HORRIBLE GAME

[zimdoomyday]

God I couldn't stand an hour of tactics. The game is literally unplayable. How do people eat this crap up?

[Jowy]

Once you get past the Dorter Trade City battle it gets frighteningly good.

[Zeromus_X]

It is tedious, and the localization makes me want to vomit blood, but it did have quite a charm. Some battles could be really fun (and challenging), and the soundtrack definitely deserves merit. And once you decipher what the hell is going on in the plot and dialogue (or take the optional narcotics otherwise), the plot and values learned in the story are quite rewarding.

[LunarWeaver]

Perhaps strategy-RPGs just aren't your thing? They move much slower and revolve almost completely around battles. Hmm, I didn't like this game at first either, but I went back later and I found it completely enjoyable :cat: Maybe give yourself some more time to understand everything so it's nice and fluid.

[vorpal blade]

I was going to bite your head off, but seeing the controlled manner with which the others responded, i will try to do the same. And I would like it if you could give reasons why you didn't like it.

Granted, the translation is horrible and barely understandable. Yes, some fights are hard (i was stuck at Dorter for so long I actually traded the game in for FFIX before eventually buying FFT again).
The fights are also somewhat complicated.
And yes, the story was so amazingly complex I had no clue what the hell was happening half the time (I constantly had to ak myself, "who is that?").

But...
I liked the graphics very much.
The music was great.
The story was complex and very interesting.
The battles were fun and challenging.
Ample character customization options.

Over all, I feel that it is one of the best games I've ever played.

[BG-57]

I beg to differ. And if you gave it only an hour of your time, you may have not given it a proper chance.

I'll give the reasons I like it so much, many of which have already been alluded to:

The flexible job system gives the player the most freedom to customize units of any FF, even beyond what FFV or FFX-2 offers. The real fun is the mixing and matching of primary and secondary skill sets. You can have a Knight with Black Magic or a Geomancer that can jump like a Lancer. It's all up to you.

A huge roster of generic and unique characters to choose from, so you can pick and choose the characters that best suit your gameplay style. You can even recruit most enemy monsters, and breed more powerful ones from them. They can fight with your party or be poached for rare items and weapons.

Random battles. A surprising number of tactical games (like Suikoden Tactics and Kartia) don't have them. It takes a bit of fun out of this sort of game to not be able to build up your party with random encounters.

A lot of interesting and involving subquests. You can recruit a slew of optional characters and get rare items and Gil for completing them. Arguably some of the best characters in the game are optional.

I found the music quite well done and stirring, although not the best FF soundtrack out there. It certainly wasn't annoying.

It's moderately difficult to get through the game once, but the real challange is mastering everything. Which I found addictive.

[Madame Adequate]

Perhaps strategy-RPGs just aren't your thing? They move much slower and revolve almost completely around battles. Hmm, I didn't like this game at first either, but I went back later and I found it completely enjoyable :cat: Maybe give yourself some more time to understand everything so it's nice and fluid.

I've never been able to get into FFT, it's like pulling teeth. I love SRPGs though, I'm having a great time playing though Vandal Hearts again, for exanmple.

And I've tried to like FFT, I really have, but it winds me up something terrible. First, you can only have five people per battle. WTHUX is up with that? Second you can spend forever building someone up, only for them to die and you lose it all. It's just... ugh. Hugely overrated.

[Roto13]

Second you can spend forever building someone up, only for them to die and you lose it all.

Ugh. I hate that.

I liked this game, but I preferred Tactics Advance. It was just executed better.

[My_car_is_faster_than_you]

Hated the game and haven't played it since the day I got it. It's just not my style.

[Purple shoot]

Well, it depends of what kind of games do you like,because you probably dont like the strategy games, but, for example, i dont like to play one game of Resident Evil, but not because of that im going to say that that game is the worst ever made(its great, really, but i dont like to play it:lol: )but i would say that is cool, i mean, just because i dont like something i dont have to call it crap.

Besides,is a great game:
The music is GREAT
the history is one of the bests of all the games( well, thats my opinion)
The grapics are awesome (they are the masters of mixing 3D with 2D)And is a wonderful strategy game.

I understand that you probably dont like it, but there is no reason for you to call it crap.:kaoplain:

[feioncastor]

Oh my god, I can't believe this thread actually exists.

First of all, FFT is often touted as the one game that everyone will like. Even people who despise Final Fantasy seem to love FFT.

Second, as BG said, giving it an hour is not giving it a fair chance. If it's your first time through the game, an hour is probably only one or two battles, and pushing Circle really fast through all the dialogue. You'd like the game more if you played it.

Third, I love Vandal Hearts, but mostly because of its similarities to FFT.


First, you can only have five people per battle. WTHUX is up with that?

One thing I hated about VH was making sure that all 10 of my guys had gone. I'd go to "Turn Over" and then realize I forgot to use Dolan that turn, and that sucks. And now that guy I might've killed just killed Ash and BOOM, game over. FFT regulates who goes when by combining a lot of factors, including their speed and the last move you had them do.


Second you can spend forever building someone up, only for them to die and you lose it all.
This only happens if you're really lousy at the game. They die, and then you have four turns to resurrect them before they're gone for good. You can even finish the battle with them laying on the ground and you'll still have them. You can even finish with RAMZA, the main guy, laying face down, and still win the battle. I've only lost one person and I've been playing FFT A LOT for almost 10 years.


God I couldn't stand an hour of tactics. The game is literally unplayable. How do people eat this crap up?

Okay, you need to chillax on this. Going into a message board full of FFT wackos and posting something like this is a bad idea. Fortunately, most of these people are fairly civilized (except that crazy Despotus guy) and you weren't completely railed, but I'll bet if you posted a two line post in the FFX-2 board about how FFX-2 was terrible, you'd get aced pretty quick.

Furthermore, when I first played FFT (within the first hour), I was very confused. I had never really played a Strat RPG and I had no idea what was going on. I loved FF1-7, and I rented FFT one night, and I kept dying on the Gariland Magic City fight because I didn't know I was supposed to bring other guys into the fight, so I kept entering the fight with only Ramza and the AI Delita. I was so frustrated, until I accidently pushed R1 and place a squire.

Then I figured out the basics of battling. I noticed that along with gaining exp, we also gained "JP" and I eventually learned how sweet that is, too. I learned that with this JP, I could buy new moves for my characters and unlock new job classes that were previously unavailable for use.

Then I stumbled upon Igros Castle, where I went to the shop (because I didn't ever click on Gariland) and bought some awesome equipment, and then learned that my Squires couldn't use heavy armor! So I tried turning one into a knight, and I freaked out when I heard the little song play as that beam of light transformed him into a knight.

You see where I'm going? I never played the tutorial or looked up any online guides or any books or anything. I learned by pushing select on stuff and all that, I guess.

I could've been disappointed with the game because of how frustrated I was. But I gave it a chance, and it is now my absolute, unquestioned favorite game ever.

In fact, I'm going to go play it right now. And I'm going to start a new game and change Ramza's name to "BG-57". I may even hire a soldier and name it Despotus. Who knows?

P.S. on the subject of wacky names, try naming Ramza "Dycedarg" and play through the game. You'll see some super confusing conversations.

[LunarWeaver]

WTHUX

:lol:


I've never been able to get into FFT, it's like pulling teeth. I love SRPGs though, I'm having a great time playing though Vandal Hearts again, for example.

Oh my, I actually hate SRPGs, most of them drive me crazy, but I do like this one. The game had opposite effects on us I guess =O Fascination!


Furthermore, when I first played FFT (within the first hour), I was very confused. I had never really played a Strat RPG and I had no idea what was going on. I loved FF1-7, and I rented FFT one night, and I kept dying on the Gariland Magic City fight because I didn't know I was supposed to bring other guys into the fight, so I kept entering the fight with only Ramza and the AI Delita. I was so frustrated, until I accidently pushed R1 and place a squire.

This is exactly what I did! I kept dying during the first (real) fight because I was going in with Ramza and Delita and nobody else. I also discovered bringing in other people on accident...And then when I discovered that I felt like smacking myself around for not noticing before :jess:

But yes, I'm the same as feioncastor... I did not look at guides or read up on the game, nor did I play the tutorial, I just kept playing and once all of it clicked it suddenly became fun. Figure out the buttons, the mechanics, get sucked into the character advancement, and make damn sure you resurrect characters before they go crystal on you.

If you still don't like it... Try the JP glitch xD!

And If you still don't like it, after all this fair chance, then the game just isn't for you and just sell it or somethin'.

[Pharoh Amon Khan III]

After you meet Algus... You'll have all the motivation you need to keep playing the game.

The primary addictive replay value of Final Fantasy Tactics is that you can never uncover everything. And the five character limit is annoying at first but that's part of the challenge since you don't know what you're going up against until the battle begins...

I realized this when I was jump by "THE 13 MONKS OF GROG HILL"... Uh-huh, if you know what I'm talking about lemme hear ya say "Ungh- nah-nah-nah-nah". LOL

Trust me dude, when you finally start getting into the game, you're gonna get more frustrated when you're defeated than you were when you didn't understand the game.

Like the time one guy posted here how he finally stole ALL of the Silver Orge's items, forgot to save and a knight broke his Genji Armor...

Bascially, the customization, the challenges, the easter-eggs, the story is virtually limitless. Hell, you can even make a "Goku-Monk" character.

Monk + Time Mage Skill+ Teleport "

KAMEHAMEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! GENKI-DEMA!!!!!!

[Zeromus_X]

After you meet discover what a jerktard Algus is, and summarily wish to rip his face off... You'll have all the motivation you need to keep playing the game.

[vorpal blade]

I realized this when I was jump by "THE 13 MONKS OF GROG HILL"... Uh-huh, if you know what I'm talking about lemme hear ya say "Ungh- nah-nah-nah-nah". LOL

Ungh- nah-nah-nah-nah. That's why I save after every battle. In case I run into an impossible fight like that, or I lose a character, I just reset without losing everything.

[dodhungry]

I am not going to go into a rant...I will let others do it for me...
but i will say I enjoy tactics very much :trout:

[Prancing Mad]

I've been playing Atlus' Hoshigami lately and found that to be barf worthy. OMG the music is SOOOOOO AWFUL. If you wanna play something truly awful, play Hoshigami. BTW I loved tactics to death, on one file I spent about 200 hours just having fun and trying to master everything legally. Then it got erased :(

[dodhungry]

I've been playing Atlus' Hoshigami lately and found that to be barf worthy

heh I could have told you that...matter of fact I wrote a review on this at IGN....

http://rr.psx.ign.com/rrview/psx/hoshigami_ruining_blue_earth/15172/15123/

[Pharoh Amon Khan III]

Another thing I loved about Final Fantasy Tactics was how they payed homage to Final Fantasies of the past more than ANY OTHER FF...

Mostly by Treasures and Locations found by successful Propsitions.

Mirage Tower

The Amulet of Minh (Minu)

Carlarbina Doll (FFIV)

Excalipur

Kid's Bread..

Rat Tail (FF I) yummy treat

And so much more. This game get a spot on the wall of FF respect all by itself. And it's the last of it's kind before all this feeding of the masses their eye-candy.

[conan]

FFT is by far the greatest single player game ever created, ever.

Infinite replay value, fully customizable characters, lots of great abilities, enemies, plot, music, gameplay, items, bosses, animations, everything about this game is great.

To be fair though, I'll list some things I don't like:
Math Skill is way too powerful. There, that's about it.

[feioncastor]

Holy junk! Am I the only one who thinks Math Skill is next-to-worthless? I mean, Orlandu is too powerful. Ramza as a monk with a bracer is too powerful. But Math Skill? I have never had it come in handy, and I've even tried to set up fights where it comes in handy. I've only had about one or two fights where it might've been useful, but it was easier to just have Ramza punch the guy, or have Orlandu use Lightning Stab or something.

[Prancing Mad]

you need to get all the moves for math skill. then change them into somehting like a white mage. Now try doing holy on everything but your own guys, which should be possible with one of the combinations. Mmm... Multiple enemy kills

[conan]

Yea Feion, give it a shot. Have someone master the calculator class, then make them a wizard with math skill, put them on auto-battle, and watch him kill every enemy unit on his first turn with a single calculated holy spell, which happens instantly, and with no mp cost....

oh, and don't forget to actually teach him holy as a priest first, and teach him any other spells you'd like to see him cast. But as a user of math skill, you will need raise, maybe raise 2, and holy. frog, petrify and undead are nice too. as a wizard, you could also use cure very effectively.

[Pharoh Amon Khan III]

Yea Feion, give it a shot. Have someone master the calculator class, then make them a wizard with math skill, put them on auto-battle, and watch him kill every enemy unit on his first turn with a single calculated holy spell, which happens instantly, and with no mp cost....

oh, and don't forget to actually teach him holy as a priest first, and teach him any other spells you'd like to see him cast. But as a user of math skill, you will need raise, maybe raise 2, and holy. frog, petrify and undead are nice too. as a wizard, you could also use cure very effectively.


Try 2-3 Calculators on auto-battle against everything else. That's something to watch. Oh the chaotic-harmony... Or is it harmonious-chaos? I forget which...

[LoKuS]

I love this game.

[Pharoh Amon Khan III]

God I couldn't stand an hour of tactics. The game is literally unplayable. How do people eat this crap up?


So, in all this time and responses... Have you given the game a further chance? As you can see, there are a great legion of those that love this masterpiece; albeit that this is a thread for such enthusiasts, but... What has happened since your initial post?

[Dell]

This game is one of Square best creation. I really enjoyed it, it did sucked at the beginning but after I obtained full control of the lovely Agrias, I....... :jess:

[escobert]

Everythings pretty much been said but, it's a awsome game and you should give it a bit more of a try. One of my all time favorite storys.

[Ragnarok]

I felt the same way he did when I first started the game, especially so because it was the first game of its type I had ever played. Luckily I picked it up and tried it again on a school snowday and now its probably my favorite game of all time.

[,,,]

I'm not a fan of this game either for the exact reason that a lot of you seem to like it.

So many character options! So many classes! Yeah, that would be a good thing if there were any room for them in your party. I hated that I spent so much time training up characters only to have to kick them out to make room for the latest "unique" character I picked up. I really got attached to some of those characters! If they'd let you have more people in your party I could have gotten into it, but as it is you can't even have every unique character without having to dismiss a few, I believe. I just hated getting rid of people I'd invested so much in and have such fond memories of how they saved me in battles.

Also, I think Tactics Ogre outclasses FFT in every way. Same style of game, just executed way better.

Furthermore, the ending blew.

The game wasn't all bad, but really wasn't great.

[BG-57]

I'm not a fan of this game either for the exact reason that a lot of you seem to like it.

So many character options! So many classes! Yeah, that would be a good thing if there were any room for them in your party. I hated that I spent so much time training up characters only to have to kick them out to make room for the latest "unique" character I picked up. I really got attached to some of those characters! If they'd let you have more people in your party I could have gotten into it, but as it is you can't even have every unique character without having to dismiss a few, I believe. I just hated getting rid of people I'd invested so much in and have such fond memories of how they saved me in battles.

Why it's true that the game forces certain characters into your party for story-advancing battles, you get complete freedom to pick and choose units for random battles. Personally I didn't find a five-party system restrictive. It's larger than many parties in the numbered FF's.

The unique characters are Ramza, Mustadio, Agrias, Rafa, Malak, Beowulf, Reis, Cloud, Worker 8, Orlandu, Meliadoul, and Byblos. That's 12, unless you count Boco the chocobo as unique (which I don't). Since there's 16 slots total it's actually possible to recruit every unique character in the game and still have space left over.

What does have to suffer if you want to keep all the unique characters is the generic human and monster units. You start out with four humans, and gain three more in chapter 2. And inviting monsters is even worse, since they breed. So my strategy is to breed and poach monsters and fufill propositions as early as possible and then ditch most of the generics once my roster fills up.


Also, I think Tactics Ogre outclasses FFT in every way. Same style of game, just executed way better.

Furthermore, the ending blew.

The game wasn't all bad, but really wasn't great.

You're certainly entitled to that opinion. But I disagree.

[conan]

Agreed, the ending in fft is bad, and the final boss is ridiculously easy, but other than that this game rocks. This game is awesome. I'm playing a file now using completely random characters that don't even have any abilities, and im still winning. This game is fun. Feion, havent heard from you about the calculators! Try them out already, you'll agree with the rest of us that a wizard with math skill could rock orlandu pretty hard.

[MogThief]

No way, this game is not horrible. Just give it more time and advance further in the story. You'll probably change your perspective on this game.

[Elemental Alchemist]

This game is one of the best rpgs ever. I can't understand how some people can't like it. It's got:

- Endless team customization options (if you don't want to let go of your old generic characters, just don't accept the nongeneric ones. No one's forcing you to take them in.)

- Great plot (if you don't get it the first time, look up the summary in the records, or see the scene again. The game's that awesome.)

- Many side quests and plots (again, if you don't like these, skip them.)

- 5 characters for battle? Plenty to win. And all the characters can change classes, so even if they are nongeneric, they can still be normally skilled.

- Enough classes to satisfy most (if not all) people. Everyone's got their special favorite class.

- Endless combinations of items and abilities!

- Different arenas for battle, each with their own terrain, enemies, and even climate.

I could go on and on, but this is basically it. And I know there's some people that say things like, "I didn't like the game to have so many class choices." (there are people like this.) Well, all you have to do is ignore all the choices. Don't change classes. Pick only fighters. Or mages. Or get all nongeneric characters and don't worry about same classes!

What I'm getting at is that if you don't like something in the game, there's probably a way for it not to cause you trouble. And you could keep playing the game.

[BustaMo]

I'm gonna give this game a go after I beat FFXII. I've heard from many FF fans that this is one of their favorite FF games of all-time, and it's not even a main part of the series.

It definitely looks unique and interesting, expecially the battle. It sort of reminds me of the Vagrant Story's battle system, but Tectics is more Puzzlish looking. I'm looking forward to playing it though.

[conan]

I'd just like to correct you BG, you start with 6 humans. :cool:

[BG-57]

Yeah, I should have said that I start with recruiting four of my own generics (I dismiss the original six). I then engage in enough random battles to completely outfit all of them before advancing the plot.

[eestlinc]

The first time I played Tactics I hated it and quit after an hour. It seemed like the worst game ever. I didn't touch it for months. Then one day I pulled it out again, the battle system and controls made a bit more sense on second visit, I was able to get into the story a bit, and I absolutely fell in love. The game is a masterpiece (albeit with a poor localization) and definitely worth a second chance.

Second you can spend forever building someone up, only for them to die and you lose it all. It's just... ugh. Hugely overrated.
This is why you save after every battle (alternating slots and also keeping a few saves at important points in case you get totally screwed). If you lose a good character just replay the battle. But really, you should just do everything you can to revive your characters in time. I like the extra stakes that come with the possibility of permanently losing a character.It means keeping your characters alive and healthy is actually important, and an extra challenge in battle.

[feioncastor]

you can spend forever building someone up, only for them to die and you lose it all. It's just... ugh. Hugely overrated.

It's not that tought to avoid this. Honestly, I had one person crystalize, once, and that was it. Since then, I make sure to have a person who can revive, and a backup reviver. Monks are great for this, when you get their skill "Revive" and "Chakra". And I like Chemists way more than Priests for healing, too. The only problem with Chemists is that they can only heal 150 hp. But they do it instantly.

This game is so not hugely overrated. If anything, it's underrated. Honestly.

I've met many people who hate Final Fantasy games. They'll come up with a wealth of reasons as to why FF games aren't good. But almost all of them still like FFT, despite their distaste for FF in general. I've met people who had never had any desire to try a strategy game or an RPG and they love FFT.

I honestly think that if you're a video gamer, and you give this game a fair chance, you will like it. I don't think there's a gamer out there who would dislike this game if they actually played a bit of it. I'm not saying they'd all be crazy about it like I am, but they'd like it. Enough to play a bit more of it.

Another awesome thing about FFT is the replay value. Sure, the story never changes, but the strategies you use to fight can vary greatly. Your first time through, you may never use Oracles, Time Mages, Calculators, and other classes. Then, you'll play the game a second time and realize how great some of the other classes are. And then you discover skills you hadn't noticed before. You use different classes and combinations and make the game a different challenge than it was before. You no longer just go in and nuke/hack'n'slash the bad guys. Now you have to plan things out, strategize, and all that.

By the way, Oracles aren't good. I was just giving an example. Oracles are the most useless class in the game. Don't use oracles. Time Mages are cool, though.

[conan]

To counter Feion, I will now list ways oracles are actually good:

Zombie. Cast this on an enemy, and then have a chemist throw a phoenix down at them for instant kill.

Petrify. basically an instant kill.

MP Absorb, Move MP up, MP absorb - ensures this class doesnt run out of MP.

Life Drain - Self healing while attacking an enemy.

Silence Song - Great for disabling enemy mages. Also try using MP Absorb, or Berserk for the same purpose. Berserk not only makes the mage useless, but makes him deliver himself right to your army.

Paralyze - The all purpose defensive/offensive spell, good against any enemy temporarily. It even works on Wiegraf, havent really tried it on Zodiac monsters yet. Fast, low MP cost, and a good chance of working.

Pray Faith - Cast it on yourself, it will generally last about 3 turns, and then all of the oracle's low success rate spells will now have a very good chance of hitting.

Sticks - If your oracle has a decent magic attack, these guys can do almost as much damage as a Lancer with a spear.

Sleep - What's great about this spell is it not only affected the square you target, but the 4 squares surrounding it. (Effect: 2). This means with one spell you can put at most 5 enemies to sleep.

And now to be fair, the bad points:

Blind - This spell actually sucks, don't bother with it.

Foxbird - Don't bother with this one, you'd have to hit an enemy with it 2-3 times to actually turn them into a chicken. Mediator's threaten is a LOT better.

Dispel Magic - I don't think I've ever actually casted this spell.

Confusion - The only reason I don't like this is that it only hits one person, and it can be cured by throwing a stone at that person. The only time I'd use it is if I could cast it on a mage that was charging a spell on my army, or about to get an AT. Basically the same time you would use steal heart from a thief. Sleep works better than this spell, but I'm not sure, confusion might be faster.

What I've noticed are Oracles are mainly anti-magic. They are good for quickly disabling enemy spellcasters, but they also have a good physical attack to defend themselves with, as opposed to priests and time mages which use their weak staffs.

[feioncastor]

Okay, I guess that what I'm saying is that an oracle is the least likely class to actually KILL an enemy. All they can do well is just /xxx.gif/xxx.gif/xxx.gif/xxx.gif/xxx.gif with the bad guy. Sure, they can kill it, but not nearly as well as a monk or a Knight with Two Swords. I mean, while you're using Silence Song on one or two bad guys, I'm Earth Slashing 3 of them, for 999 damage a head.

Oracles aren't useless. They're just one class that specializes in messing with enemies, rather than just killing them, or enabling a party member to more quickly kill them.

[conan]

True....but try playing a game using only oracles! It's very tough, and fun.

[TurkSlayer]

I find this interesting, as I have never met anyone who truely disliked FFT, and now I'm discovering that a number of people are unfond of this game... This is a very new concept to me. I can't imagine not loving this game. I mean, honestly, I consider it easily one of the greatest games I've ever played, and all of these complaints are things that I really just overlooked.

If you ask me, it has the most interesting and well thought out storyline of any game I've ever played, which is ultimately an important factir in whether I really want to play or not. The plot was so intricate and often times subtle that you may have to play a number of times before you can get a true grasp of what takes place, and then you can't deny that the story was fantastically thought out. If there is a flaw in the story, it was that once a character joined your party, they were pretty much out of the storyline, which actually kind of made me dread getting certain characters.

As for five-man fights, I liked it that way. I didn't feel like I was overworked with having to plan out twenty characters moves (Though I've grown used to that since Fire Emblem) Besides, it made it easier to level up your fighters if you didn't have all of them competing for the next kill, basically.

As for your other complaints, they just aren't things that ever bothered me....

[Wolf Kanno]

FFT is a wonderful game and I have met a few people who hated it for the reasons posted here. Now usually I have a really nasty way of countering them but we're all being civilized here so I'll give it a go.

Five man parties not enough? Honestly, with the right combination you hardly even need five characters. Hell, Ramza, Mustadio, and Orlandu can easliy wipe the floor with everyone except for maybe that last battle with Balk or even the eight Samurai or monk random encounters. When you really start to see what the job classes have to offer you begin to understand how well you can really screw with people. (Like the calculators. Ever thought about equipping everyone with Excaliburs and having your calucalater cast holy on your own party...) Also, I found that when I play Disgaea (another wonderful SRPG that allows for ten characters on the map) I found myself only using about three to five characters. It was just easier to manage and I hated wasting a characters turn cause I don't really need them for the battle or I lost a character cause I forgot where they were when I made Laharl attack...

To truly understand a class, I recommend having a play thru where you get Ramza to master every class. As the most balanced character in the game he can really show you what classes are really capable of. I never thought much of Geomancers, Oracles, Bards, or even some of the mage classes until I had Ramza use them. It's a pretty eye opening experience.

The plot, though poorly localized, is incredibly deep and mature. Ramza is still my favorite male protagnist from a FF and guess what, he's not whiny and he isn't afraid to fight people he cares about if they go against what he truly believs in. He's not cold, he just believes strongly in a sense of justice that isn't clouded by naive principles that can be found in other main protagonist. The plot basically revolves around Ramza fighting his elder brothers who start a war for their own personal gain, while he tries to make amends with a friend who has suffered greatly because of Ramza's family. Though this a generalization and there is far more to the story than this, but that happens later... Ramza is truly a complex character and yet there are no real moments in the game where there is real introspection about this. Whereas other games would have such scenes which scream out "Hey, this character is really deep and complex! You should be interested in him!" FFT does not. As the game goes along, the player witnesses the choices made and it is up to us to really decide why he did it.

As for character deaths... It's one of the greater challenges and as a game set in a war time scenario, the game designers to give the players the chance to taste a true strategists or generals position in these scenarios. It makes for a more rewarding experience. You might play differently if you know that their is a chance you're going to lose someone. It's always something that hangs in the back of your mind everytime you make a choice. It can be annoying but it only proves that your strategies are ineffective, you should use those times to review and understand what you did wrong and build a better strategy. It really gauges your weakness and you can't really say that about other games, not even other SRPGs.

My advice, give it another chance. Try to finish the game, and if you still don't like it, then I guess it just isn't your game but at least you tried and I can't ask anymore from you.

[Omni-Odin]

This game rocks. The story of Tactics is way more advanced than some of the actual numbered games in the series. Whoever doesn't like it, didn't play the game for more than an hour.

[Azrael777]

Agreed. The storyline of Tactics is so realistic, so gritty, and so enthralling that I couldn't stop playing. Hell, even if the story sucked, I loved the gameplay (due to the tactics and strategy involved) that I would have beat it anyway. I think some people just lack the patience for it.