There is no denying that Final Fantasy Tactics is one of the best videos games in history, but it also has one of the most annoying levels ever conceived by the developers at Square Enix. Thanks to a save game trap that exists in Riovanes Castle, many players might have quit before even finishing.
Final Fantasy Tactics is a turn-based strategy JRPG that takes place in Ivalice, which was later used as the setting for Final Fantasy XII. The player generally has access to the world map at all times and most story-based battles involve single encounters. The player has the chance to save between battles and there are almost always random encounter locations nearby that can be used to level the party, just in case they are underpowered for the main quest encounters. Riovanes Castle throws this out of the window and lays a trap for the player…
The Newbie Trap
The player needs to visit Riovanes Castle in order to progress the story in Final Fantasy Tactics. It contains three consecutive battles and the player only has the chance to save and view the party screen in between each fight. Once the player begins the Riovanes Castle story segment, they cannot leave until they have completed all three battles.
The first battle in Riovanes Castle is easy enough, as it involves fighting some generic troops at the gates. After this straightforward fight, you are given the chance to save. That’s when the trap is sprung – if you haven’t been keeping backup saves at earlier points in the story, then you’re locked into this quest.
The Solo Wiegraf Fight & Belius
The second battle starts out in a unique way. Almost every battle in Final Fantasy Tactics involves battles between two teams, where the player has access to five or six characters. The second Riovanes Castle encounter starts out as a one-on-one fight, with the main character Ramza Beoulve fighting Wiegraf on his own.
Wiegraf is a powerful opponent that possesses the unique White Knight class, this lets him deal a ton of damage from mid-range with powers like Judgement Blade. A new player who wasn’t prepared for this fight might have used a mage build for Ramza, as they always had the support of their party members up to this point. A squishy Ramza won’t last long in this battle, and you can’t progress unless you can drop Wiegraf to critical health. This might end a playthrough right here, as the player might not have the tools on hand to allow Ramza to defeat Wiegraf.
If the player knocks out Wiegraf, then he will transform into the demon known as Belius or Velius, depending on the version of the game. Ramza’s party then enters the battle at this point, but Belius calls in his own crew of three Archaic Demons. Belius on his own is a mighty foe, especially as he can use the Cyclops summon to deal a ton of damage across a wide area, but the Archaic Demons add that extra layer of difficulty to potentially create a battle that is impossible to win.
If the player only has saves made after completing the first stage of Riovanes Castle, then their playthrough ends here if they cannot defeat Wiegraf or Belius. The fact that the two hardest fights in the game were placed in this manner was a horrible trick performed by the developers, and it could have resulted in many hours of gameplay being flushed away.
Marquis Elmdor And His BS Assassins
Those who managed to defeat Wiegraf and Belius still have one more trial awaiting them, as there is another battle on the roof of Riovanes Castle that needs to be completed.
The third battle pits the player against three units – Marquis Elmdor, Celia, and Lettie. All three of these characters have unique classes, but Celia and Lettie’s are the deadliest in the entire game, as they are Assassins. They possess a move called Suffocate, which instantly kills an enemy if it hits.
Ramza’s team outnumbers Elmdor and his crew, but there is one crucial stipulation that makes it just as hard as the previous battle. The player is joined by a character named Rapha, and if she dies, they instantly lose, even if there are healing items available. Rapha also happens to be an incredibly weak unit, but she loves running headfirst into battle and straight into the waiting arms of a Suffocate attack. You only needs to defeat a single enemy to end this battle, but the odds are stacked against you, as Rapha is a devastatingly weak link in the chain. If you don’t have units that are swift enough to win the battle before Rapha is killed, then it’s game over.
Riovanes Castle has a legendary reputation among gamers, and this is a good thing. The people who are curious about Final Fantasy Tactics and want to read about it online will find plenty of people warning them to keep backup saves throughout the game, especially when they approach Riovanes Castle. The gamers who first played Final Fantasy Tactics back in the ’90s didn’t have the luxury of a warning and they might not have had access to the Internet, even though people were coming up with strategies for winning these fights back then and could have offered advice.
The mainline Final Fantasy games for the original PlayStation have all been remastered and released on modern systems. We have yet to see a remaster of Final Fantasy Tactics, but there is speculation that it could be on the way in the future, especially considering how Square Enix has been porting and updating a number of its older games. If Final Fantasy Tactics does come back someday and is available on systems like the PS4 or Nintendo Switch, then fans need to put the word out about Riovanes Castle, in order to spare a new generation of gamers from the horrors of its save game trap.
