Miscellany ; Things That Don't Fit
I'm sure you're not surprised, but below is my game review for Final Fantasy Tactics. I know there are a million eloquently written reviews out there, but how could I live with myself if I didn't contribute, too?!
[review written May 23, 2006.]The Storyline (10/10)
I always believe that every good RPG should have a wonderful storyline backing it up. If it doesn't, I completely lose interest, regardless of the rest of the crap, like graphics or gameplay. Fortunately, Final Fantasy Tactics (oh, how I love thee!) has the most intricate, engrossing storyline of any of the Final Fantasies I've played thus far, and I have a feeling it'll stay that way always.
The main character, Ramza Beoulve, is by far, the most relatable personality I've had the pleasure of acquainting myself with. He doesn't fight for status or a "thank you," but instead, he fights for justice, honor, and truth. Of course, we all know, he has inherited the good soul of his late father, Balbanes Beoulve, so this type of spirited benevolence is only expected.
Ramza's main objective in the entire game is to protect his sister and save her from the "bad guys." After Algus murders Teta, and Ramza believes Delita to have died in the explosion at Fort Zeakden, the foundation in his world is shaken and torn. But after seeing the corruption and deceit of even his own brother, Ramza decides to take his destiny into his own hands. And the rest, well... you know what happens. :]
It just makes me sick when I think about how amazing the storyline was... deserving of a perfect score, easy. To this day, FFT still gives me goosebumps.
Gameplay (10/10)
I loved it. Although the enemies are all from a small pool of monsters, it was done well enough to keep it interesting every time. Plus, with the sidequest of the Deep Dungeon, how could you really get bored?
My favorite part would have to be the return of the job classes (from FFV) but being done much bigger and better! :] With job classes like Samurai and Calculator, you could have the most ridiculously pumped up, ass-kicking team, or you could run around with a team full of Dancers and Bards, ahahha. The variety is just amazing, and the fact that the battles are thought-provoking is a plus. You can't just choose "Attack" for each character; you have to choose whether you want to move or not, attack or not, heal or not... whatever it may be. By moving one square forward, you could be in the range of a Summoner's spell or a chocobo's annoying Choco Meteor attack.
A challenging aspect of FFT that I enjoy is the way characters die. You have three rounds to revive a character, or they'll crystallize, which results in you losing them forever, unlike the other Final Fantasies, where they can be dead the entire battle and miraculously come alive when the battle is over.
The replayability factor in this game is unreal. I've never played a game this many times through, and I'm still not sick of it. I played FFVI and Chrono Trigger approximately 3-4 times, but that was reaching my limit... :] Leveling up in FFT is also a joy; battles just never get dull. And no matter what level you are, if you go into a battle completely unprepared, your enemies can wipe the floor with you... which I love. :D
Graphics (8/10)
Well, if you do a direct comparison between FFVII and FFT, the graphics don't really compare. However, I've never been much of a graphics junkie (I mean, I played every 8/16-bit Final Fantasy before the PlayStation came out and thoroughly enjoyed them all). I've always felt like "bad" graphics always leave room for the imagination to grow, so I was quite pleased with the fact that FFT went the SD/cute sprite route. Plus, the talk bubbles had a profile picture of the character, so it's not like you didn't know what they looked like without looking at official art.
However, if I had a bone to pick with Tactics, I'd say that they really dropped the ball when it came to the summon attacks. It's just a picture of the summon, floating around in circles... haha... I don't know if I would really classify this as a complaint, though... because it didn't really bother me. They could've done a better job with it, but it doesn't detract from the overall greatness of the game, so who cares?
Due to the goofy looking summon spells and the fact that every generic bad guy looks the same, I had to subtract a few points. JUST A FEW, though!
Music (9/10)
Ahh... last but definitely not least, we come to the soundtrack of FFT, which was... well... beautiful, in a nutshell. The orchestrated, mood-complementing songs were done flawlessly. My favorite track (as you probably already know) is Requiem; Hitoshi Sakimoto did an outstanding job, and I just cannot give enough accolades in his general direction.
Now, while I believe that every track was wonderful, I had to detract a point from the overall score because not many of them were memorable. There were only a few that really stuck with me, which is fine because you don't need to have a soundtrack filled with all of your favorites, but... that's the only way I could've given the music section a 10/10, so please forgive me. :]
Overall Score (37/40)
A pretty damn near perfect score! But you know, with a translation as shoddy as FFT's, it can't be at 100%. :]
