RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

Despite having some game-breaking bugs and a translation just this side of gibberish, Final Fantasy Tactics has gone on to gather quite an impressive following in the decade since its launch, and today it is widely recognized as one of the classics of the gaming world. With the release of Final Fantasy Tactics: the War of the Lions on the PSP, Square Enix has managed to fix some of the game’s more glaring issues, bugs and translation included. Of course, with this new version comes problems of its own, such as low sound quality and a slight but persistent amount of slowdown and lag. However, even with these problems, the new translation, added content, and a slight rebalancing of the Job Class system makes Final Fantasy Tactics: the War of the Lions the definitive version of this gaming classic, and worth a look to anyone with even a passing interest in tactical RPGs. 

Set in the world of Ivalice some 1200 years after the end of Final Fantasy XII, the War of the Lions presents a medieval society on the verge of total breakdown. The king has died, leaving the crown to his young son. Two dukes, Duke Larg and Duke Goltanna, vie for the regency, and all the powers that entails. Unfortunately, there’s rather more going on than either of them know; by the end of the story, it seems as though every governmental institution from the High Confessor of the state religion to the Machinists Union Local 401 has had a turn trying to seize power. And further still, beneath all this, an ancient power corrupts a group of men, to attempt to resurrect a long-dead monster from the bowels of Ivalice. The story traces the path of one Ramza Beoulve through this dangerous period in Ivalice history, as he uncovers the many layers of plotting and deception laid by men who seek power.

Along the way, the story deals with a wide variety of issues, from familial loyalty to the nature of honor. The game’s strongest theme, however, is the nature of control, and the effect it has on both the manipulated and those pulling the strings. The story shows the effect of power on Delita, Ramza’s childhood friend, to the most striking degree, showing as he begins to believe that humans gain power only by controlling others, and the end that eventually comes of it. This is strongly contrasted with the path Ramza takes, abandoning what could have been a seat of great power in order to do what he feels is right. The story is a great deal more powerful now that it can actually be understood, but there have also been a few other, somewhat less noticeable changes to the game. There are a number of all-new plot sequences, the majority of which simply help to give the supporting cast a bit more backbone, something the original game needed rather badly. Thankfully, these new additions don’t change the story in any fundamental way, as the tale of betrayal and political machinations is quite powerful enough to stand on its own.

One of the most striking changes from the original game, Final Fantasy Tactics‘ retranslation breathes new life into the script. Once a barely-comprehensible pile of gibberish, the story takes on a heavily medieval, almost Shakespearean tone that fits the setting wonderfully. The translation does make a number of changes to the overall story, some better than others. For example, the game borrows the FFXII convention of “Magick”, and refers to the Zodiac Stones as Magicite or Auracite, two changes that help tie the game more strongly to others set in the world of Ivalice. On the other hand, there are a small number of alterations that feel almost ham-handed, such as the alteration of the monotheistic Church of Glabados to a polytheistic religion, a change which undermines the similarities drawn between medieval Europe and this period in Ivalice history. Still, there is little doubt that this new translation is leaps and bounds ahead of the original, simply by virtue of being understandable.

The overall combat system remains largely unchanged from its original release. The system is fairly typical TRPG fare, with encounters taking place on a grid battlefield, the player and enemy characters maneuvering around and attacking each other to achieve victory. The War of the Lions uses an ATB-style addition to the combat, in that each character has a Charge Turn gauge that will slowly increase, allowing each character a turn only when the meter has filled. The lack of definition between the player’s turn and the enemy’s turn gives combat a slightly more tense edge, as players will have to pay attention not only to where each character is, but also to what order they’ll be going in. Final Fantasy Tactics‘ Job Class system has undergone a bit of an overhaul with this version of the game, and not just because of the introduction of two new classes. The Job Class level required to unlock some classes have been raised slightly, and a number of bugs that made it quick and easy to gain JP have been removed. These alterations to the system don’t actually change the game a great deal, but they do help to spread content over a wider area, preventing a player from unlocking all the classes too early in the normal course of the game.

As a whole, Final Fantasy Tactics: the War of the Lions features a very solid tactical RPG system. The sheer variety of the game’s combat system is part of what helped carry the original, despite a nearly incomprehensible plotline, and the inclusion of new Job Classes and extra characters only helps to increase this. Though it still has its fair share of flaws, the sheer amount of variety and customization makes the system a lot of fun to play around with.

Despite all these positive improvements, however, the system still does have a number of flaws. The game’s AI remains just as dense as ever, with computer-controlled characters running headlong into enemy formations like so many lemmings. Prior to battle, characters are still placed on a set of blank tiles rather than on the battlefield proper, preventing players from taking terrain or enemy types and placement into account when selecting a team. Though the game’s menus and overall control scheme is easy to use and reasonably intuitive, small issues such as these can cause the occasional frustrating error of ignorance.

One of the most often discussed problems with this port is the lag. Put simply, some of the moves will have a slight hang before executing, causing a slight but noticeable lag – usually around a second or two. The exact amount of lag is inconsistent, as it seems to depend a lot on the stage, the characters on screen, and the move animation, but it rarely becomes pervasive enough to be a genuine issue. Move animations as a whole seem to run slightly slower than they did in the original, which causes some definite issues when dealing with the timing of sound effects, which can be a bit grating to listen to. Overall, though, it should never become overly taxing, and it certainly doesn’t make the game unplayable.

Otherwise, the game’s visual style is largely unchanged from that of the original title. Its use of superdeformed characters in a world of very complicated political drama still feels slightly off, but the strong palette of earth tones and the overall cohesiveness of the visual style does go a long way towards rectifying this. The War of the Lions also takes the step of presenting a number of plot points in beautifully animated, fully voiced cutscenes. These clips move very fluidly, with a wonderful sketchy look that really works well with the rest of the visual style.

One of the game’s larger problems is the overall quality of the sound, though the sound effects definitely got the short end of the stick. Where the music sounds, at worst, somewhat muffled, the sound effects come off as screechy, unrealistic, and horribly out of place. The wail of a dying Lucavi sounds less like the last screams of an unholy monster, and more like a car horn rigged to play “La Cucaracha.” The overall quality of the music composition, as well as the introduction of very strong voice acting, help to shore the sound up a bit, but there are still a number of issues that should have been addressed.

Despite the presence of some amazingly overpowered characters in the last quarter or so of the game, Final Fantasy Tactics: the War of the Lions still provides a more than adequate level of challenge. The lack of improved AI hurts the game seriously here, as there are a number of battles present where the player is tasked with protecting an AI character with all the self-preservation instincts of a cinderblock. The game overall should take anywhere between forty and fifty hours to complete, though there are a number of new sidequests and cutscenes that could tack on a few more hours.

With a complex plot full of political machinations, a combat system with a huge number of options, and a wonderfully cohesive overall style, Final Fantasy Tactics: the War of the Lions improves strongly on what made Final Fantasy Tactics appealing in the first place. Though the game does have a number of problems in technical execution and interface which should not be overlooked, the simple fact that it has redeemed one of the most frustrating translations ever to grace a game goes a long way towards soothing any disapproval. Final Fantasy Tactics: the War of the Lions will probably appeal most to people who love a good story, and to those who don’t mind spending some time levelbuilding to get their characters exactly where they want them, but the game as a whole presents such a strong package that it will most likely find a fairly wide appeal.