The core gameplay in War of the Lions remains unchanged from the original version, but there are two new classes: the Onion Knight and the Dark Knight (no, not Batman, but playing as Gotham By Gaslight Batman would be awesome). Note for those who played the original version: They aren’t a major addition, but they do make a nice expansion on Delita’s storyline. There are a few clichés to be found, but they are far outnumbered by great elements that aren’t used so often, especially outside of Final Fantasy games.Īside from the new translation, War of the Lions’ story stays very true to the original, but it is worth noting that a few new story battles were added. Both play important but very different roles in the War of the Lions, a war that entirely changes the balance power in the land of Ivalice. Without giving too much away for those who haven’t played the original, I can say that the story in WotL is that of Ramza Beoulve, son of a nobleman, and his childhood friend, Delita Heiral, a commoner. It features dialogue that ranges from very good to almost Shakespearean, whereas the original translation suffered from bad grammar and awkward word choices, and that change allows the plot to really shine. WotL was completely retranslated, and it shows in a huge way. So how did I not pick up on it five years ago? Bad translation. The story’s actually so good that it’s a noticeable factor in your enjoyment of the game. Not many have great stories like Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. It was only now, 10 years after the game’s original release, that the PSP version showed me both why I stopped playing and why so many other people couldn’t stop themselves from playing. What happened? Later on, I thought it was just that I got busy at work and stayed too busy playing other games that I never got back to it. I stopped about 2 battles later and never went any further. Five years later, I had the equipment and saw FFT on clearance, so I bought it and eagerly started playing. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a PlayStation, and as a poor college student, I found myself hocking even my Game Boy games from time to time, so buying a PS and a game was out of the question.

The gameplay, the story, I couldn’t remember anyone not loving it. When it came out on the original PlayStation in 1997, people raved about it. From the first time I saw a port of an old game on the PSP, I hoped for the day they would port Final Fantasy Tactics.

Final fantasy tactics translation