Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1811 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Square Enix
• Released on: 2007-10-04
• Platform: Sony PSP

Manufacturer's Description
From the creative minds behind Final Fantasy XII comes an epic combat adventure set in the hugely successful Final Fantasy universe. Imaginative artistic design sets a beautiful backdrop for a gritty, politically charged tale, in which two young men endeavor to reshape the course of history. When the Lions clash, the land of Ivalice trembles. Have you the strength to wrest a kingdom from the clutches of war â€" or will this dark act of Ivalice's history be her last?

Customer Reviews

Too much Final, not enough Fantasy
I bought this game as it seemed similar to one of my all time favourite games - Shining Force II on the Sega Megadrive (hands up both of you who remember that one). For the most part, I think I was justified in buying it.

This is not your normal RPG fare. There is NO wandering around villages chatting to people. This game is all about the battles. At this point I'd normally summarise how the game plays, however, FFTactics is sooo deep and complex it would take far too long. (In fact, the first hour of play should be devoted to the tutorial). I've clocked up 30 hours so far and I think I'm about two thirds through the main story.

To be honest, this game is very good and if you like strategy RPGs it is a must buy. However, there are some gameplay elements that I'm not too keen on.
Firstly is the fragility of the characters in your 'force'. Unlike other games, most recruited fighters are not any one way inclined. You decide their job and by fighting as that job, they gain relevant skills. When you get a job to a certain level, it may unlock another job. For example, if you start as a Squire you can then progress to a Knight. After a while you can then progress to a fighting Monk, etc. All this takes a long time and there is very little guidance as to the correct way of doing it. To be honest it is mostly a case of trial and error. You will devote many hours into characters, allowing them to unlock some unusual jobs. When you have put in so many hours into a character, the last thing you want is the chance that they may die - permanently. But this is exactly the risk you run each time you take them to battle. If a KO'd character is not revived (with a Phoenix Down for example) in three turns, they die. The death of one character is enough to reset your PSP and reload. This mechanic forces you to play very defensively, always making sure that you have characters that can heal and revive in your party.

Secondly, is the sheer scope of the game can be extremely daunting. The first point I got really stuck I went onto the net to find a playing guide. Reading this, I discovered that I had missed out on loads of stuff and that I'd not really played it effectively. Luckily, I persisted and the feeling of despondancy left me. It's just a shame everything takes so long to achieve.

Other than that, the game plays pretty well. The story plot can get extremely confusing and a touch boring in parts.

Stop-gap
Surely the only reason this game was released, is to fill the void until crisis core is released, and satisfy the demand for an FF game. Beware, if you were a fan of FFVII and more recent incarnations, this is nothing like it, it is more like Kingdom Hearts, if you remember it.

And this is no bad thing, per se, we all knew this was an 'srpg' before we bought it. So why the 2 stars? Well, initially the first thing that strikes you are the in-game graphics, nothing short of poor, and the PSP can do so much better, as we have seen time again. It just gives the impression of lazy programming. The soundtrack is mundane, and I cannot really comment on the plot as yet, being in the early stages of the game.

But the true problem the game has, is the learning curve. It is fiendishly difficult, very early on. You enter battles, which can last as long as 20 minutes, and just at the last, will lose one of the characters you have invested much time and effort developing, and there is no way to resurrect them. All you can do is go to a warriors guild and buy a new one, starting off at level 1! It is utterley infuriating. There is also no way to quit during a battle, so if you see things starting to go awry (as they seem to do most of the time), the only thing you can do is press 'home' and start again.

The only reason I can see for buying this, is if you are sick of your PSP, because after a few of these battles, you will have smashed it into many pieces, and have developed premature grey hairs. It is not worth the stress, nor the price.

Final Fantasy Tactics PSP
This was the reason to buy a GBA all those years ago... not a PSP now. There are better games than this for PSP!

This is my all time favourite game on Playstation and GBA so when I realised Square Enix were releasing this on PSP, I couldn't wait.

What was released was a ported GBA game with a slightly different storyline and a few cut scenes. What a disappointment on PSP, but, if you've never played it before you'll probably still find it addictive.