Review of: Final Fantasy Tactics

Reviewer: David Lam

Title: Final Fantasy Tactics

System: PlayStation

Genre: Tactical RPG

            Ivalice was once peaceful  and full of life. Now after the 50 Year War Ivalice has become a desperate land ravaged by war. Innocent lives were taken and cities were destroyed. The economy is left in ruins resulting from the funding spent on  the war. The war veterans have no jobs and return to a broken country filled with despair. The depression is forcing citizens to steal and join mercenary forces. The common citizens are starving and there are many orphans left over from the war. The upper class nobles enjoy an extravagant lifestyle that is dwindling slowly but surely. There are different groups and sides all trying to get into power. They manipulate mercenaries and people in order to gain power through mystical Zodiac stones which transform people into an evil spirit capable of causing mass destruction. The story focuses on Ramza aand Delita. Ramza is young and due to his life in the upper class he is spoiled. He is naïve and unrealistic leaving him to be idealistic. However he always has this sense of morality throughout the whole game and he always tries to do what is right. Delita is the opposite in the sense that he is cunning and has more realistic goals. He takes decisive action to acquire those goals. One example being kidnapping a princess in order to acquire more power and to rule the land. In other words the outcome would have been good for Ivalice but Delita’s means were immoral but that is the characteristic we see in this realistic character.

            Concerning gameplay this game is very strategic and not recommended for those who play more linear games and those who use no strategy when playing videogames. The gameplay is similar to most Final Fantasy RPG’s which involve turn based fighting however the environment is different. You can move your character to attack your enemy from the back or position and archer on top of a mountain in order to destroy your enemies. The characters have different abilities and job classes. Leveling up a job class will unlock new classes. The most powerful classes require many different classes to be at certain levels in order to obtain it. For example the wizard class requires a level 2 chemist in order to be used. The wizard is one of the lower classes so its only prerequisite is easy to achieve. Every battle you must heal and fight with your characters. Every successful move will give you points that allow you to obtain new abilities. Every job class has its own set of special abilities useful in different situations. Some are support characters like the time mage. Others are tanks meant to take and deal damage like the knights. Having a diverse group of master characters who have learned every ability in their job class will make the battles easier. Even though the game has play station one graphics the characters have this cute like design that is attractive. The game is fun and every battle is different. This game is not redundant and if you lose a battle it merely means you have to rethink your strategy. Some people train your characters instead resulting in them being over leveled and the strategy of a blitzkrieg being used. The menu and organization of your characters affect the battle and the a terrain also plays a major part as well. The menu and character management is a little tricky for people unfamiliar with the mechanics of the game. Although it is a little tricky it does not take a rocket scientist to figure it out. All in all it’s a good game especially for those of you who enjoy RPG’s and strategy. This game gets an overall A and I suggest you buy it if your still playing play station one games.