As an avid FFT fan, I am absolutely compelled to add [a lot of text] to this thread.
Yes, you should play it. The game isn't without faults, but it's got a lot going for it.
Pros
1)
Fantastic story. It's fairly complex so you may need a few playthroughs to understand it, but it's well worth it. Unlike a lot of other FFs, you won't find a forced and awkward love story here. There isn't any room with all the corruption, murder, assassinations, manipulation, lying, kidnapping, government treachery, and treason going on.
2)
Great job system. Being able to mix and match jobs' (read: classes) abilities gives you a massive amount of customization and tactical depth to your squad.
3)
Spectacular battle system. There's a fairly large learning curve to the whole thing, but once you start to understand it and see your strategies successfully executed, it's profoundly satisfying.
4)
Amazing soundtrack. I don't think this needs an explanation.
Cons
1)
Engrish! This game is riddled with grammatical errors, which are annoying but often don't detract from the general message of the dialogue. However, sometimes there are critical errors in the game's text. At one point in the game, it mentions Dycedarg's elder brother, when in fact Dycedarg
IS the eldest brother!
2)
Stuck in a menu... The game is entirely menu driven. If you were hoping for some free world exploring or mingling with the townspeople, you will be disappointed. 50% of the game is spent on the battlefield, 10% watching cutscenes, and 40% preparing and equipping your squad. This isn't necessarily a con if you're aware of and accept this, but if you're expecting to run around like other FFs, then you will be in for a shock.
3)
Schizophrenic difficulty. The difficulty for this game is all over the place. Some battles you'll breeze through, and then suddenly you'll find one battle that is a brick wall. This may be due in part to the tactical side of the game, in that some players just struggle with certain battle conditions. Regardless, don't be surprised if you suddenly find yourself getting stuck on one particular battle.
4)
Job imbalances. This is kind of a 'difficulty part 2' entry, in that once you understand the game quite well, it becomes astonishingly easy. Not due to your tactical grasp of the game, but because you've learned that there are certain abilities and skills that, when combined, are stupidly overpowered and give your characters massive statistical advantages. *coughbladegraspcough*
-
For all FFT fans:
If you are an experienced player and aren't averse to using an emulator on your
legal copy of the game, you should check out the FFT 1.3 mod that the guys over at FFHacktics [http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?board=18.0] are doing. It's a mod that revamps almost everything about the game to give a much more difficult and well-balanced experience. There are hundreds, if not thousands of changes to this mod, but I'll give a few just so you can get an idea of what's different.
1) Daggers now give +1 speed, so they aren't as useless.
2) Thieves have innate concentrate, Samurai have innate Two Hands, Chemists have innate Throw Item.
3) 'Dash' now has a chance to cancel spell charging, and Throw Stone now has a guaranteed knockback.
4) Knight Swords now use both hands, so you can't dual-wield them
5) Holy Sword techniques now cost MP, and can be blocked like any physical attack.
6) Random enemies will have intelligent equipment and skillsets. No more summoners with Martial Arts!
7) Speaking of random enemies, prepare to meet Arc Knights and Warlocks in random battles.
8) Bosses are actually worthy of the title.
If you love FFT, but find its difficulty lacking, get 1.3 and start remembering what it's like to lose battles =)
(start with 1.3 easytype though...)
Edit: 1.3 has a trailer [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYSe1ezn5TU] if you were curious.
Edit 2:
Raddra said:
Question.
Does it give your characters acces to the special jobs? I was always annoyed that the main character / recruits never got access to the awesome jobs plot NPC's had like Agrias and Cid. Also, that the main characters 'special job' was Squire was frustrating(even if his special squire abilities rocked the house).
No, FFT 1.3 does not allow generics or Ramza to get the special classes. However, using an emulator to play the game, you have easy access to gameshark codes. You can use that to hack characters into whatever class you want. Ramza as an Arc Knight? No problem!
