History VideoGame / FinalFantasyTactics

** Let's not forget the first two tracks of the soundtrack: "Title Back (Bland Logo)" and "Backborn Story". "Opening Title" and "Background Story" would make a lot more sense. There's also "Bloody Excrement", most likely a mistranslation of "Bloody Waste" or something. Interestingly, these are all among the tracks that don't have names in Japanese characters, just (bad) English. Other tracks show Japanese and English names.

** [[YourMileageMayVary Arguably]] more of a BittersweetEnding. [[spoiler: Ramza may have been shafted by history, but he did at least prevent the demons from taking over the world, which would have been ''much'' worse. And the ending implies that the true record of the events of the game would be revealed to the world, possibly vindicating Ramza after all.]]
*** Maybe even EarnYourHappyEnding.

* ThirtyGambitPileup: And HOW!

*** Earn your happy ending, my happy fat ass. Nothing makes up for what happens to [[spoiler: Ovelia. She never wanted to be a princess to begin with, and she prayed for others, even through her own suffering and isolation, knowing people were dying only because she was a "princess." When she learns she's ''not'' a princess, she realizes that everybody who died because of her died ''horribly'' in vain. She'd been manipulated to and lied to her entire life, and Draclau convinces Ramza that Ovelia took the Church's help, which was a lie. In a choice between death in Larg's hands or life as a Queen, she had only one choice for herself: to live and suffer through isolation again. All the political figures who want her dead send countless assassins after her, and many of the game's villains use her--Gaffgarion, Dycedarg, Delacroix, Vormav-- even Delita. When she discovers he sacrifices an ordinary man to cover up his assassination of Goltana, she realizes he's been using her, too. He marries her-- her, who's not a princess by blood-- he uses her lie of a life to become King, which, aside from the Lucavi, is why so many people in Ivalice were suffering in the first place.]] If all of that isn't a downer ending, I don't know what is...

A GaidenGame entry into the [[RunningGag pants-crappingly popular]] ''FinalFantasy'' series. It combined TurnBasedStrategy with a RolePlayingGame, and is the first game in the series to take place in the world of [[IvaliceAlliance Ivalice]] (followed by ''FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'', ''FinalFantasyTacticsA2'', and ''FinalFantasyXII'', as well as the non-''FinalFantasy'' game ''VagrantStory''). Due to the immense resemblance and many developers shared between the two series, particularly YasumiMatsuno, the game is often seen as a SpiritualSuccessor to ''TacticsOgre''.

While not the traditional ''FinalFantasy'' fare, it was embraced by TurnBasedStrategy fans for its challenging, satisfying gameplay and the sheer depth of its JobSystem, which took the similar mechanic in ''FinalFantasyIII'' and cranked it UpToEleven. It was also renowned for its BlindIdiotTranslation and resulting {{Engrish}}, often called "Daravonese" after the tutorial character who spouted most of it. The PSP remake, mercifully, was far better in this regard, having been localized by longtime Square-Enix collaborator Joseph Reeder.

Followed by a NonLinearSequel in ''VagrantStory''. Years later, the atmosphere of Ivalice was re-imagined in ''FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'', which took place in a dream world centuries before ''FinalFantasyTactics''. The actual era that this dream world was based on was then first seen in ''FinalFantasyXII'', and again in ''RevenantWings'', with another prequel in the form of ''FinalFantasyTacticsA2''.

It has also been re-released four times. The first was on the PS1's "Greatest Hits" line, though it remained hard to find. The other three were on the PlayStationPortable: first as the VideoGameRemake ''FinalFantasyTactics: War of the Lions'', the second via the PlayStation Store in a straight port (which oddly enough, does not encounter slowdowns in places ''War of the Lions'' does), and the last on the [[IOSGames iOS]], base on the PSP version, but without the slowdown.

** Gameplay-wise, Ramza and Cloud are this, with good stats for males ''and'' females. And the ability to use some items that they shouldn't be able to, like the beret and ribbon accessories. In Cloud's case, it could simply be an over-elaborate ShoutOut to a certain infamous minigame in ''FinalFantasyVII''. (Given that Cloud is able to equip the Ribbon in ALL his appearances outside FFVII, it's probably a ShoutOut.)

* TheCameo: [[FinalFantasyTacticsA2 Luso]] and [[FinalFantasyXII Balthier]] both show up in the remake, and it's [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by the latter, who still thinks of himself as the "leading man" but concedes this adventure has more the feel of a cameo role.
** Not to mention [[FinalFantasyVII Cloud and Aeris/th]], who appear in both versions.

** Elmdor looks eerily like Sephiroth from FinalFantasyVII.

* CutsceneIncompetence: It amusingly bleeds into gameplay. The remake has a cutscene before the battle to [[spoiler: recruit [[FinalFantasyXII Balthier]]]] where a Monk attacks Ramza with a sword. Monks are far better with fisticuffs than any other weapon. When the battle begins, it averts GameplayAndStorySegregation by leaving the Monk equipped with a sword.

* DidNotDoTheResearch: Cloud is listed as an Aquarius in this game, but the official FinalFantasyVII guidebook states his birthday to be August 19th, which would make him a Leo.

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: FinalFantasy is an RPG series. FinalFantasyTactics is a tactical/strategy RPG.

** This line and a few others even reappears in one of Vaan's conversations with Penelo in ''FinalFantasyXII'' as a ShoutOut.

* HeyItsThatVoice: Ramza is [[{{Futurama}} Hermes Conrad]], Delita is [[NoMoreHeroes Travis Touchdown]], Ovelia is [[FinalFantasyXII Princess Ashe]], and Agrias is [[FinalFantasyX Yuna]].

*** Even with Mustadio around, [[FinalFantasyVII Cloud]] can be missed if you accidentally pick the wrong conversation option (say, if you're hammering through the dialogue in a hurry), and he takes Worker 8 with him.

* NonLinearSequel: ''VagrantStory'' and, later, ''FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance''.

* TheNoseless: A facet of Akihiko Yoshida's Ivalice characters is that they lack visible noses. This carries over into the CG sequences in ''The War of the Lions'' which were done in Yoshida's style. Also of note, the character portraits in ''FinalFantasyXII'' (also done by Yoshida) also lack noses.

While not the traditional ''FinalFantasy'' fare, it was embraced by TurnBasedStrategy fans for its challenging, satisfying gameplay and the sheer depth of its JobSystem, which took the similar mechanic in ''FinalFantasyIII'' and cranked it UpToEleven. It was also renowned for its BlindIdiotTranslation and resulting {{Engrish}}, often called "Daravonese" after the tutorial character who spouted most of it. The PSP remake, mercifully, was far better in this regard, having been localized by longtime Square Enix collaborator and Ivalice fan Alexander O. Smith.

** Let's not forget the first two tracks of the soundtrack: "Title Back (Bland Logo)" and "Backborn Story". "Opening Title" and "Background Story" would make a lot more sense. There's also "Bloody Excrement", most likely a mistranslation of "Bloody Waste" or something.

* {{Stripperific}}: In a very strange variation, Altima's penultimate form ([[BlindIdiotTranslation "Nice]][[IfYouKnowWhatIMean Body"]]) features a very thoroughly clothed torso and arms, but from the waist down, it's nothing but a thong and knee-high boots. [[CaptainErsatz Which is hardly surprising]], as she looks ''exactly'' like [[VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}} Morrigan Aensland]].

* {{Jerkass}}: Algus/Argath. SERIOUSLY. He is so reviled that [[spoiler: he was placed in a second battle in War of the Lions, just so you could kill him again, and then in a BonusMission where you kill ''ten'' of him]].

* LonelyAtTheTop: [[spoiler:Delita destroys everything and everyone close to him in his bid to become king and finishes the game kneeling near the corpse of his wife (who he just killed in self-defense) wounded and wondering aloud who got the better end, he or Ramza.]]

* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: As pointed out by a LetsPlay by WebOriginal/HCBailly, Delita will actually go ''right'' for Algus/Argath at the end of Chapter 1. Reason being? The latter just [[spoiler: ''shot'' Delita's sister]].

** Or the Boy arguably...

** Funny--I figured that out right away...

-->'''Delita''': We have eyes and ears in many places...

* LonelyAtTheTop: [[spoiler:Delita destroys everything and everyone close to him in his bid to become king and finishes the game kneeling over the corpse of his wife (who he just killed in self-defense) wounded and wondering aloud whether or not it was all worth it.]]

** If them, then Agrias and Ovelia, since Agrias does seem to have some sort of obsession over Ovelia; but that's technically {{Les Yay}}.

** Or the boy arguably...

** If not them, then Agrias and Ovelia, since Agrias does seem to have some sort of obsession over Ovelia; but that's technically {{Les Yay}}.

* DidNotDoTheResearch: Cloud is listed as an Aquarius in this game, but the official FinalFantasyVII guidebook states his birthday to be August 12th, which would make him a Leo.

** You can also kick out any member of the party (except [[WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou Ramza]] and GuestStarPartyMembers) at any point and for any reason.
* OverratedAndUnderleveled: ''FinalFantasyVII'''s Cloud Strife, in a very complex late-game SideQuest, starts at a low level compared to your party members. It takes quite a bit of grinding to train him to BadAss status, just to be forced to wield a weak weapon and deal with inane charge times for his skills.
** Is Tactics Cloud really overrated, though? He doesn't exactly have any rating to speak of in-universe due to his entrance, and doesn't get a lot of love from players either...
** As mentioned earlier, you'd think that it would be impossible for Orlandu, a.k.a. Thunder God Cid, to possibly live up to the hype that he's given in-story once he joins your party. [[AvertedTrope He does.]]

* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: As pointed out by a LetsPlay by HCBailly, Delita will actually go ''right'' for Algus/Argath at the end of Chapter 1. Reason being? The latter just [[spoiler: ''shot'' Delita's sister]].

* StarPower: Olan/Orran, whose class is "Astrologist" and whose only skill prevents most enemies from acting.

-->''"God, please help us sinful children of Ivalice."''
--->--'''[[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses Princess Ovelia Atkascha]]'''