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REVIEW
Final Fantasy Tactics A2

I was a latecomer to the world that is Square Enix. For the longest time, FFVII was the only game I played, before I discovered the world of Nintendo. But then I got a GBA, and one of the first games I bought for it was Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. I was immediately hooked. So when FFTA2 came out for the DS, it seemed like a no brainer.

For those not familiar with the series, the Final Fantasy Tactics games are role playing games with many elements familiar to seasoned RPG gamers. The combat system is a turn-based strategy style reminiscent of more traditional table-top games. Characters not only get stronger by gaining experience in combat, but through the use of the Jobs system, gain more and more abilities that give more options in combat as the game progresses.

FFTA2 feels like a system upgrade in a lot of respects. Just like moving from XP to Vista, (or Panther to Tiger, or Gutsy Gibbon to Hardy Heron, I’m not trying to be exclusive here,) FFTA2 is a noticeable improvement over FFTA. The look and feel got some fine-tuning. Some of the more annoying play elements got rebalanced, replaced or just outright removed. And along with those changes, new classes, new abilities and new styles of gameplay have all been added.

One of the most overarching changes was the acquisition of Loot, which are used to unlock more and more weapons, armour and accessories in the shops. Initially only a very small subset of the weapons and armour are availble, but instead of arbitrarily being awarded a broader selection when the story reaches a certain milestone, as was the case in FFTA, in the sequel you have to try to mix and match loot that will make all sorts of equiment available for purchasing. Loot is given out as rewards for completing missions, and for following the laws laid down by judges.

The Judges are there to lay down “Laws” that your clan must abide by in combat. They seem a bit arbitrary, but they add a certain element to the combat that forces you to not use the same characters and play the same strategy again and again. The punishments for breaking these laws are considerably less severe than in FFTA. Instead of the footballer-like fines and suspensions (complete with yellow and red cards,) in FFTA2 you now are denied the ability to resurrect KO’ed characters only for the remainder of that battle, and must forego your bonus Loot that you would have otherwise received had you not broken
the law.

One of the changes I like most about FFTA2 over FFTA is the geographic changes. Now, the map of Ivalace is divided into regions that contain some small number of areas themselves. Some of these regions have cities or other notable settlements, others seem barren at first. And instead of fighting clan battles for control of cities like in FFTA,
there is a yearly auction at each major regional centre, a bidding mini-game that is an interesting diversion.

The game doesn’t make much use of the new hardware. They put the dual screens to reasonable use, but after toying with the touch screen interface, I quickly abandoned it in favour of the more familiar, and precise D-pad and buttons. It worked well on the GBA version; it still works here. The graphics and sound have had some cosmetic improvements, but otherwise changed very little from the old version.

This is an ideal game for the DS. Easy to pick up, pause and put down means that it is a game that you can play for hours at a time, when you have it, or just for a few minutes when you don’t. The improvements are slick, mesh nicely with the game and are on the whole welcome changes. But ultimately, it’s just Final Fantasy Tactics, albeit a newer, more polished version. If you didn’t like the previous incarnations, it’s safe to say that you won’t like this one. But I think those people are few and far between. I’ve you’ve never played a Final Fantasy Tactics game before, this is an excellent game that promises many, many hours of maddeningly addictive enjoyment.

Posted in DS, Nintendo, Reviews |