Final Fantasy Tactics
Reviewed by CB007
Graphics
The graphics are really very good. They aren't extremely
realistic like Final Fantasy 8, but that is probably a good
thing for this kind of game. The characters themselves are
reminiscent of classic Final Fantasy games, but much better
looking and more detailed, since this is a PlayStation game.
The battlefields are very colorful and detailed. While they
are much clearer, the graphics are most similar to Breath of
Fire 3 and Grandia.
The spell effects and special attacks look truly excellent,
and are probably the nicest looking special effects in the
game. The Summon Spells are the most spectacular of all of
these, often invloving a long and detailed display, but not
so long as to be frustrating like in Final Fantasy 7 and 8
Gameplay
This is basically just a strategy game with a Final Fantasy
theme. There are a total of 19 Character Classes in the
game, such as Wizards, Knights, Lancers, and so on. Each
Class has it's own unique set of abilities. The more
experience a character has with different classes, the more
new classes open up to him. You can have many characters in
your party, but you don't use all of them at once. Before
each battle, you select the characters from your party that
you want to use in that fight. You can only choose a
handful, and it probably would have been better if you could
take a few more, as it would add to the strategy aspect a
bit and make leveling up easier.
Unlike most Final Fantasy games, there is no overworld to
explore in this game. There is simply a 2D map with points
on it. After you clear one area (point), the next one opens
up for you. Basically, you just move from battle to battle.
When you reach a city, you can buy items and weapons, but
you cannot explore or talk to residents. You have the option
to travel to previous areas to battle random enemies and
build you characters' levels.
This entire game revolves around the battles, and has very
little exploration involved. Luckily, the battles are set up
in an extraordinary way. They are Menu-Driven, and involve a
great amount of strategy.. Fights range from very easy to
extremely difficult, depending on how much you've prepared
your characters for the encounter. All enemies except bosses
are in the same level as your party, making random
encounters somewhat challenging. Early on, you may even be
defeated while trying to level up. This is not an easy game,
and will probably take you at least 40 hours to complete.
Story
To make up for the lack of exploration, the story in this
game is incredibly detailed. It's also got several
translation problems, though. I'm not sure whether it's
because I was rushing through the game or because of the
translation, but I found the story to actually be a little
hard to follow in certain places. There are many, many
characters to keep track of, but you have a reference area
on the menu screen that attempts to explain to you who
everyone is and what's going on.
Music
Sound is a pretty difficult thing to judge, as everyone's
opinions on music are different. I found almost all of the
music in this game to be excellent, although it sometimes
got a little repetitive in certain areas, like the random
battles. But this is true in almost all RPG's, so I can
hardly fault the game for it. I seriously doubt that you
will be dissapointed with the music in any way.
Final Thoughts
This game is really an excellent one. I would recommend it
to any RPG fans, and certainly to fans of Strategy Games.
This is one of my all-time favorites, and I highly recommend
it. However, if you find that you aren't too good at RPG's,
or that you get frustrated very easily, you might want to
wait awhile, or rent the game first.
Overall: 9 out of 10
