The Final Fantasy Tactics Retrospective

[@AndrewBluett]

ADDENDUM (& Links to my friends' projects mentioned at the end) Some of you have brought up the idea that Ultima was referring not to Ramza's ancestor on his father's side, but his mother's side, which would discredit the idea of a noble being the one who defeated Ultima long ago. I had not considered this, probably because Ramza and Alma being half-siblings of Dycedarg and Zalbaag only came up two or three times and Ramza's father and noble lineage were more at the forefront of the story (i.e. how others thought of him). The text leaves it ambiguous as to whether Ultima is referring to his ancestor on his father's (noble) or mother's (commoner) side, and the disparity in how the story frames Ramza's parentage left one of these sticking more in the forefront of my mind, so that's where my mind went. Given how the story frames the class struggle, I think it's fair to say that the intention was that Ramza's ancestor, on his mother's side, defeated Ultima originally, as it would be keeping with the themes of the narrative. This was an oversight on my part, one which I think is understandable given the framing around Ramza, but an oversight nonetheless. I will cop to that. Brad's FFT EP: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aZDLYYuji5ymraM Feywild West: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d4nXeYFsnpWXmas

[@SivartAuhsoj]

FFT is a work of literature. Matsuno deserves a spot in history as one of the greatest game directors of all time for this and his other work.

[@franimal86]

It really is!!

[@milkweedreflections]

Matsuno and Hiroyuki Ito were behind every good game Square made... before Nomura turned everything into Kingdom Hearts...

[@TheTacticalRPGOdyssey]

Amen brother!

[@markusshiller1085]

The first half of the game's story was incredible, but the twist of killing God felt especially ham-fisted and took away from the brilliance of the writing in the second half. I also don't appreciate Delita's iconic line being foreshadowing in retrospect.

[@AndrewEvenstar]

100% agreed

[@dariocantumo]

Final Fantasy Tactics is one of my favorite stories of the whole series. One point you touched upon that I'd like to expand is about Ultima not being able to maintain control of Alma and that he recognizes Ramza as a descendant of the person who stopped him before. Yes it's weird that the Lucavi were able to possess and manipulate Dycedarg and Zalbaag as all 4 siblings are Beoulve but there's an explanation that goes under people's radar, both Ramza and Alma share a different mother than their older siblings, their mother's last name is Lugria a commoner's name (which Ramza took when he was a mercenary), Ultima could be referring to that bloodline and not the Beoulves. I think that is a cool point that fits with the themes of the game, it wasn't a descendant of a grand noble bloodline but a descendant of a hero of humble origin.

[@ryandude3]

Wow, I hadn't heard this point made before but it makes perfect sense!

[@howdoilogin]

I posted this in my own comment but it makes perfect sense. Zalbaag gets nuked instantly because he's just a military man doing his job and upholding the status quo until it's too late. Dycedarg is so insidious that the Lucavi don't actually gain control of him, they just give him a body and say "Go for it, bro". Ramza collect half the stones himself and never gets tempted, and Alma, a weak little church girl completely expels the literal incarnation of this world's Lucifer from her own body. It wasn't the Beoulve blood, it was the Lugria blood. Also it's very possible given the magic spells contained in the Scriptures of Germonqiue that Germonqiue himself couldn't beat Altima so he had to seal her within his own body, passing down the soul and hiding it among the populace so the other Lucavi would hopefully never find it.

[@LunarWingCloud]

Tactics is my favorite story of any Final Fantasy title. It's so deep yet easy enough to follow, with enough political and religious intrigue that sucks you right in and doesn't let go. I love the unit customization and job classes in the game. It's all around easily my favorite Strategy RPG and I am so glad you covered it!

[@mesektet5776]

Every Single Final Fantasy Tactics Fan during the Game Of Thrones craze: “Meh, it’s okay, I guess.”

[@PringleTheOne]

True as hell lol.

[@masonpiatt-villasenor686]

Yup

[@browngone1782]

Lol 😂 my thoughts exactly

[@PicturingOurPast]

FOR REALLLLL

[@Retro_Cafe]

i am not even a fan of Final Fantasy ( or RPGs in general ), but your videos are the most enjoyable youtube videos ever, you are one of the best "video game retrospective reviewers" ever.

[@ShoddyCast]

An 86 minute video about one of my favorite video games? I'm heccin IN.

[@tiedomi80]

Hey look, it's Austin!!!

[@christopherpumphrey7023]

This was my favorite FF title growing up. Definitely overshadowed by FF7. I think all these later this game is getting all its deserved flowers.

[@Kabeliel]

This type of content is so rare and difficult to accomplish, with the proper investigation and compelling writing. Thank you for such a great video about one of my favorite games.

[@whichcache2517]

Completely new to FFT, but it's very funny that, due to the overall plot of this game essentially being a historian's revisionism of distorted events, that other characters' appearances would have to be justified in the same way. "And then a guy from another dimension showed up to help. Then 2 other people from different time periods also showed up to help. Why? I dunno, it's what the papers say!"

[@joshray3855]

FFT is all just Orran Durai's fanfic about The Lion War

[@The_Pariah]

FFT is a god damn masterpiece and I hope everyone who worked on it knows it. Good games have many things done right. FFT had damn near everything done right. Every choice was well thought out. And the different mindsets of the creators helped to round it and polish it in the best way. I could write an entire essay praising this game, but luckily, AndrewBluett did an even better job than I could. Liking this video wasn't a choice. It was obligatory.

[@Tskiven]

the slow down on PSP was actually done intentionally, to mitigate a crash caused by load times. I forget if it was loading related to the visual effects themselves or the audio that went with them, but it was related to loading data off the UMD and the fact that it couldn't load various data related to the special attacks fast enough. the original fan patch worked on ISO files played on a PSP with CFW as well as in emulation, because loading off of a memorystick was significantly faster than loading off of the official UMD.

[@sen8368]

When ultima tells ramza that he is the descendent of the hero who defeated them last time i think it may be implying that this is through his common born mother. Its still pretty lame but way better than if it was through his "noble" beoulve blood. May also be related to why alma is a suitable host for ultima

[@arabiancandybar]

L I T T L E M O N E Y

[@TheOutlawsTable]

Thanks for the shoutout! Funnily enough, Brad made some music for our show as well!

[@All_I_can_say_is_Wow]

I remember when I was a kid, I got Final Fantasy Tactics because I loved playing FF7. At first I was like oh no this isn't similar at all! I ended up loving the game the story and the job system. When I reached the end credits I was sad that the game was over. Then I went out and bought Brave Fencer Musashi just to play the included FF8 demo! Good times indeed. Even Brave Fencer Musashi turned out to be a pretty fun game.

[@FoNgThOnG]

I remember when I was a kid, I picked this up mainly cause it was a Final Fantasy game. Never played any of the Ogre Tactics games or any Tactics game. I fell in love and FFT still sits at the top of my list for one of the greatest FF/Tactics games out there.

[@SpaceCat1111]

"Did you get your end in all this, Ramza? I...I got this." -Delita Heiral, Epilogue

[@IzunaSlap]

Blame yourself or God.

[@a_lost_one]

@@IzunaSlap 'Tis your birth and faith that wrong you, not I.

[@EloahAloha]

​@@a_lost_one the script for War of the Lions go crazyyyy

[@spitboi7]

Anytime I see you post it’s like a work holiday for me. Thanks for making my days and life a bit better each time with your careful research and thoughtful storytelling Andrew ❤

[@PicturingOurPast]

This was an extremely welcome presentation. This was and is my favorite video game of all time. I’m 37 now. Thank you for the time and energy to share this with us.

[@guillermoalcala5047]

I've seen all of your final fantasy and the other retrospective videos, they are all AWESOME! You did, again, an amazing job with this retrospective. Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics are two of my favorite games of all time so I was really excited when I saw you uploaded this retrospective video. Looking forward to the rest of your retrospective series! Cheers from Monterrey, México!

[@blimblam7]

Always a good day when a new vid in this series drops

[@wolffden08]

Gotta love these in-depth analyses of an almost 40 year old game. While I've seen a lot of similar FFT videos over the years it always looks like there's something new to uncover. Just goes to show the depth and complexity of one of Yasumi Matsuno's finest work.

[@S1986-e9f]

I randomly came across this video when looking to watch to a "Let's play 1.3 FFT" video. This is a professional quality video in terms of production, narration and overall presentation. I look forward to watching your other videos from other games in the FF series. Kudos!

[@loszhor]

Well made! Thanks for uploading!

[@Blink_____]

The soundtrack is not just "OK". It is entirely cinematic, and consistent in it's tone and character unlike other Final Fantasy games that have music that is all over the map.

[@SaberToothPortilla]

"All over the map" is a little strong I'd say, but they're definitely more focused on being soundtracks than they are being complete works on their own. Tactics' soundtrack on the other hand is constructed in a way that's more conceptually complete. You could put the OST on, play it front to back, and it feels more along the lines of something you'd hear in a concert hall. I also think that's generally good thing, or at least admirable. That aside, I absolutely agree that Tactics' soundtrack is way more than ok, but it's also much more low-key than a lot of its contemporaries, and I can see how that'd bounce of a lot of people who are used to Uematsu's more rock and electronica leaning OSTs.

[@reloadpsi]

I forget where I read this, but one of the devs said they were originally composing a more classic FF soundtrack style, but when they realised the majority of enemies in the game were other humans, they made the music a lot more serious, almost like doing music for a war movie. It takes some getting used to for sure, but I don't mind the change myself. It's a bit more forgettable than the more adventurous tone of the mainline games though, just like I find myself remembering more motifs from Lord of the Rings than from Full Metal Jacket.

[@franimal86]

I can, and will, listen to the FFT soundtrack my entire life

[@SaxcatGamingCorner]

FFT has one of the best OSTs of all time.

[@EmeraldaKasim]

This game has the best video game soundtrack I’ve ever heard

[@ken1552]

thank you for such an entertaining and comprehensive rundown of FFT. I've probably spent 1k hours playing FFT and I really appreciate your take on the history and background of this game!

[@vimbert]

This was always my favorite of the entire series.

[@jootpepet]

I cant believe i delved into this and understood most of it as a kid

[@tjmoon1857]

Yeah sure :)

[@FingerPuppetSarcasm]

I think this is the first retrospective on Tactics i've seen that actually made sense and explained the plot well.

[@blucoll]

Been waiting for a new retrospective from A.B

[@tyspy64]

This is my favorite Final Fantasy game. I remember it came out like 4 months after FFVII came out when I was in Middle School and it was instantly one of my favorite games, and to this day it still is. I just love medieval themes, and this game had it in spades. I actually kind of prefer the dialogue better in this (I know that's hypocritical since it's less accurate than the remake). The dialogue in this was just close enough for me. I think it's more the terms I liked better, like "Holy Stone" over "Auricite". It's probably because I played this game brand new, and played it 1,000 times, so it's what I knew. I used to use Gameshark to play after I had mastered it multiple times (4 people + Ramza, Agrias, Beowulf, Orlandu, and Mustadio, fully upgraded with the best weapons/armor, lvl 99/all jobs mastered and lvl 8) and made the ultimate line up of Vormav, Wiegraf, Dycedarg, and Celia. They all had Teleport 2, No Charge, Hamedo and of course Chaos Blade/Excalibur combos, ribbon, Maximillan/Rubbert Suit, Grand Helmet/Thief's Hat, and Genji Gloves. It's cool they added new stuff in the remake, but I can't stand most of the name changes (once again too used to the originals). Good times fo rsure.

[@animationfanatic2133]

All hail the king 👑

[@monopoman]

One of the best JRPG's ever made and arguably the best in the Final Fantasy series including spin-offs.

[@Awesmic1]

It's the A.B. with another banger FF retrospective. This time, it's tactical.

[@oneradlad]

I feel like Ovelia's true heritage did impact the story, if only for her relationship to Delita and their shared story arc.

[@ThugShiTzu]

Agreed. Don't know how he missed that point.

[@amozuilucimox2509]

YOOOOOO LETS GOOOOOOO i wasn't expecting to see this today, and I'm pleasantly surprised for the turn of events ❤

[@namfow]

I was just thinking about your videos last night, wondering when you'd be back, and I'm really glad to have watched this. Thanks for your work.

[@moogs5992]

Proud to be a Patreon!

[@RPGFort]

Probably the best FFT video on KZbin. Well done my friend.

[@mattschultz4111]

Right off the bat, I have clocked so MANY hours, days into this game. After that, I used so much time to seek out all the things I could do. Wish I didn't sell.

[@KrzyUnit]

i was wondering why Square doesn't greenlight FFT OST for orchestral performances like Distant Worlds and there may be multiple factors to it. My headcanon is that they're actually working behind the scenes and once FFT gets a remake so will the orchestral debut (local or worldwide). HERE'S TO HOPIN

[@Namevah]

Boy, I've been looking forward to this. I love this genre, and your previous videos have been fantastic, so I'm expecting an excellent retrospective regardless of your feelings. 😄

[@lordofhyphens]

1:16:10 Balthier is a upgraded fusion of Thief and Mecanist (Mustadio's job). Combined with Barrage and his starting gear, he is quite busted. Luso's base job is the same as Ramza's Squire with a built-in Poach (a class ability that is very useful for getting rare equipment and items). He can even learn Ultima in the same way Ramza can.

[@theastralarchive9594]

This is my favorite game of all time. Thank you so much!

[@MythDivine]

Another great video Andrew! Thanks again.

[@yuffielash]

An amazing video about my favorite videogame, explaining the depths of the themes, political intrigue, and character motivations, and then at 1:14:08, showing Delita "protecting Ovelia" as an appreciated addition, and it's footage of Delita absolutely PASTING Ovelia with friendly fire had me CACKLING. Gee, I wonder why she doesn't trust him!

[@TheXehanorto]

A game that I only played through the first chapter aka the flashback on because of how much I was struggling with the games mechanics, despite how much I was loving the story. This was over 15 years ago before I could truly appreciate and understand tactical RPGs, so i really want to go back and play it again, the only issue is I don't have the means to do so. This video reminded me why I loved the story of this game so much, even though I've only experienced it through Let's Plays and why I was so hyped to see it come up in FFXIV when experiencing the game for the first time this year. Amazing video as always.

[@TheMapleDaily]

Crazy how I just started this game last week and now you release a video for it xD

[@TheSutanian]

The radio brainwaves made ya do it

[@RetroHousecr]

FF Tactics is a masterpiece, one of my fav endings of all time

[@reziture]

You are the king of the Final Fantasy/Square retrospectives!

[@JohnDoe-uf3lj]

Great to see another upload!

[@danikame9481]

Excellent video and analysis as always! This made me want to pick up War of the Lions and play FFT again after so many years.

[@drtymead]

Picked up the older ff games cause of your vids. Watching this while i wait for the downloads 🤙🥪🍻

[@flannn6]

I really dont like turn based rpgs, but this game is one of my favorites of the PSX! I didnt speak english on my childhood and had to translate word by word with a dictionary, it helped me learning the language. Also I remember leaving the console on overnight in a battle with the party on auto-battle so it levels up. And because I couldnt understand anything it was very difficult so I bough a gameshark to be able to beat the game. lol Thanks for this video, it brings good memories.

[@Getdown8319]

My personal favorite FF game literally playing it in my phone had the original, psp, and my phone beat it so many times this story is a masterpiece and created my love for the genre.

[@gregtroyan]

Great video as always. Ivalice I found to be an incredibly inconsistent world in the FF series. While I feel that Tactics and Vagrant Story fit together well, I find that everything after that point feels completely disconnected (XII, Advance, A2 and Revenant Wing). It makes sense to a degree if the era of XII and such is from the "lost civilization" age of Ivalice and the original two titles are from Ramza's era, but the lack of shared locations and even general thematic focus makes them feel as disconnected as FFV is from FFVI. I've beaten all of the Ivalice games aside from Revenant Wings and Vagrant Story, but I've played all of them. Advance is charming and much more lighthearted. There's still some dramatic weight to be found, but it feels more like a Disney film story (in a good way). A-2 has probably the weakest story of all the Tactics games but Luso is a very likable protagonist and carries the game in the way that Arnold or Sly would carry an action movie in the 80s. He's charismatic enough where you want to follow him, even if the plot basically just meanders. A2, from a visual standpoint, is probably my favorite Ivalice game. I've been doing a bunch of livestreams on my channel with other FF content creators recently. If you'd ever want to chat about the series inbetween your massive video essays, would love to have you on to sip some tea and discuss the franchise. Keep up the good work. Best reagrds and warm wishes, Greg

[@AndrewBluett]

Shoot me an email, we'll see what we can work out.

[@WoodmanFLG]

Good stuff Drubie, we love to see it!

[@Brian-yz8dj]

Oh shit! Been watching speed runs and generally tons of FFT content lately. What a coincidence haha!

[@koopakape]

Absolteuly phenomenal, incredible video about one of my favorite games of all time. However, your take on the score is baffling. I've played hundreds, maybe thousands of games and I deeply adore video game music, and this game's OST is easily in my top 5 of all time, maybe actually even top 1... not sure why it didn't seem to click for you at all, but hey, opinions are opinions and everything else you gleaned from this game was obviously meaningful and lead to the creation of this wonderful piece of content, and earned you a follow.

[@theexpert758]

One of my favorite games of all time but I was so trash at it as a kid. What a great video my man.

[@CodeeXD]

Ramza being a descendant of a hero isnt from his beoulve side its his commoner mothers side. Reinforcing the fact that the nobility is bullshit

[@AndrewBluett]

Check the pinned comment

[@Ryuoh]

I wanna watch this now so bad, seeing as this is one of my favorites, but I need something to listen to at work on sunday. Subscribed and liked.

[@PringleTheOne]

This was amazing. Ill be here till your channel explodes my dude.

[@WILMORENO]

thanks for this video. I loved this game most growing up. btw an easy way to "Grind" is to get into a random fight with basic enemies. get them to 1/2 life and then turn everyone into frogs. Put it on auto attack and then go to bed. Each hit does like 1-2 damage and you still get jp/xp. Wake up to a maxed job class.

[@december8679]

I still play this and Front Mission 3 from time to time. Love them

[@ES-kw7hq]

Great video, can’t wait for the next one

[@Star.G227]

Another note, the War of The Lions story of Ivalice gets even more context and story with the Alliance Raids they added in Final Fantasy 14 which to my knowledge was written by Matsuno. For me personally that raid series gave me good closure with the story I never really experienced beforehand. As far as it's legacy, it's considered to be one of the most popular Alliance raids ever released in 14. Tactics was probably one of my most foundational pieces of writing I ever experienced when I was gowning up as far as developing my taste in things I enjoyed. Even as a young kid I was following the deep political/religious drama well and it was my first time seeing a hero who never got to be praised as a hero. He was remembered as a villain essentially in history despite saving so many. Which the Raid series touches on in FF14. I love this game for so many reasons and it's nice knowing others are still out there getting to experience it today.

[@thecedex]

Remember playing this game the first time back in 98. I really like the story but by the halfway point I was completely lost 😂 Thankfully once War of the Lions hit mobile I could appreciate the story more. Gameplay was always amazing.

[@abelesperanz4196]

I really liked how you can customize at least the name of the mercs you hire. my head cannon as a child was my self insert as a random merc hired by ramza, going on advutres and loosing men (intentionally for dramatic purpose that war isnt fair and just) and as time passed on by old age, i wrote the scriptures of ramza's story

[@blackgooseman]

i'm a simple man -- i see an andrew bluett FF video. i thumbs up.

[@brumael12]

Blood is the price of progress! It is the ink in which history's pages are writ!

[@ivanstankovic5205]

He, he, I remember the first time I played the game. I was totally unaware of the possibility of changing jobs, setting secondary skills, etc. and when I reached the first battle with Wigraf at Windmill I spent a couple of hours trying to beat him and his companions with my squad of squiers 😁😁😁 I wondered, how on earth I was supposed to beat this game?? After that, I accidentally found out that I could change jobs, set secondary skills, etc The rest was history, I really enjoyed every second of this game (played several times till now).

[@paulwright774]

So great video, I just need to touch on one single subject, The Calculator. Even if you're extremely smoothbrained, you don't need to think too hard on how to use the calculator. You have as much time as you need to play around with target options each turn to find the most effective action for him, no actual math or deep thinking needed.

[@euroovca25]

FFT is by far the best game i have played. the story is strong and the game is fun, music is amazing.

[@CxdyCxdy]

I just beat my first playthru of final fantasy tactics yesterday what are the chances haha.

[@Xenonuke]

I hope the rumors of a FFT remaster be true. Everyone needs to experience this masterpiece

[@spbynum]

What they did with the tone and scope for future entries of this franchise was criminal. Also one of the best soundtracks ever.

[@HobocoreHero]

thanks for making these. i really like your videos.

[@RoninYeti]

Just replayed War of the Lions for a third time, and it's still just as good as it was back in the day. I am forcing myself to replay FF12, yet again, because I NEED more Ivalice, DAMN IT!

[@i0am0superBlast]

I love FFT much less as a FF fan and more of a Yasumi Matsumo fan, in that I really love Let Us Cling Together as well. Especially the story and the complexity and moral ambiguity. Dunno if you covered it or something before, but I really hope you do a similar video on that game too. But I remember enjoying the gameplay a lot too.

[@Tskiven]

hot damn! the end of the FF7 retrospective made it look like you were gonna skip over FFT and go straight to FF8. never been so glad to be wrong.

[@IDoubleJ]

This and Tactics Ogre are my favorite strategy games

[@tsuginokado]

22:08 I’m adopted I come from the world I was raised regardless.loving the video;)

[@giovanniprovost]

Thank you!

[@LazyChillZone]

I don't always agree, but I always watch

[@Jasonwfd]

My favorite game of all time. I hope the remake is coming soon

[@OriginalRyan]

I'm surprised you didn't pay any attention on the thief & stealing equipment from NPCs. Such a help, especially with the Genji gear.

[@treeross]

10:50 You know... it wouldnt have simplified it at all, but I would have appreciated a notification (like in Dokapon Kingdom) saying "You maxed out X job! Now you unlock Y job!"

[@CobaltContrast]

Why didnt vagrant story get more love? It was probably his best work. A literal bridge for castlevania to meet dark souls.

[@boscopit]

I was in high school when this one came out. Played the hell out of it. One reason why I didn't pay attention much in school. Haha

[@blueberrymagick]

personally, Final Fantasy Tactics A2 is my favorite, regardless of how time consuming the gameplay it can be💕

[@goobusdingle]

definitely a scary recommendation from my recent search history, at least this time for good.

[@KardavoxAcademy]

Final Fantasy Tactics is one of those games that I've always wanted to love but I never have time / desire to get through the grind. I'm really hoping that if we get a remaster there's like, some sort of double JP option or something.

[@Stonegoal]

Story battles were level locked so you would out level them almost all the time. The scaling random battles would just keep getting harder. Yellow Chocobo is crazy damage and healing. Max story battle level was 65 AKA super easy when you have your lvl 99 characters. NICE.... The story is OP!!!! Final Fantasy Tactics has the best story in Squaresoft.

[@theenderkirby]

Thank you for the vid

[@issakabeer1535]

I’m so glad to hear the names with the original psx names. Can we have a remastered version of the original and not psp version.

[@doublezeta2025]

Excellent video as usual!

[@felman87]

Hearing you talk about Tactics really makes me want to pick it up again. Dare I dig out my Vita to play War of the Lions?

[@AndrewBluett]

Thou must.

[@rolandogarcia2889]

A tactic ogre video would be amazing