I had all but given up on getting a Final Fantasy Tactics remaster, and was about to ready pay some exorbitant price for an original copy. I don't even remember what I did with my original copy, probably something really stupid like sell it to GameStop for store credit towards a Xena; Warrior Princess game. I did some dumb things with my money in the 90s, and Lucy Lawless is one of my all-time celebrity crushes, OK?
I had a lifesize Xena: Warrior Princess cutout at one point. I got rid of it when my girlfriend, who went on to become my wife, started giving me "it's her or me" looks. I digress aggressively. The point is that I rejoiced when Square finally announced it was giving Final Fantasy Tactics the remaster it has long deserved.
The story of Final Fantasy Tactics has only grown more relevant over the years as it explores the pursuit of power and how history remembers those who seek it. The line between hero and villain can be incredibly thin, as thin as the imaginary lines we draw on the ground to say whose land belongs to who and begins where.
When Roger Ebert accidentally began a debate about whether games were art, Final Fantasy Tactics was one of the first titles that came to mind for me. Art challenges, it confounds, and FFT opened my mind in about 1,000 different ways.
Like Ramza Beoulve, my family dynamics are a little complicated. My father has several children, but I'm the only child he and my mother share. Everybody's expectations of everyone are constantly in conflict. Thankfully, no wars broke out in our family dynamics, but kids were pulled in all sorts of different directions.
While there was never a sequel and we waited decades for a remaster, FFT gave me years of enjoyment. It was my first tactical strategy experience, and that has become my favorite genre. I have a confession a game journalist shouldn't make. If I'm not writing about a game, I often don't end up finishing it.
But the ones I do finish? They're the most punishing ones. FF Tactics, XCOM, etc. I don't understand it either. But with apologies to McLemore, that's what you get when Squaresoft raised you.