Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions is a remake of the original Final Fantasy Tactics. It has been ported to the PSP and has updated graphics, and updated storyline, new items, new missions, and new characters. Simply put, it is an improvement on something that is already extremely good.
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Developer: Square Enix Publisher: Square Enix Release Date: May 10, 2007 Platforms: PSP JustRPG Score: 90% Pros: +Appealing Characters. +Amazing Story +Addictive +Good soundtrack Cons: -Little replay value. -Not everyone’s cup of tea |
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions Overview
Players take control of Ramza Beoulve as he makes his way from being a naive child to a man with a mission. Players take control of Ramza when he is a young boy, barely able to swing a sword. They will guide him along through multiple missions as he digs up the corruption within the church of Ivalice, and reveals a plot to resurrect an ancient evil through the use of magic, zodiac-marked stones.
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions Screenshots
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions Video
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions Review
War of the Lions offers some excellent new features, providing a great experience for the newcomer and a reason for the seasoned veteran to revisit this old favorite. The first thing that the player notices upon starting the game is that the overall look is sharper than its predecessor’s and the fact that the game is now on a smaller screen makes little difference to the presentation.
The story of FF: War of the Lions is one of corruption and betrayal, as well as one man’s quest to save his sister and discover his place in the turmoil that has delivered his world into chaos. The game itself begins with a flashback that allows one to become familiarized with the controls and the turn-based strategy system. It’s interesting to note that Square has redone the game’s speech from the original to resemble something Shakespearean in certain ways, which is far more appropriate for the actual time period in our history that this game can be seen to represent. Some players may find this to be a turn-off at first, but will likely get used to it fairly quickly, and it adds a new flavor to the game’s already deep and sinister story. All the old characters are back, with the two new additions of Balthier the Sky Pirate, seen previously in Final Fantasy XII, and Ruso, a young Game Hunter, who meets the party by chance (as far as the story is concerned).
Before your adventure unfolds, the game has you choose a name for your main character and his birth date, thus deciding the Zodiac sign under which he was born. Zodiac signs play a role in the game’s battle system and they affect the interactions between characters on the battle field, however they are not vital to the game play. The story has you take the helm of a traveling party of fighters through the role of Ramza Beoulve, a disillusioned young knight-in-training who loses his belief in his family and the many power bases within Ivalice, the setting of this tale. Throughout your journey you will meet many new personalities who can join your party, if you so choose, including T.G. Cid, a character who has made recurring appearances throughout the Final Fantasy series, in the form of an extremely powerful Sword Saint.
War of the Lions features an array of classes to choose from, including two new classes, Black Knight and Onion Knight, that were not featured on the original title. For the most part these classes can be simplified as Fighting and Support, with the exceptions of few that fall under both and more still which are of neither category. Characters with Fighting jobs, such as Knights, Black Mages, and Dragoons (a kind of knight who wields a spear and mimics the behavior of a dragon), will be doing the bulk of the damage your party dishes out, and most of them will have very high hit points, with the exception of Mages. Support classes include White Mages, Mystics and Archers, and they will perform a variety of roles such as healing, causing status ailments to your enemies, and finishing them off from afar. Whereas the hit points and other base stats of a character are built up with experience points gained in battle, jobs are developed using job points, also gained in battle, which are spent like money on new skills and abilities for each job. This feature is incredibly fun, allowing you to choose whether you want a new magic attack or maybe a new ability to counter attacks if you find your character is taking too much damage. If you’re like me, then 50% of the fun had with this game will be building up your jobs and unlocking new ones to master.
The story of War of the Lions can be likened to a well-written novel, or even our own world, if one disregards the swords and magic. On one hand we have a corrupt nobility who has used the peasantry to wage wars and has now left them to their own devices, creating a peasant class that is poor, injured in pride and perhaps physically injured and crying for justice from the upper echelons of society. On the other hand, there is a power-hungry church using a centuries-old myth to control the people and the nobility from behind the scenes with evil intentions masked as peace-making. Sprinkle in some murder, betrayal, lies, and excellent storytelling and you’ve got a game that’s as fun to watch as it is to play. Final Fantasy: The War of the Lions is the story of one man’s fight against both of these controlling interests in order to do good for the sake of good.
Final Grade: 90%
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions Screenshots