Title Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lion Date 09.03.2007 Genre Turn based SRPG Platform Sony PSP Developer Square Enix Publisher Square Enix

Final Fantasy Tactics was released on the PlayStation, not long after Final Fantasy VII came out. Even though it was quite a departure from the "main" Final Fantasy series, it still gained quite a following, and remains ever popular, even today. The game was worked on by the same team that put together Tactics Ogre, another Simulation/Strategy RPG, and the two are considered by many to be among the greatest SRPGs in existence. At this point in time, FFT has been around for about a decade, and many of its fans had wanted a sequel, or a game that was directly related, for quite some time. Then, some years ago, Square announced that it would be creating a new Final Fantasy Tactics game for the Gameboy Advance. Fans were elated at the announcement, and it simply came down to the wait.

FFTA eventually came out, and while it was a decent game in its own right, many felt let down, as the game, while similar in core and idea, seemed somehow so vastly different. FFT was a dark game about war, betrayal, and the quest for truth, while FFTA was a game about kids falling into a "cute" version of Ivalice, and abandoning their real lives, in favor of this other world. Since then, Final Fantasy XII came out, set in the same Ivalice as FFT (though at a different period in time) and Square Enix formed the "Ivalice Alliance," a division that focuses primarily on the growing world of Ivalice, which encompasses, FFT, FFXII, FFXII: Revenant Wings, FFTA, and the upcoming FFTA2.

That brings us to now. One of the first projects of the Ivalice Alliance was to create an updated port of FFT, for the PlayStation Portable. This new version would feature added content, including new characters, classes, battles, and multiplayer mode. So, when the port of FFT was announced, fans were again excited by the premise of having an updated (and now portable) version of the game, with lots of new content and features. But, does the game hold up? How was the transition from console to handheld? Well, the truth is....the transition was rocky, at best. While the game is still great, and sheer amount of new content alone warrants a buy, there are some issues, both graphically, and audio-wise.

Graphics
Honestly, the graphics are fine. The game still uses the same 2-D character sprites, and special attacks and spells are among some of my favorite in SRPGs. A lot of the SRPGs that are compared to FFT (Such as Tactics Ogre, and FFTA) have these squatty little character sprites, that I personally find to be silly looking. FFT's sprites seem more solid looking, and just all around visually appealing. Also, (though a lot of other SRPGs, and often, RPGs in general) the equipment and weapon icons are very easy to distinguish, and most items have their own unique design and color, and even the character portraits themselves are unique, colorful, and are just well-designed.

The maps are 3-D fields, which your characters move around on, and where battle takes place. Personally, I never really thought these maps were overly detailed, but they serve their purpose, and really, it does seem that in the PSP version of the game, some of the blocky, jagged edges were smoothed out somewhat.
The only innate issue I can think of is for people who don't like 2-D or just the sprites in general, but there are many people who like FFT and similar games, so I can't really see that as much of a problem. As old as this game is, you should know what to expect by doing some decent research, or simply looking at screenshots and such.

As far as the new PSP content goes, a number of new animated cut-scenes have been added. These are meant to give more life to the events in between battle, and they're really done very nicely. It's hard to describe what the style is exactly, but it's sort of a blend between FFT's original artwork (which was very beautiful and unique), anime, and Cel-shading. The result is something that's quite fluid, and very nice to watch. The only thing is that it really feels like there should be more of them. In the Japanese version, these new cut-scenes were only subtitled, but I've heard that the North American release is going to have them voice-acted. That might be interesting, as they certainly should have had voice acting anyway, since it's a bit strange watching these great little movies, yet no one's talking.

Story
The story, for the most part, is exactly the same as it was in the PlayStation version. The story is told through the eyes of the Historian, Alazlam, as he details the events surrounding the Lion War. This war was fought mostly through deception, lies, and corruption and you learn the truth behind those who fought through the war.

As the game opens, we're introduced to Ramza Belouve, who is that hero of the war. The game opens at a monastery, which is where Princess Ovelia, Heiress to the throne is located. The monastary is attacked, and Ramza, and a small group of mercenaries and knights dispatch the attackers. Unfortunately, they're too late to prevent the princess from being kidnapped, and Ramza recognizes the kidnapper as his old friend, Delita, who he had thought died almost a year ago, in a previous battle.

The story unfolds in four chapters, the first of which being a flash-back chapter that takes place before the events in the first battle, and details the relationship between Ramza and Delita. As the game unfolds from there, a war begins, and you learn of how it is being manipulated from all sides. It's actually pretty interesting, and quite compelling for awhile, but when you discover that everyone is being manipulated four or five times removed, it seems a bit confusing, and at times, almost ridiculous and contrived. You'll also encounter a number of characters throughout the story, both ally and enemy, who serve to either join you, or destroy you. Some of these characters really could be elaborated on, as there are many characters that fight on your side as guests, or appear in one or two cut-scenes, and are never heard from again. In fact, most characters seem to only have one of three fates: Join you, be killed by you, or be killed by their superiors. However, one nice thing is that the PSP version actually does have a few new events and battles, which elaborate on some of the characters and their intentions, and the new animated cut-scenes do give some more life to some of the remaining events.

Control
Well, it's a turn-based, SRPG. Most of the navigation you'll be doing is through menus. Lots of them. The first time I played through the PlayStation version, I was pretty confused, and had no idea what to do, considering I'd never played a SRPG before. I'm guessing most of the people planning on buying the game are people who have played the original. If not, it just takes a bit of time getting used to, but after that, it should be easy to navigate both in and out of battle.

Battles
Like pretty much all other SRPGs, FFT's battles take place on a 3-D grid-like battlefield. You don't manually control anything, but rather, select panels that you want to move to, or select an enemy you wish to attack, and you choose your means of attack from a menu. The battles and situations are highly situational, meaning you'll need to formulate your party and individual characters, and adapt them to best handle each battle.

The game features the "Job class system," which is yet another thing that is common among SRPGs. It functions similar to the class system of Tactics Ogre, of course, and also shares some similarities with past games in its own series (Such as Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy V). Like many RPGs in general, you gain levels by attack enemies, or taking other actions in battle. However, you also gain Job Points (JP) when you can use to "buy" new abilities in that class. Also by accumulating more JP, the class that you are currently in levels up, which in turn, unlocks even more classes. With something around 20 different classes, there is a good deal of customization, as each class has certain strengths and weaknesses. Some classes are heavily armored, and can equip powerful weapons, but these classes are generally slower, and not adept in magic. Some classes have high evasion and speed, but these classes tend to have low HP and defenses. Still other classes feature high magic attack and MP, but they lack physical power and attributes.

There are a number of standard soldiers (commonly referred to as generic soldiers) which you can hire and customize to your liking. There are also a number of special characters who join you, and these characters might have attacks and abilities that the generics don't have. By spending JP with a character, you are allowed to buy new abilities in their attack skill-set, giving you more options for attacking, but you can also buy other skills such as reaction, support, and movement skills. These do many things, and add greatly to the customizability of your individual units.

Sadly, there are a lot of skills, abilities, special units, and setups that are far too overpowered. Really, the first chapter is about the only difficult portion of the game, and that's simply because you don't have much at your disposal. There are a couple of other battles scattered throughout that can be kind of tricky, unless you have specific setups, but by the later part of the game, you've got so many powerful special units at your command, as well as a number of other over-powered pieces of equipment and skills, that battles are a breeze. What's more, enemies generally tend to be underpowered, and poorly equipped, so the only difficulty really comes if you decide to limit your own army.

So, while the original FFT is known for its diverse skill selection, and plethora of unique and cool attack and special effect animations. And this is where the problem arises in the PSP port, and the one that seems to be the most buzz among the people playing the game: The lag and slowdown. Many of the special attacks (Specifically, spells, and the special "sword skills") have noticeable slow down. Most of the time, it's really not as bad as it's being made out to be, but in a few instances, the sound clips and visual effects are considerably off. An attack animation may only be half over, yet its sound clip has already played completely through. Although it's something that you'll certainly be aware of at first, chances are, you'll get used to it. Sure, you hate it being there, but there are people making it out to be a bigger deal than it really is. It's annoying, but it's certainly not game-breaking.

Regardless, there are a lot of interesting new things, too. Some of the characters were fixed so that they work better (Specifically, units using the Mighty Sword-skill set) There are also new characters and classes to experiment with, as well as a number of new battles that were added to the main game. The multiplayer battles can also be quite fun and some of the later ones are satisfyingly difficult. The problem that arises there is finding other people to play multiplayer WITH.

All in all, the battle system is quite fun. There is lots of customization, and emphasis on building your army (What's more, you can now hold up to 24 units in your roster, whereas the PlayStation version only allowed you to have up to 16) so battle can be fun, as there are lots of skills and setups to experiment with. The new battles and characters also add some interesting elements. It's nice that some issues were actually fixed, though it's too bad probably just as many new issues were created.

Music
The Music in FFT is classic. I have the soundtracks for the original FFT as well as Breath of Fire V, and Sakimoto's work on both games has resulted in music that is almost haunting in nature. The music conveys the mood very well, in it's dreary, dark sound. Unfortunately, the PSP version's music doesn't seem as vibrant or full as the original, and it does not give the score its justice.

What's more, the quality of the sound effects themselves seems to be off, with some of the sounds being replaced entirely. Many of FFT's attacks had distinct sound effects attached to them, and these sounds have become very recognizable in nature. However, some of those sounds have been replaced with strange, awkward sounds (Such as the SFX for Night Sword, and the Lucavi transformations), while some sounds seem a bit drowned out, or have lost some of their echo and impact.

Replay
Despite the shortcomings, FFT is worth playing multiple times. There are an almost unlimited number of character and class combinations, and the job system allows for much experimentation. So, even though technically nothing unlocks after beating the game, (well, except for a few new multiplayer missions) and there's really nothing new during subsequent play-through, there's enough reason to play the game multiple times.

Overall
Final Fantasy Tactics is my favorite game. It has been since I first played through it, back some 9 years ago. Since then, I, as well as virtually every other fan, has wanted a sequel, or another game directly related and done in the same style. The PSP version is certainly a solid port, but it's missing a coat or two of polish that make it a clean transition. It gets docked a couple points for some graphical lag, as well as some sound issues, but take heart as they really aren't game-breaking.

What's more, the new content is certainly merit for playing this version. New characters, new job classes, new events, new cut-scenes, elaboration on some plot points, new battles, multiplayer (Which has a coliseum mode, allowing two players to build parties and fight against each other, as well as Co-op mode, which allows two players to join forces and fight their way through some rather difficult battles) and a slew of new items and equipment, are all worth playing the game for. All in all, it's a classic game loved by many, with several great new features worth checking out, while at the same time having a few noticeable issues that make this port fall short of perfection. Still, most certainly worth the buy, though.

Game Score

B+

Reviewed By: Contributed