Final Fantasy Tactics is a tactical role-playing game in which players follow the story of protagonist Ramza Beoulve.[1] The game features two modes of play: battles and the world map.[2] Battles take place on three-dimensional, isometric fields.[1] Characters move on a battlefield composed of square tiles; movement and action ranges are determined by the character's statistics and job class.[3] The battlefield also factors in elements such as terrain and weather to determine strategic advantages and disadvantages during clashes.[4] Battles are turn-based; a unit may act when its Charge Time (CT) reaches 100 and increased once every CT unit (a measure of time in battles) by an amount equal to the unit's speed statistic.[5] During battle, whenever a unit performs an action successfully, it gains experience points (EXP) and job points (JP).[1] Actions can include magical attacks, physical attacks, or using an item.[5][6] Hit points (HP) of enemy units are also visible to the player (except in the case of certain bosses), allowing the player to know how much damage they still have to inflict on a particular unit.[7]
In the world map, the player moves on predefined paths connecting the towns and battle points. When the character icon is over a town, a menu can be opened with several options: "Bar" for taking sidequest job offers, "Shop" for buying supplies and equipment, and "Soldier Office" for recruiting new characters. Later in the game, some towns contain "Fur Shops" for obtaining items by way of poaching monsters.[8] Random battles happen in pre-set locations on the map, marked in green.[8] Passing over one of these spots may result in a random encounter.[9]