Final Fantasy Tactics!

So I’ve heard that Final Fantasy Tactics is a must play game. Unfortunately, now that Playstation 1 games have been discontinued, it is extremely expensive to obtain. Luckily, after playing Crisis Core on the PSP, my friend also had the revamped Tactics: Final Fantasy Tactics War of the Lions.

The artwork in the cut scenes is amazing. It really looks like someone took a brush to a piece of parchment. The in game graphics are still pretty slick, and probably improve on the graphics of the Playstation 1 game. The game pretty much starts you in a battle, and it doesn’t have a tutorial. I love that they did this because I really despise having to go through slow tutorials every time you start a new game. Instead, the tutorial is at the start screen. I didn’t get far enough into the game to see any flashy spells, but overall, the battle graphics were those of a standard tactical RPG. Camera angles could be somewhat annoying though, even with the rotating battleground with the bumper buttons. The music that I was able to experience definitely helped with the medieval atmosphere, and the script was translated into the tongue of the times.

From what I’ve heard, the storyline is an amazing blend of political strife, deception, murder, and all the elements of a solid epic. Despite that, I became too impatient with the game. I felt the battle system took too long. I’m too used to the current generation of hack and slash, instant gratification battle systems. Also, the PSP really started to grind on me. I couldn’t really find a good position to sit while playing, and the system itself did not fit too well in my hands. Eventually some part of my body would get sore as well as my left hand. For those able to stand these conditions, this game is definitely a must play from everything I’ve heard. I will probably just try and get my hands on a PS1 version eventually, and go from there.