Revier's Chronicles of Ivalice - Final Fantasy Tactics, Addendum 1

 

(Image of the demonic cardinal inflicting a death clock on everyone under his fixed AI in the PSP version)

So I mentioned that I'd be playing the PSP port. Well, I ended up doing it alongside my current playthrough of the PS1 original.

It's a pretty good experience, it's the base game but with some decent quality of life features, a brand new translation, some minor visual upgrades, animated and voiced cutscenes and of course, brand new content. What's immediately noticeable is how the AI is much more aggressive, being willing to hurt its own allies as long as it can do significant damage or kill an enemy or two. The new translation is enjoyable, and has some pretty good lines sprinkled throughout. I was dreading that it would be exceptionally stilted, having had poor experiences with the similar looking translation for Tactics Ogre's PSP remake, but thankfully that isn't the case, aside from a few lines that try too hard to be Shakespearean.
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The three main problems with it are:
a. The slowdown during magic/special skills, easily fixable with a fan made patch (and reportedly fixed in the mobile port of this version).
b. The poor sfx in comparison to the PS1 original.
c. The needlessly raised skillpoint costs (which is apparently a holdover from the original Japanese version, but still weird lol).
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These are legitimate problems, but they're fairly minimal, all things considered, and the good parts easily outweigh the bad.
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But I'm not here just to sing its praises, I'm here to shed a light on what it added. So, let us begin in earnest.

Wiegraf's Religious Turn

This scene occurs upon leaving Golgorand, the execution site Gafgarion used to bait Revier's team into wasting time, and illustrates what happened to Wiegraf, the leader of the failed brigand rebellion in act 1. He's shown grieving for Miluda, and the church recruits him to their cause by playing on his desire for revenge on Miluda's killers and his hatred for the noble classes. While not a significant bit of story, it's still interesting, and provides some decent insight into what happened to a prominent enemy of the past, instead of making him vanish into the shadows, so to speak.

Delita Rescues Ovelia

This occurs immediately after the battle at the gates of Lionel Castle, and shows Delita escorting the princess out of the captivity of the church and towards Goltana's faction. If that were all there was to it, it wouldn't be worth making. And indeed there's more.

They get ambushed by Dycedarg's assassins, and the player gets to play as Delita fighting them off! It's a pretty easy battle, and effectively an interactive cutscene, but it's still pretty neat for the novelty factor, especially since it gave me a nice taste of all of the "holy sword moves", lol.

There's obviously much more to come, and I'll be covering later additions as addendums to the LP, whenever it gets to relevant points. That will be all, see you later!