the music. Sword slashing, soldiers catching on fire and such things never get tiring hearing, and they sound quite realistic, considering that FFT was made in 1998.

Overall, Final Fantasy Tactics is one of the best games I've ever played, and I don't even like strategy games very much. The game is extremely fun to play, and the battles are extremely addictive. The job system adds some innovation to the game, and who can forget the music? The music in some battles really makes you feel like fighting them, and the graphics are even better than Final Fantasy VII's are. Perhaps the only problem in the game is that few characters have any development whatsoever, and they even have random names. This is what prevents me from giving the game a 9. Still, I really recommend you check this one out. You won't be disappointed.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/07/03