I love what this game attempted to do... I really do. For what was originally a SNES title, this game was incredibly ambitious for its day. I was shocked at the mature storytelling and themes it tackled as I progressed through its lengthy campaign...
The many different characters and their motivations, political history, and the game's world can be fascinating, albeit a bit overwhelming, especially at the beginning. I was consistently referring to the game's Warren Report - which is essentially an encyclopedia of events, history, important plot points, characters, and lore just to keep up with all the names & places being mentioned.
Combine that with multiple different choices/paths, recruitable characters, and endings, I am a bit shocked at how much I just didn't like it by the end... and even now, I sit at the end dungeon in Chapter 4, a handful of hours from the game's conclusion, but I just don't really have the fortitude to continue on to the game's ending. I just feel kind of done with it. And this makes me incredibly sad...
I appreciate what was attempted here, and being a huge fan of Final Fantasy Tactics, I can still respect Tactics Ogre as being a cornerstone in paving the way for the tactical RPG genre... but unfortunately, there were just too many things that bothered me to truly enjoy this title.
Firstly, let's start with the characters and story. Some of the character motivations are head-scratching at best... I couldn't get over a certain decision made at the end of Chapter 1 and the lack of impact it had... I think with the appropriate build-up, this could have been an incredibly groundbreaking moment, but instead it felt forced and a bit silly. Some actions just didn't feel believable to me, especially with the game presenting it as a choice for our main "hero". And don't get me started on the two "childhood friends": Catiua and Vyse. I absolutely despised these 2, almost from the very beginning... and as the game wore on, they just kept getting worse and worse. They never once felt like "friends" and the decisions some of these characters make and the choices presented were infuriating and/or laughable at times.
I feel that they just didn't work well, and that Matsuno re-attempted it (in a much more believable way, and with greater success) in Final Fantasy Tactics with the character, Delita Hyral. In each and every way, whether it be story, characters or gameplay, I just couldn't shake the feeling that this game was a rough draft, beta version, and an overall inferior product to FFT.
All in all, the game's plot, characters, and themes were so very close to being great... I loved the localization and dialogue presented, but I feel it was a bit overly ambitious and just couldn't reach those legendary heights at which it aspired to reach.
But even saying all of this, I could still have loved this game if only I enjoyed the gameplay... but I don't... in fact, this is where I surprisingly had the most problems with the game. There are so many little things that bothered me where I just found the entire experience unenjoyable. I'll summarize a handful of my issues with the gameplay below:
1. There are too many characters allowed into a battle - I enjoy the party mechanics of having only 4-6 party members in battle like in FFT, but anytime I saw 10+ in this game, rather than feel like it was going to be some epic fight, I braced myself for I knew it was going to be a long, arduous, and boring slog... those 12 party fights were a true pain in the ass to get through. They felt like they took forever... and there are just far too many of them.
2. The first 2-3 turns in combat... they are literally just rushing or waiting to get close to the enemy so you could actually perform actions... dragging the combat out even further.
3. Too much health - Jesus Christ, why does it take so many hits to down an enemy. This shit was ridiculous... nothing ever dies quickly. Neither your team, nor the enemy. With this many characters, at least let them go down fast, I mean goddamn.
4. The level cap mechanic - I understand trying to keep the game challenging and strategic, but there were so many battles where it felt like an enormous waste of time with me getting into 30+ minute fights with no real reward. When fights feel like they're wasting a player's valuable time, I start trying to rush through them.
5. It is all a bit basic - if it wasn't for the other issues, this wouldn't be much of a problem for me, but the intricacies of the combat, and the lack of character abilities/customization, compounded some of the issues I had with it...
I didn't expect to dislike this game as much as a I did... the more I think about it, the more problems I have with it... I'll leave it shelved for now, as I know I'm right at the end. Maybe I'll bump it a half a point if the ending makes it feel like the journey was all worth it, but unfortunately, I doubt it.
The many different characters and their motivations, political history, and the game's world can be fascinating, albeit a bit overwhelming, especially at the beginning. I was consistently referring to the game's Warren Report - which is essentially an encyclopedia of events, history, important plot points, characters, and lore just to keep up with all the names & places being mentioned.
Combine that with multiple different choices/paths, recruitable characters, and endings, I am a bit shocked at how much I just didn't like it by the end... and even now, I sit at the end dungeon in Chapter 4, a handful of hours from the game's conclusion, but I just don't really have the fortitude to continue on to the game's ending. I just feel kind of done with it. And this makes me incredibly sad...
I appreciate what was attempted here, and being a huge fan of Final Fantasy Tactics, I can still respect Tactics Ogre as being a cornerstone in paving the way for the tactical RPG genre... but unfortunately, there were just too many things that bothered me to truly enjoy this title.
Firstly, let's start with the characters and story. Some of the character motivations are head-scratching at best... I couldn't get over a certain decision made at the end of Chapter 1 and the lack of impact it had... I think with the appropriate build-up, this could have been an incredibly groundbreaking moment, but instead it felt forced and a bit silly. Some actions just didn't feel believable to me, especially with the game presenting it as a choice for our main "hero". And don't get me started on the two "childhood friends": Catiua and Vyse. I absolutely despised these 2, almost from the very beginning... and as the game wore on, they just kept getting worse and worse. They never once felt like "friends" and the decisions some of these characters make and the choices presented were infuriating and/or laughable at times.
I feel that they just didn't work well, and that Matsuno re-attempted it (in a much more believable way, and with greater success) in Final Fantasy Tactics with the character, Delita Hyral. In each and every way, whether it be story, characters or gameplay, I just couldn't shake the feeling that this game was a rough draft, beta version, and an overall inferior product to FFT.
All in all, the game's plot, characters, and themes were so very close to being great... I loved the localization and dialogue presented, but I feel it was a bit overly ambitious and just couldn't reach those legendary heights at which it aspired to reach.
But even saying all of this, I could still have loved this game if only I enjoyed the gameplay... but I don't... in fact, this is where I surprisingly had the most problems with the game. There are so many little things that bothered me where I just found the entire experience unenjoyable. I'll summarize a handful of my issues with the gameplay below:
1. There are too many characters allowed into a battle - I enjoy the party mechanics of having only 4-6 party members in battle like in FFT, but anytime I saw 10+ in this game, rather than feel like it was going to be some epic fight, I braced myself for I knew it was going to be a long, arduous, and boring slog... those 12 party fights were a true pain in the ass to get through. They felt like they took forever... and there are just far too many of them.
2. The first 2-3 turns in combat... they are literally just rushing or waiting to get close to the enemy so you could actually perform actions... dragging the combat out even further.
3. Too much health - Jesus Christ, why does it take so many hits to down an enemy. This shit was ridiculous... nothing ever dies quickly. Neither your team, nor the enemy. With this many characters, at least let them go down fast, I mean goddamn.
4. The level cap mechanic - I understand trying to keep the game challenging and strategic, but there were so many battles where it felt like an enormous waste of time with me getting into 30+ minute fights with no real reward. When fights feel like they're wasting a player's valuable time, I start trying to rush through them.
5. It is all a bit basic - if it wasn't for the other issues, this wouldn't be much of a problem for me, but the intricacies of the combat, and the lack of character abilities/customization, compounded some of the issues I had with it...
I didn't expect to dislike this game as much as a I did... the more I think about it, the more problems I have with it... I'll leave it shelved for now, as I know I'm right at the end. Maybe I'll bump it a half a point if the ending makes it feel like the journey was all worth it, but unfortunately, I doubt it.
2 Comments
P.S maybe the psp version would be more in your alley, that one doesn't have the level cap mechanic.
Rensie
1 month ago