The world of forums
seems to have been going wild for a few days around the release of Final Fantasy
Tactics (ici
on the App Store) “too expensive”, “in English” and “and the Retina brothel
?!” can be read everywhere across the web and especially in our forums.
And yet it would be a shame to miss this masterpiece
absolute, considered by connoisseurs as one of the most popular games
achievements in the history of video games.
What does this mysterious “Tactics” mean? Why is this game
unavoidable ?We explain all this to you in our river test
which follows… Prepare yourself for a little reading time. But the game is worth it
largely the candle and even the most recalcitrant to video games risk
get caught up in the incredible program that Final Fantasy Tactics offers
:
Final Fantasy is basically a series of RPGs, “Role Playing Games”, or
“adventure games” combining exploration, battles and skill improvement
of our characters around a long story (several dozen hours of
game per episode). The saga instantly became a huge success with the
first episode in 1987 in Japan and yet began to be exported in
France only in 1997. The first masterpiece, still completely unknown in
France, isFinal Fantasy VI(released in the United States under
title Final Fantasy III, which creates confusion today when it has not
nothing to do with Episode III on the App Store). The first Final Fantasy released
in Eastern EuropeFinal Fantasy VII on Playstation in 1997:
success is immediate. The controversial Final Fantasy VIII and
the excellent Final Fantasy IX, still on Playstation. The creator of the
series,Hironobu Sakaguchi, then went to realize the
filmFinal Fantasy – Creatures of the Mindin 2001 and,
traumatized by its global failure, deviated from the series, which from the tenth
episode then began an irreversible decline to the point of becoming
particularly bland today (witness Final Fantasy XIII).
At the same time, shortly after the Final Fantasy VII episode, a mysterious
episode titled Final Fantasy Tactics on Playstation and only in Japan
and in the United States. Considered too “hardcore” at the time for Europe, it would be necessary
wait ten years to see it arrive in France, but on PSP. Two episodes
have since been released on Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS, but very
mediocre in comparison to the original, a real gem of the genre.
But what does this mysterious “Tactics” mean?Pour
to put it simply, it means the reduction of the “exploration” aspect of a Final
Fantasy is a breeze to delve as deeply as possible into the combat and the
character management. It is therefore more of a strategy game, with
immense possibilities. Yetthe storyline of Final Fantasy Tactics
is without hesitation the most careful, the best written, the most exciting and the
most fleshed out of the entire saga.And so much the better given that it is
linear and is experienced without really having to interact with it. The history of FFT
serves only as a common thread for a series of battles involving your hero and
several warriors accompanying him.
And that's where the beauty of the game begins: each character that we
manages has experience points and a “job”, a job, which can be
change as you want between each fight. We can therefore choose to make one
soldier, an archer, a thief, a white magician, a black magician, etc., knowing
that the experience points he earns in a profession will not apply
entirely (far from it) to another job if we decide to change it.
In our team of 5-6 or more characters, each will earn a
experience in his profession as the fights progress, and therefore new
spells, new abilities, all the abilities to administer to them
being simply phenomenal and the number of combinations and therefore of
strategies to develop to prepare for fights, being infinite. As proof,
we can go without realizing it twenty minutes before a fight
in the menus to optimize your characters…
But it doesn't stop there: each fight takes place on a setting
divided into a very large checkerboard (like a game of chess or checkers) and “disturbed”
by a very capricious topography. A fight in a desert cannot be
play in the same way as a fight in a mountain interspersed with a
stream or in a meadow. Each character plays turn after turn, all
like enemies, and must begin by facing his abilities to
move more or less far each turn. Once moved, and once
chosen action (attack, cast a spell, use an item, do nothing,
etc), you will have to choose a “position” from four directions (in front,
behind, to the left, to the right), anticipating of course where your character has
the most likely to be attacked. Because if he is attacked from the front,
it will take less damage than from the side or, even worse, from behind.
Constantly during a battle, you have to manage your formation, the position of the
characters, always make sure there is one correctly positioned for
protect others (an archer up high for example, a magician behind,
etc), or who can get closer in less than two turns to come and resurrect
a character (who only has three turns to come back to life).Car one
dead character in Final Fantasy Tactics is
definitely.<br>
Worse still: the enemy opposite is very organized and develops with each
battle a strategy that will have to be anticipated. The first fight in Final
Fantasy Tactics is generally a failure for any new player as long as
are required an understanding of the elements on the screen as well as the elaboration
of a strategy. We still reassure you: the whole thing remains affordable
so that the second or third battle results in your victory. There
Progression is one of the strong points of Final Fantasy Tactics. On the other hand if
the first fights last around 10-20 minutes (which is already considerable
compared to those of a normal Final Fantasy),expect
from just a few hours of gameplay to battles lasting a total
each around 1 or 2 hours. Long, intense fights,
gripping, ... and including an outcome against us after two hours to have
battled is as infuriating as possible. And yet, we find ourselves chaining together
directly on a revenge as the game absolutely never shows itself
discouraging despite its challenge.We understand better where the
hundred hours of lifespan to finish the game...
Tactical-RPG is not a new genre and it is not Final Fantasy
Tactics that inaugurated it. And yet it is the first (and only) game to have known
wonderfully manage such a balance between depth, strategy,
difficulty, accessibility and fun. FFT touched by grace? Oh yes. And
that's far from everything.
Because Final Fantasy Tactics is more than thata success
incredible in terms of atmosphere, whether aesthetic or sound. And
the settings are in true 3D, all the characters and spells are
made in 2D for a finesse that only this technique still knows
to offer. In summary, it's ultra cute but what's more, the whole thing is of
rare aesthetic richness and above all incredible coherence. The universes
medieval are common in Japanese games, but rarely have they reached
such harmony.The game also owes a lot to its score
musical, which has become a classic today,composed by the too rare
Hitoshi Sakimoto and radically contrasting with the “Final Fantasy” style
usual that we owe to another renowned composer, Nobuo Uematsu. Here
it is a true symphony that we are entitled to and the success of the music is
boils down to one observation: although very repetitive, especially during combat
lasting more than an hour, we don't get tired of it for a single second and we
ask again.
Well, what about the iPhone version in all this?
The iPhone version is the third to be released. It all started with the release
Playstation 1 released in 1997, perfect in every way. Nevertheless on 16/9
was just beginning to emerge its pixels and was only very little exploited on
this console: Final Fantasy Tactics was therefore produced in 4/3. The console
also had a resolution of 640×480 pixels maximum, largely
surpassed since then. In 2007, for the tenth anniversary of the game, a PSP version was released,
remastered in 16:9, but at lower resolution. A new translation
English is also produced, that of the Playstation version being judged
too faithful to the Japanese original and therefore using very
“middle ages”. Being European in 1998 (release of the US version) and playing Final
Fantasy Tactics imported onto Playstation 1, meant arming yourself with a good
dictionary to understand the 120 pages of dialogues included in the
game ! Unfortunately if this PSP version kept all the qualities
aesthetics and depth of play of the original, offering a nice overhaul
in 16/9, it brought its share of defects, notably VERY numerous
slowdowns during spell animations. Summon the god Bahamut
was synonymous with pain for the enemy but also for the player who had to
typing really annoying losses of rhythm on the screen of your console,
especially when they are so numerous (at the slightest fire spell cast)
in already very long games.
The iPhone version is not a simple transposition of the version
PSPcontrary to what we have read in recent weeks.
Technically, it already fixes almost all the technical problems of this
last. Afterwards,a lot of work has been done on handling
via the touch screen.We can now turn around the board
play with fingers, like you can pinch the screen like a photo to zoom
or zoom out at will. Many details take advantage of the touch screen and
listing them here would be tedious (and basically quite uninteresting), but they
truly prove that this adaptation has been thought through from top to bottom.
However, we can criticize many things about this version, notably
that'after 14 years Square Enix still does not have a French version
to offer us. Certainly the game was never a commercial success where
whatever (contrary to what they say!), even on PSP, but its very reputation
strong among the small community of connoisseurs was enough to generate
the wait around this iOs version. Game update options
being unlimited on iPhone, we can hope that a French version will be
soon proposed.But the real disappointment is the absence
graphics optimization to the Retina resolution of the iPhone 4.
We are here exactly facing the Playstation 1 version, pixelated.
So yes, the game is aesthetically magnificent, but we could expect
a version optimized for the iPhone 4. However, here again the hypothesis of a
update cannot be ruled out: the iPad version will be released within
coming weeks, its delay being due to an enormous reconstitution work
graphics at higher resolution. Basically, the Square Enix team has
all redesigned from the ground up to match the much higher resolution of
Apple's tablet. It would make perfect sense that the iPhone version
can also benefit from it for the iPhone 4. At least we hope. And Square
Enix sincerely has an interest in doing justice to this little masterpiece.
Regardless, with complete objectivity,the App Store is equipped with
Final Fantasy Tactics of its deepest and richest game which
either.It is a true jewel, a piece of goldsmith's history.
video game, which is offered to us today for a handful of euros in a
version nicely adapted to the brilliant handling offered by a touch screen.
Still, Square Enix would have done a little more to ensure the finishing touches in
featuring Retina graphics and a French translation. Hope
An update resolving these issues is in order...
The pluses:
- The world's largest Tactics-RPG in your pocket.
- Have you never joined Tactics-RPG? With FFT, you will
worship… - A hundred hours of gameplay, exhilarating battles...
- The scenario, exceptional.
- The graphics, still magnificent.
- Bugs in the PSP version largely fixed.
- A perfect touch screen adaptation.
Cons:
- Retina graphics, where the hell are they?
- Only in English.
- Only the English translation from 2007. We would like to find in
the options that of 1997, more “middle-aged”. - It's definitely worth updating to fix the bugs.
above. Square Enix owes that to this masterpiece. - The price, really dissuasive for the App Store. And yet the game is worth it
widely. - The application is NOT universal: if you want to play it on iPhone and
iPad, you have to buy both versions. In 2011, this is unacceptable.
i-nfo.fr - Official iPhon.fr app
By : Keleops AG
