Snapping Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles

I finished Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles last week. I'm delighted to report that Tactics remains sublime and the upgrade is outstanding.

While I was playing, I did something that I usually wouldn't: I snapped screenshots. When something struck me as poignant, interesting, funny or just pretty, I'd grab a picture. Some of those images now serve as the backbone for this blog post and will provide inspiration for a bit of Tactics talk.

Obviously, this post will contain spoilers. If you plan on playing Final Fantasy Tactics and have yet to do so, I'd advise giving this blog a miss. I won't mind, and I trust you'll come back once you've played it. And you most definitely should play it, because it's an all-timer.

Delita on a Chocobo - The Opening Cinematic

I'm pleased that the water-colour cutscenes from the PSP port, War of the Lions, were retained. They're a lovely touch that add a softness and warmth to the otherwise harsh world of Ivalice, a juxtaposition that makes all the murder and class-exploitation go down a little easier.

I love the Tactics-look in general. Akihiko Yoshida's oddly proportioned, long-armed and nose-less character models are as much a defining part of FFT as the job-based gameplay. Although I've admired his art for some time, it has only just dawned on me that the long arms are likely a physical representation of the "jobs" that define these characters, jobs which mostly involve swinging heavy tools with their arms. Their intense labour is reflected in their unusual portrayal. Either that or Yoshida-san is just really bad at drawing limbs? Anyway, I've bought the newly-released art book, which now sits on the same shelf as the 1997 walkthrough guide I picked up earlier in the year, with the iconic (to me) chick-in-a-panorama cover image.

A Samurai named Maisenta - Character Menu Screen

"Wot?" That's how Maisenta, the last generic team member standing in my active squad, greets me when I select her profile. She delivers it perfectly in a harsh British accent, sounding like she's thoroughly had enough of me, and is just a second away from calling me a "complete fucking muppet". I delighted in this sound byte, and many others just like it. 

I was worried about the voice acting. These characters already had voices in my head, and I'm deeply allergic to the high-pitched, whiny, "cute" voices that I often come across in Japanese RPGs. The first thing I did upon loading up Ivalice Chronicles was peek into the settings to see if I could turn off the voice acting, as I had already consigned myself to being an enthusiastic hater. But I held off, and I'm glad I did, as the voice work is exemplary. Ramza and co. have found their voice.

Argath Being Unpleasant

What a nasty piece of work he is! Your early-game partnership with Argath immediately forces you to face some uncomfortable truths about Ramza and his position in this world. His foes, largely taken from the lower classes, despise him and his allies, most of whom are of noble birth. And they do so for good reason. While Ramza's humanity is quickly established, and Delita bridges the gap between the haves and the have-nots, Argath's presence is a stark reminder of the societal inequality that Ramza has greatly benefited from. Ramza and his buddies are the problem, not the solution.

In Ivalice, things are rarely as simple as good vs. evil. Almost every villain is sympathetic in some way, especially in the early-game, and you are routinely forced to kill men and women who you might otherwise wish to save. Even the Zodiac Stones are not fundamentally evil. They merely respond to the deepest desires of their wielders, often in their most desperate moments, and mostly to horrific effect. 

Anyway, fuck Argath. I'm glad he's dead. Prick.

Wiegraf Reminding us that this is a Final Fantasy

It can be easy to forget that Tactics is a Final Fantasy. It's not a crucial part of its identity, and besides, it's far more Tactics Ogre than it is Final Fantasy VII! That being said, the merger works rather well, with familiar elements borrowed from FF and put to convincing use. Cloud's appearance is the only exception, as it feels very forced and unnecessary, though I'll admit I was delighted by it back in the day. Balthier's turn in The War of The Lions, removed for Ivalice Chronicles, was far more appropriate.

Tactics' position in the Ivalice saga is more interesting to me than its place in the world of Final Fantasy. Set centuries after FFXII, following a cataclysm that undid all the technological advancements of that era, it hints at many of the things that were lost. In FFT, we hear whispers of floating continents, an airship graveyard, and mysterious machines unearthed from the detritus of long forgotten cities - all things that were taken for granted in the XII-era. As for the timeline, I'm told that Vagrant Story comes after FFT, as does Tactics Advance, while Advance 2 jumps between pre- and post-Tactics. I'm well overdue a replay of Vagrant Story and Tactics Advance, and I've just started A2 for the very first time.

I needed more Tactics!

Ramza's Smooth Upper Lip and Milk Drinking

Ramza and Delita are essentially kids. Kids who had to grow up far too fast and do some pretty awful shit. Obviously, young protagonists are nothing new in Final Fantasy, but here their youth does not function to make them appear cool or cute. Instead, it highlights the cruelty of their world - that teens are thrust into situations like these - and it sets them apart from the status quo in a world controlled by middle-aged men and grizzled war heroes, though Tactics never explicitly sets young against old. Speaking of the elderly, I continue to enjoy Orlandeau as an actual old man who doesn't mind hanging out with kids and doing a bit of killing for them. A lot of killing, to be fair. OP killing.

A Soon-to-be-dead Deserter Longing to See His Family Once More

This NPC didn't last long. I can't remember how he died, but he probably took a battering from my Monk Ramza. FFT is pretty ruthless, as death finds the good and bad, guilty and innocent alike. His weariness of war is shared by many NPC, though it almost never leads to anyone laying down their weapons and walking away. In fact, I can't think of a single instance where you are given the option to show mercy - it's very much a "killing is bad but you're going to do it anyway" kinda game. 

The final monologue, played over the closing cutscenes, offers one final moment of ultra violence visited upon someone who almost certainly didn't deserve it. According to our narrator, Ramza's ally and future chronicler, Oran, is eventually burnt at the stake as a heretic. Tactics is unrelenting from start to finish.

Delita on Playing Parts

Since childhood, I've been fascinated by history, enthralled by stories of conquest and human endeavour. As you read and learn more, and as you seek out different perspectives of the same events, you come to understand the value that lies in the fiction of history and you realise that very little can be known for sure. In studying the past, it's crucial that we not only ask what is true or what is false, or more likely what is plausible or what is not, but also to consider why things are misremembered or misrecorded, and why lies can endure over millennia. At times, that understanding can teach us far more than the events themselves.

The theme of historical revisionism, and that of history lost and recovered, is central to Final Fantasy Tactics.  It's a retelling of a story that has been mistold and misremembered, or at least that's what our historian and narrator, Arazlam, assures us in the opening monologue. The true hero, Ramza, was miscast as the villain, and as for the hero, Delita, well maybe he was one, maybe he wasn't. Depends on who you ask.

The player experiences the true events of the War of the Lions, or at least how Oran tells them. But is his account accurate? While Oran was a first-hand witness to some of these events, he was absent for much of it, so even his telling in the Durai Papers may be doubted. And our narrator, Arazlam, is eventually revealed to be a descendant of Oran, someone who would certainly wish to paint a favourable picture of his ancestor and his allies. Is this the true story or yet another construct of men bending history to their will?

Was Ramza actually an arse? 

What, if anything, would lead us to believe that Ramza and Delita's revolutions actually changed anything, in either the long or short term? Likely their actions, presented as a huge reversal of the status quo, brought about very little societal change. At the close of our adventure, there is still a king and queen on the throne, nobles in their castles, and peasants in their hovels. Society remains intact, and the apparatus for exploitation of the many by the few survives. I doubt the common folk of Ivalice would have given a flying fuck about Ramza and Delita.

Arazlam Durai tells us they were a big deal, but he would say that, wouldn't he? 

Going back to the quote in the screenshot, Delita is right of course, about playing parts. Most won't grasp the part they play, as that part is often defined by later generations as they attempt to decode past events according to their modern understanding of the world. Our part is unknowable until it's over. Delita's point also brings to mind the loss of the individual, the players that time forgets. For every Delita, there are countless anonymous actors. They may have had roles that were just as crucial, yet no chronicler was on-hand to record their great deeds, or the eventual winner simply chose to erase their name from the annals.

I wonder what happened to the rest of Ramza's band? Orlandeau, Mustadio, Agrias, Beowulf, and even the generic NPCs like my Samurai Maisenta. Did they all perish in the Necrohol or did they make it back home, and if so, did they go into hiding or resume their regular lives? Arazlam makes no mention of them post-Necrohol. They are lost, cast aside to make room for more "notable" men and women.

Tactics does not shy away from the selectivity of memory and the ruthlessness of history.

I tell you what, Final Fantasy Tactics is a banger!

A Man of the Cloth Saying Night Soil.

Night Soil! Lol.

It means shit.