History Recap / FinalFantasyTactics

* Balthier: available only on PSP, Ffamran mied Bunansa, sky pirate and self-proclaimed Leading Man of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', finds himself flung thousands of years into his own past. Perhaps appropriately for someone from the future, he makes his ancestor Mustadio obsolete: His "Sky Pirate" class gives him the same skills and the same gun, supplemented with VideoGameStealing skills that are better than the equivalents found on the default Thief class.

'''A NOTE ON NAMES:''' ''Final Fantasy Tactics'' was released on UsefulNotes/PlayStation1 in 1997. It suffered from a BlindIdiotTranslation that left many of its players completely lost; for instance, the parallels to the UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses -- and therefore to ''Literature/AGameOfThrones'', which by then had been published -- went largely unnoticed. However, the game was re-released -- and more importantly, re-translated -- in 2007 for the UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable as ''Final Fantasy Tactics: the War of the Lions''. Joseph Reeder's translation was significantly more human-readable, despite a touch of FloweryElizabethanEnglish (and a bunch of terminology popularized by Creator/GeorgeRRMartin -- for instance, the phrase "Lord Commander," which he invented for ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''.) The ''War of the Lions'' translation, which re-names and re-spells a number of things, is considered "canon," and, unless specified, will be used as the default for this document as it is elsewhere on this wiki.

It's the game's TutorialLevel, and almost impossible to lose -- in fact, you only control Ramza during this fight, with the other five controlled by the AI. This allows the player to take in the nuances of the game's battle engine. ''Tactics'' was designed by Yasumi Matsuno, who created ''VideoGame/OgreBattle'', and features a fully-rendered SpritePolygonMix, with 2D characters walking around on a 3D battlefield. Yes, "walking around" -- movement, orientation and maneuver is the root of ''Final Fantasy Tactics''. All abilities have pre-determined ranges, attacking from the sides or from behind does extra damage and has higher likelihood of hitting, some attacks take a while to charge -- during which time opponents could potentially move out of the way -- and players are shown the predicted outcome of any move -- its probability of hitting and its damage if it does -- before being asked to confirm. Armor does not provide DamageReduction in this game, but rather increases your {{Hit Point}}s and evasion rates directly; there are also two additional stats, "Brave" and "Faith," which affect your likelihood of CounterAttack and the effectiveness of Magic, both casting and receiving, on the character. There is {{Permadeath}} in this game: slain warriors, on your side ''or'' the enemy's, can be revived for three turns, after which time they deteriorate into either treasure chests, which can be looted by your team, or crystals whence allies can learn skills known by the (former) character. There is also a VisualInitiativeQueue to let you chart the flow of battle. This is a system that gives you a ''lot'' of information, but it's open to abuse if you know what you're doing.

A Recap of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics''.

-->''Sword in hand, a warrior clutches stone to breast. In sword etched he his fading memories. In stone, his tempered skill. By sword attested, by stone revealed. [[https://youtu.be/cI8C27KFDPc Their tale can now be told]]. SQUARE ENIX PRESENTS The 'Zodiac Brave Story'''

What do we know about King Delita Heiral, the First of his Name? A RagsToRiches story, it's known he was a peasant who emerged from the ashes of the Fifty Years' War, a massive conflict that embroiled the kingdom of Ivalice -- a nation of seven provinces -- in wrack and ruin. (Ordallia, the opponents, won.) His rise to power coincided with the War of the Lions, a SuccessionCrisis in which two {{Evil Chancellor}}s competed over which of their [[PuppetKing Puppet Monarchs]] would take the throne, leading to the end of the Atkascha dynasty and Delita's coronation in its place. Even today, King Delita is FamedInStory. But there seems to have been an entire other adventure going on behind the scenes, TheGreatestStoryNeverTold... and in our FramingDevice, the scholar Arazlam will shed light on the true hero of the War of the Lions: Ramza Beoulve.

And while the ''War of the Lions'' translation is, in almost all respects, superior, this is the one time the original is better:

As though to prove her right, Delita yanks the knife out of his stomach and buries it in Ovelia's. She crumples to the ground, the last casualty of the War of the Lions.

Delita, wounded, bleeding, his fate LeftHanging, regards the corpse of his lover, wondering when the hero who fought to save the life of one girl became the heartless murderer who would discard an innocent woman without a thought... wondering when he [[BecameTheirOwnAntithesis became the very kind of person he hates]].

''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics''

We open on Orbonne Monastery, where Princess Ovelia Atkascha resides. The daughter of the late King Denamda, she has a younger brother, Prince Orinus, and under HeirClubForMen rules he is the heir-apparent... but Duke Goltanna, the Black Lion, has put forth rumors that Orinus is a LiteralBastard (King Denamda was ever in ill health) in addition to being, at this point, about two years old. (This was partially due to the machinations of Queen Louveria, who ran the kingdom behind the scenes for some time on account of her husband's ill health and wants to take a more active role, but "GodSaveUsFromTheQueen" is the attitude amongst most of the nobility.) Duke Larg, the White Lion, nonetheless has advocated for Prince Orinus -- with Larg himself as the regent. While both dukes are {{Frontline General}}s from the Fifty Years' War -- Goltanna leads the Knights of the Southern Sky, while Larg has the Knights of the Northern Sky at his beck and call -- open warfare is not advisable. Thus, Larg has ordered a hit squad to attack the monastery and kidnap Ovelia.

Overhearing rumors that Alma is at Limberry Castle, Ramza moves to confront Marquis Elmdore at the heart of his power. Celia and Lettie are still {{Demonic Spider}}s with their undodgeable assassination spells; it's actually easier to fight them once you transform them into demons, especially since they can teach Ramza the "Ultima" spell this way. The PSP release has an added level where Argath gets resurrected and you have to kill him again, which you do ([[KickTheSonOfABitch gleefully]]). And you have to fight Elmdore, who is wearing the game's only copies of all the Genji equipment; if you want to steal them, you have to do it here, while dodging his attacks, dealing with Celia / Lettie / their demonic forms, and with ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakety_Sax Yackety Sax]]'' plays in the background. Finally, once you're done and actually kill him, Elmdore transforms into Zalera, the Death Seraph... revealing to Meliadoul, who had been chasing Ramza the whole time, that Ramza's preposterous claims of "holy church men transforming into demons" was actually a complete truth. Meliadoul joins the party. As mentioned, she doesn't bring anything new in terms of active skills, but there is some equipment that only women can use, allowing her (and Agrias) to retain some relevance. She also informs Ramza that the Knights Templar intend to gift Dycedarg with an auracite...

Ramza arrives as his brothers are having it out, swords in hand. Dycedarg defends his actions by claiming he was doing what was best for House Beoulve. Ramza and Zalbaag team up to put an end to him... But the Capricorn auracite he got from Loffrey transforms him into Adrammelech, the Wroth, who annihilates Zalbaag. Ramza puts down the demon that was once his brother, having witnessed the end of House Beoulve.

At Lionel Castle, Gaffgarion reports to Delacroix, having been sent by Dycedarg to aid the cardinal's schemes. Ludovich protests that a mere sellsword be trusted, but Delacroix reminds him that YouHaveFailedMe... and rewards him appropriately.

The Galthena siblings join Ramza's party. Many players kick them out again immediately: their innate class uses abilities that are driven almost exclusively by the RandomNumberGod. Rapha has some value in the game's BonusDungeon due to its unique mechanics, but that's about it.

Ovelia clearly thinks it is, as she vanishes in terror. So does Valmafra -- the watchdog the Church placed over Delita. The two fight, with the camera cutting away before anything is resolved.

* Construct 8: An autonomous robot from the days of Saint Ajora Glabados. It must be activated by inserting the Aquarius auracite, which Ramza gets by recruiting Beowulf. It has a number of impressive long-range attacks... But all of them are CastFromHitPoints. Additionally, every character in ''FFT'' has a "Faith" stat which determines how well magic works on them; Construct 8, being a robot, has 0 faith, and is immune to all forms of magic -- including the healing spells you would normally use to keep him topped up.

* Luso Clemens: The protagonist of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2'' shows up on PSP. He's almost identical to Ramza, down to the ability to learn Ultima; his sole (and significant) improvement is the addition of the "Poach" passive skill, which allows the player to redeem monsters slain in Random Encounters for items and equipment, some of which can be gained in no other way.

Delita, wounded, bleeding, his fate LeftHanging, regards the corpse of his lover, wondering when the hero who fought to save the life of one girl became the heartless murderer who would discard an innocent woman without a thought... wondering when he [[BecameTheirOwnAntithesis Became His Own Antithesis]].

Without, they find Wiegraf [[YouHaveFailedMe executing the follower]]. He then offers to surrender Elmdore in exchange for his own freedom, and despite Argath's [[KillEmAll bloodthirsty attitude]] Ramza and Delita succeed at making the trade. Ramza returns to Eagrose triumphant... where Dycedarg pulls him aside and chews him out for disobeying orders. Ramza is saved by Duke Larg himself, who commends him on his actions; after Ramza leaves, Larg and Dycedarg immediately start discussing their own matters, with their conversation implying that the man who kidnapped Elmdore was either bribed or planted by the two of them.

Orran attended the funeral at House Beoulve; the trueborn sons are dead, and Ramza and Alma disappeared into Orbonne Monastery and never returned, so the line is extinguished. He provided an InfoDump on what has transpired since: Delita has wed Ovelia and is forging a new kingdom free of the Church's influence, a RagsToRiches tale that will go down in history. Looking up, he saw Ramza and Alma riding away on chocobos. The game is ambiguous as to whether Orran actually saw them, as opposed to merely hallucinating them. WordOfGod is that this was indeed an "AndTheAdventureContinues" hook, but the alternative is an incredibly popular interpretation, if for no other reason than the fact that it makes for a better BittersweetEnding. And speaking of endings...