For an unemployed guy like me, videogames help to fill the late hours and in-between times. I'm particularly fond of older RPG and adventure games. Currently, probably my favorite game of all time is Square's "Final Fantasy Tactics". For Square, Final Fantasy Tactics was an experiment turned utopia. It's unlike the traditional console role playing games that make up the Final Fantasy series, instead bringing strategic, tactical combat to the center of gameplay. Imagine a completely interactive chess game. Recruit a squad of soldiers, give them unique jobs that evoke special abilities and characteristics, and go to battle evil.
It's not like Tactics started the strategy/RPG genre -- not by a long shot -- but it definitely took strides towards perfecting it. Games like Ogre Battle and Shining Force were of the same ilk, but were very niche in their audience. Tactics really didn't have a big following, either, and was originally released in limited supply. I bought mine at the same time I bought the play station in 1998, but in later years when supplies were scarce, you could see them on Ebay at prices well over 50 dollars. I never considered selling mine. Not even once. Eventually it sold enough to warrant a republishing and price reduction, and can be found usually for about 15 bucks.
This is a game you can literally and easily plunk 300 hours into and only barely be scratching the surface. It takes 60 or so hours to play through normally, 80 to do a chunk of levelling up, and easily 100 hours to complete all the side quests. Since characters have different job classes and combinations of skills, the game offers several replay possibilities. Since it can be found for between $15 and $20, that averages out to about $0.06 per hour of enjoyment. Not too shabby, huh?
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