Final Fantasy Tactics for PSP

I consider myself a very lucky person to have a great friend that I've known for more than 20 years and have come to know and care for like my own family. One great thing I've grown to appreciate is that we can go for days, weeks -- even months -- without speaking with each other, but when we do see each other again, it's like no time has elapsed. We can pick up where we left off, albeit wiser and more mature than our last encounter. "Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions" for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) handheld console is a lot like my old, close friend that has returned after almost 10 years to hang out and have a good time.

Square-Enix's "Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions" is an updated port of Squaresoft's original PlayStation game from 1998. It is not only a tactical, strategy based role playing game (SRPG), it has the distinction of being one of a handful of games to bring the SRPG genre to the forefront of the American console gamer's mindset years ago. It has a simple premise with an incredibly deep advancement system, slow but calculated combat and a rich and (sometimes over-) involved storyline that could rival some novels.

I would need several columns to completely write about "Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions," as the game is very large with a cast of 30 to 40 people to keep track of in the main storyline. Add to this the 20-person party you can have waiting to be put to battle (five or so at a time) and over 20 different job classes each one of your characters can become, and it can get bit overwhelming. You play as a young knight who has a part to play in a war between a ruling family fighting over who should rule the country. Families are divided, friends are betrayed, secrets are revealed and alliances will be made, broken and reforged. It gets way more involved than this one line, believe me!

Fortunately, Square-Enix has made some updates to the game to make it more manageable without stripping away the essential gameplay. The storyline has been slightly rewritten to make more sense, as the original had certain flaws and the end of the game was poorly translated, and there is a more user friendly system to keep track of important events and people throughout this large and complex storyline.

In addition, not only has new animation been added to further immerse the player into the world of Ivalice (where the story takes place), several characters from the "Final Fantasy" universe, have been added as playable characters as you go through the storyline. Another nice upgrade is the PSP Wi-Fi capable play which was not in the original. You and a friend can battle against each other, or combine your teams to cooperatively battle the AI (Artificial Intelligence) and win items and money for defeating the computer with skill.

Unfortunately, certain annoying issues were not addressed, like the 45 degree camera angles of the battlefield. While you can move the camera in 90 degree increments, they are positioned at the corners of the battlefield. It does not seem like much of an issue, but when the field is made up of three-dimensional towns and forests, many times it is not possible to see members of your party or certain enemies clearly. It would have been better for Square-Enix to upgrade the camera system since they were already making other fixes. This coupled with the slight slowdown of gameplay when special techniques are used by the characters on the field (which never occurred on the original PlayStation) makes the game feel like they really could have fixed a few more things given the time. These two issues get on my nerves and take away from the gameplay.

Also, Square-Enix, why can't you quit in a battle? Those days of "you have to leave the game and reset the system if you want quit the battle once you start" died with the original PlayStation. What happened here? Even "Jeanne D'Arc" (PSP) gave you the opportunity to save before fully committing to a battle. New players to the game or genre will probably not even notice or be bothered with my personal issues with the game; returning Ivalice veterans, it's something to be aware of.

While these are points of contention with me, it's not so much that I just threw the game out the window because of it. Indeed, it is because of the gameplay and the storyline that I continued despite my annoyances. As you start with your team of five, they will gain proficiency in their jobs and their abilities. As you excel in certain jobs, new jobs will be available, which will allow new abilities. This gives the game a depth that ensures that no two people will play the game exactly alike. Will you train your character to be a chemist, which can dispense life restoring potions, or will you train them to be a black mage, wielder of damage inducing magic? Once your main job is selected, you may pick an ability of a second job to add, but you should have abilities of that job to make it useful. To do that, you must battle and gain enough "job points" to be able to acquire abilities for the job you wish to use.

Sounds confusing? I won't lie to you, it is. But once you take the time to get used to the battle system and the job class advancement system, you start to see that it is confusing because it is so open and versatile to let you create each and every character your way. The more you play, the more the possibilities open up to you and the less confusing it becomes.

And there is the catch. If you want a 10- to 20-hour game, stop reading right now. This game is not for you. To really get the most out of this game, expect to invest (and I chose that word specifically) a good 60 to 100 hours or more. Luckily, the PSP makes it easy to start a battle, and suspend the PSP to come back to it later, so it is great for pick-up-and-play action. Just don't expect to win every battle in five minutes at first -- and, well, basically, throughout the game. The game is also unforgiving. Once you've spent 46 hours building your master thief and that unit gets KO'd in battle, you have three turns to revive that unit (it has a flashing number over its head). If that KO'd thief dies in battle, you lose him from your party permanently, so think ahead during battle.

For me, Square-Enix's "Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions" for the PSP is another old, dear friend who has returned after a long absence with some new clothes, a "live to go anywhere" attitude and also likes to hang out with my new friends. I just wish a few of their ideas from 10 years ago had evolved with the times. Still, flaws and all, it's always nice to just sit down and relax with a good friend.

Alejandro's GameCore Review Equation: (Intermediate) Complex + Challenging + Fun + Versatile *Addicting = Solid Buy