Almost every Final Fantasy Tactics review I know of has started with speculation about why the characters don't have noses. Or that reasoning has slipped into the text in one way or another. But you won't hear anything about noses in my review! For there are things in Final Fantasy Tactics worth discussing far more than this anatomical feature of the local characters.
Few people appreciate the plot of Final Fantasy Tactics, apparently because it's hard to understand its twists and turns without a good knowledge of English. Personally, I liked it a lot more than, say, Final Fantasy VIII or IX. It's not just a story of endless intrigue and betrayal, of which there is a lot in the game. It's also a very bold and overtly radical point of view on religion. I think if any prominent Christian patriarch had played this game, he would have anathematized it - some of the characters are too recognizable, and not presented in the best light (I'll refrain from commenting, it's too expensive). There is not the oft-repeated love story in the other Final Fantasy games, but a tale of friendship, which, however, had to go through a lot of tests. The characters in the game are very complex personalities (Dostoevsky rests). In general, if you want my opinion: everything is very dark and sad, but also very exciting. The main character, young aristocrat Ramza, who is also a bastard to boot, leaves his family and renounces his family name after learning what bad things his brothers are doing. At the beginning of the game he is a naive and trusting young man, but he grows tougher and darker, losing one by one the people dear to him. His friend and simultaneously enemy Delita is even more surprising. It is almost impossible to decide whether he is a negative character or a positive one, even after completing the game to the end. We have to thank the developers - all the story inserts are outlined, and if you don't understand something, you can read about it later. You can also learn all about each of the many heroes and villains - there is a separate option for this.villains - there's a separate option for that. I don't want to say much about the graphics. Three-dimensional backgrounds, drawn sprites... Everything as always, no special complaints. You can even say that it is beautiful. A little bit limited in camera control, but yes, you can cope with this. And the graphics don't really matter! Final Fantasy Tactics is, as the name already suggests, a tactical RPG. It's a special thing, forget about the running blue bars, three or four characters in a team and "flat" combat, when the hero and the enemy look at each other's faces. Final Fantasy Tactics is absolutely faithful to the traditions of all tactical RPGs, but it is absolutely individual and unique. What sets Final Fantasy Tactics apart from the other members of the genre? First and foremost, it's the Jobs system. It hasn't happened in any other tactical RPG, but, however, it has already happened twice in the Final Fantasy series - in parts 3 and 5. Any character (with the exception of Chocobo Chickens) can become either a mage, or a knight, or who the hell else, and then easily change the occupation! There are a lot of jobs. Very, very many. By my count, 18, but I don't exclude that there are secret ones. In the beginning, you'll have mostly mercenaries, so it's very important to correctly identify your fighters work. Levels of Faith and Brave are very important. I think it's easy to understand that characters with a high faith score should be promoted in the line of mages, and the brave should be made warriors. Also, don't forget about the gender of the characters. Besides the fact that, as a rule, male characters are stronger and female characters are faster, there are jobs that are only specific to a certain gender (bards are only boys, dancers are only girls). Of course, in the beginning there are not so many of them, but over time, more and more will be discovered, and it will not be so easy to get them. The main problem is that it takes a certain number of levels of some other job to get one, and usually more than one. As an example, if you want to make a character a Summoner, you need two levels of Time Mage. And to become a Time Mage you need two levels of Wizard. And of course to become a Warlock you'll need two levels of Chemist. However, it's not as complicated as it might seem. In addition, there are special jobs that are unique to the characters that join you in the story. Of course, if it were up to me, I'd have everyone be a Holy Swordsman like Orlando, but that, alas, is impossible.
The main thing in Final Fantasy Tactics is combat! In between battles, the interactivity is limited to in-store purchases. The course of battles is fairly standard, just like in any other game of this genre. Remember how important the landscape and terrain where you fight is, you can use it to your advantage, but sometimes it becomes a real enemy. Also, don't forget about poisonous swamps and rivers. You can get four types of bounty for winning battles. Money is simple - it's given to the whole party after the battle. But such things as Experience points and Job points are given only to the character who actually earned them. And if XP are familiar and understandable to everyone, then on the JP, we will dwell more. As the name suggests, they allow you to pump jobs. More precisely, only the work that the character is using at the moment. Plus, for these points you have to learn skills - spells, skills, all the things for which, in fact, you take the job. There's a whole separate article on skills, but I'll save myself the trouble and not dwell on them. Having learned all that is possible, the character becomes a "Master" in this job, receiving a large gold star. The last thing heroes can get are combat trophies, usually weapons, equipment and healing vials. There is an interesting point - the killed enemy will just lie unconscious for three moves (of course, unless you suddenly come to mind to revive him), and then dies finally, leaving in its place either a treasure chest or a crystal that allows you to restore MP and HP of one character. Oh yes, the undead can also just come back to life! Unfortunately, this doesn't apply to your characters - a dead hero, if not brought back to his feet with a vial or spell within three turns, will die permanently and irrevocably, and if it's the main character, the game simply ends.
Of course, you can understand players not really wanting to trade their fighters for some lame job like the Time Mage. But there's always the need for several levels of unloved work for the sake of opening a path to something more meaningful. There are ways to get around this unpleasant obligation. First, if you already have a representative of a job in which you need to promote others, and he's already a "Master" level in his business, the JPs he receives will go to the other characters, even if they've never been in that job. Another way is to change the character's job to the one you want and give this fighter for hire! There's a pub in every town that gives you lots of jobs to do. You do not have to lift a finger - just wait a few days, and the characters will return, getting money, XP, JP and trophies. Pros of this method - you don't have to engage in combat to raise levels of uncomfortable work in combat, you can get rare items and interesting trophies. Cons - only hired characters can go on a part-time job, those who join you in the story have no such right. In addition, for the duration of the task gone fighters can not fight with you until they finish or you do not call them off. So you'll probably have to try all the jobs anyway.I also liked how unobtrusively crossovers with different parts of Final Fantasy are incorporated into the game. When you hire out your fighters (see above), you can sometimes be rewarded with a rare treasure or the discovery of a hitherto unknown location. I wonder how many people in Russia played the very first FF games that came out on the NES? I'm afraid that the number of these is not too great, such names as Pandemonium Castle, Calcobrina and Mysidia Tower won't say anything to people who think that Final Fantasy began with the 6th part. But for true fans of the series who haven't missed a single installment (read: like me), these will be very pleasant, nostalgia-inducing surprises. Of course, the biggest crossover is having Claude Strife from Final Fantasy VII in the game. But to get it you'll have to suffer a lot. I want to talk about the music separately. It's very good, just great! This makes me especially happy, as a music critic by profession. A real symphony orchestra, great tunes and most importantly, everything is in its own style, solemn, a bit ethnic, gothic and classical at the same time! Of course, I don't claim that absolutely everyone will like Final Fantasy Tactics soundtrack - if you like industrial and only it, then play the third Tekken. But it's not the composer's fault, it's just a matter of taste. Final Fantasy Tactics is not a new game, but still, even now, in my opinion, it is one of the best of its genre. It is quite beautiful, challenging and varied, has an interesting intricate plot, wondrous music and a unique system of work. If you don't like the Final Fantasy series for some reason - try to abstract away the stereotypes, and think of Final Fantasy Tactics as just a very good game.
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