Final Fantasy Tactics

Soon after the sucess of Final Fantasy VII, Square must've been hyped! Squaresoft broke it out on the unsuspecting American public and created a game that has amazed and endeared most who have played it. To this day, it's a collector's gem and there's no surprise why: it's the frickin' bomb diggy. Needless to say, Final Fantasy Tactics did not materialize out of thin air.

First things first: Final Fantasy Tactics(from now on referred to as FFT) was not the first time someone attempted an isometric turn-based strategy game, nor the last. To limit our titles to the Playstation, we'd come up with some titles like Kartia: the Word of Fate, Hoshigami: Ruining Blue Earth(contains a unique battle technique), Vandal Hearts, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, and the Atlus company staples of Ogre Battle(US release:1996) and Tactics Ogre(US release: May 1998). Both the Ogre series games set the precedent for an isometric strategy game on the Super Nintendo, so the developers at Square asked: why not do one for our series on the Playstation? With that, FFT was on the drawing board. There were some things that ended up in the aforementioned predecessors to FFT, namely a class system. That idea was a standard RPG idea, but was passed over for the standard lone warrior and motley crew RPG squad. The Class system was instituted in Squaresoft's Final Fantasy line in Final Fantasy III. This system allows you to change a character or unit into a specific class with benefits, disadvantages and exclusive skills. The added feature is that you could switch between classes when necessary. The specific classes from the Final Fantasy III Class system appeared again in Final Fantasy V, and once again in the game we are reviewing now.

Final Fantasy Tactics was released in the US on the Playstation on January 29, 1998 to marginal sales. That was gonna change soon enough. Those that did play it were hooked, due to the customization available to a single character and the identification with many of the special NPCs(non-player characters). To an extent, the same could be said of store-bought recruits. The game bore many of the same things standard on a Final Fantasy game(Chocobos, the Summon spirits, Phoenix Down, a man named Cid) and some things taken from the immediate hit of Final Fantasy VII(Materia, cameos by Cloud and Aeris), and also brought something new to the table(the Zodiac Stones and the stories attached to them). People were drawn into the story of a land that resembles medieval Europe torn apart by civil war. The characters were drawn all kawaii and cute, and were anything but. Poisoning, stabbing, general mayhem and some other things continued to shock me as I played through the storyline. It was one of the things that kept me going through to the end of the story. The other is, as I previously mentioned, the characters.

Above: A true geomancer's compass. The Geomancer skill in FINAL FANTASY TACTICS does not require such a device, yet the geomancy used in FFT isn't true geomancy; only related to it.

• Ramza Beolvue(aka the Main Character)
  He's OK as Main Characters go. A bit wussy but he makes up for it in the end.
• Agrias, Holy Knight
  Female knight that shows us how bad-ass a chick in this game can be. Uses a magical Swordskill.
• Mustadio
  Your right hand man. There are many battles you could not have won if not for his assistance. Becomes even better without his gun.
• Meliadoul
  Excellent lady swordswoman. Befriends you late in the game. Uses a combat Swordskill. Equip her properly and she can never be hit.
• Worker 8
  War-robot from an earlier age. Super-powerful ally to have on your squad.
• Beowulf
  Not based on the Norse hero at all. Uses a combination of strange Magic and Swordskill.
• Reis
  Beowulf's lover. Mistress of the Dragons; can breathe fire. Used to be a dragon.
• Rafa & Malak
  Brother & sister magician team from an exotic land. They use magic skill called Truth and Un-Truth, respectively.
• Cloud
  Cameo from Final Fantasy VII; still suffering from head trips.

Last yet certainly not least:

• Orlandu(aka "Thunder God Cid" or T.G. Cid")
  The man. The myth. The legend himself, he personified the role of King Arthur, as played by Sean Connery in First Knight. The character design even looks like Sean Connery. Uses every Swordskill available; wields Excalibur.

What can I say about FFT that hasn't made my point that the game is awesome? Oh, yeah--the music keeps you going along with the story, the side quests are pretty good & make you think, and the secrets in this game are so useful, that you'd thoroughly enjoy them, No matter who you are. In short, play his game. Play this game until you beat it. When you beat it, keep playing it unitl you get every last secret, every last NPC, every last item, all the treasures and all the hidden lands. Then keep the game on you rmantle as a testament to impeccable game creation, most worthy of a 10.

(SPECIAL NOTE: After many years of speculation, Squaresoft(now SquareEnix) has released a sequel to FFT for the GameBoy Advance, appropriately called Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Please go play it and keep the memory of the truth alive!)

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