The Story Behind Final Fantasy Tactics

[@Macksbet]

imagine being the guy that rejected the first pitch of final fantasy

[@SpamTown]

I recently played a FFT "hard mode" mod developed by the fan community. The aesthetics and music of this game are otherworldly good and still hold up magnificently. I learned a lot from your video despite being a hardcore Matsuno fan.. Very professional video!

[@BehindThePixels]

Thanks for watching, appreciate you saying that!

[@DustinAzlin]

Amazing job! This game remains my favorite video game ever played to this day.

[@BehindThePixels]

Same here! Something about it is just so unique and polished

[@DustinAzlin]

@@BehindThePixels indeed! Everything hits so hard. The story. The soundtrack. The battles. One of the few games that still gives me goosebumps at certain parts no matter how many times I play it.

[@AkamoriArt]

Same.

[@Metroid22540]

Love the shoutout to the Hacktics Community, and the wealth of background knowledge in this vid! It's these guys who gave me the tools and the knowledge to create my mod Second Read. I always saw in the Final Fantasy Tactics subreddit people disliking the original PSX's translation issues but get annoyed wanting to understand the War of the Lions' version of the script, but needed a thesaurus for every other sentence, so I rewrote it in more modern english, but kept the characterizations mostly the same, to honor the original characterization the Tactics team had released in 1997 who were sadly being paid at times, especially the localization team L I T T L E M O N E Y I don't know the original Japanese translation, but it worked. Seriously, that team made such an amazing game and has had such an impact on my childhood.

[@BehindThePixels]

Yeah the original translation worked sometimes and i definitely didn’t mind it when I was a child. Revisiting it, I do see how simple it was. And yeah the War of the Lion version tries Way to hard. Appreciate you sharing your mod, keep up the good work! Sharing your vid here for others if interested: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oXvUiKpmZryBoNk

[@Metroid22540]

@@BehindThePixels Aww, thank you! This is the Hardcover version of the mod Second Read. Hardcover includes the reimagined script, like 95% of it, but also includes a couple different twists along the lines with the different gameplay mechanics. Softcover was The Lion War mod with the new script and minor gameplay changes but is fairly vanilla, for those who might want to use my baseline Second Read script for themselves in their own mods or didn't want to stray from Vanilla Tactics too much.

[@robbwillz]

Japanese art is truly in a league of it's own

[@Fugazity]

Also about this game, the mandalorian stole their famous quote from the jobs report, after they complete any job errand, your common troops report the job and at the end they always end with the phrase "This is the way!"

[@BehindThePixels]

wild, I did not make that connection

[@jope783]

Do you remember, single class challenge and single class single character challanges? Those were the best!!

[@BehindThePixels]

what a fun way to master a character class!

[@dandanjobarnicles]

This was the first game I owned on PS1, and is to this day still my favorite game to play.

[@BehindThePixels]

One of my first PS1 games, it was challenging for sure first time playing through but also extremely satisfying when I finally was able to beat some of those brutally hard battles (like the execution site one)

[@dandanjobarnicles]

@@BehindThePixels I definitely had to restart at the end of Chapter 1.

[@SokiHime]

I played every Yasumi Matsuno game to date over the past couple of years Tactics Ogre in its various permutations is my favorite of his games, by far But Final Fantasy Tactics' diorama art style is far more charming

[@BehindThePixels]

They should remake Tactics Ogre but with the style of FFT

[@darrenklein6090]

These guys made a timeless classic. Absolute masterpiece, one of my top 5 all timers.

[@BehindThePixels]

Truly is one of a kind

[@QuinnJohnson-wo8jo]

This is amazing! Thank uou for this!

[@mmo4754]

the music in this game reallly elevated the experience imo, though I loved a lot of things about tactics. God, I really miss the days when we got to read the dialogue, at our own pace, and actually use our imaginations. I'm not being sarcastic.

[@BehindThePixels]

Yeah it’s like reading a good book, you get to fill in the details with your imagination rather than watching something that’s fed to you

[@dominicw4723]

I still remember the first time i found out about FFHacktics... I was watching a youtuber by the name of Archael7, but his content has since been removed mostly from youtube.

[@BehindThePixels]

I discovered it while researching for this video. Amazing to see that there’s still such a strong fan base even today.

[@vili-pekkavaltonen5943]

I would love to have working copy of this game.. i used to play this hundreds of hours.. found even cloud in the game

[@BehindThePixels]

Super satisfying to have Cloud join your party. I remember getting all his limit break attacks

[@ardysantoso2635]

Just beat this game yesterday , what a journey 🎉, great documentary sir

[@BehindThePixels]

Thanks for watching! I remember playing the game for the first time, it was challenging but not brutally hard, such a thrill when finally beating a tough stage

[@Maxim.Nazarenko]

I think we will have remaster announcement for Final Fantasy Tactics and Xenogears this or next year.

[@AkamoriArt]

The Story Behind Final Fantasy Tactics TL;DR: It's the greatest video game ever made.

[@vgeeeek]

A truly awesome documentary! Well put and made. It's a shame that with that level of quality it only has so many views. Sure hope it get's recommended!

[@ryandude3]

Really thorough and concise documentary! I watch a lot of stuff about this incredible game and this is the first I've seen of the FFT2 prototype.

[@BehindThePixels]

Thanks! Yeah I also have not heard of the cancelled FFT2 until I started doing research for this video.

[@ryandude3]

As someone who wasn't nearly as enamored with FFTA, I would've loved to see a proper sequel. Although I'm not sure I dig the hexes over the diorama grid.

[@BehindThePixels]

Yeah agreed, def a strange art direction.

[@spydar05]

And then there are weird people like me who have beat ffta & ffta2 100% multiple times, but tried fft and can't get engrossed enough to continue. It's not the difficulty at all either, just can't get myself interested enough to continue. Idk

[@ryandude3]

Interesting! What in particular engrossed you about TA and TA2? Also, which version of FFT did you play? I know some people don't like the purple prose of the remaster, but the script of the original can really obscure the details of the plot.

[@domcabrito8100]

Perfect, most complete video about final fantasy tactics I ever seen. Nice work.

[@BehindThePixels]

Appreciate you saying that, learned a lot about the game myself while researching for this video

[@nerdvananorth2905]

Except it doesn't even mention Quest Entertainment or the Ogre Battle series which actually spwaned FFT. They didn't make the mold but I will agree they broke it.

[@justifiedfun9811]

Best Final Fantasy game period

[@BehindThePixels]

This and Final Fantasy VII are my top 2. Tactics prob has more replayability

[@blightedgrounds]

Japan in the 80's was a thing of magic. Great job putting this together!

[@BehindThePixels]

Sure seems like it, thanks!

[@Oathkeeper89]

Where is this image at 6:17 from? It looks like some promotional artwork or a magazine advert of some sort. Its kinda amazing.

[@BehindThePixels]

I got it from here: shmuplations.com/fft/ it’s the cover of a strategy guide

[@dukey03]

Wow! This was really well done! Thank you for making it

[@BehindThePixels]

Appreciate you saying that thank you!

[@suiken3149]

Why TF Ito wasnt handed another mainline FF? He was also the director for FF9.

[@roguerifter9724]

I like Final Fantasy Tactics (It was actually the first PS1 game I owned. I skipped the fifth console gen and jumped straight from the SNES to the PS2 and picked up Final Fantasy Tactics with my first PS2) But I think Tactics Ogre is better and Ogre Battle is still my favorite console SRPG. Now if only Square would remaster the Ogre Battle games instead of ignoring them and focusing all their attention on the Tactics Ogre side of the franchise.

[@BehindThePixels]

Now i gotta check out Ogre battles, looks like an interesting game from my research for this video, but never played it. Thanks for sharing

[@bartekkubicaku-bitsa9802]

Thank you for mentioning! Great episode and looking forward for more!

[@BehindThePixels]

Thanks for making the board game!

[@timsmusicstuff]

Well produced and insightful video. Thank you for this!

[@BehindThePixels]

Glad you find it informative, I sure discovered a lot while making it

[@christophertigno8915]

This video is so well edited. Definitely added Tactics to my will-play RPG list. Hope you make more vids!

[@korgull9557]

Thanks for making this documentary!

[@BehindThePixels]

My pleasure, thanks for watching!

[@Fenrisulf87]

I can see your channel grow quickly in the near future. Great quality adn effort put in the video. Couldn't believe your sub count. Just subbed. Good luck =)

[@BehindThePixels]

Appreciate the kind words! I recently started making these videos, will definitely keep them up. Let me know which games you would like to see covered.

[@el_oh_ell]

Great series! Hope to see more

[@BehindThePixels]

Thanks, will keep it up

[@timmygrover]

I loved this video, long live FFT!

[@BehindThePixels]

One of my favorite games of all time!

[@xxalucard66xx]

I had to do a double take when I saw your sub count. Definitely worth the like and sub. I hope to see your channel grow!

[@BehindThePixels]

Thanks and appreciate the sub! Just starting out, so many gaming stories to tell, can’t wait to get to them with support like yours

[@teachertalkingsports]

Great video! Loved this game as a kid!

[@BehindThePixels]

Thanks, same here, it’s a fantastic game!

[@mountainmgtow5421]

Square Enix doesn't have the BALLS to create a sequel, because they know they suck at making games now. They don't have a snowball's chance in hell to make a decent sequel to this masterpiece.

[@BehindThePixels]

Maybe it’s best they don’t attempt it, nothing worse than a mediocre remake like the Twin Snakes

[@joejames9974]

They was at the peak back in the 90s and early 2000s should have been made it as you say they suck now

[@wfzyx]

Thanks for making this - it is an amazing video; I'm a long time fan of FFT, and still learned a couple stuff from this video; By any chance, do you know where can I find the design document? Tried researching it myself, but couldn't find it;

[@Flargenyargen]

Very cool look at my favorite game!

[@BehindThePixels]

Hope it does it justice!

[@francisluglio6611]

@@BehindThePixelsthis was exactly the video I was looking for for the last few days

[@thiagopossa6314]

Good work!!!

[@Tackitt]

Still my all time favorite. Only threatened by the souls series. Very cool that you mentioned the BMG.

[@BehindThePixels]

yeah, def a lot of time was spent on the BMG, gotta give it credit

[@ramza813]

I approve of this documentary.

[@BehindThePixels]

Thanks Ramza, it’s an honor

[@TheAkashachi]

Amazing work! Well done!

[@BehindThePixels]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@FoundOnFilm4]

Amazing work!

[@BehindThePixels]

Thank you!

[@joeywalsh1949]

Man I hope you cover Legend Of Dragoon someday. Love your style of videos.

[@BehindThePixels]

Funny you say that, i’m making a video on Legend of Dragoon right now

[@adamrutherford1704]

That was a very good video and I just subscribed and I love the name of your channel.

[@BehindThePixels]

Thanks Adam! Appreciate you saying that

[@standingbearwhisky]

Wow for such a new channel you have interested in your future content

[@BehindThePixels]

Thanks for saying that, appreciate it!

[@MHChrono]

I've come to realize that I do not actually want a remake. Though I would want to make mods/full conversion of a remake, it's the original with all its flaws that I fell in love with, and there is no way they would do a remake that would, to me, do it justice. I would want things they wouldn't even consider, while not caring about the things they would add. I would be so happy with a PC port, because of the modding community more than the game itself. The war of the lions version of the game had new cut-scenes and a few extra battles, but I think the audio and responsiveness suffered. That 60 FPS requirement thing was not a joke, the audio and menus were so good in the original, comparatively. The worst part about the WotL version is that they hard-coded slowdown on animations because of the limited disc speed of the PSP. The NA version of WotL has a slowdown fix patch that can be applied, but not on the mobile versions, and there is no such patch for any JP version, as far as I know.

[@klaymation]

I always liked the untranslated clan names in the original. It adds to the setting of medieval Europe mixed with Japanese fantasy.

[@BehindThePixels]

Same, the translation in the WotL version can be too much some time. What are some of your favorites?

[@willlauzon3744]

The death screams are better in the original and also the general fear and loathing the pedantry have of the nobles.

[@lobstrosity7163]

This and Xenogears we need more of.

[@Rosethesicko]

Hope you reach 1k subs so you can monetize this masterpiece, great work man

[@BehindThePixels]

Thanks! Appreciate you saying that!

[@Jahalang82]

This is one of my favorite games, probably ranks even higher on my list than FF2(SNES) story wise.

[@BehindThePixels]

Very high replayability. And highly polished game

[@OlDirtyChinesRestaurant]

Wow. A board game! 🤯🤯

[@BehindThePixels]

Yeah @bartekkubicaku-bitsa9802 is one of the creators of the board game. It looks so cool

[@conmanplays1557]

Nice video!

[@BehindThePixels]

Thanks, glad you liked it!

[@conmanplays1557]

@Behind The Pixels it was a well-done video, and I really liked the nod to the mod scene!

[@lobstrosity7163]

One important aspect to notice is te complete lack of noses.

[@brianfarkas8172]

A great game, one of my all time favorites. It has one major flaw. The 5 unit cap.

[@BehindThePixels]

Yeah, the cap was actually a conscious decision to make the game more approachable and make sure the runs in 60fps. If there was ever a modern remake, they should allow for larger battles

[@jakfrost2]

Love these

[@BehindThePixels]

Thanks for watching!

[@bgizle]

Nice !

[@okinawanate]

This video and your channel are AMAZING!!! Great job, and keep up the good work! Are you on Patreon? I would definitely support your work. Discord server? I may be jumping the gun, but these are all great ways to get your channel support, views, and overall success. (I'm sure you know all this, lol.) I'm just really excited about your videos and hope you keep making them! 🙏

[@BehindThePixels]

Thanks for the kind words and support Nathan! Just starting out and have not set up those things yet, but will definitely do so soon!

[@BehindThePixels]

Just set up a Patreon page patreon.com/behindthepixels and Discord: discord.gg/7bMBcHyS9V Thanks for your support Nathan!

[@jeffarciga7463]

Greatest Game of All Time!

[@angelmparedes]

japanese art❤️

[@joejames9974]

As a Zelda fan it been known that Zelda ocarina of time is the greatest game of all time but damn it as least it gotten a sequel and fft I say was as close to Zelda damn it this game could have gotten a sequel and a prequel who fuk knows what happen in the 50 year war the sequel could have been about that

[@No_life_haha]

Had go use game shark to beat this game!!! Hahaha

[@regulator18E]

How are we still perpetuating the whole "its named final fantasy bc it was gonna be his last game before he quit" when even Sakaguchi himself has debunked this? 😂 They wanted a game that could be abbreviated to FF in english. Original idea was Fighting Fantasy, but there was already a board game named this so they went with Final. Final being a popular word in Japan lends to why they chose it. And Sakaguchis own words “Those days definitely seemed like end times, but honestly, any word that started with ‘F’ would’ve been fine.” Bruh sorry i cant watch the rest of this when 2 minutes out the gate you already show you did minimal research.

[@BehindThePixels]

He did say that if the game didn’t do well he would go back to school and this was a last ditch effort. I just think it’s aptly named, whether intentional or not

[@bluestrife28]

I knew I felt the War of the Roses and GOT all over this game when I started a new full play. And there IS such diorama feel to the game. Too cool.

[@BehindThePixels]

I just love how smooth it is to rotate each stage and the sound effects it makes when it’s rotating

[@StevenCavanaugh]

Thank you for introducing me to FF HACK-tics. I have an idea, and that is probably the place to go to make it happen.

[@BehindThePixels]

I discovered them and FFTbattlegrounds during my research for this video. Amazing to see such dedicated fans to this 25-year-old game!

[@Momoka7]

Interesting, that you call the series "Tactics Ogre" when it really is just "Ogre" since there are several Ogre Battle and Tactics Ogre games out there. You also keep showing a FAKE Tactics Ogre Snes Cartridge and Package, the game never left Japan on Snes. It was fan-translated.

[@BehindThePixels]

I should’ve said Ogre series and yes I didn’t realize it was never released for the snes, my mistake

[@Momoka7]

@@BehindThePixels I am sorry for my semantics. But yeah when I was a kid I heard from the game "Ogre Battle" on Snes from a Japanese writer in my Games Magazine, he was in love with it and said allot people in Japan are as well. When it was released US, Ogre Battle, I bought it right away and I was a huge fan of it. It was my third or so Strategy game back then, number 1 was Warsong(the Langrisser series) then Shining Force. I never heard of "Tactics Ogre" being released in Japan, now I know it never made it. Thing is years later I seen a Japanese version of Final Fantasy Tactics, I waited for the US release and bought it. A coule months later they released thePS1 remake of Ogre Battle and later the "remake" of Tactics Ogre. Both where in Japan on Sega Saturn and PS1 but in the west only on PS1. That is the first time I got into contact with it... and what a contact it was. I think over the past 20 years I beat it over 10 times, it had 3 routes so I remember beating it three times back on original PS1 hardware, then 10 years later(2005 or so) on the ePSXe and later on my PSP when the true Remake came. I bought, in fact, the PSP only for Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre. There IS a translated Snes version of Tactics Ogre, but it is a fantranslation and a incomplete one at that. Incomplete in the sense as they didn't proof-play it so it might have some errors in it. That and it was released after 2015 or something around that time. You made a great video, I am just nitpicking and playing semantics. What else can you expect from an old geezer ;p

[@BehindThePixels]

No worries all good 😊 and thanks for sharing your story. Now I have to play both Ogre Battle and Tactics Ogre

[@Momoka7]

@@BehindThePixels For Ogre Battle, you can play either the Snes version or the PS1 remake, they are the same. For Tactics Ogre there are now 3 versions out. The Snes version and the Saturn and PS1 ports. You could play the Snes translated rom or the PS1 version. Then there is the PSP Remake which you can play on a PSP emultator or buy it for a PSvita PSVitaTv. This version comes with allot new stuff, a character system more similar to Final Fantasy Tactics with up to 10 skill slots and many skills each class can learn. Also more classes and "dungeons" then in the original Snes version And then there is the brand new version, released on Steam, Switch, PS4 and I think Xbox. This version is remastered, coming with the same added content compared to the PSP version but with remixed combat system. Less skills(characters can hold up to 4 skills and 4 spells) and a new "battle card" system where cards appear in the map and character can pick them up and keep up to 4 of them. And then there are other true classics, like "Tactics Ogre - The Knight of Lodis" on the Gameoy and "Ogre Battle 64" which upgrades the combat system of Ogre Battle in an epic way. All stuff you could take a look at, and play if you feel like it. If for me, worth it is the original Tactics Ogre on Snes/PS1 because it is rather hard early on but later has a immense freedom of things you can do. Ogre Battle 64 is also worth, as it adds more complexity to things compared to "Ogre Battle" and a much more round game, especially if you play it now. But to play that you either have to get a physical copy and a N64 or you try to scoop up a "Wii Virtual Console" version and run it on a Wii emulator, since the N64 version and Emulator have issues running it. It uses compressed textures which the emulator not know how to deal with. So yeah, you really could play more then two games, 4 if you add Tactics Ogre The Knight of Lodis and Ogra Battle 64.

[@nerdvananorth2905]

Not very complete history if you don't mention Ogre Battle or how the lead team that made the game jumped ship and left Quest to go to Square. That was in 1995 (Ogre Tactics was already out by then) and magically in 97' Final Fantasy Tactics arrives. I mean it's ok to worship at the altar but at least give the credit where it's due. They stole a shit load from OG and all these years later they get all the credit, Kind of shameful but a perfect summation of what Square Enix is today. Soulless.

[@BehindThePixels]

Fascinating, do you know why the team left to go to Square? In my research which I also mentioned in the video that Matsuno left because he looked up to Sakaguchi and wanted to work on a FF game. Is there more to the story?

[@SeventhheavenDK]

Again, the salty Tactics Ogre fans. By the way, it's Tactics Ogre, not Ogre Tactics. And Ogre Battle has nothing to do with this, the game is very different from FFT, so there is no reason to mention it. Now, "Tactics Ogre" is where the connections come from. But calling it stealing? 😂. There is nothing to steal when it was done by the same team in the first place 🙄.

[@Trancepticon]

You have to recall the conditions of the market back then, everyone excluding Squaresoft was going to hit a down trend in the late 90s and get gobbled by Squaresoft in the early 2000s. Everyone who made role playing games in Japan , had wanted to collaborate with Squaresoft during the PlayStation era. Squaresoft not only gobbled Quest and its assets, but Enix with its published works and Taito. Sony grew the market out of Japan and West creeped up and dominated.

[@desenhoerpg]

FFT2 would be a horrible game probably. Sometime is better to cancel sequels like this.

[@b1uedestiny]

Fine. I'll replay FFT for the 38214702481th time

[@BehindThePixels]

It's such a great game