Interesting plot, great strategical battles and good game mechanics make this remake (even today) a top class SRPG.
Indeed, War of the Lions is not your everyday video game tale. It presents a complex plot with multiple layers. It talks about themes too few a game nowadays does. It's a bitter story of oppression, poverty, class differences, betrayal and one man, trying to make a difference. It is a story you'll surely follow with great interest; that is, if you can follow it. The difficulty in presenting such a story is, it's hard to unfold in a way, that everyone can keep up. I had some longer pauses between forwarding the story and was sometimes a bit lost. It's not that hard to follow the main events, but keeping up with all the characters is a whole another problem. Still, the story itself is too interesting to let these faults drive you away from it.
Unlike typical Final Fantasy games, Tactics (as the name suggests) provides you with interesting and strategical battles. You'll command maximum of five characters in a single battle in a 3D battlefield. The field is divided into squares of different height and movement is factored by your characters movement and jumping length. Turn on the other hand are affected by your character's CP gauge and speed. A many battle is fought while being vastly outnumbered, which is not bad, as it forces you to use every bit of strategy you can think of. It is important to pick correct classes to every battle, move to better locations (for example, archers can shoot farther from higher ground) and so on.
As said, your party can hold several characters and each of them may present one of the many job classes. Starting as squires or chemists, you can eventually become anything from summoners to samurais. These jobs all feel nicely different, although not all of theme provide significant benefit to justify using them. For example, I found geomancer class to be utterly useless in the end. The interesting part in developing your characters is the ability system. Each class boasts a number of activated abilities you can use while using the said class. In addition, you can pick a secondary class, which activated abilities you can also use. Thus mastering at least two classes is greatly recommended. And that is not all, as you can learn reaction, static and movement abilities that you may equip regardless of your current job.
Despite the many positive aspects, the game comes with a few flaws, too. The complex story is one thing, but there's also the never-ending random encounters. Unlike in other Final Fantasy games, in Tactics you can't just breeze through these battles in mere seconds. Also, Errands, a kind of side quests, are rather dull, providing you with no real reward and taking a lot of time (the real side quests, however, are a blast, letting you meet some familiar faces). The worst flaw is still not any of these. At times, before a difficult battle, you are given a choice to save your game. Unfortunately the game won't tell you it's a point of no return. As a result, I for one, made the mistake in the beginning to save my main save at that point. After saving there, you are presented with a choice of winning the battle or starting the game all over again. It is a ruthless system, but with determination you should be able to overcome even these troublesome situations.
All in all, Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions is a splendid game. With a lengthy gameplay, great variety of classes, strategical battles and deep plot, it remains as a top-class SRPG even almost 15 years after its initial release.