Product reviewsFinal Fantasy Tactics (Sony PlayStation 1, 1998)

20 years of fun and strategy

For the year that it was developed, the graphics were excellent, particularly the background story and art. Compared to your average shoot-em-up-2018, no, the graphics are somewhat pixelated and blurred. But that doesn't stop from playing this awesome strategy game. The game builds strategy, math skills, if you are buying for older children. It has some cartoonish gore, further blurred by the limited resolution of the game. It's a game that can be played many times, many ways. Been playing off/on for 20 years and still enjoyable. Now can introduce to a new generation. I play it on the ancient PS1 so can't speak to compatibility with any other Sony systems. Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: 3ztirf

The game I never knew I needed

As a teenager, I tried FF Tactics and I hated it. I was so set on the classic turn-based battles of the FF series that i couldn't get into the grid style that Tactics used. As an adult a million years later, I love it! It's certainly a challenging game that is addictive. I love the job classes you can use, and i love being able to use abilities that I've learned from other job classes. I'm very glad I gave it another chance as an adult, and I'm looking forward to playing the test of the Tactics series, as well as Tactics Ogre in the near future. Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: stiltzkin85

An absoluter classic all Strategy or RPG lovers should play.

I originally played this back in the glorious PS1 era and had a blast. Having the game today was near the top of my list of games I needed to acquire. For me it isn't too high of praise at all to say that Final Fantasy Tactics is not only one of the best PlayStation or Tactical RPGs ever but that it's even one of the best video games ever made.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: wolfinabq

Adventure Awaits You...

Although in comparison to the games out there these days, Final Fantasy Tactics may seem dated in the cg graphics, the pixellated sprites and gameplay are still marvellous! Having played the game back when it was new, I can say that it was a masterpiece then and is still one now. The wide array of job classes and abilities make the strategy and battles interesting and the story line progresses as you travel across the map of Ivalice. Ramza is the main character and there are a few others that are part of the storyline who you may use in battle from time to time. The rest of your formation can be purchased in towns where you can choose their gender and name. Their job class and skills are developed entirely on your choosing (and once the criteria is met by the character in order to unlock more advanced jobs). Final Fantasy Tactics is a classic title in the series and if you enjoy strategy-based rpgs over a panel/grid battle field, Tactics is a must play!Read full review...

Still the King

I bought Final Fantasy Tactics a long time ago and I hated it more than anything. I had no idea what was going on, it made no sense and it just sat on my shelf… it was the first turn based strategy RPG that I ever played. After a few weeks I decided to try and figure it out and I am so glad that I did.

Final Fantasy is my favorite strategy RPG and I have played them all: Vandal Hearts, Fire Emblem, Tactics Ogre, Ogre Battle, Disgaea, Phantom Brave…you name it. I always buy a new game hoping that it can compare to this game and it never does. For fans of the aforementioned games; stop reading this and buy this game on eBay or Amazon.com right now, you will love it. For those that are still skeptical and have no idea what I am talking about, I will tell you everything about this game.

If you are a Final Fantasy fan and are only interested in this game because of the name like I was I should first tell you it is unlike any other Final Fantasy game (except for the other ones with the word “tactics” in them). You do not walk around towns; you do not explore dungeons. The game consists of hundreds of huge battles that are fought on large grids. The gameplay is often compared to chess although it is only similar in that it is played on a grid. The meat of the game consists of the battles and extremely deep character customization. In Final Fantasy Tactics, you assign your characters to specific jobs which determine their abilities, the equipment they use, and how they perform in battle. For example; a Knight equips swords (and almost any other weapon), and heavy armor and has skills that damage an opponent’s strength, defense, etc; Black Mages equip staffs and light armor and use powerful offensive magic but are very susceptible to damage; you get the point.

When a battle starts you choose the characters you want to use and place them on the board. You then have to strategically defeat the enemy forces or achieve a specific goal. The battles are extremely addicting, mainly because of the huge amount of customization. Unlike other games like Fire Emblem, you can pretty much hand tailor all of your characters, including the main one. Throughout the game you unlock more jobs such as Ninja, Geomancer, Samurai, Dragoon, and many more. You also can acquire characters that have special jobs such as Dark Knight that have very powerful abilities.

As far as the story goes, I have played through this game at least 3 times and I really don’t know what it is about. Something about war and killing and betrayal; it does have its moments, I just can’t really remember the “point” of the game. The music is excellent as should be expected, as are the sound effects. I think the graphics are great although by today’s standards they are pretty bad.

So if you are still unsure of whether or not you will like this game I suggest you find some screen shots of it to get a full understanding of how the game plays.

Pros:
- Great gameplay.
- Deep character customization.
Cons:
- None.Read full review...

One of the best Tactical RPGs ever made

Final Fantasy Tactics was one of the first games in its genre to be released outside of Japan. True to its name, Final Fantasy Tactics contains a vivid story, and introduced players to the world of Ivalice, which became the setting for Final Fantasy Tactics Advance as well as Final Fantasy XII, and will be the setting for the next Final Fantasy Tactics game on the Nintendo DS.

Even years after its release, Final Fantasy Tactics is still one of the best Tactical RPG (TRPG) ever to be created. Being a fan of TRPGs, having played games from Nippon Ichi (Disgaea, Makai Kingdom), Suikoden Tactics, Tactics Ogre, and even the SNES Tenchi game, Final Fantasy Tactics still stands out as one of the best (if not the best) TRPG.

While the game shows its age compared to many modern games, it is still comparable to games seen on the Nintendo DS, as well as other TRPGs. This game arguably brought the genre to North America, and its popularity is still seen through the cost of such an old game, as well as the nil chance that it can be located in stores.

Final Fantasy Tactics, unlike many other TRPGs, incorporate a huge array of abilities in addition to character jobs, allowing for a multitude of viable strategies to fit many styles of play. The characters move within a grid, similar to most TRPGs. Buildings and height differences are incorporated as well, to allow the use of terrain to be factored in.

Difficulty-wise, the game is not so hard to stump the casual player, but can be complicated enough to be fun for more avid gamers as well. This quality is probably what makes Final Fantasy Tactics so enjoyable to so many people.

Bottom line is, if you're a fan of TRPGs, Final Fantasy Tactics is definately a game to play. However, even those who have never played TRPGs should definately give this game or its sequel(s) a try. Fans of real-time strategy games such as Warcraft and Starcraft, as well as fans of western turn-based strategy games such as Alpha Centauri and Civilization would most likely like Final Fantasy Tactics as well.Read full review...

One of the greatest games ever for PS1

A brilliant game with compelling game play.
Typical late 90s PS1 graphics, but that's not why you play this game. The story line and endless character development are a thing of beauty.

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: watch_and_save_...

Final Fantasy Tactics (PS1)

FFT is a classic Playstation game. Initially it wasn't as popular as others in the franchise (probably due do the high learning curve and game difficulty), however it developed a cult following, which led to it being re-released as a Greatest Hit and then revamped for the PSP in The Lions War.

To be sure, FFT is not for everyone. The game-play has a fairly steep learning curve, and it does not resemble the "epic-quest" approach featured in other Final Fantasy games. Furthermore, the name itself is a bit deceiving (probably why it was renamed for the PSP); it is not really a "tactical" or strategic game, as much as it is a highly customizable role playing game. However, therein lies the allure. While the idea of a "job class" system has its origins in previous FF games, FFT differentiates itself by allowing players to build a unique team (max of 5 characters in a given battle) that can greatly increase the replay value and strategic approach.

I would recommend FFT for players who enjoy a degree of complexity in gameplay. Once the learning curve has been overcome, the uniqueness of the game truly shines.Read full review...

FFT the best in turnbased rpg's to ocd on!!

The King of turnbased rpg strategy games set in the Final Fantasy world. Everyone who likes this genre should give it a go!!

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: bae.game.hunters

Why this game is a must buy for any fan of RPGs.

First off I will say that this game is a lot different than most Final Fantasy and traditional style role playing games (RPGs), hence the "Tactics" in it's title. This game has a fantastic story, that is has a great amount of depth and seriousness to it. The story revolves around a boy named Ramza in a time of knights and kingdoms. There is a lot political suspense in the game with betrayal and corruption. The main focus however are the mysterious Zodiac Stones, which hold some kind of power, and people seem to do anything to get their hands on them... but in order to leave out spoilers I will stop there.

The Battle system is the one feature of this game that makes it one of the funnest and greatest games ever made. In this game you have a party of 5 members you can put in battle. Unlike tradition RPGs the battles are overhead on bigger maps with your players usually on one starting point and the enemy on the other. Much like chess. You move on a grid, and each character stands on a square, and can move or attack on a range of sqaures. In this game you choose classes for characters in order to gain abilities for them. A class can be anything from a fighter character like: squire, knight, monk, ninja, samurai, etc. or magic characters like: black mage (offensive), white mage (healing), time mage (offensive/support), etc. There are a wide variety of classes to choose from, but you must explore and level up classes to unlock new classes. Once you have gained abilities from one class, you can pick a subclass ability to compliment your main class. This opens up a wide range of combinations since you can change your class anytime for no cost. You can have let's say, a thief who can normally steal from close range, but turn him into an archer and give him a thief subclass and presto! You can now steal from long distance.

All in all this game is extremely fun to play, has a great story, and very high replay value. It would be a great game for fans of Final Fantasy games, newcomers to RPGs, or even veteran RPG fans who haven't ever played it. I hope this review was insightful, and I hope that anyone who purchases this game enjoys it as much as I have all these years.Read full review...