After the succes of Final Fantasy VII, people think it would be impossible to out-do thereselves. While they did manage to do that later down the road, it is not so with Tactics. But Tactics just happens to be the greatest Strategy RPG I've ever played.
Graphically, you could pass this off as a SNES game. There is nothing to be happy about here. Perhaps the one aspect that actually would make you believ to be on a 32 bit console is the fact that it's is 3D. The Charecter models are admitedly better than FF VII; they seem to be on par with Xenogears. But there are no Cinema's and boring backgrounds. But I'm sure it is kind of hard to make a waterfall you can battle on in a Strategy RPG, considering the fact that the battle feild represents a Chess board-gone haywire. Square did the best that was expected in that time.
The music is a wondeful blast of Final Fantasy-Style tunes and combat-oriented scores. A nice feature is that the battle music changes from a selection of various tunes randomly before each battle. Even avid-gamers who seem skeptic to buying a dorky game soundtrack shouldn't give second thoughts. It's definitely something Squaresoft should be proud of.
The story isn't nearly as confusing as some reviewers lead you to believe. It's not the greastest, but it's definitely understandable. Ramza is a young nobel who is sent to war and discovers that many people he thought were allies were nothing but back-stabbing traitors. He doesn't enjoy the fighting and just wants to talk. But the peasants and town-folks are fed up with the empty promises, which leads to many revolts. All of the other main charectors have intersting side-stories, too. It's not on the epic scale of FF VII, but it is there.
The battle-system is not unlike Tactics Ogre, but is that really a bad thing? This is not the game for the impatient. Battles tend to last up to 30 minutes, and can even extend beyond that. But those 30 minutes are filled with stategy (obviously) and overall fun. So many things effect the outcome of battles. For example, walking in swamps can leave your charecter poisoned. Your average Final Fantasy Spells and Summons are all here, and they are mixed with more than twice as much new curses and abilities. This is one deep battle system.
Outside of the battles are calm and tranquil, but this is where most of the strategy takes place. Money is not the easiest thing to come by, and you must plan on what armor, weapons, or accesories to buy, sell, and just not even bother with. The job class is quite innovative. Each charecter can have it's own seperate class and they all come with special abilities. Some of the guests have certain classes only they can obtain. You earn "Job points" by taking action in battles. You use these points to earn abilities in that specific class. But the question arises "Should I learn the ability "Cure2" for the White Mage or should I change to a squire so I can learn "JP-Plus Up" ability to gain Job Points Faster to learn more ablilties later?" If that seems to complicated to you, then this game will surely confuse you. But I found it pretty easy to get used to, even if I did need some help by Trial-and-Error.
Final Fantasy Tactics isn't for everyone. But if you enjoy Chess, Risk, or Stratego, this will be right up your alley. While I can't say it's a must buy for everyone, it certainly holds it's place as one of the best Playstation games ever. Just beware, you may have to cancel Sunday Night Football for your daily Sessions of Tactics. I might as well add that it's pretty addictive
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