Tactics Ogre has always been the benchmark for all strategy games. FFTactics was based off the SNES and later PS remake of Tactics Ogre. And no one has yet to even come close to duplicating the success of the original Ogre Battle except maybe for the ill fated Dragon Force, which was a great game just hardly produced and very rare. Well another chapter in the saga has been bestowed upon us and I can honestly say it does the series a great deal of justice with plenty of maps and sidequests, this title should be in any strategy fans GBA library.
Let me say this, this game has a different storyline than most other OB games. In fact it takes a bunch of stories from the Bible and gives them its own kind of twist. Aside from that fact, this game is essentialy TO for the PS1. Also the difficulty has been turned down just a little bit as well. Thank goodness cuz this game is damn tough at times anyway.
Anyway for those that do not know the strategy turn based formula take a look at Final Fantasy Tactics. They are one in the same. There may not be as much customizations or skills, but there are plenty of classes. That alone should keep you occupied. Mixing your army with magicians ,Valkyries and knights make this a game that will let you fiddle with different styles of combat to best suit you.
The only gripes I really had with the game was the lack of variety in weapons and spells and the absolute cheapness and rareity of goth. This game has some tough ass maps! Period. You are going to redo some maps and that is all there is to it. Now if you are a hardcore strategy enthusist then this may not matter much. In fact that may actually make you want to play this game even more. However I just wish the difficulty was toned down or at least selectable.
Otherwise this is a perfect game for a long trip or doctors office visit. Not as much variety as the big boys but packs a huge portable punch. Plenty of clases, plenty of maps and plenty of challenge. Not for the skinpy wimpy and occasional strategy player.
