Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (Nintendo Game Boy Advance, 2003)

My own copy of this game arrived with a bit of gunk stuck in the cartridge which had to be cleaned out before I could play it. But that's an issue with my seller, not the actual game.

To begin with, the game seemed quite slow and full of uninteractive conversations in the traditional style of JRPG games. It was at times a bit tiresome, but the dialogue was witty at moments and aside from the contrived attempt to blend explanation of controls into the characters' conversations smoothly it was actually fairly interesting. A lot to have to skip through if you've already seen the introduction, though.

Once you actually get playing, the gameplay implements an interesting and original way of allowing characters to develop skills you want them to develop by using them in battle... The fact that the character develops the skills associated with equipped items even if he didn't use them that time seems to beg a question or two, but since some skills can't be used by simply commanding the character to do so (and others are occasionally outlawed and will make your character get sent to prison if he does use them) it works fairly well.

My main complaints about the gameplay are the details they left out that could have made it better, so obviously that I found myself annoyed they weren't there. For example, while any given weapon or piece of equipment shows which classes or races can learn special skills by equipping it on detailed view of the item, they do NOT state which OTHER classes can use it, which means that if you want to buy a helmet or a pair of boots to equip to your character just for good defense, you have to buy it and go to the character's inventory before finding out that that class can't use that item.

A similar problem occurs with melee classes' weapons. Some weapons are two-handed, so you can't equip a shield with them, and they will simply be unequippable on the menu unless you unequip your shield first. Why can't this be automatic? Again, the detailed screen does not mention whether they are two-handed, so if a particular weapon is unequippable, the player has no way of knowing except by trial and error whether it's because the class can't use that sword, or because it takes two hands. Or, for that matter, because it's already being held by someone else (though that is stated in a # used/# owned stat beside the item which is easy to overlook).

The basic jist of tactics in the game is to attack the enemy from behind or from the side - which makes sense, but it is frequently hard to both do that successfully and prevent them from stepping around you and doing exactly the same thing. Status afflictions can be used, mostly by archers for some reason, and can be exceedingly useful to exceedingly broken, if they hit. I swiftly found that Blinding my enemies pretty much assured they were useless for the rest of the battle unless the enemy had a status healing move.

The chances of hitting an enemy don't seem to improve by leveling up, and many of the missions consist of sending someone away for a short time and having them return to declare it a success. Sad. I would prefer to play them out.

It's not a bad game, and I found myself really getting into it after a while, but many details are unintuitive or just missing. I prefer Fire Emblem, as it's much more intuitive to control, has a well-developed personality for every character you can use in battle, and a story which always gives you a reason to be fighting.

Last time I checked, I'd clocked in a bit over 25 hours on Final Fantasy Tactics, and so far, the end doesn't seem in sight. For people who want a quick game, this isn't the one. But if you're prepared to slog it out for the long haul, this is a game for you.

For me, the best part of the game is the job system. Each of the five races has their own job wheel, making your characters infinitely customizable. By building up enough skills in lower classes, higher classes become available on the job wheel. This is also highly customizable, since skills are learned from the weapons you equip characters, and not from experience. Characters can use skills from two separate jobs at once. Sometimes it's more obvious. With Snipers and Hunters you'll generally want to hold on to your archer skills, but other times there's much more freedom involved. Thief skills, for instance, are relatively unhelpful, save for reactionary skills such as counter and maintenance. Your characters can use the same reactionary skills no matter what job you give them.

The storyline is decent, but occasionally I find that the cut-scenes go on long and I wish I could just go back out and kill monsters. For instance, the first cut-scene where the town of Ivalice becomes the world of Final Fantasy seems to last for about five minutes. The storyline is also slightly too self-referential: you are trapped in the world of Final Fantasy... eh. Still, the characters are, on the whole, strong. Also, the story builds well into the actual game play, and the engagements that are story related are almost always fantastic.

The law system is, I'm pretty sure, intentionally annoying. It's mandated by the story that as the game goes on, more activities per battle become illegal -- I've just gotten to a battle where I'm facing only animals and they've told me it's illegal to damage animals.

Engagements are fun. There are two basic types of engagements: missions and clan battles. Missions are bought at any town, you pay for the information and then you travel to where that mission is. Most of your income is going to come from this. Clan battles start pretty early in the game. Basically, your clan is just one of a large number of clans out there in the world of Ivalice, and as you go around the map, other clans are too. You see them going around the map, so it's never a surprise when you bump into them. I often find myself chasing after other clans. Generally, the rewards for these battles are lower than for missions, still, with an enormous group at your disposal, it's always good to have enemies your lower classed characters can fight.

The only things that consistently annoy me through the game are dispatch missions, which so far I have not been able to make rhyme or reason of why some fail and some succeed. Still, it's a small price to pay.

Final Fantasy Tactics is a great buy. It'll keep you for probably a whole summer and keep you entertained. Though the storyline is not quite up to par with some of the rest of the Final Fantasy franchise, the game play makes up for it in spades. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys video games.

4.5/5

First off, this game is not what youd immediately believe a game with the label Final Fantasy on it to be. This is a re-release of the version that came out on PSone also called Final Fantasy tactics. It's different in many ways from other Final Fantasy games, which for the most part have held a more traditional RPG aspect to them.

The main difference here is that this game tends to focus itself much more heavily on the strategy and planning of moves aspects, and less so on the story element and character development. Fans of other games in this series should be aware of that going into this game that there are such differences, and those expecting a typical Final Fantasy game will be surprised and may leave playing this game a little less satisfied with the experience, which in of its own right as a game is a worthy purchase, but it you like the elements of the more traditional RPG's of the Final Fantasy series, this may not be the game for you.

However, anyone who does consider themselves fans of the strategy genre and don't mind the not so plot driven gameplay, somewhat repetitive and drawn out nature of this game and are willing to dive into a seemingly overwhelmingly deep combat schematic and lack of much development as far as the inner workings of the party members, then who's to say you won't enjoy this game. Again, just take what the intent of the game to those who play it into consideration. Those familiar with the series in general may wish to borrow a friend's copy or rent it if possible before investing the full asking price of the game.

Again this is not to say this is not a great game by any means, as what is there is done well, it does meet standards of the Final Fantasy label, with nice graphics, sound, and well done playability, all taking into consideration the platform its on and the type of game this is. Some may see the 4/5 rating I'm giving this too high, and some too low, but here's ultimately how I came about it: on its own as far as this game goes, it really isn't that bad, but the expectation most players have for a game with the name Final Fantasy attached to it just doesn't seem to be met by this game, especially when you consider the other great games released in this series.

THIS GAME IS THE BOMB, ONE OF THE BEST GAMES FOR GAMEBOY EVER! the storyline is amazing, and theres so many cool swords and magic spells u can use to kill a lot of monsters and enemies. you will love this game for sure, because it takes so much time to beat. but after you beat the game twice, it might get too boring, so watch out! but as i said it takes forever to beat.

The game itself is a hit or a miss, as it was with the original release on the, PSX. If you like it, you love it. If you didn't, you hate it. Tactics, is a turn-based game, which makes the battle process somewhat on the slower side compared to it's ABS family members. It is very engrossing, with a rich story line, especially seeing as it is for the gameboy. There are a multitude of things to do. From making your clan stronger, to the simple quest taking that involves picking flowers.

The battles themselves are on a large scale. The 'board' is a squared map allowing one unit (or character) to occupy one square at a time. The idea to use your units to out move the oppositions. There are a an abundance of races, each with race specific classes to choose from or share between them. A huge armory of weapons and items allow for player customization of each unit individually, making the battle style you choose your own.

In all, the game is wonder. Final Fantasy, has always told us a story and Tactics Advance is no exception.