Omake » FFT: WOTL Review

Here, I give my own opinions on the game Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions. I won't say that you'll agree with me, but you're not the one who's running this website.

Story and Plot

If you play any tactical RPG for story, it will definitely be Final Fantasy Tactics. As the first story set in Ivalice, this game will have those who love complex plots and plot twists satisfied, as the interactions and dialouge is superbly written in this retranslation effort by Square-Enix. What's new, as heavily advertised and praised by several others already would be the new full motion video cutscenes inserted throughout the story, which are gorgeously done and not just put in for filler, as they expand the plot and emphasize certain plot points already pointed out vaguely in the plot.

My only real complaint is that interaction between characters is pretty scarce, even for the standards of a game set in Ivalice. For instance, several characters do close to almost nothing after they're recruited. In fact, I think one of the very few instances of an extra scene would be having to have Mustadio and Agrias (as well as her subordinates) in your party for the event of Agrias' birthday. Mustadio is an important character only in the fact that he's mandatory in order to initiate any of the sidequests and secret characters in Chapter IV of the game. However, he still doesn't get much, if any diaouge.

Gameplay and Graphics

The gameplay, honestly, is a bit dated. It's true that Final Fantasy Tactics was one of the more influential tactical RPGs of the Playstation era, but it was also the very first foray of Square-Enix into the tactical RPG genre with their flagship Final Fantasy series. As a result, this game lacks a lot of the innovation that the later installments of Final Fantasy Tactics has (such as Tactics Advance) or other tactical RPGs which took the concept of the tactical RPG and ran with it great distances (such as Disgaea).

However, there are additions to the gameplay which seem to somewhat alleviate this handicap. For instance, in the original game on the Playstation, there was basically no real point to mastering classes unless you were masochistic (like I was and am), because you should have just stayed in a particular class for (a) skills and (b) to meet the requirements for other classes. However, this port offers an incentive to master classes, in the form of the new Onion Knight class! The Onion Knight class can only level up by mastering other classes, so if you want your characters to be uber-Onion Knights, you need to discipline yourself and master all of those classes.

The multiplayer, unfortunately, is pale at best. There's already a much better multi-player tactical RPG product out there for the PSP, and it's called Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness.

The graphics looks slightly better on the PSP than they do on the Playstation, since the PSP's resolution is smaller than a TV screen, so the pixelation isn't quiet as obvious (which is always a visual plus). Balthier, a new hidden character in this port, is drawn amazingly well in both his profile picture as well as his in-game sprite.

However, it is almost unanimous among everyone that the greatest graphical addition to this port would be the absolutely gorgeous new FMV sequences inserted throughout the story. Many people seem to wish they were more frequent, but I personally think that there are enough of them as is; they're there to support the story told by Final Fantasy Tactics, not to overcome it.

Sound and Music

... after a while, Hitoshi Sakimoto's music kinda sounds repetetive and boring. I mean, I love his style, but it's basically only one style. After hearing the OST for Odin Sphere (which he also composed), it just feels like he's recycling all of his methods and skills instead of creating something new. I consider Final Fantasy XII to be the defining epitome of his works, though I can safely say that Final Fantasy Tactics was the reason I first fell in love with his music. It's good, but it could be better.

The sound effects aren't anything special, but they aren't bad or terrible either. The sound is truly awesome in the new video sequences with the voice actors, something that the Japanese edition of The War of the Lions didn't receive. Gideon Emery reprises his role as Balthier, and Hedy Burress, the voice of Yuna in Final Fantasy X and X-2, expands her repertoire as a voice actress an does an amazing job as Agrias. At first I thought that Ramza and Delita sounded far too much alike, but that became a baseless assumption once more and more scenes were seen.

Overall

War of the Lions is a great piece of software for your PSP, but it is by far not the only reason you should get a PSP. I would say that it's certainly for those who still feel nostalgic towards the original Final Fantasy Tactics, or those who are enamored with the world of Ivalice and don't mind some dated gameplay. However, if you never played the original Final Fantasy Tactics (or hated it), and you're already enamored by several other tactical RPGs (such as the Disgaea series), you're better off not picking this up.