Why is Final Fantasy Tactics so beloved?

I get that it was a lot of peoples first tactical rpg so theres nostalgia but ive seen folks hail it as the pinnacle of the trpg genre despite having some very blatant flaws like severe balancing problems, and inconsistent difficulty curve (I could go from a. challenging battle to one i effortlessly win in the first turn) . Theres a lot about it that feels half assed like issues with the camera that gets blocked off and theres a battle where you can constantly lose because your supposed to protect a character.who has such a dumb AI she gets killed before you have a chance to do anything.

Also while I like the music and character sprites I wannapoint out how the character profiles look like they all the same face (even old man Cid looks like a lil boy just with a beard) and it feels lazy compared to the unique and full of personality face portraits in Shining Force II (and that was on a Genesis). Also it might just be the way its translated but I find the story dull and the dialogue generally to either be stale or childish ( Algus going on about how Delita is a loser and losers deserve to die being a good example of awful dialogue). Personally i found thecharacters forgettable and the final boss to be super anticlimatic.

Back in ps1 days FFT is absolutely the best srpg ever made. the reputation kinda carried it like FF7 before the over saturation. Back then people call FF7 as the best thing ever made. Heck if I remembers correctly even gamespot use to name FF7 the best game ever topped the poll every time. Nowadays its probably will not win polls for anything other than sephiroth hair.

Anyhow FFT it had a really amazing story and characters, system that so flexible that allows for multiple overpowered/broken combo. final fantasy in medieval setting is such a good call. They probably afraid to do it again just like how they are afraid to continue FF7 and waited a long ass time for the remaster.

@sakaixx: I know it never officially made it to america but I think Fire Emblem Seisen no keifu which came out the previous year is the best trpg ive ever played and had better gameplay and story (they actually both do the political story with a demonic presence pulling the strings though Seisen no keifu went a darker route). Also playing Shining Force ii (which did make it to america) and I find it more fun than FF Tactics even though its overall more simplistic it at least feels more well thought out.

But yeah I dont see whats so amazing about the story and characters in FFT and the battle system just seems poorly thought out to me :/

It gets praise for the story. That’s the only reason.

@zappacan: shining force was amazing albeit very limited due to simple stat system. Personally FE is overrated for me. Played them all that had been translated before FE awakening. Its not as good as people really think personally, the reason why sales tanked prior to awakening.

Still the FE gba games is one of the best FE i had ever played and one of the best SRPG of the era, only tactics ogre knight of lodis tops it.

Matsumo created the tactics ogre/ogre battle march of the black queen and FFT. Both has really deep story and both is considered as the best srpg ever made. But it might not resonate with some, its just called preference.

Do try out tactics ogre: let us cling together on psp. The game is simply amazing. Probably will hate the shakespeare english tho if u did not enjoy it in FFT.

@stuff238: Again I don't think the story is that interesting though. Just because it has politics doesnt autimatically make it good which is the main thing i see praised.

@sakaixx: Ive only played 2 Fire Emblem games, Path of Radiance and Seisen no keifu. I wasnt impressed with Path of radiance when I played it but Seisen no Keifu was excellent! What did you not like about Seisen no keifu? I loved the large maps and the way the game molded its story with the battles rather than just singular events between plot points. It also drove me to focus on actually strategizing rather than grinding to get necessary stats and abailities.

@zappacan: Dont get me wrong, the game was good and the map is freakish huge but also its drawback. Dont remember much about the game but I still remembers about the multiple objectives in map, it gets really tedious after a while. I think this game also the one where after a certain chapter we will play as hero son and other character decendants. I never really liked it since have invested in the original characters and their support convo. On second thought, this game seems like a good game to replay and maybe get a remaster lol.

Still think FE is overrated. More so now with those waifu simulator system found in awakening and fates. Will still play them all though, I do enjoy srpg. Its a great genre.

@sakaixx: Fair enough though I dont know why you found multiple objectives on a map tedious to me it was like multiple stages in a level, plus I liked it when you had to focus on multiple things at the same time, it got my brain going and was the opposite of tedious for me. I found the grinding in FFT far more tedius especially since grinding battles were syyo easy I could put my characters on automatic and let them do all the work lol.

But waifu simulator crap sounds terrible and i dont care much for the weebish look of newer FE games but again i havent played them. I liked the character designs in Seisen no keifu a lot though.

Also not sure but what you said might count as a spoiler.

@zappacan: eh nobody else gonna play it anyway