Some faults in the port are not enough to drown this all-time classic with new additions!
One of this game's trademark virtues was the incredible diversity you could create within each character, as you are able to take each and every character in your party through a wide range of job classes and abilities...and this great aspect has only gotten better in War of the Lions as two new job classes have been added, as well as some new special characters! The new job classes are the Dark Knight and Onion Knight, both of which bring new different elements to the battlefield in your choice of deployment. Now, both of these classes are quite difficult to unlock, but they are quite rewarding when you pass that obstacle! On top of these new (and powerful) classes, ALL of the dialogue in this game has been completely reworked from the original, making it a far more legible game while also giving it more of a medieval feel. While the original was certainly not as bad as "all your base are belong to us," there were some points in the game the now flow MUCH better.
Added flow and new job classes are not where the buck stopped with this game, as a new array of multi-player game modes have been added to the game. So whether you want to go head to head by pitting your best army against another's, compete against a friend's army in various quests, or play through an assortment of co-op missions are now all options at your disposal! And did I forget to mention these new options can also net you some new items and equipment that were not in the original title?
With all of these great extras, you may find yourself wondering why I did not give a pure classic with new (and great) additions a perfect score? I have two reasons for you: The first is simply that the graphics and animations were not even touched! Instead of improving upon the battlefield visuals that could have used some help (such as the summon animations, or lack thereof!), they added some nice anime-style cutscenes and left the in-game aspects alone! Anyone who has played the originals would likely agree that the summon graphics were poor at best. And second, slow-down issue. Any who have played both versions of this game clearly know what I am talking about here. There are a decent number of animations in this game (such as most spells and certain attacks) that have been slowed substantially in the porting process between PSX and PSP. While this issue does not affect the actual gameplay, it does add an annoying aspect to those affected spells/attacks.
All in all, the original game was so good that it would be nearly impossible to completely ruin it. What's more is the fact that the positives that were added outweigh the negatives. However, when you hold this port against other ports of theirs (most notably the original Final Fantasy, re-released and re-mastered for the PSP), you wonder why the same care was not put into this game. Granted, tweaking the graphics in the original Final Fantasy and adding a new cave and items does not even compare to the coding nightmare of re-working the issues in FFT for the PSP, it is still evidence that the love was there before! But if you do have a PSP, and you do have any love for this genre, then you should probably get to the store at your next earliest convenience to pick this one up...you will not be disappointed!