Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions | |
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Ivalice Alliance | |
Platform(s) | PlayStation Portable, iOS, Android |
Release | |
multiplayer |
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (Japanese: ファイナルファンタジータクティクス 獅子戦争, Hepburn: Fainaru Fantajī Takutikusu Shishi Sensō) is a tactical role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation Portable (PSP). The game is an updated version of Final Fantasy Tactics made for the PlayStation, which was released in 1997.[4]
The War of the Lions is the second announced game in Square Enix's "
The game was overhauled during development to take advantage of the PSP's screen ratio and technical abilities which resulted in new cutscenes, the capacity for multiplayer, and other features. War of the Lions also includes new playable characters from other Final Fantasy titles, such as
Content and gameplay
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions is a
The combat of War of the Lions can be compared with board games such as chess, with each piece corresponding to a party member in Ramza's current roster of fighters.
Outside of battles, players can move around on an overworld map. This is not free movement like other Final Fantasy games; instead, Ramza can only go from point to point on the map. Crossing a wilderness location may lead to a
Another addition to the game is a wireless multiplayer mode, both for cooperative and competitive play. In competitive play, opposing teams may place traps onto the battlefield, and these traps are hidden from the opponent. To ease identification, teams are assigned colors. The battle ends after a set number of rounds, and the team with the most remaining HP is declared the winner. The winner may then receive an item randomly generated from treasure chests.[20] Multiplayer is not included in the iOS version, however.[8]
Development
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions was revealed in December 2006, in the
Following the trend of
New character classes were chosen at the beginning of development, with a staff member who loved the original Tactics title assigned to balance the new jobs within the game.[26] The new classes are the Onion Knight, taken from Final Fantasy III, and the Dark Knight, which was previously only available to one character, Gaffgarion. The Dark Knight in the remake has additional abilities and thus the original Dark Knight class was renamed to "Fell Knight". The Fell Knight class is still unique to Gaffgarion.[23]
The North American localization of The War of the Lions has full audio voice acting for the video sequences in the game.[28] The slowdown and sound downgrade, though acknowledged by the localizers, was not a priority for them to fix, being stated as "out of their hands".[29] Various reviewers have differing opinions about how the slowdown issue has been addressed; one of the previews of the North American version claims that the slowdown has been reduced, stating that "now the technical issues are about on par with the minor slowdown exhibited in the PS1 release and are no longer distracting", while others claimed that the slowdowns still "occur when performing attacks or spells in battle".[30][31]
Because of vocal criticism of the original English language translation, a whole new translation was commissioned for the remake.
Other platforms
A PlayStation Network version was released on March 9, 2011, in Japan, and in North America on July 18.[34] In response to player's requests that Square Enix release more of their catalogue on mobile phones, a project to port "War of the Lions" commenced.[35] Rebuilding the game for a touch interface and not having the PlayStation Portables shoulder buttons took much time and "trial and error", relying on the work done to adapt previous Final Fantasy titles.[35] Certain iOS features were not supported including Game Center since the game is not "inherently competitive".[35]
The War of the Lions for iOS was released in 2011, with the iPhone version released on August 4.[36] An iPad version was released on February 23, 2012.[37] An Android port was released through the Square Enix Market on February 14, 2013, in Japan, featuring enhanced graphics, a higher draw speed, and controls optimized for a touchscreen.[38] An iOS update was promised, and when released also included multiple iCloud save slot support.[38][39] The Android version was globally launched on Google Play on June 4, 2015 without cloud saving.[2]
Reception
Aggregator | Score |
---|---|
GameRankings | PSP: 88%[40] |
Metacritic | PSP: 88/100[41] iOS: 72/100[42] |
Publication | Score |
---|---|
Eurogamer | 9 / 10[17] |
Game Informer | 9.5 / 10[43] |
GamePro | 4.25/5[44] |
GameSpot | 8 / 10[45] |
GameSpy | [7] |
GamesRadar+ | 9 / 10[18] |
GameTrailers | 9.2 / 10[15] |
GameZone | 9 / 10[46] |
IGN | 9 / 10[10] |
PlayStation Official Magazine – UK | 10 / 10[47] |
Play | 9 / 10[47] |
PlayStation: The Official Magazine | 9.5 / 10[47] |
TouchArcade | iOS: [48] (iPad) [49] |
The War of the Lions reached the top of Japanese gaming charts, and sold 100,000 copies in the first month of release in the United States.
As of December 2007, The War of the Lions on the PSP has a score of 88/100 at the aggregate review site Metacritic based on 41 reviews,[41] 88% at GameRankings based on 47 reviews.[40] In comparison, the original Final Fantasy Tactics scored 83 from 12 reviews at Metacritic.[53] Critics in general were pleased that the game had been remade, as it was considered a cult hit in its original incarnation but copies had become difficult to find.[10][15][54] The War of the Lion's tactical gameplay was widely praised as deep and engaging, as battles could proceed along any number of lines depending on party composition and player strategy.[7][55] Reviewers liked the focus on player choice on the battlefield, such as approaching an engagement with defense in mind, or alternatively hitting enemies hard and fast in a kind of blitzkrieg.[56] The Job system, especially its complexity, customization, and ability to influence battles, was commended.[14][19][56] GameTrailers wrote: "Even up to now, Final Fantasy Tactics job classing structure is still one of the best the genre has seen; a feature-rich and flexible system matched only by its equally complex battle engine".[15] The new jobs were also appreciated.[7][55]
The War of the Lions' new translation was frequently commented upon. Reviewers felt that while its narrative was florid, even
The negative comments about The War of the Lions focused on the game's slowdown during battles and its difficulty. Some party actions slow down the game's framerate and decrease the audio quality, becoming most apparent when casting spells or using special abilities that require different lighting effects.
The iOS version was less well received than the PSP edition. While reviewers echoed positive comments about the storyline and gameplay, they were displeased with the removal of multiplayer, graphical issues that still had not been fixed, and most importantly, the price point at initial release.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions has received acclaim in more recent years. In 2022, GamesRadar hailed Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions as the 11th best PSP game ever made.[60] In 2023, Cultured Vultures ranked Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions at #1 in their list of the best PSP games of all time.[61]
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External links
- Final Fantasy Tactics official Square-Enix page (English)
- Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions at IMDb