Summary: Final thoughts on Final Fantasy Tactics.
Protagonists
Ramza: Not my favorite protagonist. Lacks the memorable (and relatable) dickery of a Squall or the goofy whimsy of a Zidane. Noble, good, straight-forward.
Ramza art by blazpu, posted by djinn87.
Agrias: I like her a lot more than Ramza. She’s got real personality, drive, fire.
Agrias art by artsyrobo, posted by djinn87.
Orlandeau: This incarnation of Cid had so much gravitas. The FFIV Cid was smart – hell, all the Cids are smart – but only one warrants the nicknames Thunder God and Sword Saint. Like HOLY SHIT.
Mustadio: An interesting arc alongside his father. His presence added a bit of futurism to this medieval game.
Ovelia: I’m forever sad that she didn’t become a full party member. Her arc fascinates me. Manipulated since birth to become a puppet queen with a tragic end.
I’m torn about Ovelia’s arc. I would have enjoyed it more if she had joined our party and helped destroy the puppetmasters herself, but that’s such a different ending than the one she got, an ending of empowerment and victory over tragedy. A different story than FFT was interested in telling with her.
---
Frenemy
I figure Delita deserves his own spot. Not really a protagonist, not really an antagonist. His arc was the most interesting in the game, which is saying something given how we didn’t fight him and he was only rarely in our party.
I just loved watching him. How he came from a lower-class background, excelled within those bounds, and yearned to rip past them entirely. I loved the challenge of his choices, his desires, and the flaws that grew from his choices. He even rose to be king.
Delita.
My reading of Delita may be overly rose-colored, but I honestly believe he wasn’t in the end manipulating overtly. Or at least that alongside any manipulations he harbored real love for her, felt a genuine connection to her as someone who’d been manipulated by more powerful forces.
The more I think about it, the more heartbreaking the ending. I read it as Ovelia panicking, lashing out at him, and him accidentally killing her when he defended himself. It’s so hard to say though, given how we only saw snapshots of their relationship.
Delita in the fire.
He’s such a rich character. My favorite in the game by far.
---
Antagonists
The Lucavi: Their tempt-and-manipulate motif was interesting, but ultimately not my favorites. They mirror Ramza for me. They’re so straightforward evil (without the comedy of Exdeath) that I don’t know if they’ll have a lasting impression on me.
Still cool to see a prequel version of the XII espers!
Cuchulainn.
Protagonists
Ramza: Not my favorite protagonist. Lacks the memorable (and relatable) dickery of a Squall or the goofy whimsy of a Zidane. Noble, good, straight-forward.
Ramza art by blazpu, posted by djinn87.
Agrias: I like her a lot more than Ramza. She’s got real personality, drive, fire.
Agrias art by artsyrobo, posted by djinn87.
Orlandeau: This incarnation of Cid had so much gravitas. The FFIV Cid was smart – hell, all the Cids are smart – but only one warrants the nicknames Thunder God and Sword Saint. Like HOLY SHIT.
Mustadio: An interesting arc alongside his father. His presence added a bit of futurism to this medieval game.
Ovelia: I’m forever sad that she didn’t become a full party member. Her arc fascinates me. Manipulated since birth to become a puppet queen with a tragic end.
I’m torn about Ovelia’s arc. I would have enjoyed it more if she had joined our party and helped destroy the puppetmasters herself, but that’s such a different ending than the one she got, an ending of empowerment and victory over tragedy. A different story than FFT was interested in telling with her.
---
Frenemy
I figure Delita deserves his own spot. Not really a protagonist, not really an antagonist. His arc was the most interesting in the game, which is saying something given how we didn’t fight him and he was only rarely in our party.
I just loved watching him. How he came from a lower-class background, excelled within those bounds, and yearned to rip past them entirely. I loved the challenge of his choices, his desires, and the flaws that grew from his choices. He even rose to be king.
Delita.
My reading of Delita may be overly rose-colored, but I honestly believe he wasn’t in the end manipulating overtly. Or at least that alongside any manipulations he harbored real love for her, felt a genuine connection to her as someone who’d been manipulated by more powerful forces.
The more I think about it, the more heartbreaking the ending. I read it as Ovelia panicking, lashing out at him, and him accidentally killing her when he defended himself. It’s so hard to say though, given how we only saw snapshots of their relationship.
Delita in the fire.
He’s such a rich character. My favorite in the game by far.
---
Antagonists
The Lucavi: Their tempt-and-manipulate motif was interesting, but ultimately not my favorites. They mirror Ramza for me. They’re so straightforward evil (without the comedy of Exdeath) that I don’t know if they’ll have a lasting impression on me.
Still cool to see a prequel version of the XII espers!
Cuchulainn.
Puppets of the Lucavi: Characters like Wiegraf, who got seduced to team Lucavi. They interest me more than the Lucavi themselves because I can appreciate some of their motivations. Wiegraf wanted to make a more just world. I didn’t meet Folmarv pre-possession, but I’ll bet he had similar intentions given how much respect his children gave him.
Argath: lol fucking argath
Dycedarg: A formidable plotter.
Duke Barrington: Argath was fun to hate. Barrington? Not so much. Glad he got so unceremoniously shoved off a roof and not brought back as a Lucavi or w/e.
Gaffgarion: A thorn in my side, but I liked his gruff, mercenary regardless.
---
Side Characters
FFT’s biggest weak spot by a LONG shot for me.
The game presented a huge array of awesome characters. Rapha and Marach. Mustadio. Luso. Meliadoul. Beowulf and Reis. Construct 8. All full playable party members!
And yet, I barely know them. The game incentivized me to build up a single party, which means that all these cool characters just sat on my bench most of the time. I saw the start of their stories, saw them pop their heads up every once in a while, and then back to the bench.
”Beowulf and the Dragon Reis,” by Aeris1001.
This is not a new problem for FF, and in all fairness to the game’s designers, it’s not an easy one to solve. FFVII had a similar issue (if far less pronounced) as did FFVIII, but both of them did a great job of incorporating the characters into the story as a team with great regularity.
(FFIX dealt with the issue best, helping it rocket atop my favorite FF list. It split up the party members and forced me to play with them all regularly.)
It’s so frustrating because I WANTED to play with them. The randomness of Rapha and Marach’s jobs sounded badass. Luso’s carefree personality? Yes please. Reis’s breath abilities and Construct 8’s melee prowess, all great.
But playing them all would have required pushing even farther past the 100 hours I played. Long past it.
---
Story
I liked it! Started out as one thing – the titular War of the Lions – before the church got involved and the Lucavi behind them. There’s something Shakespearean in it. How do the factions deal with each other? How do families within each faction deal with each other? Who is plotting betrayal against whom, allied with whom?
Dycedarg Beoulve.
FFT did an admirable job of keeping the plot mysterious when it wanted it to be, but making the answers clear when it wanted to as well. (As opposed to say FFVII, where I felt like the game was trying to tell me what was going on in the end but I just wasn’t understanding it.)
Well… mostly. Still not sure what role the Zodiac Braves had in this. Maybe it was just general empowerment of Ramza et al. when we had the Stones.
---
Setting/Tone
The tone of this game was very similar to XII. It had the same seriousness of purpose, but even more so. Light moments like Luso’s intro or some of the goofier errands were few and far between. It’s not a bad thing necessarily. I admire its unity of tone, its vision – even if it’s not my favorite thing ever.
Ramza in city street art by save-scenes, posted by djinn87.
That says less about FFT’s quality than about my personal taste.
---
Gameplay
Tactical RPG genre: Hoo boy. Trial by fire. This was my first time in the genre, and I screwed up a looooot. For example, my initial plan to level one party member per job. But most of my problems with the game early were just getting overwhelmed early by all the different things to keep in mind, all the mechanics.
Around the 40-50 hour mark, I started getting more comfortable with the combat and choices. They became more unconscious. And that’s when I started enjoying it. Not mastering it by any stretch of the imagination, but I was able to make strategic decision with how I fought, how I built my party. What abilities to get, what jobs to combine.
FFT logo art by eldi13.
Since this was my first foray into the genre, I can’t comment on it in terms of how this compares to similar games, but I can say I enjoyed it.
…That’s not quite true. I also felt stress and fear at the start of many earlier play sessions. But once I got more comfortable, I enjoyed it!
Grind: Fights took so long. I wasn’t ready for that. It sapped my energy, made me not want to play in the first half of my FFT experience. Going into FFTA, I’ll know to buckle up before a session, to pace myself. I’ll also know to maybe NOT start with an active roster of like 15 characters to level up all equally.
Errands: The flavor text for the errands was great, as were the rewards (which I’ll touch on in a bit). Less great was the grind attached to errands. I disliked how each errand required me to just kind of roam around getting into fights for 8-15 turns, given how draining I found combat.
Callbacks: The artefacts and wonders gave fun little callbacks to prior games, giving this Ivalice an all-encompassing feel.
The only negative to the game’s callbacks for me is how powerful Balthier was. I wish he were just an easter egg who came and went, not a staple party member who was better than Mustadio, who incentivized me to not play with Mustadio.
I don’t really feel the same way about Cloud. He sounds super powerful, but only someone you’d really find on replay rather than someone you come across naturally in a first play like I did with Balthier.
---
Music
I enjoyed the soundtrack from this game, but similar to FFXII, I enjoyed it more as background music than as something I’ll crave. A few favorite tracks currently:
“Opening” – that mystical fairy tale sound.
“Delita’s Theme” – mystery, hint of danger
“Dycedarg’s Theme” – classic villain theme!
“Precipitous Combat”
Setting/Tone
The tone of this game was very similar to XII. It had the same seriousness of purpose, but even more so. Light moments like Luso’s intro or some of the goofier errands were few and far between. It’s not a bad thing necessarily. I admire its unity of tone, its vision – even if it’s not my favorite thing ever.
Ramza in city street art by save-scenes, posted by djinn87.
That says less about FFT’s quality than about my personal taste.
---
Gameplay
Tactical RPG genre: Hoo boy. Trial by fire. This was my first time in the genre, and I screwed up a looooot. For example, my initial plan to level one party member per job. But most of my problems with the game early were just getting overwhelmed early by all the different things to keep in mind, all the mechanics.
Around the 40-50 hour mark, I started getting more comfortable with the combat and choices. They became more unconscious. And that’s when I started enjoying it. Not mastering it by any stretch of the imagination, but I was able to make strategic decision with how I fought, how I built my party. What abilities to get, what jobs to combine.
FFT logo art by eldi13.
Since this was my first foray into the genre, I can’t comment on it in terms of how this compares to similar games, but I can say I enjoyed it.
…That’s not quite true. I also felt stress and fear at the start of many earlier play sessions. But once I got more comfortable, I enjoyed it!
Grind: Fights took so long. I wasn’t ready for that. It sapped my energy, made me not want to play in the first half of my FFT experience. Going into FFTA, I’ll know to buckle up before a session, to pace myself. I’ll also know to maybe NOT start with an active roster of like 15 characters to level up all equally.
Errands: The flavor text for the errands was great, as were the rewards (which I’ll touch on in a bit). Less great was the grind attached to errands. I disliked how each errand required me to just kind of roam around getting into fights for 8-15 turns, given how draining I found combat.
Callbacks: The artefacts and wonders gave fun little callbacks to prior games, giving this Ivalice an all-encompassing feel.
The only negative to the game’s callbacks for me is how powerful Balthier was. I wish he were just an easter egg who came and went, not a staple party member who was better than Mustadio, who incentivized me to not play with Mustadio.
I don’t really feel the same way about Cloud. He sounds super powerful, but only someone you’d really find on replay rather than someone you come across naturally in a first play like I did with Balthier.
---
Music
I enjoyed the soundtrack from this game, but similar to FFXII, I enjoyed it more as background music than as something I’ll crave. A few favorite tracks currently:
“Opening” – that mystical fairy tale sound.
“Delita’s Theme” – mystery, hint of danger
“Dycedarg’s Theme” – classic villain theme!
“Precipitous Combat”
---
Art/Visuals
The art style is not my favorite. It has the same effect as FFIII where many of the character portraits look like kids. The spell effects were neat overall. I especially liked the summons. Made the most of the platform’s limitations.
The espers/Lucavi were another highlight. My favorites were the lion sage Hashmal and the always lovely Cuchulainn.
Plus, some of the abilities just felt SUPER satisfying. Something about the sound when you land a multi-hit power ability, like the sound and look of a Hallowed Bolt hitting 3 enemies, or a Shockwave ripping apart a line.
Another delight: the job sprites. Tons of flavor and variety!
Summoner with moogle art by astero92, posted by djinn87.
My favorites were probably time mage and the female dragoon. My only disappointment was that the geomancer got more of a warrior sprite than the adorable FFV pajamas.
---
Length
My last save is 99 hours and 44 minutes, before the final dungeon, so total of like 101 hours.
It felt super long, but largely due to me more than the game. I artificially extended it by trying for all rumors and errands. Also the fact that half my game was spent with that (in hindsight) ridiculous attempt to level up like 15 characters.
---
Replayability
High. There are so many different job combinations to try out, bonus jobs to go after that I missed this time around (like bard, dancer, arithmetician, dark knight), new ways to build my party. The thing that excites me the most about a replay is using the main party members I benched.
”Galthenas” by sissymandias.
A party focusing on Rapha/Marach with Beowulf, Reis, and my robot friend sounds badass!
---
Final Thoughts
FFT featured the steepest learning curve of any FF game – possibly tied with FFVII: Dirge of Cerberus, my first shooter. Y’all’s support in the comments helped a lot. When I started overthinking things, I remembered back to the comment (arctic_hare’s, I think) that they beat the game without worrying about zodiac combinations and stuff like that. It fueled me to push through the tough times.
*glares hard at the solo fight vs. Wiegraf*
”Wiegraf,” by 2ndbitartist, posted by djinn87.
The good news is that the learning curve led to enjoyment this time. With Dirge of Cerberus, my stress and discomfort never abated and I never wanted to play another shooter. This time? I legit cannot wait for FFTA.
---
Next time: next week, I’ll start Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. My longer term roadmap beyond that is Tactics A2, then probably onto FFXIII. I might do Revenant Wings at some point. Not sure. Will see how I feel after A2, if I want to stay in Ivalice or move on.
Art/Visuals
The art style is not my favorite. It has the same effect as FFIII where many of the character portraits look like kids. The spell effects were neat overall. I especially liked the summons. Made the most of the platform’s limitations.
The espers/Lucavi were another highlight. My favorites were the lion sage Hashmal and the always lovely Cuchulainn.
Plus, some of the abilities just felt SUPER satisfying. Something about the sound when you land a multi-hit power ability, like the sound and look of a Hallowed Bolt hitting 3 enemies, or a Shockwave ripping apart a line.
Another delight: the job sprites. Tons of flavor and variety!
Summoner with moogle art by astero92, posted by djinn87.
My favorites were probably time mage and the female dragoon. My only disappointment was that the geomancer got more of a warrior sprite than the adorable FFV pajamas.
---
Length
My last save is 99 hours and 44 minutes, before the final dungeon, so total of like 101 hours.
It felt super long, but largely due to me more than the game. I artificially extended it by trying for all rumors and errands. Also the fact that half my game was spent with that (in hindsight) ridiculous attempt to level up like 15 characters.
---
Replayability
High. There are so many different job combinations to try out, bonus jobs to go after that I missed this time around (like bard, dancer, arithmetician, dark knight), new ways to build my party. The thing that excites me the most about a replay is using the main party members I benched.
”Galthenas” by sissymandias.
A party focusing on Rapha/Marach with Beowulf, Reis, and my robot friend sounds badass!
---
Final Thoughts
FFT featured the steepest learning curve of any FF game – possibly tied with FFVII: Dirge of Cerberus, my first shooter. Y’all’s support in the comments helped a lot. When I started overthinking things, I remembered back to the comment (arctic_hare’s, I think) that they beat the game without worrying about zodiac combinations and stuff like that. It fueled me to push through the tough times.
*glares hard at the solo fight vs. Wiegraf*
”Wiegraf,” by 2ndbitartist, posted by djinn87.
The good news is that the learning curve led to enjoyment this time. With Dirge of Cerberus, my stress and discomfort never abated and I never wanted to play another shooter. This time? I legit cannot wait for FFTA.
---
Next time: next week, I’ll start Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. My longer term roadmap beyond that is Tactics A2, then probably onto FFXIII. I might do Revenant Wings at some point. Not sure. Will see how I feel after A2, if I want to stay in Ivalice or move on.
