Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions (PSP) Review
Posted by Nathan Grayson on 11.05.2007
Turn-based tactical action in the world of Ivalice makes for a wonderfully addictive gameplay experience.
Title: Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions
Publisher: Square Enix
Type: Strategy RPG
Players: 1-2
Booting-up Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions is like being transported into a world of fantastical action and political intrigue. The king of Ivalice has just recently died, and his son is too young to inherit the throne. The titular War of the Lions is a war of succession between two Dukes. Thus, the story is filled with characters on both sides of the struggle, and some third-parties. It’s a far cry from much of the Final Fantasy series as many gamers know it, but that’s a good thing, for the most part – the story can become overly complicated with all of its back story. Also unlike other Final Fantasies is the role of the chocobo. Formerly a valiant – if somewhat goofy – mode of transportation, the chocobo is now a part time party member and a full-time bastard. From the very beginning, the brightly-colored little jerks will torment you so much that you might come to believe you’re a villain – one that destroyed an idyllic chocobo village and managed to eat a few puppies in the process. Just when you think you’ve won a battle, Choco-cure! Are you going in for a kill and letting your guard down slightly? Choco-meteor! Yeah, when embarrassingly adorable birds are kicking your ass, you know this is a tough game.
Gameplay
Gameplay in FFT involves selecting units, moving them, and telling them how and what to attack. Adding to the excitement, all of this is turn-based! And guess what, it’s one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences you’ll have this year. No – wait – don’t leave! I’m not kidding.
Battles in FFT are small-scale affairs, involving only five player controlled characters maximum. NPC guest units will help in some story battles, but the proceedings still tend to be fairly contained. Based on stats, characters take their turns moving and attacking. That description, however, does the game little justice. Battles are intricate and relentless – enemies are generally intelligent, seeking out weaker targets early on to hopefully hamstring your team in the long run. In fact, there’ll be many occasions where you’ll make a move, only to notice that you gave your opponent a perfect, but very subtle, opportunity to do some, erm, massive damage. Next thing you know, your opponent is taking advantage of that exact opportunity in a way you didn’t even consider. Moments like these are both brilliant and frustrating -- but not unfairly so.
The most enjoyable aspect of gameplay, surprisingly enough, takes place mostly outside of battle. FFT has a character creation system deeper than the bottomless pits in most platforming games. The system is the ultimate refinement of Final Fantasy V’s job system, and presents a myriad of options large enough to build a pyramid out of. As characters level up jobs through battles, new jobs are unlocked. Even after a character has changed jobs, they can still use abilities from a previous job. It’s akin to mixing and matching clothes to form a nice looking outfit, only you’ll actually care about this. For example, let’s say you turned a character into a monk (Pro tip: do that) in order to utilize some powerful attacks, but now want the dual wielding ability that being a ninja affords. Well, first your monk will need to level up as a dishonest, conniving thief for a while, and then he/she will be able to flip-out and kill people with the best of ninja. After all that, your monk/thief/ninja will have picked up quite a few useful skills exclusive to each of those classes. Through all that, you’ll have created a totally unique combination. But what if you decide you need another melee fighter? You could go down the same path with that character, or you could create another unique mish-mash of classes that manages to be just as effective as your super stealing ninja religious hermit thing. With upwards of 20 jobs, the above example hardly even picks up the utensil it will use to scratch the surface of what you can do with FFT’s character building system.
Multiplayer is included in the package, however it’s depressingly offline-only. Cooperative and competitive missions are available, and players can unlock some pretty nice gear by playing through them. So force this review down your friends’ throats in the hopes that they’ll go out and buy the game, too.
If the gameplay is flawed in any way, it’s the difficulty balance. FFT is dropped-the-soap-in-prison tough from the outset, and doesn’t make much of an attempt to ease your pain. But then, as you reach later stages, the difficulty ramps down somewhat. It’s a jarring change that’s both disappointing and somewhat confusing. Fortunately, the game never becomes overly easy, so don’t expect to be bored. Another slight flaw is camera. In battle, the camera can be rotated about between a few different angles. Apparently the camera is heavily involved in Ivalice politics, because it seems to be hell-bent on causing your side of the war to fail. Whether it’s a group of rocks obscuring an enemy or an entire building blocking your view of your characters, the camera doesn’t try to do you too many favors. That problem is far from game breaking, though – it’s annoying more than anything.
Graphics
FFT is a glorified port of a PS1 game, so don’t turn a blind eye to its excellence just because its graphics are kind of weak. For the most part, the game is composed of sprite-based characters interacting on jaggy 3D backgrounds. The different character classes are very distinct, so you won’t have any trouble telling them apart, but you may occasionally attack one of your own units thinking it belongs to your opponent. The game uses a varied, but somewhat muted color palette that’s not beautiful, but won’t cause you to contemplate a life without eyes either.
The cut-scenes, created especially for this new edition of the game, provide an excellent contrast to the in-game graphics – that is to say, they’re so glorious that Jesus probably used them to give blind men sight. Not only are they consistent with the in-game graphics in terms of style, they also closely resemble the original character designs by Akihiko Yoshida. The sort of water-colored style the cut scenes make use of is wonderfully unique, and must be seen to be believed.
Sound
Many titles in the Final Fantasy series have soundtracks composed by the great Nobuo Uematsu. His epic, sweeping orchestral scores tend to highlight the series’ compelling plots and addictive gameplay. FFT, however, is scored by Hitoshi Sakimoto. For the uninitiated, think Final Fantasy XII if you want a recent example of Sakimoto’s work. It’s still an excellent soundtrack, but it falls short of some of the other games in the series. Also, due to the game’s origin as a PS1 title, the music is pretty lo-fi – don’t expect any live orchestra recordings here.
In-game sound effects similarly suffer from the PS1 effect, but aren’t terrible by any stretch of imagination. Attacks feel meaty enough, and you can tell whether an attack connected or missed based on sound cues alone. And the death noise characters make when they go down is adorably morbid.
Once again, the cut scenes steal the presentation trophy before the contest even begins. The voice acting is crisp and well done – no voices feel stilted or out of place. The music makes a similar jump in quality while in cut scene land, making an already great soundtrack even better.
Fun Factor
Maybe this game should’ve been titled Fun Factor: Tactics, because it exemplifies the meaning of fun for those that enjoy this type of game. Each battle provides a unique challenge, ensuring that the player never tires of bringing death down upon their foes. The game is highly addictive, and players will be glued to the screen from start to finish thanks to challenging battles and a thankfully re-localized (from the PS1 edition) story.
Lasting Appeal
What do you think about Ivalice? Do you want to move there? Maybe settle down in a nice little cottage? For the rest of your life? FFT is really long – long enough to warrant having extra “o’s” added to the word “looooong” when describing it. The main story can take anywhere from 40 to 60 hours, and side quests and non-story battles abound. If you wanted to create a perfect, yet unique team of maxed-out characters, you could easily spend hundreds of hours on the game. And that characteristic makes it a perfect portable title. Why not take some time leveling your characters while in transit to work/school/a mental institution after FFT’s chocobos inevitably drive you insane?
The 411
FFT is the best strategy RPG on the PSP, and one of the best on any console, really. Its sublime mix of challenging and addictive gameplay, intricate plot, and mesmerizing cut scenes comes together to create one of the best gaming experiences you’ll have all year.
Graphics
7.0
In-game graphics are pretty dated, but the cut scenes positively sizzle with eye-popping glory.
Gameplay
9.5
Aside from a few difficulty balancing issues, the gameplay puts other titles in this genre to shame.
Sound
8.5
An excellent soundtrack hampered by low quality, PS1 era sound.
Lasting Appeal
10.0
Loooooooooooooooooooooong.
Fun Factor
9.0
All the game's different aspects form a ridiculously addictive good time.
