Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions

By Morgan Bates

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Since its debut on the original PlayStation, the Final Fantasy Tactics series has been one of the mainstay spinoffs (along with Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, which is getting sequels on Nintendo DS and Wii) in the Final Fantasy universe. Now after an excursion to the GameBoy Advance, Final Fantasy Tactics is set come back to a Sony platform and make its debut on the PlayStation Portable with Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions.

As the subtitle suggests, the story tells the tale of two warring armies: one going under the banner of the White Lion and the other, the Black. Final Fantasy Tactics stories aren’t as simplistic as they are in the longer-running Final Fantasy sagas. Instead, players will watch the stories of two armies unfold in a tale filled with betrayal, heresy, love, heroism and ...moogles.

For those of you not familiar with the tactics series’ gameplay, the stories play out over a series of turn-based battles on 3D battlefields where opposing armies take turns moving their units to gain strategic advantages over their adversary and secure the win. These battles rely heavily on solid strategies, a strong army and the efficient use of items.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions will include a cast of characters from past Final Fantasies such as Balthier from Final Fantasy XII and Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII to train and use in battle. All characters will be customizable, with numerous weapons to equip allowing for hundreds of tactical options.

Players will also be able to assign jobs to their units. Twenty two different jobs will be available to choose from, including red mage, black mage, and white mage. These jobs will allow units to learn a few of the four hundred abilities on hand.

Square-Enix isn’t stopping there, though. Unsatisfied with a mere rehash of a proven formula, they are adding Wi-fi support to the already solid Strategy RPG series, allowing players to play cooperatively, or go army-to-army.

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