Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions for the PSP may be old hat for most PlayStation owners, but it is a well-worn and comfortable hat and it it still fits those that are willing it to don it one more time. But this familiar game is not without some nuances that make it a lot of fun, despite it's highly challenging nature.
The familiar characters remain unchanged, though slightly refined: protagonist Ramza Beoulve and sister Alma; Delita Heiral; Princess Oevelia Atkaschathe and knight protector Agrias Oaks; the gun toting Mustadio Bunnasa and even Cloud bring the world to life.
It is familiarity that makes Final Fantasy Tactics for PSP the most appealing to long time fans of the game. The world map remains unmolested, along with how the controls work, the placement of random and scripted events, the town facilities (tavern, missions, outfitters), job classes, characters, locales, battle maps, etc. Everything is as it was before, but more refined and highly functional on the PSP.
The key ingredient that fans will be keenly aware of in this re-release is that is the same game as the ultra popular classic tactical RPG released in 1998 for the Playstation. The gameplay remains largely unchanged, the job classes remain intact and the difficulty are all as you fondly remember them. Tactics always was a brutal game to play and that brutality has not been watered down one bit for PSP owners. Melee units still beat the crap out of you at every opportunity, spellcasters still know how to precisely target your weakest members, and a unit with dwindling hit points still has a good chance of dying within three turns. This is the nature of the beast and that beast has the same set of jagged, painful teeth.
Tactics still plays out the same way it always did. You take your squad of five units out into random and preset 3D encounters and use the cleverest tactics you can muster to defeat the enemy. The enemies are also very cunning because most of the time they are the selfsame kinds of units that you are using - Chemists, Squires, Knights, Black Mages, Monks, Archers, White Mages, Time Mages, Thieves, Orators, Mystics, Geomancer, Dragoons, Samurai, Ninjas, Arithmeticians, Bards, Dancers, Mimes, Onion Knights and Dark Knights. And like you, these units are usually mixed up with all kinds of skills from previous jobs, allowing them to use magic, fighting techniques and more not represented by their current classes. It's a fun mix but in some battles - especially the scripted ones - things can get a little too hairy.
The sometimes brutal battles still take place on a 3D grid-based map offering an isometric view with varying degrees of view and height. The camera still remains problematic at times, but it's nothing you can't work around in the grand scheme of things. Things like height and terrain still play an important role in the game but the best method for winning any battles - random or scripted - is good old fashioned grinding.
The biggest change to the formula is a number of graphical updates to the entire system, some new cinematics and some decent voice acting that help the story make a little more sense and infuse it with more emotion. The rollercoaster of a story still remains, with all its twists turns and betrayals, but now that story makes a little more sense.. a little.
