Why Final Fantasy Tactics is the best game you never played 

Imo, its the only FF with true replayability

It's in my Top 3 for story for sure 🙏

@@AlleywayJack which game’s stories do you prefer?

You might like FFXII then. It's set in the same world (Ivalice). Story is pretty compelling as well.

Love FF... But Tactics Is my favorite

@@beanlegume9965 I rate most of them highly, but have particular regard for the Ivalice games, FF8, and FF10

Excited for future episodes on this game

You can really tell that the story was written by a politics major.

How was Igros?

Glad you enjoyed it :) I do recommend giving it a go one day. Hopefully a remaster and/or further ports will come down the line so its more widely available.

This is the comment.

I did it the other way around lol

I did this on PSX my 2nd playthrough, when the internet was fresh and yahoo was the king of search engines.

@@jonnyjazzz Midlight's Deep is PSP exclusive (I stand corrected) It's 10 (iirc) pitch black levels and to get the Treasure Hunter items you have to land on predetermined spots on each map that would normally be traps and you have a chance to get a common or rare item. Enemies can also spring these traps making the items impossible to get. It took hundreds of resets to get the stars to align to beat enemies to EVERY treasure AND get every rare item with no +movement abilities. It's easily the most time and RNG intensive video game achievement I've ever managed in my 41 years.

@@dirtyfrench2926 Oh. Which is end-game area where it's optional and you find exclusive items on the floor with move-find? That's what I recall.

@@dirtyfrench2926 Ah I looked it up. It's called Deep Dungeon. That's what I thought you were talking about.

@@dirtyfrench2926 Ok last reply to you. I looked into this further. Midnight's Deep on the PSP is just Deep Dungeon renamed. It uses the same 10 level layout. Could be small differences to items found, etc, but I didn't want to waste any more time on this. Now you are educated.

I also first played it at a similar time and age. Initially I didn't fully appreciate/understand the gameplay because I also expected something like FF7, but the story always grabbed me and it became one of my favourites in the series.

Tbh Dycedarg’s pretty hateable as well, as is Rafa’s stepdad ( I cannot remember his name)

I think Agrias Oaks is one of the few exceptions and even then she was a bodyguard for Ophelia and due to how complicated her situation was,she couldn't do a good job at it.

Not sure if this is a good way to do things, but let your curiosity guide you. Don't worry about the "should", as there's a world of options. You start out with just a few jobs, and if you're a fan of the genre you already kind of know how they work. The skills you purchase are used with your current job, but can also be used in the secondary job skills slot, so it's all about building characters that appeal to you. For example, the Knight has skills to break armor, shields, weapons, and helmets. If you buy those and then later on change jobs to an Archer, by using Knight skills as your secondary abilities you can break enemy gear from a distance. If you unlock the Ninja job, they attack twice per turn. So the Knight skills as a Ninja gives you twice the chance to break enemy gear. By starting with simple jobs, you can build them to your liking, then change to something else. Don't worry about maxing out jobs - just get the skills that appeal to you. A Chemist makes a great White Mage, as you can use healing items if you run out of MP. Changing to a Monk or a Summoner after White Mage can give some good offense and provide different healing abilities as well. As you level up a job, make sure to check the job change screen. It'll tell you what level you need to have certain jobs at to unlock new jobs. It's just one of those games that I'd recommend playing through (at least) twice. If you go in trying to know everything so you can play a perfect game, you're going to have a bad time. If you go in with the idea that you're going to learn as you go, it's actually pretty easy to figure out the main mechanics and make a party that really works with your personal play style. Don't get bogged down in the details and just dive in!

@@SkeletroyCounterpoint. Dragoons only. Nothing but dragoons. A team full of dragoons. Rain death from above. Our spears shall blot out the sun. Dragoons = best class. 10/10

I mean if you really want to you could finish the game with just a party of Squires. I've seen it done xD

You bring an interesting point: I remember getting this game way back when & thought it was amazing. Introduced it to a friend & he immediately wrote it off as boring. It was funny; he would play FF7 & 10 to completion. What I realize now is that FFTactics is immensely tied to its menus. The numbered titles would do this too, but Tactics would require you to write a dissertation before having fun with its mechanics. Pick character, move him, select ability, attack from the sides or back to maximize your success rate, etc, etc. It’s a lot to ask for someone playing a game for “fun”. But, if you got it, there’s so much to like. Great story, great music, near infinite possibilities to build your team to your liking.

@@genericsavings I appreciate your civility! You don’t see that much in the comments section of YT, especially those involving gamers. You comment in the same way I do: you lay out your points persuasively (but without confrontation), with hopes for starting a meaningful, fruitful conversation. It’s endearing to see there are other thoughtful gamers out there. Will I play tactics because of your argument? Maybe, maybe not. For sure you’ve got me considering it more than ever before 😁

@@mickwritesmaui5899​​⁠​⁠you’re welcome. 😊 While I strongly urge you to play it, I understand why it’s a hard sell. Speaking for myself; I work for a living & have responsibilities. There was a gaming YTer that brought up this exact point. You work & have kids; you have to “work” for your entertainment? Easy to do when you don’t have bills or a mortgage. ;)

Thank you, I would like to cover the characters in more depth in future :)

@@AlleywayJack That would be awesome!

> PS1 Square was not to be fucked with - Truer words have never been spoken. Thanks for the sub, glad you enjoyed the episode.

Respect 🙏

Hit after hit, year after year. 90s Square was something else.

Top 5 for me too 👍

That's the tragedy of the story. I was always gutted about Wiegraf.

You’re out of your mind on the replayability The class combinations in FFT are far superior

@@starlyghtdrifter66 how many endings and narrative changes happen based on your choices in FFT?

FFT ftw, Thank you 🙏

The mobile versions are the only ones I haven't played. Tempted to get it even so I have a curent version even though I don't play much on mobile.

Could you play it on your console? I don't know about Australia but in the UK we couldn't play American NTSC games which sucked

Had my PS1 chipped to play NTSC games... best decision ever made :)

Agree, would love to see it on Steam

Yous must be crazy

Same. I’ve replaced my PSP’s battery twice now just for this game. I want a remaster for the switch

tick-tock ⏰

it was remade already

@@GooseGumlizzard How so?

@@m0thdm FFT: War of the Lions, was a remake or “enhanced remaster” which came out in PSP in like 2007

@@GooseGumlizzard Im not talking about that. You know im talking about a true RE-MAKE and not a glorified remaster. CMON

Same, never played the mobile versions as I don't really play mobile. Tempting though

@@AlleywayJack did you ever play A2 on the ds?.

It's worth playing the war of the lions version. The animation it added is great. Plus you get bathier

Having finished the video now, and I kinda stand by what I said. I haven’t played the game in quite a while (first and last time back on psp), and I’d gladly revisit it, but I do think TS surpassed it in all the ways I care about. I don’t know if TS is quite so entrenched in real history as FFT, but it (the world, story, characters) felt more real to me when I played it, no history lesson needed. Whereas much of the world building of Tactics (rumors about the king for example) were disregarded by my adult brain as I struggled to keep on top of a complicated plot that disappointingly boiled down to “the church is evil; collect the magic stones”. I’m not saying the plot is stupid or shallow (clearly from this video it isn’t), but if that’s the retention of the average player who doesn’t know everything about the war of the roses, that’s a shortcoming. Perhaps I’ll get more out of it next time I play it (hoping for a switch port this year)

Not so much. The Saint was easy to defeat. One of the few with a set level. When one of the stones resurrects that one character ramza even points out that the stones can do good but are too easily corrupted by man. That's like the solid proof at least to him that what the church is doing is just selfish manipulation. Plus the corrupted saints real power would have been people believing and not rising up. As ramza and some.buddies take the evil Saint down. Easy. For once the theming of fighting against the systems of control the game had were seen the whole way through . they didn't really change the theme just added a fun fantasy story behind it. Yes they wanted to use the stones to produce miracles to bolster belief. But ramza and a few mercenaries kinda dismantled the while super powered orgization from the shadows. If he didn't then it's likely the monarchy would have risen up and I could see it doing like history and having the monarchs split off to make their own. Version. Of the church that doesn't listen to that version and allowed more social freedoms. Kinda weird to think. But ramza stopping the churches plot might have actually helped them maintain power longer oddly as they had no choice but to give up the power grab and maintain relations with the nobles.. course we don't have a sequel to find out if that is the case but given its parallels with history it would seem the likely course of things.

What no way. The game is super easy. But then again I grinded several hours much first play through and unlocked all the classes and figured out how to power level before I even got half way through the prelude too.. An easy goto are getting the monk asap. The different punch attacks and the Chakra skill are just mega handy. Then ninjas and it's all cake after that. Honestly just abusing ramzas shout skill does more then enough to make the game easier though.

Ehh really only when you get to the final boss battle. The enemies leveling with you kept it interesting up until that battle.

@@mikepen0287 i specifically dont like how you spend 70% of the game doing suboptimal/cheesey moves to level your characters. Or using classes you dont like just to get access to the one you actually want to play.

You absolutely nailed it. From the deep lore to the characters to the story, you just absolutely get why this game is incredibly loved by those of us who have played it. Ramza... ahhhh Ramza, easily my favorite protagonist in any video game. His staunch refusal to take any path but his own, and to take the most honest path of anyone, relying on no machinations, no maniupulating others, and only doing what he believes is right in any moment. While I consider Delita to be quite villainous, he is a villain I can empathize, and even admire. He, in many ways becomes the anithesis of what Ramza is, and while they share similar goals, to see the corruption in their world defeated, Delita does so by becoming corrupt himself, whereas Ramza stays true to his ideals completely While Formav and Altima are the biggest villains of the story, I find the 3 main antagonists to be Argath, Wiegraf, and Gafgarian. Two of which I admire and respect, and the third I'm forever grateful that the War of the Lions port lets me kill his reanimated corpse for a second time. Starting with Gafgarian, He is a mercenary and fighting him is strictly business. He has a job to do, that I can't allow him to do. I love that he is strictly in in for the money and to a lesser extent because I think he enjoys the fight. His boss battles themselves are challenging but fair, unless of course you've broken the game open, at which point he should be calling foul Next up I'll discuss Argath, who's antagonism is strictly personal because the childish brat can't get over himself, or who his Daddy was. Ugh, he is the kind of noble/rich kid that every one of us nerds had to put up with growing up that turned their nose up at us, while being unable to best us at absolutely anything. I enjoy breaking his face at Fort Zeakdon so much, and then when I played War of the Lions and I saw him come back I just started laughing maniacally because I hate him so much and reveled in the fact that he gets to die again. Finally there is Wiegraf, who is many ways a reverse Argath. Wiegraf takes his rivalry with you personally, because you killed his sister, and felt justified in it. The key difference between Ramza and Argath though is that Ramza pitied Milleuda, while Argath felt disdain for Tietra. Wiegraf is absolutely justified in wanting Ramza dead, and I can't hate him for it. I also however cannot let him succeed in defeating me, because in his grief he turned to the very forces that I have to defeat. Anyway I could gush on and on about these increible characters and this amazing winding narrative forever, so before I go even further overboard I'll close with how I summarized this game to the girl I was dating when I finally got my own copy after my parents sold the old one. Final Fantasy Tactics is a tale of two friends, as close as brothers, who discover the world is nothing but Puppets and Puppeteers. Where one friend takes the path of being the master puppeteer, the other chooses the path of being neither. Thanks for an awesome video!

@@willlindell8904 Sorry for the late reply. Thank you for your comment and I'm glad you enjoyed the video! Yeah I really rate the depth of this cast of characters and for story alone I think FFT is quite possibly the best Final Fantasy title. Ramza and Delita are this dualistic, fatalistic heart of the story and I think they're both excellent foils as virtuous hero and tortured villain here- your point about puppets/puppeteers nails it.

3 things. Wotl added the pretty animations, it added balthier and just didn't really explain that but he was handy. And co op dungeons and missions