It was mentioned in the "Final Fantasy Sucks" thread (which turned to the FF7 thread), so I thought I'd start another thread about it.
Now, I'll be the first to say that FFT was a great game. I'm not a fan of the FF series itself, but I can't deny that I had lots of fun playing this game. It's actually one of only two PS1 games that I still have a copy of (the other one is an RPG too, feel free to take a guess). However, I'll also admit hat it had its flaws, and it's far from the best tactical/strategy RPG, even for its time.
What was good?
The combat system was really well polished. The effects of different terrain were great, and the timed actions added some depth to the normally standard "move, attack, move" action. The fact that all of your information was laid out in front of you seems a little cheap but really adds to the cerebral nature of the combat.
The level and job system were deep. Lots of stuff to unlock there, and some of the jobs were really cool. The character customization was nice too, not only with equipment but also the job skills. There are tons of options for building a character depending on the skills you give them and "buy".
The character recuriting and party formation were interesting. There were only a handful of "story" characters and you could create other characters and even use monsters as you saw fit. I consider that another level of customization, and it rocks.
The non-story game options were probably as good or even better than the actual main plot. Sending characters away on "quests", poaching, all of the "extra" stuff was really good instead of just some mini-game tacked on for no reason.
The soundtrack was pretty good too.
What was bad?
Yeah I'll probably get heckled here. I have a lot of complaints about FFT.
Can we all agree that the story sucked? I mean, come on, it wasn't "complex" it was needlessly convoluted. I found myself grudgingly playing through the story just to open new areas so I could build up my characters more. FF games are supposed to be the other way around, right?
The battle system was great but why were the maps so small? And your party was tiny. Even so, the battles to for-ever. I mean, come on, if I have five cahracters it should not take a half hour to defeat a couple of weak monsters. This was one S-L-O-W game.
The game never really used the FF "universe" to great effect. It didn't feel so much like a tactical FF game as it did some generic game with some FF themes painted on top. The only really core FF component was the boring story.
The job system was great but character and job leveling were horribly executed. It was always either insanely easy or impossibly difficult to get anywhere, depending on if you had the "right" combinations of jobs and skills. Also, if you had the "wrong" setup, some story battles were basically impossible, and some of them you can't back out of. If you happened to save at the wrong time with the wrong party, you could actually be so stuck you'd have to start over. Bad design.
The graphics. It's not so much that the graphics were bad; they were, but considering the time they weren't really more than average. The real problem I have with the graphics is that, since this is TH3 1337 T4CT14L RPG so many tactical RPG's after it have used it as an excuse not to make their graphcis any better than FFT. Yes Nippon Ichi, I'm looking at you.
I guess that's enough for now. I have more complaints about FFT but this will be enough for people to say "OMFG n00b, GTFO u R so dum!11!one!BBQ".
Now, I'll be the first to say that FFT was a great game. I'm not a fan of the FF series itself, but I can't deny that I had lots of fun playing this game. It's actually one of only two PS1 games that I still have a copy of (the other one is an RPG too, feel free to take a guess). However, I'll also admit hat it had its flaws, and it's far from the best tactical/strategy RPG, even for its time.
What was good?
The combat system was really well polished. The effects of different terrain were great, and the timed actions added some depth to the normally standard "move, attack, move" action. The fact that all of your information was laid out in front of you seems a little cheap but really adds to the cerebral nature of the combat.
The level and job system were deep. Lots of stuff to unlock there, and some of the jobs were really cool. The character customization was nice too, not only with equipment but also the job skills. There are tons of options for building a character depending on the skills you give them and "buy".
The character recuriting and party formation were interesting. There were only a handful of "story" characters and you could create other characters and even use monsters as you saw fit. I consider that another level of customization, and it rocks.
The non-story game options were probably as good or even better than the actual main plot. Sending characters away on "quests", poaching, all of the "extra" stuff was really good instead of just some mini-game tacked on for no reason.
The soundtrack was pretty good too.
What was bad?
Yeah I'll probably get heckled here. I have a lot of complaints about FFT.
Can we all agree that the story sucked? I mean, come on, it wasn't "complex" it was needlessly convoluted. I found myself grudgingly playing through the story just to open new areas so I could build up my characters more. FF games are supposed to be the other way around, right?
The battle system was great but why were the maps so small? And your party was tiny. Even so, the battles to for-ever. I mean, come on, if I have five cahracters it should not take a half hour to defeat a couple of weak monsters. This was one S-L-O-W game.
The game never really used the FF "universe" to great effect. It didn't feel so much like a tactical FF game as it did some generic game with some FF themes painted on top. The only really core FF component was the boring story.
The job system was great but character and job leveling were horribly executed. It was always either insanely easy or impossibly difficult to get anywhere, depending on if you had the "right" combinations of jobs and skills. Also, if you had the "wrong" setup, some story battles were basically impossible, and some of them you can't back out of. If you happened to save at the wrong time with the wrong party, you could actually be so stuck you'd have to start over. Bad design.
The graphics. It's not so much that the graphics were bad; they were, but considering the time they weren't really more than average. The real problem I have with the graphics is that, since this is TH3 1337 T4CT14L RPG so many tactical RPG's after it have used it as an excuse not to make their graphcis any better than FFT. Yes Nippon Ichi, I'm looking at you.
I guess that's enough for now. I have more complaints about FFT but this will be enough for people to say "OMFG n00b, GTFO u R so dum!11!one!BBQ".
