Tactics Experience

The following is a repost from a former version of my video game blog. This is old shit but it’s still worth the read and keep. I still laugh at this little experience.

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This game never fails to amuse me until today. After all those long years that I passed without playing it, thinking I can never play it ever again since my PSX broke a long time ago, how can I ever pass up this one? One of my childhood favorite games: Alive once more!

I have been playing until either one of my older brothers snatch the PSP off me or I drain all the battery’s energy. How I miss that “zombifying” part as well. *ahem* … Now, we move on to a more detailed Final Fantasy Tactics: Shishi Sensou (The War of the Lions) story time ramble.

At most, this entry will contain personal experiences and retarded, imaginative failed fiction thought up of by my blasted psyche as I was playing the game. Don’t worry, everything is spoiler-free. Just in case.

First off, I’d like you to meet my squire boy, Joyce. I didn’t hire him, he was one of my provided units after the new game. Joyce was just an ordinary rookie like any other good FFT Squire or Chemist. He was determined just as the rest of the party was. And when put out in the field, he would fight with all he can; never quitting even if it meant his own death. Joyce was the least I used, however. This was so, because regardless of his overwhelming dedication to the party… Joyce was useless.

Joyce was so useless that he kept hindering the party back. Whenever Joyce would end up pinned down by the enemy, naturally the rest of the party members should go and help the poor squire. But this disrupts the entire war plan and both money and time is wasted just to help the squire who would soon be attacked again and would die once more. After a while, the party gave up and just decided to expel Joyce to hire a new member.

Alas, with much emotion, Joyce said, “I thought we’d be good friends,” after clicking unto the expel button. I’m sorry Joyce, but it had to be done. Ramza, the hero, and his party then said their farewells to the young squire. Little did everyone know, including myself, that that wasn’t the last of Joyce. As we furthered in the game, we reached a certain part of a dramatic mission. To our surprise, Joyce stands there, wearing a full armor of a Knight holding his sword with much pride. And to a much more shocking surprise, Joyce gave us the most trouble out of all the other enemy units. What conspiracy, from weak squire to strong knight?

It wasn’t exactly a good feeling to know that your former party member would come back for you like that. And in this game, it’s a chance of 1 out of 100 that your enemy would receive the same name as your previous party member. Or was Joyce really haunting Ramza and the others? Now that time after the party has defeated him, we thought it was finally the end. But we were once again taken in a much more shocking coincidence later on. That is not the end of Joyce as the traitor came back after a while longer. This time, the “ghost” was a bow-wielding Archer. Once again, he gave us yet the most trouble.

The suspense carries on. Will Joyce come back for us again? If he does, will he succeed into getting his revenge?