Pyro Tempest's FFT Review

I don't mean to offend anyone with my opinions yadda yadda yadda....There might be spoilers ahead!!!

Content: 10.0/10.0

Wow-that's all I really should say about Final Fantasy Tactics. The plot is so intricate that you never really know what will happen next. There are a lot of flashbacks too that give you further insight into the past of the main characters. In fact, the first chapter of the game is nothing but a huge flashback that you have to fight your way through.

This game really has everything you could want. It is full of action and battles, but it is also a cunning story of bloody backstabbing and misplaced revenge. Believe me-if you thought that the stabbing and bloodless death of Aeris from FF7 was bad you've seen nothing yet. Stabbing and filial ingratitude along with the deaths of spineless nobles and honorable heroes is common. It is definitely one of Square's most shocking Final Fantasy games. But it's also one of their best games which is why they brought it back once more.

There are also a great deal of plots and mini games throughout the story line. You search for Zodiac Stones while learning about a possible church corruption and the summoning of an Angel of Death-this game came out before FF9 just so you know! But along the way deeper, and bloodier plots are discovered that may lead you to believe that poor little Ramza may be fighting a losing battle no matter what he does.

As for the characters, they are very involved even though there are a lot of them. In fact, there are so many that you can have 16 people at your disposal and there is a character book to review just in case you want to know more about your fellow fighters. But the most important characters above all are noble Ramza and vengeful Delita. It is their friendship/foe relationship that really make you think. What's even more interesting is that the storyline tells you already that Delita rules and is the supposed hero of the Lion Wars...but then they tell you that that bit of history lacks the full truth and that the forgotten Ramza may have been the true hero, but where did he go?

The story greatly shows how Ramza goes from being a noble looked down upon by his own family who thought he should be more heartless to an honorable and confident mercenary bent on attaining justice for everyone no matter their status in life. (Hey! This game even came out before FF7 so anything in any of those games is copied from Tactics)!!!! Ramza is truly the greatest and most self-sacrificial hero of all the Final Fantasy games. You should play the game and then tell me if I'm being partial....maybe I am...?

Sound:9.5/10.0

The songs were decent and none of them were annoying so I'd say that the sounds were very good. Best of all, the ending song is one most Final Fantasy players are familiar with. Remember One -Winged Angel from FF7? Yeah? Well, that was stolen from Final Fantasy Tactics! It sounds so good in Tactics! So, overall, I was quite pleased with the music!!!

Graphics:9.0/10.0 (based on previous technology-they were pretty damn good!)

Okay, so if there was one thing that might have been a bit odd it had to be the graphics from Tactics....There are some short scenes that could be considered FMV's but the graphics are more than decent. The detail put to the armor on the different types of soldiers as well as that present on the chocobo puts some of the other Final Fantasy games to shame especially seeing as the technology used nowadays is infinitely better than what the designers had to use for Tactics. (YES they had armored chocobos just like FF10!). As for the normal and battle graphics-they were very much the same. All the characters looked like chibis but not to the severe degree of the munchkin version used in FF9.The characters were chibi sized and cute but they still looked relatively like adults all the while. Some aspects of the game actually reminded me of anime because the characters do occasionally get the classic sweatdrop. But, overall, they have normal faces and fairly big eyes-aww!!!! The characters are so cute you just wanna squish em!!! Or maybe that's just me...again....

Battle:10.0/10.0

The battle system present in this FF game is very unique. In fact-it is different from any other FF game I have ever played. Basically you are given a number of regular non plot involved soldiers to command. You can pick the best of these and use them in battles. You can pick 5 of these warriors and use them to fight against monsters. The trick is there are several jobs that you can make your soldiers learn. You can make any of your soldiers either a squire, a knight, an archer, a monk, a ninja, a lancer, a samurai, a geomancer, a white mage, black mage, time mage, oracle,calculator, mime, chemist, bard, dancer, or a summoner. Each of these jobs use different weapons and have different special skills. You can equip more than one special skill on each warrior though-so you can make a squire do Guts skills and summon skills as well. Pretty cool, but you have to make good decisions because if you have too many offensive skills then you can't revive people and you die.

The fields are also different meaning that you have to know how to position your people in order to get the best field advantage. Like...you put your archer at an altitude of 7 on top of the hill so his range is super big and you can hit almost anything on the field without moving him.

You also have to move your character onto squares on the field-it's like chess except a crap load easier. Based on your characters move you can go that many spaces.

Skill Factor:10.0/10.0 Hard Core Battles-Not for the weak at heart!!!

Let's just say that you need to know some battle tactics before you jump into this game. J/k!! I won't lie though. This game is quite hard if you don't know how to take advatage of your field or of your magic abilities. Another thing you have to look for is the natural abilties of each character. The higher the Faith, the better the magic. The higher the Brave, the better the power. There are ways to boost your characters up though, but that is only by getting the right jobs and their skills. In order to learn a new job, you must have fulfilled the prerequisites like obtaining a Level 2 Knight to get a lancer or whatnot. Then you need JP to learn the skills you want. You also need to make sure you have enough items to keep youself alive because this game's character deaths are different from any other Final Fantasy games deaths. If you leave a character dead for too long then they turn to crystal and if they turn to crystal you can never get them back. That sucks! You have to know each jobs basic strengths and weakness too in order to figure out how you want to spread them out.

While this may seem hard you readily get the hang of it if you're very adaptable. Another good part is that later on-you get several special characters that have unique jobs. One of these characters-whose name I won't mention- makes the game almost too easily. Their magic sword spells make it so that you can kill some minor enemies in a single blow. But, despite this, expect a number of game overs especially since status effects like vampire can cripple your forces and turn them against you. No matter how much you level up the enemies never get any easier. Couple that with the size of the fields and difficulty of the enemies and I can promise you that a majority of your battles will last at least 30 to 40 minutes and I'm talking about regular battles. Plot moving battles can last well over an hour. So be prepared!!!!

All of this makes for some excellent game play and nerve wracking battles. It's guaranteed to keep you busy!!!

Overall: 10.0/10.0

This has got to be my favorite Final Fantasy game. I really liked a lot of them, but the plot and characters of this one were the best I've seen in awhile. This game really has everything- I think I said that already-but it's true! There's romance, betrayal, death, legends, and epic heroes you will truly fall in love with.

Ramza-the lone hero who must fight those he once held dear in a quest to promote his ideals(good ideals)-makes the game so much more interesting. He is a self-sacrificial character you can't help but relate to as he fights to help others as history slowly forgets that he is the true hero of the world. Wow-he's cute and wonderfully heroic!

The only thing you do have to be careful of are the battles. They can be long and tedious, but once you get into the game there are easy to get used to. It's definitely a must-have for the die-hard Final Fantasy gamer.