Final Fantasy Tactics

Final Fantasy Tactics
Developer: Squaresoft Platform: Playstation This game has a notes page

Final Fantasy Tactics is a near-legendary strategy RPG for Playstation, made by the same team as, and based heavily upon Tactics Ogre, although with a more "Final Fantasy" twist, naturally enough. In 2007, it was ported to the Playstation Portable with a new translation and various extras.

To do: Still need info on the Japan-only stuff: The music test and those interactive novels.

Debug Mode

To do: Describe this. The code is already here, for anyone who wants to elaborate.

Unused Areas

There are a handful of areas/battlefields that were entirely unused in the main game, but you can fight on them with a map select Gameshark code: D0198090 0000 + 80198090 0006. Technically, this is a debug code with additional effects, but it does let you set up a fight on any map in the game. To use it, bring up the command list on the world map, and a hidden command will appear at the bottom of the list. Select it, and a three-digit number will pop up, of which the number you input determines the location in which you fight.

Gate of Limberry Castle

Unused Limberry Gate

This is entirely different from the map normally used in the game. It's possible that the developers may have intended for it to be similar to Bethla Garrison, in that you could choose which side to attack the castle from, but as it's a rather small map, it seems more likely that it was intended for a cutscene. Also note the barred gate near the entrance is impassible, lending further credence to the latter theory.

Debug Menu Digit: 15

Hospital in Slums

Looks more like an office.

A series of four small rooms, set up in such a way where only one can be visible on screen at a time without rotating the camera. This appears to have been for cutscene use, rather than somewhere you'd actually fight, although the doors do connect the rooms in such a way that it would be usable in battle. Presumably, it would have appeared during Chapter 1, but it realistically could have been put just about anywhere.

Debug Menu Digit: 33

Warjilis Trade City

The lost port city!

This is the one and only area where you never fight at any point in the game, yet there exists a full map for it. It looks rather like you'd expect a port city to, with a pier, houses, and a few shipping crates scattered about. It's possible a battle or cutscene was planned here at some point, but was scrapped.

Debug Menu Digit: 42

Inside Castle Gate at Lesalia

Inside the castle...

In addition to the one used normally, there are actually three maps for Lesalia that never made an appearance, all most likely intended for cutscenes only. This first one appears to be, as the name suggests, the inner courtyard of Lesalia Castle. Note that these three maps are considerably glitchier than the rest; move/attack ranges don't show properly, and rotating the camera causes most or all of certain objects to disappear. This angle was the only one not to display any glitches.

Debug Menu Digit: 97

Outside Castle Gate at Lesalia

Outside the castle...

The second of three unused Lesalia maps. This appears, once again as the name suggests, to be the exterior gate of the castle. Move/effect ranges are, again, glitchy, and again, this is the only angle in which this map can be viewed properly.

Debug Menu Digit: 98

Main Street of Lesalia

And the city streets!

Finally, the main streets of Lesalia City. This one appears, at first glance, to be the most complete of the three... but that entire row of houses vanishes at certain map rotations! As with the other maps, the move/effect ranges aren't displayed properly.

Debug Menu Digit: 99

Unused Command Sets

There are several sets of commands that went unused in the game, possibly for testing purposes. There aren't any new attacks, but the formations of them are entirely unused, even by enemies such as Lucavi, whose stats and command sets cannot be viewed.

• 23 - Magic - Cure, Wish; This is technically Teta's command, but as she never appears in battle properly, it is never used.

• 2A - White-Aid - While this command actually is used (by Holy Priest Zalmo), it strangely contains four of Beowulf's "Magic Sword" skills (Sleep, Drain, Silence, Don't Act), which aren't, as Zalmo is never equipped with a sword at any point in which you fight him.

• 86 - (No Name) - Dark Holy, Deathspell 2, Galaxy Stop, Seal, Shadow Stitch, Stop Bracelet, Shock, Difference, Allure, MBarrier. It's possible this was used for testing purposes, and was never intended to be given to anyone.

• 87 - (No Name) - Seal, Chicken Race, Hold Tight, Darkness, Lose Voice, Loss, Spell, Nightmare, Death Cold. In other words, all the 100% effective status ailment attacks used by Lucavi. Another command probably used for testing only.

• 88 - (No Name) - Just a copy of the Apanda's "Bio" command.

• 89 - (No Name) - Melt, Tornado, Quake

• 8A - (No Name) - Toad 2, Gravi 2, Flare 2, Blind 2, Confuse 2, Sleep 2; Duplicate of Zalera's "Ja Magic" command.

• 8B - (No Name) - Ultima (Altima's larger variant), All-ultima, Mute, Despair 2, Return 2. Yet another command most likely intended for testing purposes.

• 8C - (No Name) - Duplicate of the Oracle's "Yin-Yang Magic" command.

• 8D - (No Name) - Duplicate of Reis' "Dragon" command.

(Source: The Final Fantasy Tactics Battle Mechanics Guide)

Unused Supplemental Abilities

There are also a few supplemental abilities that went unused. One of each type, in fact.

• Reflect - A reaction ability. This has no effect, though its name suggests that it would probably have granted Reflect status to the user if he/she was hit with magic.

• Non-charge - A support ability. Non-charge is absolutely legendary among hackers/Gameshark users, as it removes the charge time from every command, except Jump, Charge, Sing, and Dance. Probably more of a debug tool than something that was intended to be in the game, as nobody, not even Lucavi, make use of it.

• Silent Walk - A movement ability. Like Reflect, this skill is unfinished and has no effect. It's unknown what purpose it would have served.

(Source: The Final Fantasy Tactics Battle Mechanics Guide)

Unused Jobs

Many NPCs were given jobs, complete with unique descriptions, despite never appearing in battle where these would be seen. None of these jobs have a special command, and most don't work except on the most basic level. Also, the descriptions are copied directly from the game, typoes/mistranslations/bad grammar and all.

• Arc Duke - Used by Barinten; probably a mistranslation of Archduke. "High-ranking Noble. United feudal lords from various regions. His power equals that of a King of a small nation."

• Arc Witch - Used by Balmafula. "Witch reborn as an archwitch by contract with the darkness. Uses the mighty power of darkness."

• Bi-Count - Used by Rudvich; probably a mistranslation of Viscount. "Rank for Nobles. Fourth highest peerage of fifth-class Nobles".

• Bishop - Used by Simon. "Priest who takes an active part in spreading the teachings of God to people around the world."

• Cardinal - Used by Draclau. "Cardinal, the highest authority in the church next to the High Priest."

• Duke - Used by Larg. "Duke with hundreds of knights. A rank only given to selected nobles."

• Duke - Used by Goltana. Same name as Larg's class, but with a different description. "Duke attended by hundreds of knights. A rank only given to selected ones from the nobility."

• High Priest - Used by Funeral. "A messenger of God who has the highest authority in the church. His words are powerful enough to alter the fate of a nation."

• Phony Saint - Used by Ajora. It's probably for the best that this wasn't seen in-game. "Agitator who misleads people with lies and masks. Don't underestimate him, although he cannot match the power of a genuine saint."

Unused Music

There are a surprisingly large number of songs in the game that are not used, but are present in the game:

• Mitsui 01-11: There are eleven songs in the sound test (numbers 81-91) credited to "Mitsui" (Yukiko Mitsui). 1, 2, 4, 6, and 11 appear to be battle themes, while the rest were likely intended for cutscenes.

• Myu 01-05: Like the songs listed above, except credited to "Myu" (Yuuko Miura) instead. Both these tracks and those credited to Mitsui are reportedly used in the Japanese-only "Choose Your Own Adventure" novel minigames.

• Unused Shop: Also known as "To the Ball". Just as it suggests, it appears to be an unused shop theme. Whether shops were going to have different songs, or whether this was for a different type of shop entirely is unknown.

• Apoplexy: This song is technically used, and is present on the OST, but it warrants mention due to some oddities surrounding it. On the OST, this is just one song, but in-game, this song is split into two parts. One is used in random battles, and the other that's used in a few story battles; the entire "combined" song is never played in-game, yet is present in the game's code nevertheless.

To do: Add information on unused short fanfares.

Music Test

Apparently there was a music test in the Japanese version that was, quite unfortunately, removed from Western releases. It can be accessed by starting a new game and entering your name as "BGMききたい" (without quotes). Once on the sound test menu, you can view commentary for each track by highlighting it and pressing select.

To do: More info, please! I know very little about this save for its existence. Translations of track commentary would also be useful.

Character Oddities

Notable characters, from left to right: Ramza, Teta, Simon, Olan, Balmafula, Elidibs

Via hacking, it's possible to put any of the game's many characters, including enemies and characters who don't even fight, in the team. Most of these characters, while working perfectly fine in battle (albeit some non-combatants have missing animations for obvious reasons), don't show up properly on the menu, using the default sprite (Ramza's sprite from Chapter 1) instead. This also applies to a few characters who do join as Guests, but are never present with your team outside of battle, such as Holy Knight Delita. This makes perfect sense: why bother with extra coding if something is never supposed to be seen in-game? However, there are a few notable exceptions to this rule:

• Olan: Like a number of Guests, he's present only in a single battle, at Goland, and never appears in any others beyond that point. However, he works perfectly on the menu and in battle, suggesting that the developers may have had additional plans for him at one point, which were (rather wisely) scrapped, considering how overpowered his Galaxy Stop skill is.

• Archaic Demon, Ultima Demon, Apanda: This isn't really all that hard to explain. These creatures are of the "Demon" classification. Such characters are technically monsters, but share a few traits with humans, such as full command sets, and occasional support abilities. Since there are a few Demon-types that are playable (Worker 8 and the Byblos are both of this type), the menu functionality was likely added for the entire classification.

• Elidibs: As odd as it may sound, the bonus boss works perfectly on the menu, because strangely, he also has the "Demon" classification, unlike the other zodiac bosses, which are of the unique "Lucavi" type. Why this is, however, isn't as clear.

• Simon: Now we delve into the stranger cases. This is the old priest from Orbonne Monastery who gives you the Germonik Scriptures. At no point does he ever appear in battle, either as an ally or an enemy, yet not only does he, unlike the better majority of NPCs, have a working menu sprite, he also has a full set of battle animations. However, his default job's class, Bishop, is unfinished, having a nameless, blank primary command.

• Balmafula: The mysterious witch seen in several late game scenes, often alongside Delita or Olan. Like Simon, she's never in battle, but works perfectly on the menu and has all the battle animations. The description of her job claims she "uses the mighty power of darkness", but her primary command is also nameless and empty. Still, this all hints that there may have been early plans for her to be a playable character.

• Teta: This is probably the strangest case out of all the normally unplayable characters. Teta is technically present in a single battle at the very end of chapter 1, but is in no position to fight. Still, actually being in battle in any form seems as though it would elevate her above Simon and Balmafula... And she even has a semi-unique command set that is likewise never used anywhere else in the game, "Magic", although it only contains Cure and Wish. The problem is, Teta is only partially coded. If used in her default job, she begins each battle dead and is entirely unable to be revived (as that's how she is normally), which makes enough sense, and she can still be used properly by changing her job. However, she's still not completely functional, having missing frames of animation for certain attacks. Strangest of all, however, is that her menu sprite is not actually correct, yet it isn't the default "chapter 1 Ramza", either. It's a sprite that isn't used anywhere else in the game! This sprite only appears on the menu, however; in battle, she reverts to her standard "purple dress" sprite.

Brave Story Entries

There are three scenes and two Zodiac Stones (as well as a pair of dummied items) that, while normally available, are never seen due to the fact that that the scenes do not play out and the stones are not obtained until after you can no longer view the Brave Story.

Scenes

• Entrance to the other world - This is the cutscene where your party teleports to Murond Death City, and Rofel destroys the gate, preventing anyone from leaving.

• Reunion and beyond... - This is the ending scene showing Olan and Balmafula at the graveyard.

• Things obtained - This is the epilogue sequence showing the fate of Ovelia and Delita.

Treasures

• Leo - One of the twelve Zodiac Stones. Obtained after beating Hashmalum.

• Virgo - One of the twelve Zodiac Stones. Obtained after defeating Altima.

• Treasure (Pre.) - There are two of these, with the only difference being that one is "Pre. 1" and the other is "Pre. 2". They both look identical to the Germonik Scriptures, and have no description beyond "Dummy Data". What they were intended to be is unknown.

• 

  "Entrance to the other world"

• 

  "Reunion and beyond..."

• 

  "Things obtained"

• 

  Leo

• 

  Virgo

• 

  Dummied treasure

Choose-Your-Own Adventure Books

Another thing supposedly cut from the Japanese version that I've heard about but cannot confirm.

To do: Help. Please.