Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, previously unavailable in any format other than a UMD, has now arrived as a download on Sony’s European PlayStation Store. The Japanese version dropped on March 9, but there’s still no announcement regarding North America.
This game was originally released simply as Final Fantasy Tactics in 1998 by Squaresoft. It hit the first PlayStation and surpassed retail expectations due to Final Fantasy VII suddenly pumping up the popularity of the series. While being far from the first tactical RPG, it served as the subgenre’s initiatory game for a great many Western gamers. Since the launch of Final Fantasy Tactics, North Americas and European gamers have seen localized versions of far more tactical RPGs than they’d previously been used to.
The main complaint about the PSP’s enhanced port was one that plagued a lot of PSP titles for several years: the lag. Veterans of the PSX version in particular took note of brutal lag times, particularly during sword skills used by characters like Agrias and Gafgarion. While some had thought the move from disc to digital might neutralize the slowdown, it is actually still present, to the same extent as it was with the disc, preventing “The Best Game Ever” from being able to live up to its true potential.
