Final Fantasy Tactics - Reception

Reception

Final Fantasy Tactics sold 824,671 copies in Japan in the first half of 1997. Since then, the total number of copies sold in Japan has reached approximately 1,350,000. In the United States it reached an estimated sale of 750,000 units as of year 2004. As of March 31, 2003, the game had shipped 2.27 million copies worldwide, with 1.36 million of those copies being shipped in Japan and 910,000 abroad. Since its release, rumors were circulated that the game was to be re-released by Sony as a Greatest Hits title, the tentative date being around July 30, 2001. As of August, 2011, the game had sold over 2.4 million copies worldwide.

Final Fantasy Tactics received universal acclaim upon its release, and critical opinion of the game has improved further over time. Magazines such as Electronic Gaming Monthly acknowledge it as "Square's first attempt into the strategy RPG genre"; though being "uneven", it is worthy of being called "a classic". Game Informer calls it "the most impressive strategy RPG yet." Gaming websites such as GameSpot lauded the game's battle sequences as challenging, requiring more strategic planning than ordinary RPGs. IGN noted that the plot was the strength of the game, being in-depth and with numerous plot twists. During battle sequences, the story unfolds to create a serious atmosphere of the plot, even with simple and "cute" character design. The spells and summoning visuals were compared with Final Fantasy VII 's detailed graphics.

Criticism is made on gameplay, plot and the localization effort. One of the reviews of RPGFan criticized the difficulty of the game as being inconsistent with each encounter against enemy units. The factors that influence the difficulty of the game include overpowered enemy units or party members, and time had to be taken to level up before any progress can be made. Though in-depth, IGN also noted that the game's plot was confusing at times, and that the item system was repetitive. The game's localization effort was criticized by reviewers as poorly written, being rife with grammatical mistakes that almost stopped players from enjoying the storyline. General RPGFan review noted that the battlefield area was too small, hindering any possibilities for better strategy. The gameplay is summarized by one of the reviews as "strength vs. strength and proper spacing of troops when fighting magic users".

IGN awarded the game the Editor's Choice Award on 1998, praising the in-game graphics as "amazing" and the battle environments with its extra details as being "extremely well designed". GameSpot has named Final Fantasy Tactics as one of its Greatest Games of All Time—the first Final Fantasy game to receive such an honour. However, its legacy remains fairly obscure compared to Final Fantasy VII, also released for the PlayStation that year. The game still entered many "best games of all time" lists, receiving 84th place in the "Top 100 Favorite Games of All Time" poll by Japanese magazine Famitsu during March 2006, 19th in a 2005 list by GameFAQs users, 45th in Game Informer's list, 43rd in Electronic Gaming Monthly's, and 38th in IGN's. Since its release, Final Fantasy Tactics has attracted a cult following. Fan communities dedicated to modding and balancing the game have appeared on the internet. These communities experience member activity as of 2011, fourteen years after Final Fantasy Tactics' original release.

Editorials from the gaming website RPGamer outlined several similarities between the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Glabados portrayed in Final Fantasy Tactics. One editorial noted that it was a controversial move by the developers, as the church institution "in fact worships a demon, and is evil from its god on down". However, another editorial mentions that such controversies failed to recognize the church in question is the medieval Roman Catholic Church, and that historically such institution is known for its flaws in the past.