History VideoGame / FinalFantasyTactics

* AscendedExtra: Minor example, but Beowulf and Reis' Chronicle entries in the original version mention that a man named "Buremonda" was responsible for Reis' transformation into a dragon. In the PSP remake, he appears in person (retranslated as "Bremondt") as a BonusBoss.

** Meteor is the most damaging spell you have access to in the course of normal play (exceeded only by Zodiark, an InfinityPlusOneSword equivilant obtained only by fighting the game's BonusBoss), and hits an absolutely massive area. Unfortunately, in addition to its sky-high MP cost, it has the slowest possible charge time, and unlike summons, it doesn't distinguish between friends and foes. This makes it almost impossible to use effectively - if you target the ground, the enemy will be able to get out of the way before it lands. If you target an enemy, it'll lock on to them... but [[ArtificialBrilliance the AI is smart enough]] to move the targeted enemy next to ''your'' troops, meaning you'll still probably do more damage to yourself than the enemy.

* BonusBoss: Zodiark/[[spoiler:Elidibus]], the most difficult boss of the game, who resides in...
* BonusDungeon: ... Deep Dungeon, ten excruciating levels of high-level enemies who you have to fight in almost complete darkness. And the kicker? You can't progress to the next level unless you step on a certain randomly (chosen from only five squares, fortunately) placed square on the current level before you end the battle.

** The real purpose of the BonusBoss is to teach you an ultimate summon, which can only be learned by having him cast it on your summoners. There is no indication anywhere in the game that this is how it works - and you can only fight him once, so if you miss the chance then [[PermanentlyMissableContent you're out of luck]].

* TransformationTrinket: The Zodiac Stones. Luckily you only fight six demons instead of all 12. [[spoiler:7/13 if you count the [[BonusBoss Serpentarius Stone]].]]

* WesternZodiac: The holy stones are all named after the constellations, and a BonusBoss is the "thirteenth," Serpentarius. Each Zodiac has a specific set of affinities and weaknesses as well.

** Cloud gets the worst of this, as not only does he come with little skills learned, but he also comes at '''''level 1''''', whereas you get him after all the other special characters besides potentially Byblos, and at this point of the game your units' levels should be in the 40s or higher. Even ignoring the [[TierInducedScrappy questionable potential]] of his special job, there's no unit that could be remotely worth training up from level 1 this far into the game.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: '''[[spoiler:Dycedarg:]]''' "Our little mockingbird is taken wing, [[spoiler:Gafgarion]], and it leaves me wroth." (Wroth is, of course, [[spoiler:Adrammelech's]] title, and the Lucavi that [[spoiler:Dycedarg eventually transforms into.]])

* BareYourMidriff: Dancers, Celia and Lettie, and male Geomancers.

** Averted with most of the Job outfits, which are usually sensible across both genders. The only outfits that show a lot of skin are the male Monk, who wears a loose vest with no shirt, and the male Geomancer and female-only Dancer, who [[BareYourMidriff Bare Their Midriffs]].

* ArbitraryMinimumRange: Bowguns, crossbows, and guns have an arbitrary minimum range, but you can get around this restriction by aiming and then firing in the same direction as the target.

''Final Fantasy Tactics'' is a GaidenGame entry in the [[RunningGag pants-twistingly popular]] ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series. It combines TurnBasedStrategy with a RolePlayingGame, and is the first game in the series to take place in the world of VideoGame/{{Ivalice|Alliance}}. Due to the immense resemblance and many developers shared between the two series, particularly Creator/YasumiMatsuno, the game can be seen as a CreatorDrivenSuccessor to ''VideoGame/TacticsOgre''.

It has been re-released three times. The first was on the UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation}}'s "Greatest Hits" line, though it still remains hard to find for that console. The next was for the UsefulNotes/PlaystationPortable: the VideoGameRemake ''Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions'', which added FMV cutscenes, a few new secret characters, and (in the new translation) more elevated language to capitalize on the game's tonal resemblance to the book series by George R.R. Martin ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' (the two share not only an emphasis on politics and motivation, but an inspiration in the real-life UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses). Finally, ''[=WotL=]'' was re-released for [[UsefulNotes/IOSGames iOS]] and {{UsefulNotes/Android|Games}}.

* MartialArtsHeadband: Present on the Female Squire, Male Monk, Male Geomancer, and Female Samurai.

* NonStandardSkillLearning: Ramza's Squire skillset gets larger over the course of the game. There's also the Ultima spell (learnable only by Ramza and Alma, and only during two storyline fights) and the Zodiac summon (learnable only by summoners, during one optional fight), which are taught by being hit with (and surviving) the skill in combat, as opposed to most skills which are purchased with JP.

* LighterAndSofter: [[spoiler:Though it contains strong elements of political intrigue and its cast is a veritable MoralityKitchenSink compared to most ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' titles, ''Final Fantasy Tactics'' still isn't as heavy with its subject matter when compared to its spiritual predecessor, ''VideoGame/TacticsOgre''. For one thing, Ramza is a far more straightforward hero than the ruthless, calculating person Denam becomes, with Delita being the one to inherit Denam's more unscrupulous and manipulative traits. Secondly, ''Final Fantasy Tactics'' culminates in a straightforward good vs evil SaveTheWorldClimax, while ''Tactics Ogre's'' villains remain morally complex to the very end. And lastly, while both ''Final Fantasy Tactics'' and ''Tactics Ogre'' can end with relatively upbeat {{BittersweetEnding}}s, ''Tactics Ogre'' can also play out like a straight-up tragedy, with Denam losing everyone he cares about and even his life, unlike Delita who at the very least survives to usher Ivalice into a new golden age.]]

''Final Fantasy Tactics'' is a GaidenGame entry in the [[RunningGag pants-twistingly popular]] ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series. It combines TurnBasedStrategy with a RolePlayingGame, and is the first game in the series to take place in the world of VideoGame/{{Ivalice|Alliance}}. Due to the immense resemblance and many developers shared between the two series, particularly Creator/YasumiMatsuno, the game can be seen as a SpiritualSuccessor to ''VideoGame/TacticsOgre''.

* BalefulPolymorph:
** The Oracle spell Foxfire and Beowulf's sword skill "Chicken" can cause enemies to turn into Chickens if their Brave drops low enough.
** The Frog spell and the Nagarock sword can cause a target to be turned into a frog.
** The Moldball Virus ability ''permanently'' turns a unit into a Morbol. Fortunately this is an ability with no range that can only be used by a certain class of Morbol and it can only be used when it's immediately adjacenet to a friendly unit with the Monster Skill support ability attached, so you'll never realistically actually run into an enemy Morbol that can use it, and even if it can be used, it has a very low success rate at that.
** [[spoiler:Reis was none too happy about being changed into a dragon either.]]

* StatusEffects: In addition to the classic Franchise/FinalFantasy ailments (Berserk, Blind/Darkness, Death Sentence [aka "Condemned" in other FF titles], Frog, Petrified, Poison, Slow, Silence, Stop, Sleep, and Undead/Zombie), the game distinguishes between Charmed (the afflicted mistakes enemies for allies and vice versa) and Confused (does completely random actions, including ineffectual ones), and there's also Blood Suck (similar to Charmed, except the unit can only use "Blood Suck" as an attack to pass that status ailment on other units, and causes a Game Over if all allies are affected), [[BalefulPolymorph Morbol]], Paralyze/Don't Act, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Don't Move]], [[DirtyCoward Chicken]], Innocent (effective Faith of 0, though of course that can work as much in your favor as against you), and Oil (supposed to make one more vulnerable to fire, but fortunately it's bugged and does nothing).

** The Moldball Virus ability ''permanently'' turns a unit into a Morbol. Fortunately this ability with no range that can only be used by a certain class of Morbol and it can only be used when it's immediately adjacenet to a friendly unit with the Monster Skill support ability attached, so you'll never realistically actually run into an enemy Morbol that can use it, and even if it can be used, it has a very low success rate at that.

** The Moldball Virus ability ''permanently'' turns a unit into a Morbol. Fortunately this ability can only be used by a certain class of Morbol and a friendly unit with the Monster Skill support ability attached, so it's very rare to run into it in the wild.

** Gameplay-wise, Ramza and Cloud have good stats for males ''and'' females. Cloud can also equip the otherwise female-exclusive Ribbon accessory, possibly as a ShoutOut to the cross-dressing subquest in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' (or that ribbons can be worn by all party members in that game).

* ArtificialStupidity: The AI can also be incredibly stupid at other times. For example, the AI can't "see" reaction abilities, so it will try to physically attack a character with 96 Brave and Hamedo equipped. Generally speaking, the AI is great at calculating and reaction to what's happening NOW. However, it's horrible at planning for future turns.
** Also, in the first battle with Zalma (the Holy Priest), he will frequently cast Cures, not caring that doing so is also healing your party members (he will often heal 2-3 of your party members just to heal one of his), and sometimes his party members will move outside of the healing [=AoE=], and the monks on his side will frequently hit each other with their Earth Fist moves. For a game that has an AI that is so intelligent, it is odd that this one single fight has the computer acting so dumb at times.

* AntiVillain: The Corpse Brigade during Act One. All they want is to get the pay owed to them for their service during the war, but they're a terrorist group acting in an already taxed and vulernable country in the process.

* FriendlyFireproof: ZigZaggedTrope, as most spells are area-effect, meaning they will affect anyone standing within their influence, and shame on you if you accidentally kill an NPC in an EscortMission by flinging spells on top of them. However, summons and samurai blade Draw Out effects have DamageDiscrimination, preventing them from hitting the "wrong" targets.
** One very convenient side effect of this is that it allows you to level up more easily: neutralize the final remaining enemy on the field without killing it, then simply have your party hit and heal each other to [[LevelGrind gain experience and job points]].

* GlassCannon: Ninjas, Calculators, Black Mages and Summoners, at least in their default configuration. The game's flexibility is such that you can modify just about any class to strengthen its shortcomings.

* PurposelyOverpowered :

* EleventhHourSuperPower: The reward for the penultimate battle in the game (part of a sequence that leads right to the end with no pause) is the Ragnarok knight sword.

* FisticuffsProvokingComment: When [[spoiler:Tietra is kidnapped, Argath smugly declares that he wouldn't waste his time rescuing her and neither would Dycedarg]]. Delita responds by slugging him.

* VideoGameCaringPotential:
** Characters will die permanently after three rounds of KO status; people have been known to restart a battle just to avoid losing one of their generics. For many, this was just because dead units take their experience with them; losing a party member meant either a) turning to a much weaker party member you haven't played with for a while and is thus less useful, or b) recruiting and training a new member from level 1. It simply wasn't worth it.

* CynicismCatalyst: [[spoiler:Zaalbag's willing sacrifice of Tietra for Delita, and Miluda/Milleuda's death for Wiegraf.]]

** In Golgorand, Agrias putting her trust on Ramza after finding out his real identity:
-->'''Agrias:''' Ramza, are you really a Beoulve?
-->'''Goffard:''' Didn't you know, Agrias? His name is Ramza Beoulve. [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment One of the Beoulve family]].
-->'''Ramza:''' It's true. I'm a Beoulve! But I'm not like my brothers! I never knew about [[spoiler:kidnapping the Princess]]! I swear it!
-->'''Agrias:''' No doubt in my mind! I believe you!

-->'''Agrias:''' What is to be done with Lady Ovelia?
-->'''Gaffgarion:''' [[PunchClockVillain I will return her to Gallione, as per my contract.]] What [[AristocratsAreEvil Duke Larg]] does with her after that is not my concern.
-->'''Agrias:''' [[spoiler:[[ManipulativeBastard Lord Dycedarg]]]] and the duke would use her as a pawn in their game of thrones! Just as the two of them now use you! Is a man like you not ashamed to be no more than a pawn in their game? Have you no pride--no honor?
-->'''Gaffgarion:''' [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids Such flights of fancy are long since flown from me, my lady]].

* ReplacementGoldfish: Delita sees Ovelia as this for Tietra.

-->'''Ramza:''' But... this isn't right!
-->'''Gaffgarion:''' What of it? You are still a child... [[ShelteredAristocrat a child who does not see the world for what it is]]. A man does not turn his back on truth. A man accepts it, and walks the path he must.

** In the last battle of Chapter 1, at Fort Zeakden. You finally find [[spoiler:Tietra]], being taken hostage by [[spoiler:Gragoroth]] against a force of [[spoiler:the Order of the Northern Sky]] led by [[spoiler:Zalbaag]]. The latter leaves [[spoiler:[[HateSink Argath]]]] in charge while he teleports away to find [[spoiler:Wiegraf]]. After taunting Delita with the powerlessness of his life, he shoots [[spoiler:Tietra]] and [[spoiler:Gragoroth]], mortally wounding both. While Ramza's party fights against [[spoiler:Argath]]'s, [[spoiler:Gragoroth]] uses his last moments to set the explosive-filled fort ablaze. Ramza tries to convince a shell-shocked Delita to [[spoiler:leave Tietra's corpse]] and run, but he won't listen, so he runs away, watching his best friend being apparently consumed by the explosion.

** Delita flies into a rage against Argath for killing Tietra, and eventually decides that it's Ivalice's entire system that's at fault, dedicating his life to being the one at the top deciding who lives and who dies.

* FinalDungeonPreview: Played with a bit, despite the fact that there's only battles and not dungeons to explore. However, a number of significant battles occur at Orbonne Monestary, such as the opening tutorial, a few sequential battles midway through the game, and then returning there at the end of the game, where you're taken to the Necrohol of Mullonde, the true final area of the game.

* {{Face Heel Turn}}s: And plenty of them. There's a few {{HeelFaceTurn}}s to balance them out, though.

** Cid/Orlandu, meanwhile, channels Obi-Wan Kenobi of StarWars.