Wow, just finished it. What can I say? Though I did have some problems with it, I think FFT is a great game, and a great start to the Ivalice Alliance. This is my first full playthrough of the game and the second ever Ivalice game I've played, FFXII being the first. I suppose it's sort of interesting going from XII to Tactics, going with full knowledge of espers and nethicite which others wouldn't have if they played Tactics first.
Let's get into the gameplay. I love that the game has intricate gameplay systems. There is a great implementation of the job system where you can mix and match abilities from different jobs to maximize the potential of your characters. There are tons of jobs that are all fairly different from eachother, though I only really played around with a fraction of the jobs the game has available.
I think the first half of the game is skewed a little too hard, with several of the story battles taking me a couple tries to beat. I got stuck on the final Wiegraf battle just like everyone else seems to, but after a couple hours of tries I found the one strategy that just barely let me beat him. The game slopes down in difficulty after that point. By the second half of the game you amass a strong group of unique characters that trivialize pretty much every encounter. Cid and Balthier, for example, are super op and make any "Defeat x character" battles super quick. I'll admit I cheesed through chapter 4 pretty hard, but there really isn't any reason not to other than to give yourself a challenge. With how long battles take in this game, it's too much of a hassle to grind the generic characters up to par with the unique ones. Overall, I like the gameplay, it just needed to be balanced a little better.
Now on to the story. It's amazing, and I feel like pretty much no other game I've played really has a story like this. XII has a bit of the political intrigue, but even it doesn't go as crazy with different factions as much as Tactics does. I have to hand it to the localization team, they did a beautiful translation with flowery dialogue that fits the setting. Square seems to save their best localization teams for Ivalice games, which makes me sad there hasn't been one in years now (other than the HD remaster of XII).
At its core, the story of Tactics is about classism, and this theme is no better demonstrated than in the dichotomy between Ramza and Delita. The two grew up as brothers despite Ramza being of the noble House Beoulve and Delita being lowborn. Throughout the game we see how events shape Ramza and Delita differently. Ramza has a strong sense of justice and overall seems to strive for peace instead of war. Delita is not as naive, and realizes that true harmony in Ivalice can't be achieved through peace. Together they shape the future of Ivalice in their own ways.
One thing about the story that does disappoint me a little is that it gets to be a little fetch questy towards the end. You're either going to a castle to save Alma or get a new auracite crystal. What makes up for this is the great dialogue, the betrayals and backstabs between many different characters, and the Lucavi fights. I love all the Lucavi fights in this game, they're as imposing as the esper fights in XII. The Belias and Cuchulainn fights are my favorite since they're a challenge to beat, while the later Lucavi fights can be steamrolled through.
To be honest, with the way the game kept on ramping up the plot twists I was expecting the ending to be a lot better. The leadup to the final boss wasn't great...you go to Mullonde to fight the templar knights, Folmarv summons Ultima, and you fight it and that's it. I mean, I know the plot of the Lucavi the whole game was to summon Ultima, but I expected more to be done with it. I also expected there to be a final confrontation between Ramza and Delita, but there was none. I don't know how to feel about the Ovelia stabbing Delita. Basically everyone who Delita manipulated ended up dead with the exception of Ramza and Orran, and Orran's story doesn't end well either. I didn't expect to have a happy ending, but for it to be so abrupt and kind of a downer was unexpected. I do think it's good that the game didn't have a cliche "everything is resolved" ending, and it's true to life in that way.
Anyway, I have some questions regarding the lore and connections to XII. Is auracite nethicite? What happened to Zodiark? Who trapped the espers in auracite? Also, when a human uses auracite, the Lucavi posesses that person's body, right? So as soon as Wiegraf used his auracite, Belias took over his body? It's kind of unclear. I suppose most of those questions haven't been officially answered, but it doesn't hurt to ask.
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions is a great game, and I recommend everyone interested in srpgs or Ivalice to try it out. As for me, the next Ivalice game I'll play is probably Vagrant Story, which I've heard nothing but good things about.
Let's get into the gameplay. I love that the game has intricate gameplay systems. There is a great implementation of the job system where you can mix and match abilities from different jobs to maximize the potential of your characters. There are tons of jobs that are all fairly different from eachother, though I only really played around with a fraction of the jobs the game has available.
I think the first half of the game is skewed a little too hard, with several of the story battles taking me a couple tries to beat. I got stuck on the final Wiegraf battle just like everyone else seems to, but after a couple hours of tries I found the one strategy that just barely let me beat him. The game slopes down in difficulty after that point. By the second half of the game you amass a strong group of unique characters that trivialize pretty much every encounter. Cid and Balthier, for example, are super op and make any "Defeat x character" battles super quick. I'll admit I cheesed through chapter 4 pretty hard, but there really isn't any reason not to other than to give yourself a challenge. With how long battles take in this game, it's too much of a hassle to grind the generic characters up to par with the unique ones. Overall, I like the gameplay, it just needed to be balanced a little better.
Now on to the story. It's amazing, and I feel like pretty much no other game I've played really has a story like this. XII has a bit of the political intrigue, but even it doesn't go as crazy with different factions as much as Tactics does. I have to hand it to the localization team, they did a beautiful translation with flowery dialogue that fits the setting. Square seems to save their best localization teams for Ivalice games, which makes me sad there hasn't been one in years now (other than the HD remaster of XII).
At its core, the story of Tactics is about classism, and this theme is no better demonstrated than in the dichotomy between Ramza and Delita. The two grew up as brothers despite Ramza being of the noble House Beoulve and Delita being lowborn. Throughout the game we see how events shape Ramza and Delita differently. Ramza has a strong sense of justice and overall seems to strive for peace instead of war. Delita is not as naive, and realizes that true harmony in Ivalice can't be achieved through peace. Together they shape the future of Ivalice in their own ways.
One thing about the story that does disappoint me a little is that it gets to be a little fetch questy towards the end. You're either going to a castle to save Alma or get a new auracite crystal. What makes up for this is the great dialogue, the betrayals and backstabs between many different characters, and the Lucavi fights. I love all the Lucavi fights in this game, they're as imposing as the esper fights in XII. The Belias and Cuchulainn fights are my favorite since they're a challenge to beat, while the later Lucavi fights can be steamrolled through.
To be honest, with the way the game kept on ramping up the plot twists I was expecting the ending to be a lot better. The leadup to the final boss wasn't great...you go to Mullonde to fight the templar knights, Folmarv summons Ultima, and you fight it and that's it. I mean, I know the plot of the Lucavi the whole game was to summon Ultima, but I expected more to be done with it. I also expected there to be a final confrontation between Ramza and Delita, but there was none. I don't know how to feel about the Ovelia stabbing Delita. Basically everyone who Delita manipulated ended up dead with the exception of Ramza and Orran, and Orran's story doesn't end well either. I didn't expect to have a happy ending, but for it to be so abrupt and kind of a downer was unexpected. I do think it's good that the game didn't have a cliche "everything is resolved" ending, and it's true to life in that way.
Anyway, I have some questions regarding the lore and connections to XII. Is auracite nethicite? What happened to Zodiark? Who trapped the espers in auracite? Also, when a human uses auracite, the Lucavi posesses that person's body, right? So as soon as Wiegraf used his auracite, Belias took over his body? It's kind of unclear. I suppose most of those questions haven't been officially answered, but it doesn't hurt to ask.
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions is a great game, and I recommend everyone interested in srpgs or Ivalice to try it out. As for me, the next Ivalice game I'll play is probably Vagrant Story, which I've heard nothing but good things about.
