Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions review

While there are almost limitless combat strategies, the plot is concrete and linear. FF Tactics isn't a game that allows you to choose your own path, folks. The story is being told to you - sit back and enjoy it, because it doesn't get any better than this. Powerful families are destroyed, friends kill each other, family members are murdered in front of each other and villains are given clear, non-insane motives but you kill them anyway.

As you progress through the game, the world map that charts your progress from battle to battle. There are a few added scenes that flesh out the characters and even a few brand new fights. The dialogue has been greatly improved. Fans of the first game will tell you that you could play through the whole thing two or three times before really getting it. Now it's much easier to follow. It's still complex, but much easier.

Our only complaint about the dialogue is the faux ye olde speake that didn't really exist before. Nobody said "Aye" in the PSone version and "akademy" wasn't spelled with a K. Frankly, we liked it more that way. Overall, the revamped dialogue is a big improvement, and we can forgive a few stupid lines if we get a better story out of it. There are also a handful of beautiful, cell-shaded cutscenes that have been added. Although there aren't many of them, we couldn't be happier with the way they turned out.

The two new character classes are both designed to be used after pumping some serious play time and leveling into the game, and you find most of their best equipment through the new multiplayer modes. They can be very powerful if you sink some time into them, and we like that they're high-end because it keeps the core of the game the same and adds some quest time if you feel like the thirty hours it takes to get through the central story isn't long enough. Multiplayer also adds some hours by letting you team up with a friend for challenges or pit your parties against each other. The thing is, it's ad-hoc only, so you'll need to find a buddy with a copy of the game around your level.