Tactics is best.

Man i used to skip school to play this game. That doesn't make any kind of testament to this game however just that i was a lazy student. Double Excalibur Ramza for life!

I have to agree... Final Fantasy Tactics was the very first Final Fantasy game I had ever played. It all started when I got the PS2 when i was about 7 or so. At this time I had no idea about games outside of Super Mario 64, but my first games ever on my PS2 where PS1 game and I only got 2 of them. Spyro and FFT. I think the second I started playing Final Fantasy Tactics there was no-way any other story out there in the world could beat it. I was constantly jumping out of bed, I had girl nights (Nerd Version 2.0) where i forced my friends to watch me play it through the night, Looking back at it now, I feel like a real douche realizing that this was a 1 player game and all they did was watch me play the entire time, and it wasn't even something they liked. Games? Girls? nope. At least not for my friends

This game I always end up going back to from time to time and i swear I've purchase every single version of it. It drives me insane knowing im going to have to wait an eternity to have you guys review it.

I've finished my playthrough of the main series and I'm gearing up to start on FF Tactics next. I have the PSN version of War of the Lions that I'm going to play on my Vita.

I really don't know what to expect. I've beaten FFTA and FFTA2 but I've never played the original.

Personally I think this game is really overrated. It's definitely good. But it has some major flaws in it. And I don't understand what is so amazing about the story. I played this after I'd played most of the fire emblem games, so it took awhile to get used to the 3-5 people per fight. It's a must play I think, but when it comes to this type of game, fire emblem is much better in my opinion.

FFT was my little dose of crack in the old days. Play a level. Level up stop repeat. When free timwas available. I needed a dose of tactics when ever I had it around sometimes splurging on 3-4ounces at a time. 3-4 = hours.

I have the exact same habit! And I saw that list and was stoked that FFT was on it (as well as like 3 other FF games I think).

Anyway, I've been open about FFT being my favourite FF game and very high in the running for my favourite game of all time, and I'll try to explain why. 

First of all, I think the story is the best and most developed in the series. YasMat (the writer/director) was heavily inspired by the Game of Thrones books and wanted to tell a similar story using themes of honour, religion/political corruption, duty, power, and betrayal. There's so much going on at both a macro and a micro level. You have the bigger picture of the War that's about to break out and the religious and political reasons for it, but you also get to see at an individual level how certain characters influence the events that transpire. It's a very real and (aside from the Lucavi Demons) believable story that really delves into the core of humans and some of the themes I mentioned above. 

The characters are extremely well-developed and have an impressive amount of depth. I think Ramza is the greatest hero in the series. His tale is both a tragic and inspiring one. He has been branded as a villain, and will go down in history as a villain, but he still does the right thing in the name of his family's honour (even when everyone else had abandoned it). Even the villains had complex and believable motivations. No one in this game was evil just for the sake of being evil, rather, they had very real (and sometimes even empathetic) reasons for doing all that they did. I think the character of Delita is particularly brilliant. I spent hours reading through all the in-game character biographies, it provided even more depth to the characters.

This applies only to the War of the Lions version, but the script in this game in incredible. It's amazingly well-written, and I think if you were to make a novelization of any FF games, this would be the best choice. 

The levels of customization offered in this game are almost endless and are probably the most we've seen in the series so far. There are infinite ways to approach every battle, and no two people who play this game will have the same party or approach a battle in the same way. I've played through this game many times and every time it still feels fresh because I can try out class/character/party combinations that I haven't used before. 

There are a few flaws with this game to be sure. You mentioned that fight against Wiegraf that can potentially be game-breaking if you aren't properly prepared. And TG Cid, as awesome as he is, is way too overpowered and essentially makes every battle after you get him redundant. The translation in the original PS version was piss-poor and allowed a lot of the story and characterization to be compromised (though this is fixed in the War of the Lions version).

I don't know, if you tried it and didn't like it, I probably won't change your mind, but this is why I really love it. If you do plan to try it again, I recommend you play the War of the Lions version if you can. The updated translation alone makes it that much better. 

That was an extremely detailed reply oxbellows thanks. I did play the war of the lions version for the record. And I really did want to love it believe me. I frequently get the desire to replay it but thinking about how slowly my characters advance and all the cons I listed is just a bit deterring. It just took too long to get good with any particular class. And like I said earlier I just prefer how fire emblem tackles the tactical element. I might read through a plot summary again though to see if it invigorates a desire to play it. It's the same with chrono trigger for me. Solid game but I can't figure out why it's so beloved. I appreciate the replies though.