Games Gameboy Advance Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

Written by Toma-kun January 02, 2009 Hits: 3070 Favorites

Game Info:

Platform:

Gameboy Advance

Developer:

Square-Enix

Publisher:

Square-Enix

Players:

Format:

128MB Cart

Gallery:

GBA » Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (7)

Editor review

Reunited and it feels so good...

After hearing the news of the cataclysmic merger between the two console roleplaying giants Squaresoft and Enix, I didn't quite know what to expect. Squaresoft has a long and illustrious history, but their latest offerings have yet to impress me and while Enix doesn't have the same lengthy track record, they haven't been lacking in the quality of their products. The first game to be released with the new SquareEnix badge is none other than the highly anticipated Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Granted, it was under development way before this union ever took place, but a good chunk of the cycle was spent under the new name. From what I could see, the recent events have had no effect on the game's quality. In fact, it came pretty darn close to restoring my wavering faith in Square. I never played Final Fantasy Tactics on the original Playstation before, so my review will not be a juxtaposition of the two games of the same name. In fact, it wouldn't be proper; since FFTA is far from a port of the popular PSX game and overly critical fans of that version should simply stop comparing the two.

The story begins in Ivalice, where the local school kids are having their regular snowball fights complete with a partial adult referee. Here we are introduced to Marche, the new kid around the block and we join him in his struggle to fit in by participating in the snowball fight. Unfortunately, his team is made up of the kids that nobody want: Mewt, the schoolyard wuss and the favored target of the bullies and the naturally white haired tomboy, Ritz along with one of her friends. Needless to say, the other team is comprised of the bullies who instinctively aim all of their shots at Mewt. After spilling some blood, the game is ended by the referee and the Marche, Ritz, and Mewt decide to hang around with each other for a while. They decide to read a mysterious book filled with odd creatures and they begin to wish that they lived in such an unusual place. Little did they know that after closing their eyes to sleep that night, they'd wake up living their fantasies. In this new fantasy world they adopt new personalities and powerful abilities that would make the real world seem boring and thus begins the conflict. The fantasy version of Ivalice was Mewt's cherished dream and in this exciting, albeit false world, he becomes the prince and everyone is forced to bend to his will, lest they risk being arrested. But Marche, in all his sensibility, sets off to restore the real Ivalice, bringing this fantasy to a screeching halt. It may seem like a childish and uninspired story to some, but this entire conflict struck a chord in me. What would people do without fantasy, without dreams? If someone threatened your objectives to pursue your lifelong dream, wouldn't you seek to destroy them? If you find that you are asking yourself the same questions, then I applaud your ability to see the story for what it really is. It's an incredible story that puts some of Square's heavy hitters to shame.

The gameplay is the usual fare for a strategy-RPG game with the exception of the trademark Final Fantasy class system. Each race in the game has their own unique jobsets which are always interesting, to say the least. Each class has their own set of equipment that can be used to gain new abilities with enough usage. Gaining new abilities is imperative as it is the only way to unlock new classes. Leveling up is achieved by reaching 100XP points which become increasingly harder to gain as you climb higher in level. XP is received by performing any action during battle except moving and passing. The one major difference between FFTA and the oodles of other strategy-RPGs is the Law System. You may remember that the fantasy version of Ivalice is Mewt's dream come to life and in this world he exerts his control by using judges to enforce the laws in each and every battle. The laws can range from prohibiting the use of swords to utilizing certain kinds of magic and while it fits the plot very well, later on in the game these laws can become a major hassle. Along with the forbidden actions are the recommended actions, which, if performed, will give you a Judge Point. JPs are awarded by the judges and if you accrue 10 JPs, you will be allowed to call a Totema, once you gain that ability. The game is progressed through missions that you can sign up for in the town pubs. Most of the missions are not essential to the progression of the plot, but once you have finished enough, plot missions will begin to pop up. In all there are 300 missions and that's no small number. It took me 40 hours to finish the game and only 150 missions were completed!

The graphics are nothing out of the ordinary which is not necessarily a bad thing. If you've played Tactics Ogre, then you'll probably notice that the two games look very similar and indeed they are because it really doesn't get much better than this. One aspect that I found particularly interesting was the character design. Unlike every other Final Fantasy game, these characters weren't designed by Tetsuya Nomura or Yoshitaka Amano; they were designed by Ryoma Itoh, who is a relative newbie in the SquareEnix offices due to the fact that FFTA was the first game he worked on. I have nothing but praise for his work on the character art because they are simply stunning. The art reflects on the diversity of the races and the classes through unique outfits and exotic adornments. Granted, some of the human class art looks a wee bit feminine, but it all fits the universe very well. The game isn't meant to scare or present a fashion statement, so naturally the art reflects on that. I find this to be a very refreshing change from the typical "over-the-top" Square character design seen in FFX and FFX-2. FFTA proves that even the simplest designs can still please the gamer and that uniqueness doesn't always come from the most bizarre styles. Another interesting aspect of the game's graphics is the totemas. Totemas are basically summons and we all know you can't have a Final Fantasy game without summons, so after calling on them we are treated to a short and sweet scene where the totemas do what they do best: cause wanton destruction. While some of the animations such as Exodus' are lacking, the rest are quite impressive, with Famrit and Mateus being the best.

The sounds are nothing special either, just the usual slashing and clanking sounds that you'd expect from the Medieval Ages. The music on the other hand, is worth writing home about. The music team was made up of Hitoshi Sakimoto and Nobuo Uematsu, so you can already expect great things. The entire score is very cheery and catchy, but it can get repetitive. Due to the space limitations on GBA cartridges, the selection wasn't as varied as it should have been, but it is still remarkable work nonetheless. You will find yourself humming these tunes wherever you go and it's an indication that you've probably been playing too much and you need a break :)

As stated earlier, the laws can get extremely annoying; especially after you're halfway through the game and you have to wrestle with three different laws in one battle! Not only that, the laws also become more unreasonable and ambiguous. Laws that prevent you from causing physical damage will begin to come out of the woodwork and some laws such as Copycat fail to fully explain the stipulations! This is a minor concern compared to the game's biggest flaw: its interface. Never have I seen such an unfriendly and unintuitive interface in a Squaresoft game. When buying new equipment, you are not allowed to view any changes to your stats that might take place; instead, you have to switch between your current equipment and the new equipment and see if any of the numbers change. To make matters worse, there's no way to sort or filter items according to class. Throughout your quest, you'll undoubtedly build up a large cache of items and this makes it very difficult to find the items that you can even use. To make matters worse, there's no way to scroll through the items faster, so you're going to have to hold that d-pad down for a while. Fortunately the items are sorted chronologically, so the newest items show up at the BOTTOM of the list; it's inconvenient, but it's better than nothing. I also wanted a screen to indicate what stats were increased after a level up so I could keep track of my stats, but that wasn't included either. More variety in the missions would have been great as well. All of the missions are either Defeat All or Defeat Boss, which tend to become repetitive. SquareEnix could have added some sort of Capture the Flag or Storm the Castle type of missions; after all, the game does involve warring clans.

Despite these shortcomings, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance was an enjoyable experience. It has made me optimistic about the fusion of Squaresoft and Enix. It was enough to wipe the bad taste that Final Fantasy X left behind and showed me that there is still hope in the Final Fantasy name. I've said it before and I'll say it again, portable roleplaying doesn't get much better than this!

Highs:	Wonderful story, great musical score, amazing artwork and addicting gameplay.
Lows:	Missions and music may become repetitive, terrible interface, laws are unnecessarily harsh.
Bottom Line:	The first Final Fantasy game on the GBA and may very well become the best one.