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| From: Square Enix
Category: Video Games
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $14.36
You Save: $5.63 (28%)
New (34) Used (17) Collectible (2) from $12.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  46 reviews
Sales Rank: 381
Format: Cd
Platform: Sony Psp
ESRB: Teen
Media: Video Game
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Age: 12 - 20 years
Operating System: Sony PSP
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 0.1 x 0 x 0
MPN: 90711
Model: 90711
UPC: 662248907116
EAN: 0662248907116
ASIN: B000SSPH3E
Release Date: October 9, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
A great game with a few minor issues May 21, 2008
As a huge fan of the first FFT, I must say I was pleased with the PSP retread. The new animation was beautiful (although there are a few of the cutscenes I kinda miss in their original form...but that's just me), the voices were acceptable, and the retranslation was infinately superior to the PS1 version (though still not perfect). They also took some of the censorship out (hooray for blood!). I wasn't overly impressed with the new classes (the dark knight was nice), but they made for interesting additions.
My only real issues with the game are slowdown and sound effects. The slowdown is self-evident...anytime you or an ememy uses anything other than the most basic attacks there is a disjoint between the animation and the sound (as the sound still plays when it should, while the animation grinds down to a turtle pace). And, for some reason, they altered or removed some other sound effects.
My last minor issue was the renaming of certain things, which really has no bearing on the game itself (changing Heavenly Knight to Knight Gallant, for example). These minor changes didn't effect the gameplay, but I felt distracted whenever I saw them.
Overall, I was highly impressed. This game was just as fun as the original (and much more portable), and certainly worth your money if you want to enjoy FFT at the drop of a hat.
 Fight through the pages of history... May 15, 2008
In a strange way, one could say that the original Final Fantasy Tactics was sort of the middle child of the Playstation era, sandwiched between the massive Final Fantasy VII and its heavily-hyped Final Fantasy VIII. Many found the story intriguing but translation shoddy, gameplay addicting but frequently hard and the music was praised as well though done by someone other than Uematsu. As part of the "Ivalice Alliance" compilation, Square decided to revisit the original and do some touchups and upgrades. This isn't an entirely redone game but rather it's remastered shall we say and while it does have its occasional flaws, it was actually the reason why I bought a PSP in the first place.
Story: Not to get too story-heavy since it's engrossing but complicated to know where to start, the game centers on the world of Ivalice and the conflict as to what to do about the recently available throne. 2 warring factions sought after the title to be king until history records show a young man named Delita Heiral was the hero that stopped the conflict, though there was also a young man named Ramza Beoulve that also had a hand but why is his name not mentioned in the records and what came about that brought the war to an end?
Graphics: The in-game graphics during battle and cutscenes don't really look any different than before. There's a degree of sharpness that I can tell is changed but the sprites don't look like much has changed. Where the game excels is the animated cutscenes that remind me of a drawing being continously animated on the fly as colors will dance around and it's very distinctive and unique and also a pleasure to watch.
Sound/Music: Like Final Fantasy XII or Tactics Advance 1 and 2, composer Hitoshi Sakimoto, who also did Vagrant Story and Odin Sphere, takes over the reins from series mainstay Uematsu and while I always thought Sakimoto has a gift for arrangement/orchestrations but lacking in melodies, this soundtrack is some of his best work and it's easy to find yourself tracking down the soundtrack. The voice acting is also quite good and never gets into weird casting choices or stiled delivery.
Gameplay: If you've ever played a strategy RPG before, it's pretty much the same thing. The characters move on a chessboard-esque battlefield and when turn is up, could move anywhere you want. Sword users have to be directly against the enemy while archers, spell casters or gun users have to be a relatively close space to attack. Spells can also targer a specific group of tiles, allowing it to actually hit more than one enemy if they're grouped together or a positive spell like Cure. What I sometimes didn't care for was you'd cast a spell in a spot only the character(s) that'll benefit can't really move and there was a few times where a character would start to cast, let's say Fire, and the enemy goes right up to you prompting the spell both him and you. But you gradually figure out the rules and it becomes easier to figure out what to do.
I usually never saw the appeal in the Job system, preferring the class-specific style of something like VI or IX but in this game it was weirdly beneficial, moreso I thought. Characters start out with a generally low assortment of jobs to choose from but the more they spend JP (job points) on abilities, the more they can access other and better ones. So you can have a Knight with Black Magic abilities or Thief who knows how to use Dragoon abilities. The customization possibilities are quite endless and should you know how to best present your party, you could be brutal in battle. But at the start, I was kind of sad to see the bow not being sold in stores which would've made getting an Archer early on very beneficial, not to mention JP-allotting can take quite awhile.
My one complaint (aside from the slowdown issues which are very noticeable though they were never intrusive to gameplay) was its difficulty. Basically, the game can be quite erratic in whether or not a story-centric battle will decimate your party or you'll handle a few battles with ease only to be hit by a whopper of a battle and indeed the initial couple battles were annoying because my party was just not strong enough. Since characters level by successful actions, attack or otherwise, rather than an end battle experience as seen in most RPG's, have your characters do as much stuff as possible. But be warned: there's times where it's a bit unfair and characters can die left and right.
While the difficulty could get to some and the slowdown's more annoying than anything, Tactics is a great way to spend some time with your PSP...a lot of time.
Multiplayer! May 1, 2008
I have noticed only a few reviews have touched upon the multiplayer aspect of this game, so I thought for those who are interested I may be able to shed some more light on this part of the game. If you are lucky enough to have a friend to play with, Rendezvous Mode (co-op) and Melee Mode (1v1) just make this amazing game that much better. To start a multiplayer game you and your friend have to be in the same tavern. From there just select what game mode you would like to host/join.
For Rendezvous Mode, you and another player can tackle up to 15 unique missions together as a team (Mission 15 is only unlocked after beating the single player game.) After completion of a mission you can pick a number of chests with items in them. The number of chests that you get to open depends on how well you completed mission. Examples of this are, deploying fewer characters, dont let any pty members be KO'ed, and KO'ing as many enemies as possible. 1 chest being the lowest number you can open, 5 being the highest. Both players get to open the same number of chests.
Melee mode is a 1v1 battle with you and your friend being able to deploy up to 5 characters each. You can pick any battle area that at least one of the 2 players has cleared in storymode. Melee modes battle system is also a little different than the normal games. Players characters may sometimes Lock weapons, making both players having to rapidly hit the X button to try and win the deadlock, resulting in a critical hit or cancelling the others attack. Regular physical attacks, pressing the X button, if timed right will result in critical strike. Trap tiles effects are also changed in melee mode. The winner of the battle receives 3 chests, the loser receives only 1. Draws result in both players getting 2 chests to open.
A few things to note about the multiplayer modes:
-You only gain JP while fighting no XP
-Any items used, stolen, broken (rend), thrown etc are returned to your inventory when the match ends. So you dont have to worry about losing anything in multiplayer mode.
-You can gain rare items only available in these multiplayer modes. I know some ppl are angry about this but I think its good that they made multiplyer have some unique rewards (makes ppl actually want to try and multi play). Besides the rare items you can get wont make or break your single player experience. They are by no means required to be able to beat the single player game or make it easier, but they are really cool =)
FFT April 14, 2008
I bought this game knowing it would be the same as the one for the PS1. Which it is for the most part, there are some upgrades such as the CGI scenes. Cool features like the head-to-head battle with a friend via wlan and co-op battle. It's still a great game and one of the best in the FF series.
Great for those who missed it the first time March 21, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions is a remake of the original Final Fantasy Tactics for the PS1. The original was perhaps the most popular turn-based tactical RPG ever made, and this newest version remains true to the original.
Not much, in terms of plot, has changed in the remake. The new translation is far better than the often laughable Engrish of the original, and some names have been changed to make the game fit better into the more fleshed out Ivalice of Final Fantasy XII. This doesn't change the story, but makes it easier to understand and far more enjoyable to witness.
Graphically, the game is a bit of a mixed bag. The original PS1 graphics remain, and they haven't aged very well. Characters and monsters are depicted by the now familiar Square-Enix superdeformed sprites. The maps are pseudo-3D. They can be rotated so the player can see around obstacles, but they're not exactly stunning to behold. On the flipside, the new cutscenes are absolutely gorgeous. They're fully animated, and very fluid, but retain an almost parchment-like quality to them. The style mimics the official art very closely, and helps to bridge the gap between the art and the sprites.
The audio, again, is a mixed bag. Some of the music is beautiful, but there are a few annoying tunes thrown in, which quickly becomes a problem as the track repeats itself for the nth time while you're grinding for experience and job points. The sound effects are pretty standard. The voice acting, on the other hand, is superb. It's a shame that its limited to just the cutscenes.
The gameplay is familiar to those experienced with the genre. Battles are fought on a square map. Obstacles - buildings, trees, lava...it all depends on where the battle is taking place - and monsters litter these battlegrounds. You control a squad of up to 5 characters. Each combatant - both the characters you control and the enemy NPCs - gets a turn, which allows them to move and/or perform an action. Most battles simply consist of defeating all enemies on the map or one particular enemy without getting the main character killed in the process.
The tactical side of the game largely comes from which jobs your characters have mastered. Jobs are essentially character classes. You have the standards: warrior, healer, wizard, etc. There are other, more esoteric jobs, like mathematician and dancer. Every defeated enemy gives that character job points, which allows you to purchase an ability from a job, which grants that character permanent access to that ability. So, you can have a warrior capable of casting offensive magic if you purchase the right abilities. Access to jobs is predicated on which jobs that character already has access to, and what levels they have obtained with those jobs. The more useful or powerful the job you want to give your character, the more levels in pre-existing jobs they need. So, expect lots of grinding for both experience and job points, especially early on in the game.
The last aspect of the gameplay I must mention is the steep learning curve. This game is not new player friendly. You'll die A LOT in this game, especially in the early stages. What's worse is that you'll die from creatures that are typically cannon fodder in other Square-Enix games. Trust me when I say that you'll learn to fear Chocobos. The game becomes much easier if you grind for abilities early on, but the beginning portion is hellish, especially during a first playthrough.
All in all, The War of the Lions is a great remake. It's difficult, and parts of it haven't aged well, but it's definitely more than the sum of its parts. This version, given its portability and well-written (properly translated?) story, is perfect for those who missed it the first time.
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