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 $39.99 
MPN: 90711
UPC: 662248907116
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Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions
Features :
Brand New
High Quality
Platforms :
Sony PSP
| Release Date: |
09 October, 2007 |
| Manufacturer: |
Square Enix |
| Availability: |
Usually ships in 24 hours |
| List Price: |
$39.99 |
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Customer Reviews
One of the Finest Fantasies Out There
Rating: 4
Final Fantasy Tactics was without a doubt one of the greatest Playstation games out there. Starting off as a cult classic it became a big success when it was released later as a Greatest Hits package. Ten years later and Final Fantasy Tactics is still one of the best Final Fantasy games ever made.
Of all the Final Fantasy games, Tactics has arguably the best story out there. It's full of emotion, political intrigue, fantastic characters and it's very deep. If this is your first trump through Final Fantasy Tactics, prepare to be dazzled. It's still one of the most absorbing in the series. To the point where you'll be sad to leave when the whole thing is over.
It's the gameplay that makes Final Fantasy Tactics a treat, though. Thanks to the job system, customization is nearly endless. Before each battle you can assign jobs to your characters. Each job has specific traits about them and can greatly affect how you perform in battle. Mages have devastating magic abilities while Knights are strong physical attackers. They also bring their own unique abilities to the table. Because there are so many job classes to choose from, there's a lot of experimentation you can do. As you master abilities you'll also be able to mix and match. You could have a Squire casting white magic, for example provided you've learned some of the white magic abilities.
As battles progress you gain experience. You pretty much gain experience after each and every turn, which is nice. Not only do you gain experience but you also gain job points to help you master the abilities in your job class. It's pretty simple stuff and you'll be surprised at just how fast you can learn abilities here.
Final Fantasy Tactics provides its own challenges, though. Not all your enemies are taken down easily, and if you don't take advantage of the opportunities to improve your characters abilities you'll be overwhelmed before you know it. When they say Final Fantasy Tactics, they're not kidding. Sometimes little simple mishaps in your strategy can cost you a battle. Not only that, but even doing things such as casting spells you must be careful with because if any of your characters are in range, they'll be struck by that spell. You also have to be quick about reviving characters otherwise you lose them forever. If your first plunge into Final Fantasy Tactics was with the GBA version released in 2003 you'll be in for a rude awakening.
There is also a multiplayer thrown in there. You can work with a friend or battle friends. You can also go online and battle people. It's great to have multiplayer, especially in a tactical RPG. Online play isn't as fantastic as it sounds. It's great but matchmaking just isn't all that good. You'll hardly ever find yourself in a battle with someone on the same level as you. Instead you'll be faced with either people who are way too strong or people who are way too weak.
While Final Fantasy Tactics is a great game, it certainly doesn't do as much in the technical department as it does in the gameplay. The game itself doesn't really look any different from the game released ten years ago. There's little, if any, enhancement to the graphics at all. For the pleasure of story, however, there are some pretty cool cutscenes thrown in that are incredible looking. These cutscenes are truly artistic and in depth. While those cutscenes are beautiful, it's a shame Square-Enix did little to update the games other visuals. Despite the cool cutscenes, though, there are some slow down issues in battle.
Music wise, though, Final Fantasy Tactics easily has some of the best music in the series. It's still memorable to hear. While the music is good some of the other parts of the sound aren't. The sound effects don't always match up to what's going on in the battle. It's kind of a downer.
There's not a whole lot of new stuff in this re-release of Final Fantasy Tactics. The script has been revised and corrected in most spots and there are some extra job classes. There are also those really nifty cutscenes and multiplayer but there's nothing here that really stands out and screams at you. In other words, if you still have the original, it'll be hard to convince you to buy this one outright. The extras just aren't enough.
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions is a great re-release of a great classic. While it's still a good game a bit more could've been done to update it. The technical issues will probably annoy some fans, but for the most part you're getting a good game. If you still have the original, though, there's not that much new content here.
Pros:
+A fantastic storyline
+Beautiful soundtrack
+New job classes
+Good cutscenes
+Addictive gameplay
+Tons of customization
Cons:
-Will be difficult for newcomers
-Some technical issues with the graphics and sound
-Not much of a graphical update at all, it looks just like the original Playstation version
-There isn't a whole lot o new content here for those who still have the original Playstation version
Best game for the PSP!
Rating: 5
This game is without a doubt the best game on the PSP.
I was a huge fan of the original Final Fantasy Tactics on the PSP and this new version is able to improve on almost every thing that was in the original.
Even though most all of the script was changed from the original, it is still very, very well done. Granted, this may mean we lose classic quotes from the original such as "Blame yourself, or blame God." but overall, that's fine. The script is much more refined and all of the translation issues have been fixed.
The voice cast is very well done, starring Phil LaMarr as Ramza. The voices picked for the characters were exactly what I had pictured their voices to be.
The only minor thing wrong with the game is the slowdown experienced when characters and NPCs perform special attacks. While this may seem very obvious at first, after playing the game for 15 hours, the slowdown doesn't bother me at all. It is an issue that was big on the Japanese release and was supposed to be fixed for the American release, but sadly wasn't. Yes, it is an issue, but a very tiny issue that the user will become accustomed to after playing the game for a while. It isn't enough of an issue to warrant lowering the score of the game.
With the addition of new hidden characters, new missions, animated cutscenes, fixed script, and everything else new, this is a must buy game for the PSP. I've beaten the original version 5 or 6 times, at around 80 hours each time. I anticipate this version to be the same way.
Highly addictive and well-written storyline and the replayability factor are top notch. Kudos to Square-Enix!
Great Game, Some Flaws
Rating: 3
Final Fantasy Tactics has long been my favorite videogame EVER. Nothing, I feel, has ever matched the original PS1 version of the game. Unfortunately, that still statement still stands.
I've always wanted a portable version of Final Fantasy Tactics, and when I heard it was coming to PSP I went and bought a PSP JUST FOR THIS GAME. I figured that with the fixed translation, new movies, and new content it would be pretty much the only game I would need for awhile.
Well, after sitting down and playing for hours, here is what I have to say:
Pros:
- The new animations are beautiful! And the voice acting is very well-done. So, big plus there.
- The new content is fun, and helpful (for understanding the plot)
- Multiplayer mode looks like it might be fun - unfortunately no one I know (and no one in the entire area as far as I know) has a PSP and Final Fantasy Tactics ... so I can't play it.
- The load time is almost nonexistent.
- Rewritten and well-translated dialogue! Yay! The translation is not perfect, I've noticed several grammatical and spelling errors in the dialogue, but its a big improvement from the last translation. I'm bit annoyed that its not perfect, though. Last time I could chalk it up to the horrible translation, but this time I really did expect perfection. Oh well. The big plus is that the plot is much easier to understand now.
Cons:
- Sound: It sounds like several sound effects were cut. I got especially annoyed at the first fight, when some of the dark knight's sword skill sound effects were cut. I don't know why this is. If you've never played the game you probably won't notice/care (though you might wonder at the strange silence for parts of moves ...). If you have played the game you'll be annoyed.
- Multiplayer: If you don't have anyone to play with, there is no way to get any of that extra content. I don't know why they couldn't have made the multiplayer missions an option to do all alone - sure they'd be hard, but still ... Very annoying that an entire section of the game is locked to you if you have no one to play with. Of course, you can disregard this if you actually have a friend, with the game, who is willing to spend time doing the multiplayer content with you.
- Graphics: The PS1 version has absolutely beautiful graphics; not a single pixel on the screen was was wasted. The grahics are still good in the PSP version, but in stretching out the game to 16x9 for the screen, everything looks somewhat ... fuzzy. This was actually a big letdown for me, because the original graphics on the PS1 still look great. It just didn't make the transition smoothly. But, this is a minor issue. If you haven't seen the original, you'll think this is a pretty beautiful game.
- Dialogue: Again, some grammar and spelling mistakes. Nothing big, but I really wish they'd been fixed.
- ANIMATION SLOW DOWNS. This was big. For almost EVERY special attack in the game, especially more
elaborate ones, there is noticeable disconnect between the sound and the animation. The problem is that the video lags so far behind the sound, sometimes the sound will finish playing almost before the animation has started ... this also considerably slows down battles, as the framerate drops so much. The PSP has powerful hardware in it, I have no idea why there is this problem. Especially because emulated versions don't have this issue. I thought that I would get used to it, but it just got more and more annoying, especially as I got stronger and stronger magic. This is the primary reason I gave the game 3 stars. It is not only incredibly annoying, it also considerably slows the gameplay down. UGH.
Conclusion:
If you've never played the game, do yourself a favor and go try it out. If the lag problem isn't too annoying for you you're in for an amazing game. The plot is sophisticated, and the gameplay is deep. Few games can really compare in those two aspects. And, if you're a big fan of the game, you owe it to yourself to buy it. The new content and new movies are great, and you can't get those on an emulator. That said ... the technical issues introduced in the translation from PS to PSP really knock this game down ... especially the graphics lag. I don't know what Square was thinking releasing the game before they had the problem fixed (I really don't understand why it would even be a problem, the PSP hardware is supposedly more powerful than the PS1 hardware ...).
I really wish I could give this game 5 stars, I really do. In my opinion, the graphics issues alone knocks it down a star, and the combination of everything else knocks another star off. I gave it 4 stars for fun because only the graphics issue really affects how fun the game is to play. Its still a great game, and if the graphics issue was gone I'd say it was a must buy. As is ... :(
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