Final Fantasy Tactics gets iPad release

By Fred Dutton Published 23 February, 2012

The War of the Lions will set you back £12.99.

An iPad version of strategy RPG classic Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions is out now on the App Store, developer Square Enix has announced.

It will set you back a princely £12.99/$17.99 - a couple of quid more than the iPhone version that launched last August.

War of the Lions is an iOS version of the PSP remake of the original 1997 PS1 Final Fantasy Tactics. It boasts optimised visuals, improved loading times and a new touch screen control interface. See it in action in the trailer below.

The PSP version scored a handsome 9/10 when it arrived in stores back in 2007.

"For old fans, it's a welcome return for a beautiful game that's been gone ten years; and for those who didn't import, all those years ago, we can only say we're jealous that you get to experience it all afresh," read Eurogamer's Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions review.

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About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (30) Latest comment 3 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • cheeky-sod #1 3 months ago

    Well expensive!

  • porkface Verified Features Editor, Eurogamer Network #2 3 months ago

    It's 7.99 on PSN Store, and playable on the Vita which has buttons and everything.

  • carrotcake #3 3 months ago

    While I think this would be good on an iPad, it would only be worth £5 tops for me especially since I have the PSP version already. I don't think S-E have the right idea with their pricing games on iOS... iOS users like to download many many apps, so each one needs to be relatively cheap. It's not the kind of platform where you save money and make just one significant game purchase a month.

  • munki83 #4 3 months ago

    They could be setting a trend and more and more developers will charge this amount and more

  • sherpa1984 #5 3 months ago

    £13, ouch. Try "Wesnoth" instead.

  • Utilero #6 3 months ago

    @porkface I am playing it on the Vita now and yes it plays really well with buttons. The game is a classic so it is good that IPad owners can enjoy it too.

  • Eldritch #7 3 months ago

    @sherpa1984 Wesnoth is dead ugly in comparison.

  • toythatkills #8 3 months ago

    Protip: £13 is not expensive for a game with 100+ hours of content.

    Just because the iOS market has devalued everything ("69p?! FUCK THAT. I'll get it when it's free" and such) doesn't mean that a game like this should cost pennies.

    If you don't want to spend £13, that's your issue with the price, not an issue with the price.
    Edited by toythatkills at 23/02/12 @ 22:06

  • el_pollo_diablo #9 3 months ago

    But...But...But everyone tells me you can't get deep and immersive gaming experiences on ipads and iphones. Does this mean..... they're wrong? :eek:

  • Velios #10 3 months ago

    Been waiting months for this - a bit pissed off at the high price point though considering its essentially a game i owned 8 years ago on PS1

  • SpartanGR #11 3 months ago

    I have them all. But i think that Mobile phones + Tablets = The beginning of the end for portable consoles
    Edited by SpartanGR at 23/02/12 @ 22:13

  • nimzy #12 3 months ago

    You know, watching the trailer, it finally struck me after over a decade that those introductory lines must be describing Ramza as an old man leaving a record behind, just like that scene in the last Assassin's Creed.

  • Rhythm #13 3 months ago

    £12.99 isn't a problem. £12.99 and no universal support is. Is it that hard to go universal, use iCloud and let you pick up the same game on iPod and iPad?

  • Laythe_AD #14 3 months ago

    Fucking good game though.

  • monty_79 #15 3 months ago

    It is expensive compared to PSN but bare in mind it has had a lot of graphical work and a UI overhall.

    To anyone who has an ipad, get it; it's a brilliant game and the art style is timeless and beautful.

  • kupocake #16 3 months ago

    Virtually every game is cheaper than Final Fantasy Tactics on iPad? That'll be because virtually every game is many magnitudes less engaging, well designed and deep than Final Fantasy Tactics.

    Flip-side: Apple product owners paying 1/3rd extra compared to a market alternative that does exactly the same thing. Who saw that coming?

  • shaunomacx #17 3 months ago

    @munki83 That would be a good thing. Get rid of all those shite £1 apps.

  • darkmorgado #18 3 months ago

    Any word on whether people who bought the iphone version for their ipad get a free upgrade?

  • gamerBOB #19 3 months ago

    This seems like yet another thing Square Enix can't grasp, while I agree this is worth more than 69p which most games seem to sell at these days it is not worth 12.99, I reckon 5, 6 at a push, at least below a tenner.

    Then again, they keep surprising me with stuff like the rebirth of true crime, sleeping dogs

  • toythatkills #20 3 months ago

    @gamerBOB Please, Bob, please do go on.

    Why is it only worth £5 or £6? What is your reasoning?

    ---

    This new Eurogamer policy will be quite handy though, you know, putting the price in subtitles. I assume it's policy now and it'll go on every review/news story, right? Otherwise it looks a bit silly just doing it for no reason on this story.

    "Asura's Wrath will set you back £39.99."

    "The Last Story will set you back £0.00 (don't pre-order at GAME.)"

    That kind of thing.
    Edited by toythatkills at 24/02/12 @ 00:52

  • Luckyjim #21 3 months ago

    Square iOS games are ridiculously expensive and very rarely go on sale. Shame really as I'd love to pickup some of their catalogue.

  • gamerBOB #22 3 months ago

    @toythatkills Poor choice of words on my part. The point I wanted to get across was that if they were to sell it for a more reasonable price (like 5 or 6) then I believe they would see a greater return on their investment. After a quick look on itunes however, makes me thing they are trying to cash in as much as possible while they can, they are selling an app which is basically a photo gallery from an ff game for 3.99!

    While they make great choices like supporting Eidos and buying out the guys behind true crime they still don't seem to understand how the app store works, or at least that's what I believe.

  • KeatsSeven #23 3 months ago

    Decent review of it up already, seems it has a couple of problems
    http://thesmartphoneappreview.com/2012/02/23/final-fantasy-tactics-war-lions-ipad-review/

  • xandoodle #24 3 months ago

    WHY IS THIS NOT A UNIVERSAL APP FFS AND YES THIS DESERVES ALL CAPS.

    This really, really frustrates me. I would buy but I don't like having to choose or buy both.

  • whatfruit #25 3 months ago

    @nimzy

    Its Olan's book that he wrote about the War. The one that gets him burnt at the stake by the church. Did you not see the ending?
    Edited by whatfruit at 24/02/12 @ 10:49

  • toythatkills #26 3 months ago

    @gamerBOB "The point I wanted to get across was that if they were to sell it for a more reasonable price (like 5 or 6) then I believe they would see a greater return on their investment."

    The thing with saying this, though, is that you've got literally no evidence to back it up. Indeed, I read something about a company who once consistently increased the price of the app a dollar at a time, and found they made more revenue the more they charged. The way you're looking at it makes sense to a layman, but there's nothing to suggest it's true.

    Selling at £6 rather than £13, S-E would have to sell roughly twice as many copies to make the same amount of money. I would argue that they wouldn't. FFT is a game that people will either know they want, or know they won't want. It won't get many impulse purchases because it's just not that kind of thing, and even at £6 you wouldn't be in impulse territory. So what you've got is a market already in place, and you're looking to lose as few of those people as possible, rather than gaining new people. If there are 10,000 people that wanted to but FFT and 8,000 still buy it because they think it's worth £13, then you've made more money than you would have at £6 where you'd maybe get 12,000 purchases.

    I've got about as much evidence for this as you've got for what you say, though, so there's really no way of knowing. Ultimately it's up to S-E to charge what they think is right, and up to you to decide whether you want to pay it. It's not up to you to say what the price should be.

  • Kostas #27 3 months ago

    This game is a true classic. Seriously, the more people enjoying this the better. It is on the steep side when it comes to price but keep in mind that this is head and shoulders above and beyond in quality compared to anything else the platform has at the moment.

  • cianchristopher #28 3 months ago

    I've never tried this game, despite hearing that it's great.

    And at that price, it looks like I never will.

  • gamerBOB #29 3 months ago

    @toythatkills Why do I need evidence to merely voice my opinion? Regarding the point about the pricing of the game, much like how alot of people wait till a console or PC game is reduced in price, they do the same for games on iOS. To be fair this game doesn't appeal to all so selling in large numbers would be difficult, just find it odd that they don't consider reducing the prices even for a day to push more sales through. Like you say there really is no way of knowing for sure.

    Only one guy's opinion, nothing more.

  • toythatkills #30 3 months ago

    @gamerBOB "...if they were to sell it for a more reasonable price (like 5 or 6) then I believe they would see a greater return on their investment."

    That's not an opinion, or rather, it's not really something you can have an opinion about, is all. It's like if I said "in my opinion, the Empire State Building is 187m tall." I just totally made that up, it's complete nonsense. The height of the Empire State Building is a fact, there's no opinion to have on that.

    You can say that you think it's too expensive "in your opinion." You can't say they'll make more money if they release it cheaper "in your opinion" because that needs some data to back it up, there's no opinion to have on that. Whether they make more money or not is a fact, it's not a matter for opinion.

    So that's why you need evidence, it's because you're not voicing your opinion, you're making an uneducated guess. If you meant to state your opinion, you did it wrong! =P

    (By uneducated, I'm not trying to say you're stupid, so don't misread that. Just that you're making a wild prediction based on nothing whatsoever.)
    Edited by toythatkills at 24/02/12 @ 17:24