Final Fantasy Tactics Advance Review

It has been a while since I last worked on a review, and I know you all missed me. I am come to stay! Anyway, back to reality. Here we have the 2nd game in the FF Tactics series and the first on a handheld system, released in September 2003. Anticipation was high for this game, being the sequel to one of the PSX's most beloved games. Did Final Fantasy Tactics Advance bring something new to Tactics' gameplay while still honoring the original?

The story in Tactics Advance tells of one Marche Radiuju and his friends, Ritz Malheur and Mewt Randell. Those names are a mouthful, and not mentioned in game, so I'll stick to these first names from here on out. Anyway, Mewt is a new kid in Marche's home of St. Ivalice and is logically bullied for this. Marche, being an altruistic soul, immediately sees a problem with this and wants Mewt to be his friend. Ritz is another resident and friend of Marche, who is rather strong willed due to setbacks in her young childhood.

Mewt finds a dusty old book in a store and brings it to show his new friends. Something happened and Marche wakes up in the new world of Ivalice, wondering what has happened...

FF Tactics Advance's graphics make great use of the chibi 2D graphics established in the first Tactics, truncated for the small screen. The screen is zoomed in as well to compensate for the small screen. Besides the camera, the 2D graphics look great, with subtle but impressive effects. Spell animations are somewhat dull by comparison, but the presentation shines in the various kinds of summons you can acquire. A nice job.

Music is the most impressive aspect of Advance. The battles do not take as long as War of the Lions, but a solid repeatable score still is necessary to avoid the lengthy pacing of battle. Advance succeeds in this, as the music never feels grating or irritating. Because it doesn't stand out nearly as much as WOTL, I don't own the game score. It works for ingame listening, and is superlative by GBA standards, but it is not the kind of music I listen to outside of gaming.

Gameplay in Advance takes place on isometric battlefields, you move your characters one at a time and try and accomplish a goal, which is almost always defeating all the enemies. A few changes from Tactics need to be mentioned. Spells no longer require charging time, so you don't have to plan enemy movement around it. This is not better, just different, and I appreciate it. Physical attacks are much the same. The job class returns with certain races being limited to certain jobs. A lot of people didn't like this change, as it seems to limit custom character options. But unlike WOTL, characters will offer to join your party in a much more accessible way. They will often come in as an advanced job, even with abilities already learned. This is a big improvement from the guild option of Tactics in which every recruit was a blank slate. What was the point of this, unless you were stupid enough to let a character die and then you save...

Abilities are now learnt from items, like in Final Fantasy IX. This does serve to make learning the abilities that you want more straightforward. It can still be hard though as you may not be able to access the jobs that can equip some of the items that teach some of the best abilities. This is because you unlock new jobs in Advance by learning a set number of skills of other jobs, it has nothing to do with job levels, which aren't present in this game. There are always FAQ's to help you out though. JP is now used to summon powerful beasts, based on each race. So you now only gain exp from completed attacks. There are more little differences but the most important things were unchanged, and I am glad for that.

JP stands for Judge Points, which are awarded for doing actions that the Judges approve of. Speaking of Judges, they are present through battles to enforce the laws of Ivalice. A lot of the gameplay revolves around obeying these laws (which range from no blue magic to no targeting all enemies) and penalties ensue if you chose to ignore them. And depending on who ignores it, it can mean game over...

It would seem that many people do not like the Judge system because it limits your actions in battle. This is true but I also think that it encourages variety, definitely more so than Tactics on PSX. For example, I never bothered with calculators because they were unnecessary to create, as there were plenty of powerful abilities that worked consistently. In Tactics Advance, you need to train your characters with multiple skills, or I suppose you just learn to manipulate the laws...

Challenge in Advance is diminished, mostly due to the removal of character death, except in certain situations. The oddest thing about challenge is that AP earned for successful battles is given even to dead characters... It is certainly odd that there are no penalties at all for dying. Most of the battles are easy but the boss battles do require strategy, as you may find yourself able to use fewer characters that you might think. And as before, if you work for the most powerful jobs right off the bat like ninjas and assassins, their superior abilities will naturally make the game easier. Replay value is hard to gauge for me, as I have only played this game twice. Once when it came out in 2003 and once again for this review. This is not a complaint; it is probably because the game takes a LONG time to complete. All 300 missions probably take over 100 hours to access and complete, especially if you don't use FAQ's.

The most inane thing I ever did to myself with this game is accidentally save over more than one slot. I can't explain it, but I hate when that happens! I am so obsessive about nothing, it's crazy! I literally got rid of my copy and bought another one! Damn!

In summation, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is a great continuation of the Tactics series and a worthy successor. Enough has changed to differentiate it and I think both hold up well. The beef on the less serious nature of the storyline is greatly overstated, though the story is not serious on the surface, it actually goes beyond War of the Lions in more subtle ways. Just remember the interactions with Clan Ritz or your younger brother if you need proof. Fans of turn-based strategy games, check this out!

- Ugly Bob

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