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By Lonnie on October 19th, 2001
Introduction Many years ago, a war broke out in the lands between Ivalice and Ordalia that would last 50 years and would later be known as the 50 Year War. In the end, both sides agreed to lay down arms and a peace was drawn. However, the war had severely depleted the resources of the kingdom of Ivalice, leaving many of the population jobless and poor. One year after the 50 Year War ended, Princess Ovelia was abducted. Complicating matters, King Omdolia passes away, leaving Orinas, a 2-year-old child, as heir. A guardian for Orinas was to be chosen, which meant essentially that the kingdom would be ruled by the whims of the guardian. Prince Larg, ruler of Gallione and elder brother of Queen Ruvelia was initally appointed, but the parliament renounced the appointment, fearing an oppressive reign through the Queen’s influence. Instead, Prince Goltana, ruler of Zeltennia was to be given guardianship. Out of this, a war ensued. With a white lion serving as the crest of Gallione and a black lion as the crest for Zeltennia, the subsequent war was known as The Lion War. Delita was a young man born to a family of horse breeders that served the noble Beoulve family. He would later become childhood friends with Ramza and join the Gariland officer academy, but only through the influence of the Beoulve family. According to historical records, it was Delita who became the young hero who managed to bring The Lion War to an end and would later be crowned king. Ramza Beoulve was always self-conscious of his inferiorty to his two elder brothers. After graduating from the Gariland officer academy, Ramza would serve as Princess Ovelia’s escort team and was present during her abduction. He would later play an important role in The Lion War, but the historical records never mentioned Ramza’s name in the grand scheme of things, but now the truth can be told.Presentation Everything is quite simply laid out. Easy for even those who do not play strategy games. The overall feel of the game is no doubt spectacular due to the amazing FMV and the squaresoft’s world famouse storylines.Graphics & Sound Battles are conducted in a 3D environment, which can be rotated to view the action from more convenient angles (the graphics in Tactics are superb, as characters are rendered as sprites instead of polygons). Furthermore, the player must deck each character out with the most effective equipment combination possible by visiting the various shops that offer unique weapons and armor. With a Final Fantasy theme serving as its backdrop, Final Fantasy Tactics contains many elements from the series, including familiar spells and items. The game is one that will test a player’s skill at strategy and does take a bit of time to learn how all the game elements fit together. Only then will the player learn to harness the various jobs and abilities available. And the computer AI definitely is NOT a pushover, as some of the battles are just plain hard! And to round things out, the music within the game is stellar. Gameplay The player assumes the role of Ramza in a game filled with twists and turns in the storyline. Addressing the important issue of class equality and other noble subjects, Final Fantasy Tactics offers a deep and engaging story of epic proportions. Gameplay: Final Fantasy Tactics is a battle intensive game and focuses primarily on strategy and combat ingenuity. The game is conducted in a linear fashion with battle scenarios to signify major events in the game. The underlying plot is revealed a little bit at a time at the successful conclusion of each major battle, very much like Vandal Hearts. If you loved VH, you’ll be head over heels playing Tactics. The player assumes control of up to 16 different characters. Each character starts out with a job as a Squire or Chemist. By successfully participating in battles, characters can gain experience points and job points. Experience points enable the character to gain additional hit points and magic points. Job points is where the real action takes place as they allow the character to take on more advanced jobs, with a total of 19 to choose from. In addition, certain monsters and computer controlled "guest" characters can become a part of the team. Each job has its own specialty abilities, which can be learned via careful distribution of job points. In total, over 400 abilities are available! And while the player can hold an entourage of up to 16, only four or five can enter a battle at one time, so careful selection and advancement of jobs and abilities must be practiced. Other factors to consider during combat include the effects of terrain, the amount of spacing among your units and the enemy, and the compatibility factor of each participating character, which depends on the character’s Zodiac sign. Lasting Appeal With the recent re-release of this SquareSoft cult-hit, there is no reason why fans of strategy games should pass it up, and with the lack of decent playstation titles out today, you can bet your life that for only 20 bucks FFT is a safe bet. If your not a final fantasy fan, and you don’t like strategy games. This is definitely not for you.Conclusion Overall, Square’s decision to re-release FFT was a very good move. Before many people had to resort to ebay and the very high prices were sometimes not worth it. Now that its part of the greatest hits library expect a whole new coming of FFT Fans. |
