PSP Reboot #9: Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions

This game is a remake of the classic Final Fantasy Tactics for the Playstation (one).  Final Fantasy Tactics:  The War of the Lions keeps the original mostly intact.  The art design is the same, the story is the same, the gameplay is the same, the characters are the same, and all of the leveling and job systems are the same.  I believe that they added a few extra levels/dungeons from the original.  They also added ad-hoc multiplayer.

Basically, the main game is still really good (seeing as it's all unchanged) but the multiplayer is a bit of a failure.  There is really one main reason for this.  This is because the game is broken and you cannot do anything after you clear the game.  You're supposed to be able to, but for some reason, when you try to save your game after beating the final boss, it never works.  When you go to load your game, it just loads wherever you saved last.  "Well Mason, why is that an issue?"  Well, the reason why that is an issue is because in order to do multiplayer, you need to be in a town (a tavern to be more specific).  However, there is a point of no return when you enter the final dungeon.  Once you enter, you can't go back to the main map; meaning that you can't go back to a town to do the multiplayer.  So, if you save at any of the save points in the final dungeon, it means you will never be able to go to a town...ever.  So, if you want to do some co-op missions with your buddy, you're fucked.  All you can do is start a new game and start leveling your characters all over again.  They picked a hell of a place to have a glitch in their game.  I'm sure it's pissed off a lot of people...

As far as the multiplayer itself goes, it's unforgivingly difficult.  My friend and I have gotten our butts kicked several times the few times we played it.  The tradeoff is that if you actually win a round, you get pretty unique weapons, armor, etc. that are either not available in the main game or are pretty hard to obtain in the main game.  So, I suppose it's difficult, but fair.

Overall, this game is exactly like the original plus a multiplayer mode (that can get taken away from you because of a glitch).  If you like turn based, tactical games, this game is pretty great as Final Fantasy Tactics is a classic.  It's involved, it's fun, it's basically a really complicated version of chess.  If you already own Final Fantasy Tactics for the Playstation, I wouldn't bother buying this one.  Otherwise, I would give it a try.

Images:  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/04/Fftpsp3.jpg