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I've heard that Tactics is an amazing game, but rather than skimming through reviews to help motivate myself to play it, I'd rather hear specific reasons for why I should (or even should not) play it. At the moment it is the only "main-ish" Final Fantasy (aside from I, II, III, and X-2) that I have not played, and I guess I just couldn't bring myself to play it, for god knows what reason. Regardless, motivate me! :D
Well if you want a long lasting strategic game, then it don't get any better then tactics. If you want to see the spells/skills/summons you love in a different battle system, then you outta play tactics. If you want to know more about the land of Ivalice then Tactics is a good place to start.
(SPOILER)Play Final Fantasy Tactics!!
-The story is extremely deep, and while it can be hard to follow, it's really worth digging through and reading some of the documents. ( Kind of like XIII)
-The music is unbelievably amazing, and very memorable.
-The characters are likeable and realistic (personality-wise)
-The many classes are not only unique, but extremely diverse and fun to experiment and play around with.
-Lots and LOTS of replay value.
I'm a huge fanboy of this game, so I could probably write a few more paragraphs about it, but I think this'll be enough. I also suggest you play the War of the Lions version, if at all possible, because they add some fun sidequests and hidden characters.
FFT is my favorite game of all time.
- Story
As mentioned this is great. I usually see how games are going to end up from about mid way through, but FFT kept me constantly second guessing myself. I would easily read this game as a book or watch it as a movie, gameplay aside.
- Gameplay
Insanely fun. Unlike most SRPGs that have your party take on an enemy force 2-3x their size and spread out across a large map FFT focuses on smaller maps and enemy parties composed in ways you would set up your own. That way the battles feel less like you are chewing your way through a series of enemies that would annihilate you if they all attacked at once to a heated encounter where all units on the board are involved. It doesn't feel like you and the enemies are playing different games.
Character set up is very simple to grasp and extremely deep to master. There are tons of abilities you can combine across jobs to produce some wicked combinations, which you can figure out on your own as you go along.
What do you look for in a game? I can be more specific.
In conclusion: Play FFT, it is the greatest game ever made.
Others can and have gone into more depth than I will because I'm low on time. I'll just give the one reason that matters really:
Final Fantasy Tactics is better than almost every main FF title in every category you could name (except maybe graphics though I find them charming). In fact, I'll even throw it out there as one of the best RPG's/SRPG's ever made.
FFT's story and gameplay is significantly better than any other FF. It's story is mature and very complex. It is not the cliche "bad guy seeks to destroy the world" that is the rest of the FF series, but much more political and deep. The gameplay is developed and engaging; random battles are more rare than in other games, but they also take much more thought and effort.
Ramza and Delita are also two of the best developed characters in the entire series.
Final Fantasy Tactics is probably the best implementation of the job system in any role playing game ever. So if you like the job system in the FF games that use it (I, III, V, XI, X-2, etc.) then you really should play this game. The story is also top notch, as others have said. Tactics truly is an amazing game.