(Original image source: Square Haven.)

I completed Final Fantasy Tactics: the War of the Lions yesterday. My final savegame before the final battle was at the 48 hour 57 minute mark with Ramza at level 50.

I consulted a guide after I finished the game to see what I had missed out on and was chagrined to learn the answer was a lot. Like Disgaea, there’s a lot in FFT that is unlockable and like Disgaea, those optional unlocks can be very obscure.

I’ll post a review once I’ve organised my thoughts.

(Original source image: Square Haven.)

I finished one of those frustrating boss battles in Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions yesterday that make me think that I would be better off doing something like less painful like, I dunno, bang my head on the wall a few hundred times.

This particular boss is found in Riovanes Castle in the penultimate battle of the third chapter. He’s endowed with a lot of health, casts a devastating spell with a large area of effect and can also petrify your units with a glance.

Bottom line, he’s pain incarnate.

But believe it or not, it gets worse.
Continued…

This is probably my favourite piece of dialogue from a game this year:

Those who would lead prefer that history suit their needs, and rewrite it to see that it does. And why shouldn’t they? The fault lies not with them. The reeking masses yearn for gods and miracles. It is their opiate, and they consume it greedily. The people do not endeavor towards greatness, but rather mire themselves in their petty strifes – shackles on the feet of man. Their leaders give them no more than that for which they clamor. It is history’s oldest and most oft-repeated tale. Do men exploit this weakness to dominate their fellows? Mayhap they do. But they succeed only because the people are eager to know such dominion. Gods are only illusions born of man’s fear. It is they who see this charade for what it is and join in the pageantry who are to blame.

That’s from Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, the US version of a Japanese PSP remake of a 1997 Playstation game.

I know that there are gamers who will never play Japanese RPGs because the cutesy super deformed graphics put them off but I’m here to tell you that there are some great game experiences to be had if you can get over that.

(Image source: Square Haven.)

As noted previously, the AI in Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions is tougher than in turn-based games. As a result, your party members will die more often than in most games.

Death is handled a little differently in FFT. Units whose health have been reduced to zero are deemed KO’d. They fall with a dramatic (if tinny) scream and kiss the floor. You can revive a KO’d unit in three ways: item, spell or by completing the battle objective before the KO timer winds down. If you fail to revive a KO’d unit within three turns, that unit is gone forever.

This mechanic makes battles very, very tense indeed with many a battle requiring a desperate rescue attempt to save a fallen party member. It also leads me to replay battles I’ve won simply because I lost a valuable unit.

Interestingly, the KO mechanic applies to enemy units as well and you will sometimes see enemy units reviving their fallen comrades. This leads to comical situations which see you hacking down the same unit turn after turn.

The KO mechanic doesn’t apply to characters you’re meant to protect during a battle. If they fall, you’ll get a Game Over screen immediately.