Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions

"Exactly what I wish getting a job was like..."

I've played this game on the PSOne for nigh on ten years now. No matter how many times I played it through I never got tired of it. The game wasn't perfect, and some parts were better than others, but the experience was so magnificent each time that I couldn't stop playing it for more than a few months at a time before I'd find myself clearing an old save file and starting over again. When I heard there was going to be a port to the PSP I immediately bought one and put the game on pre-order and have been anxiously awaiting release to see what was changed, removed, added, or just outright fixed.

With all that said, I got my copy the other day and played right through. Now I feel a need to express my opinion on it. Given my admitted fanboyness, I will try and be as objective as possible about it.

Characters: 8/10

There are so many characters, generic or otherwise, that it's completely possible to get them all and never use some. On different playthroughs I would get and use some characters and ignore others altogether. Square seemed so keen on this that they threw in more characters yet. Oh joy, though, that these characters are better than some I could have envisioned. Balthier rocks, and Luso has innate poaching, which is handy for me in more than one way.

What's more, we now have more spaces to play around with. Eight more spaces to be precise, a full 150% of what we once had.

So what's with the two points down? I felt some of the name changes were unnecessary. Sure, sure, the complaint is probably common, but I feel it has to be stated somewhere and translation is somewhat of a different matter for me. Some of them were cleared up better, and enjoyable, others seemed changed rather needlessly and altogether pointlessly.

Story: 10/10

On the original I fell right into the story from minute one of playing. I'm happy to say the same is true of the port. Further yet, I'm glad to see more character development even in the later chapters of earlier characters. In the port, Agrias sort of fell off around Chapter 3 in terms of scenes and development, but now she still gets attention to some degree in Chapter 4.

The re-texting of the whole game also served to make the world, and more importantly the story it is told through, more realistic to me in terms of time setting and overall feel. The original left me hanging at some points as they switched from laughable Shakespearian in one line and then common English or Engrish in the very next.

Suick between-chapter catch-ups and wonderful dialogue make this a new favorite of mine. The only source of off-putting might be that everything follows the same speech pattern. It's all flared towards old English, so be forewarned.

Sounds/Music: 8/10

I have to take some points off with this one. The removal of filters is hardly noticed on the music half, but can still be detected. With sound effects of every sort the change is far mroe distracting. I've almost cringed on several occasions listening to some of the sounds, and on others found myself chuckling with amusement as they momentarily distracted me from actually playing further.

The music itself, however, still stands the test of time as one of my favorite soundtracks in a Final Fantasy game. Given the knowledge it's a decade old gives it a certain dated feel but I'll take it over most recent games. Its dramatic flow will draw one into a fight, or relax them in a castle's halls, or ready them for battle during set-up.

All in all, it does what its supposed to and does it well above and beyond what many games expect of their own tracks. The opening track alone will forever be imprinted on this humble reviewer's memory.

Jobs/Classes: 8/10

One of the biggest hooks for the game, for me, has always been the job system. I feel it does it better than some of its predecessors, and certainly moreso than some of its successors. Personal feelings aside, there are a few things that have to be said for the job system of the port.

FIrst and foremost are the changes in requirements. Some may find the upped job level requirements for some classes to be fine. Personally I put to good use the extra JP I earned getting the Monk class. I don't think it was completely necessary though. Having a Monk with Heavy Armor equipped before the first major conflic is overkill for the first chapter.

Likewise, the new jobs require one to go out of their way to master. My playthroughs throughout then years have rarely required any one character to master more than two or three jobs before end game. Maybe I'm a bit biased then at now finding myself grinding to master the Onion and Fell Knights. It's just a personal peeve of mine, but enough for me to warrant a score-lowering.

Otherwise, its really a fun and unique experience trying out different classes and combinations thereof to find the perfect build for any given characer you wish to play with.

Lag: 5/10

Just because I know everyone has issues with this on the port, I felt it should be addressed in a decent review, even if jus tbriefly.

The lag present is nothing horrible to say the least. It is present almost entirely, and in fact only, during spell and effect animations. It doesn't detract much from the experience, but it is a hassle if you wish to cast Cura on five units at once and each animation gets its own lag.

That and it often seems to make the unfiltered/echoed sounds more noticeable, leading to an extra reduction of points. Still, lag is not going to be much of an issue that one should base their love or hate for this game on.

Saving: 7/10

Another pet peeve I just have to make note of. Despite having a gig of memory to save with, and each save roughly half a meg, I am still limited to fifteen spaces. I am not sure at all why this limitation is present in the game at all, but it puzzles and frustrates me. Every good game knows to save often and save multiple, and now space is at even more of a premium.

Animations: 9/10

I loved the original cutscenes in the PSOne game, and my heart soars with joy at seeing some of them turned into full-blown animations now, and fully voiced with good and appropriate-sounding voice actors to boot. I notice a few skips in some that I don't see a reason for, leading to a point off, but otherwise I feel these are fully conductive towards a more enjoyable gaming experience.

Rent or Buy? Buy.

I haven't been in a Blockbuster or Hollywood Video in years, so I don't know if the policy on renting portably games has changed or not. Last time I was in they didn't rent out games for handheld systms, but this may have changed. On the chance it has, or that it ever does, I would whole-heartedly recommend buying the game. Unless you know exactly what you're doing you wll never experience or fully enjoy the game within the constraints of a rental.

Overall: 8/10

I am fully impressed with what Square has done with the port and the additions. I had my doubts about some things, most notably the fact it's portable and just a port at that, but I'm glad to see my hopes otherwise were more readily fulfilled.

As such I would recommend the game to anyone. Unless someone just has it in for RPGs, Strategy Games, or even just Square-Enix, I don't see how anyone can't find at least something in this game to enjoy. Its a classic I believe could truly continue to live and thrive beyond its time if given the proper chance by the gaming community as a whole, especially since this release doesn't have Final Fantasy VII (Another favorite of mine) overshadowing it to any real extent.

Minor flaws relating to laggy animations, limited save space per memory stick, and unfiltered sounds and music may cause some to think twice, and can definitely affect the mileage one may ge tout of the game, but if these are issues you base a game on then many CD/DVD games are unplayable as it is. Give the game a chance, it's money well spent and time well killed.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/15/07

Game Release: Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (US, 10/09/07)