Do you remember Final Fantasy Tactics?

Kevin Hofer

13/10/2023

Translation: machine translated

You'll find the best 'Final Fantasy' storytelling in 'Final Fantasy Tactics'. The gameplay, on the other hand, is a mixed bag.

At first glance, Final Fantasy Tactics focuses on political intrigue, supplemented by the supernatural machinations of the Church. But underneath this scripted cover lies the story of two friends who grow apart due to their different worldviews. At its heart, it's about whether the end justifies the means and the impact on a person.

Brief genesis of the game

By 1993, Final Fantasy had already become a household name. Series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi was a fan of tactical RPGs. At the time, he was considering adding such a game to the series. But as Squaresoft, now Square Enix, was busy with various other projects at the time, this one never got off the ground.

In 1995, Squaresoft hired Yasumi Matsuno. The young man, then aged 30, was already the lead developer on Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen. So he had experience of tactical RPGs. At his request, Sakaguchi entrusted him with Final Fantasy Tactics. Matsuno is assisted by Hiroyuki Ito, co-head developer of Final Fantasy VI. He is in charge of the combat system.

Sakaguchi gives them a lot of freedom in their development. There's not much left of his original plan in the final game. This applies to both the combat system and the story. It doesn't correspond to what you'd expect from a Final Fantasy at that time. The story is distinctly darker and more adult than in the main games of the time.

The game was released in 1997 on the original PlayStation. Ten years later, a revamped version entitled Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions arrived on the PlayStation Portable. This version is now available for iOS and Android. The English texts have been completely revised. The language leans more towards medieval English than the modern English of the original PlayStation version. This makes the game more authentic, but in part also more complicated. If English is not your first language, it can be difficult to follow the dialogue.

Complex background story

Final Fantasy Tactics is set in the fictional world of Ivalice. Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy XII, two later games by Matsuno, are set in the same world. Medieval-inspired Ivalice is in constant conflict with the neighbouring countries of Ordalia and Romanda. This is despite the fact that they are supposed to be linked by the marriages of the royal families. The greatest of these conflicts was the 50 Years' War. Ivalice and Ordalia signed a so-called peace treaty after the bloody Battle of Zeltennia. In any case, this applies to the outside world. Some think Ivalice has given up.

Ivalice lies in ruins after a long war. The population is dissatisfied with the nobles and the royal family. Farmers are revolting and demanding change.

The economy has also suffered. Ivalice, which has cash flow problems, has to pay Ordalia for repairs. As a result, it is unable to pay the knights who fought for the country during the war. Many have been sent home from the army, without money or food. Work was scarce and loyalty to the ruling elites waned. Disillusioned peasants and knights banded together to fight against the elites. Internally, the torch burns between the various factions. But not only there.

To top it all off, King Ondaria dies. Two people enter the fray for succession to the throne: his daughter Ovelia or his youngest son. The various powerful aristocratic houses have different interests as to who will become the next regent. It goes without saying that their sole aim is to instrumentalise them and elevate them to the rank of true sovereigns. Duke Goltanna wants to install Ovelia, while Duke Larg supports the younger son.

Things are therefore boiling strongly in Ivalice. This is where the real story of Final Fantasy Tactics begins. You play as Ramza Beoulve, the youngest son of an influential noble family. The game is divided into four acts, the first of which is a flashback.

You meet your best friends, Ramza and Delita Heiral. Delita is a non-noble orphan who has been taken in by Ramza's father. Despite his commoner origins, he has been brought up as a noble. So they're not just friends, they're practically brothers. At an academy, they are trained to become knights.

In this first act, it becomes clear that there are seemingly irreconcilable differences between the nobles and the commoners. During one of their first interventions, events come to a head and their paths diverge. When they meet again a year later, they have both changed. They may be pursuing similar goals, but they're doing it with different means.

"Final Fantasy Tactics" is different from previous installments

I don't want to say more about the story. It's the way the story is told that makes Final Fantasy Tactics excellent. It's very well structured and totally fascinates me.

Final Fantasy Tactics takes the show-don't-tell technique seriously. In the whole game, there's only one bit where you're told directly what's going on and why. In the rest of the game, you learn about it through the actions of the characters. You don't have to abdicate to understand the story.

The heart of the story is that Ramza wants to find himself. He has to constantly re-evaluate what is right and what is wrong. This allows me to identify with him. Delita, on the other hand, knows exactly what he wants and will use any means necessary to achieve it. Unlike role-playing games of the time, Final Fantasy Tactics doesn't tell a love story. The relationship between the two friends is at the centre of the action.

The antagonists are not simply evil and expendable. They have character and are human. As such, their actions are both odious and believable. One of the rebel leaders, for example, murders a subordinate to preserve his own identity. At the same time, he has to live with his guilty conscience.

Aside from Delita and Ramza, the other characters in the group don't undergo any major developments over the course of the story. For me, this isn't a negative, but rather an entirely positive point. There's more space for the two main characters. And the fact that the villains have depth makes me forget about the lack of development of the secondary characters.

In contrast to previous and even later Final Fantasy games, humorous passages are absent. In Tactics, you won't find cute chocobos dancing to funny music or awkward humorous moments between characters. The game is serious through and through.

Limited movement options

Unlike the Final Fantasy games of the time, neither the world map nor the towns and other locations are freely accessible. You move around the world map via dots. Their colour tells you what to expect. Quest points are orange, cities blue and possible enemy encounters green.

In towns, you can choose via a text field whether you want to shop, go to the tavern or visit the Warriors' Guild. At the tavern, you listen to current rumours and stories and can accept missions. You don't do them yourself, but you send fighters on missions, who won't be available for a few days. The days pass as you move from one point on the world map to another. In the Warriors' Guild, you recruit new fighters.

Lots of possibilities to shamelessly exploit

Hiroyuki Ito is considered the inventor of the real-time combat system. So it's only natural that combat in Final Fantasy Tactics doesn't take place in phases, as is usually the case in tactical role-playing games. In the latter, you give orders to all your units before you end your phase and it's the turn of all the opposing units. In Tactics, it's an individual character's speed status that determines when their turn comes. This adds depth to the system.

You have a maximum of five units per battle, including guest units. Depending on the version of the game, however, you can choose from a panel of 16 or 24 characters. During a battle, you move your characters across squares. Their freedom of movement depends on their level and the task at hand. Then you can attack or enemies, defend or use objects. As well as physical attacks, you can also make use of magic as well as the famous summons.

There are 20 tasks, 22 in Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, which you can freely assign to characters. In addition, there are nine unique characters with special characteristics (there are eleven in Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions). The task system is versatile and even allows you to combine skills from different tasks.

In addition to character level, there's also task level. You unlock new tasks by reaching a certain level in those already available. This allows you to unlock classes early in the game that you shouldn't have until later. Some tasks, like the calculator or the mediator, are so overpowered that the game becomes very easy. It's a shame. Especially as Final Fantasy Tactics really forces you to.

Tactics is indeed one of the most challenging games at first, but then it becomes a breeze. The early battles are one of the hardest things I've seen in a tactical role-playing game. But even if you don't use the task system, later in the game you have to face hordes of enemies led by "Thunder God Cid".

There's also a system with zodiac signs. Depending on which sign a character is born under, they match up well or badly with others. Unfortunately, it's poorly explained and I didn't understand it on my first playthrough. As a result, I failed to battle certain enemies and the buffs for my comrades-in-arms often failed. For me, this feature is absolutely superfluous and annoying.

It's also annoying that the level of enemies adapts to Ramza's level during random encounters. Final Fantasy VIII uses the same level scaling system, which I can't stand.

But what's most annoying about Final Fantasy Tactics is the level design in some places. There are passages in the game where you fight several battles in succession. You can't go back there to buy equipment or items, or level up. In some cases, it may be impossible to win a fight. We therefore recommend that you always save your scores on the world map, especially between battles. Because, if you delete the previous score, you're stuck.

Still fun to watch today

Many titles from the original PlayStation have aged badly. That's not the case with Final Fantasy Tactics. I still love the visual aspect of the game, even more than 25 years later. The sprite animations, in particular, are magnificent. The Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions version also comes with animated cinematics.

The soundtrack is also great. For once, it's not by Nobuo Uematsu, but Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata. The musical style is very different from that of the other Final Fantasy games. The soundtrack is less playful and therefore fits in well with the serious world of Ivalice. Although the tracks aren't as varied as Uematsu's, they range from the heroic genre to relaxed and meditative styles. I forever associate the World Map track with the game.

Is a remastered version planned?

Rumours of a remastered version are persistent. They really gained momentum with the GeForce Now Leak in September 2021, which contained planned unreleased games, including a remaster of Final Fantasy Tactics. With other games on Nvidia's leaked list already released, the Final Fantasy Tactics remaster is probably only a matter of time.

Matsuno himself started the rumour earlier this summer with a tweet. In it, he asked whether "Thunder God Cid" should be weakened in a remaster, as it disrupts the balance.

As the major video game shows have gone this year without any announcements, we shouldn't expect a remastered version until next year at the earliest. Square Enix might do well to concentrate more on the strong titles of past years. It was only in mid-September that the publisher's market value plummeted by US$2 billion.

Kevin Hofer

Senior Editor

kevin.hofer@digitecgalaxus.ch

From big data to big brother, Cyborgs to Sci-Fi. All aspects of technology and society fascinate me.

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