#8: Final Fantasy Tactics

Squaresoft (back in the days when they'd actually freaking experiment with new game ideas) decided to try their hand at a boardgame-like RPG.  The results were fantastic.

Final Fantasy Tactics was great.  It often gets forgotten due to the excellent RPG era it released in, but it really was a masterpiece.

The combat was very well put together and all of the classes were incredibly balanced.  This may not seem like a large feat, but remember that this was the first game that Squaresoft tried the grid battle system.  This was back in the day where you couldn't patch in balances if there were problems, so they had to make it right.  They did.

You could customize your characters among an array of classes.  Wanna cast white, black, or summoning magic?  Just as long as you get some big friends.  Wanna be a samurai, knight, ninja, or monk?  Lay off the red bull, then alright.  Wanna be a calculator, mediator, or an engineer?  I'm assuming that you're a nerd, so sure!  Everyone had a different party and different characters that they gravitated towards.  It was interesting to compare your party to others.

The class wheel.  This is a near complete look at the classes available.

The truly perfect thing about Final Fantasy Tactics was the plot and lore that was presented.  You were in a world where class, racial, family, religious, military, and political issues were deeply embedded in each conflict.  This story wasn't for kids.  There was betrayal, murder, uprisings, and just about everything that belongs in a dark medieval fantasy world.

Final Fantasy Tactics also taught me that throwing rocks at teammates gains you just as much exp as battling mythical gods.  Now I know that the best way for me to graduate college is to pass a quarry, ammo up, and wreck some kids.  See you all in prison!