When people ask me what game was the most fun for me to work on during my time as Squaresoft QA, it comes down to a toss-up between two games, Einhander, and the original Final Fantasy Tactics. Einhander I enjoyed just because I like shooters, and I think Einhander is probably the best shooter ever. Final Fantasy Tactics is different, but equally good. It was an incredibly deep game, tons of classes and abilities, and for the first time, we in QA had full access to the text. Due to a series of mix-ups, the text got all mangled in certain areas (totally not our fault), but the game's depth more than made up for it.
So, naturally, I was all amped when I heard about Final Fantasy Tactics 2 coming down the pipeline near the end of my tenure at Squaresoft, but, alas, that game never happened. By the time Tactics Advance was announced it seemed strange to me...a colossally bad idea. The game wouldn't be on a next generation system, I didn't like the artwork for the game, classes restricted to certain races...this was not the Tactics I remembered so fondly! After meeting with the guy who did some of the translation on the game he assured me that this game was indeed a blast to play. I figured even if it wasn't the sequel to the original Final Fantasy Tactics that most people wanted, it should at least turn out to be a solid game on its own standing. Plus, I figured, I should probably be the one to do the review here at Netjak. I mean, if you've got a website where the guy who was Lead Tester on FFT is a writer, and you don't use him to write the review on Tactics Advance, that's kind of a waste, no?
Final Fantasy Regressed?
The first you'll notice about FFTA is that it is not anywhere close to the game FFT was. I'll just get that out in the open right now. Tactics Advance definitely comes across as a kiddie version of Tactics, or Tactics Lite. (10% less Phat!) I don't know if this because it's on a Nintendo console, or they figured the whole religious angle wasn't going to fly this time, or everyone involved just wanted to cast as wide a net over the gaming audience as possible. For whatever reason, it feels pretty dumbed down.
This is what is known as a Bad ThingTM. SquareEnix and Nintendo have teamed up from the start to make a game that is almost certain to have nobody involved completely satisfied with it. The instant gratification types that they were trying to reel in with a simpler interface are still not going to get into the game. Golden example? My pal James' cousin or nephew got that deal for Nintendo Power, the headset, yadda yadda yadda. Gave James his copy of Tactics Advance in like 2 days. Said he didn't like it.
Everyone who was so enthused by Tactics that they made it the first game on Sony's Greatest Hits list when it hadn't sold the normally required number of copies will be disappointed because it isn't the direct sequel that they wanted. The game's definitely easier, and on top of that, the kiddie storyline that's part Neverending Story, part Fushigi Yuugi isn't going to win over the people who praise FFT's storyline as one of the best in a game ever. (I'm not even going to go into the story...it's pretty weak. At one point you learn that one of your main obstacles in your path is only in it for her hair color, and you remove another obstacle by guilt tripping a cripple...hail the conquering hero...)
If you keep all this in mind, I believe you'll have your expectations at the proper level to actually be able to enjoy this game from the get-go.
Slow Starter
FFTA takes a long time to get going. Part of this is the fault of a near 30-minute span that opens the game. You get the basic plot, name your character, and two lame, plot-driven Tutorial fights. I started the game up as I was getting ready to meet some friends in L.A. Bad, bad idea to try and start this up at that time. My friend fired up FFTA during boarding of a flight, and got halfway through it before he had to kill the GBA, and go through it all again, because you can't save during that section. Not a good way to start the game.
Also, FFTA incorporates the same type of system of leveling in FFT, where the random enemies are right about 4-5 levels less than the average level of your party, but the bosses are at fixed levels. What this all means for the first 9-10 levels, is that you're cakewalking through everything. You're pretty much untouchable. This gets boring rather quickly. Also, all the abilities you can gain are based off of your weaponry. The stores won't update their stock until you advance the plot, so you're running around trying to get cash and level for a while...which isn't the best way to get you into a game.
That being said, once the game gets rolling it builds up a good head of steam and keeps on chugging right on through until the end. Early in the game, I figured the game was about an 8. 10 hours in, I was going to score a 7.5, and then after putting another 10-15 hours in, I had a much brighter outlook on the game. I would have put this review up much, much earlier, however, since my opinion had changed so greatly, I felt I had to actually follow it through to the end to figure out what I would think of it in its entirety.
Breakin' the Law!
The main gameplay difference between FFT and FFTA is the Law System. Personally, I hate it. It's possibly the dumbest thing I've ever seen in an RPG. Take your standard RPG battle. Then impose random restrictions on it. There you have it. The Law System. Later on in the game you can cancel out the laws you don't want by using Law Cards, but that just shows how utterly stupid the whole thing was in the first place. On top of that, the Laws themselves don't cause me to rethink any strategy since they're so vague.
Try this on for size. You get into a fight...er, rather, an "engagement". It tells you Blades are banned. Well, what's the Vengeance? Is it a sword? A Blade, perhaps? Maybe a Greatsword? I don't know. I shouldn't have to go and sort through 3 or 4 menus just to find out what my character's equipment is classified as just because some designer decided to strap his game with the Worst Gameplay Idea Ever.TM On another occasion, I ran into the law "NoClrMagic". The description read, "Penalty for using magic other than White, Black, Red, or Blue." So I just used a standard attack with non-magic swords...because last I checked, that wasn’t magic...Yellow Card.
What exactly is the point to all this? I mean...is your favorite RTS more fun when you remove peons? No anti-air? Infantry only! Nope...it's not more fun at all...it's downright stupid, in fact.
So I just ignore the laws. They only bother me when someone gets Yellow Carded (This was all probably a catastrophic result of too much World Cup Fever in Japan.) and I lose all AP for the fight, or the weapon I have equipped. Get a player red carded, and they get hauled off to jail to serve time for X number of battles. You can bail them out of jail, or let them sit in there and rot. I recommend bail. There will come a point in the game where you have more Gil than you can do anything with (I finished with over a million Gil and change.), and it's just not worth it to wait for them to get outta prison.
The whole thing is just utterly moronic in terms of the plot, too. You have these big armored judges on armored Chocobos that sit around and do absolutely nothing during fights. They don't ever get hit, they don't ever attack...they just ride around. Their job isn't to keep the peace (or they would OBVIOUSLY step in to help in certain occasions.) it's just to make sure the arbitrary laws are enforced. They're completely out of place. My favorite line in the game goes something like, "Wait...that Judge...We've been engaged! Everybody run!" Like there was this covert operation beforehand where your team meets up, and they're saying, "Ok, on three...Judge, you head off to the right...you have to get there first, or it isn't really an engagement...we'll sneak up immediately afterwards, and we'll catch them off guard!" And this band of thieves is supposed to be too oblivious to notice a heavily armored judge clanking around on a heavily armored Chocobo....riiiiight. Never, ever bring back the Judge system, Square-Enix.
Gameplay
Aside from the laws, Tactics Advance plays basically the same as the original Tactics, with a couple of tweaks. First off, you can now see the field of battle and the enemy set-up when you decide to plunk your guys down before the fight. This makes a big difference from the original game, where you just had a blue grid to put people on and you didn't know what the landscape was or enemy's starting positions. Also, now, classes are broken down into different races. Instead of having different paths for different genders, you have 5 different races:
Humans: Good with a variety of weaponry, and as usual, the vanilla of the races. Average with everything. Can be anything from a Ninja to a Paladin, or a Thief.
Mogs: Or Moogles. Whatever. Little white cat thingys with a pom-pom on their heads. Mostly machinery oriented. Gadgeteers, Gunners, also have limited battle and offensive roles when they're cast as Mog Knights. I use them mainly as thieves, because Moogles are greedy little bastards.
Viera: The Viera are female bunny wabbit people. Archers, Snipers, and Assassins. They're very weak in a magic sense, but they do get Summoners. Also, they're only females in the bunch. So, helms like the Cachusha and the Ribbon are only really wearable by Viera.
Bangaa: My most hated of the races, the Bangaa are lizard/dog people. Big floppy dog ears, a speech impediment, and an inferiority complex. I just think they look bad. In any case, they're the "heavies", mostly suited for the offensive Knight and Monk classes.
Nu Mou: Actually, I take that Bangaa comment back. I like the Nu Mou less than the Bangaa. The Nu Mou are elephant looking things, and almost useless in battle. They're good at magic, but that's almost like being useless since an Assassin using Shadowbind and then Last Breath will kill pretty much everything on the map by herself. Nu Mou get used as pretty much every variety of Mage, Sage, and Magic User known.
Each race has a variety of different classes uniquely accessible to them, but there's a good deal of overlap between the different races' classes, and their abilities are similar in a lot of cases. Even so, there's enough variety to keep you enjoying character advancement right up until the end of the game.
Missions
The Mission system was kind of brushed over in FFT. Most people didn't really bother with it terribly much. In FFTA it's an essential part of the game. You'll use it to gain items to finish other missions, equipment, and also get to plot points with it. This is probably the one area that FFTA can claim a definite advantage over the original. Go to the Pub, and while you can't drink, you can get employment. If you have "freed" the area from the oppression of other clans, you'll get a deal on weaponry and mission costs. Some of the missions will require you to fight in a battle. Others, like the ones in FFT just require you to send a guy out, and have him come back after the allotted time away from the Clan. The game says there are 300 missions total. I had finished 227 once I beat the game, and you can continue on in order to clear them all once you're done with the main story arc.
One of the great parts about the missions is that they bring back one of the things not seen in any other FF...eating Chocobos. That's right. Those big meaty ostrich-chickens are just begging to slow roasted over an open flame. So, in FFTA, just like in FFT, you go on missions where someone wants some Chocobo-based food. Choco Gratin, Choco Bread, whatever you like. Chocobo...it's what's for dinner.
Totema
Totema are a racially linked summon. Once you rack up 10 JP (awarded for doing things the Judge Recommends and for kills. You can only earn 1 per action.) you can call down the Totema. If you are not a Nu Mou or a Viera character, this is cause for much celebration and damage. If you are Nu Mou and Viera your Totema just does magic damage, and hence, you get The Shaft, because your Totema is as useless as the lucky lottery numbers on the back of your fortune cookie fortune.
The great thing about Totema is that anyone can call them once they gather up 10 JP, they can fire it off...no skills necessary. So you can have one guy come in from out of the blue...used very sparingly in battle up to this point, and then essentially, fire the Main Gun. Which is cool...keeps every character involved...everyone gets a game ball.
Graphics
The visuals are just as good as FFT was where it shone...great sprites, nice effects for the basic magic. They are also as bad as FFT was when it was bad. Summons look pathetic, and the Totema, the most powerful attack in the game, look like a joke, just like the Summons did in FFT. I was really worried at first, because the paper artwork for the game all rubbed me the wrong way. I just wasn't feelin' it. To my delight, the in-game artwork feels like it made the transition just fine, and I'm happy with the final result.
Sound
You can tell right away that this is a Square game. The music is instantly recognizable...not the tune so much, just the overall feel. While I'm disappointed that my favorite sound ever in a video game..."kicked in the nuts" moan when a character would be stabbed in FFT didn't make it over...the Moogle death whimper almost makes up for it. The attacks all have nice solid effects to them. Hit someone with a sword, and it makes a nice metallic crunch. The cymbals for a successful critical are a nice touch, too. Good, good stuff.
Gripes
People said I had a lot to complain about Disgaea for the high praise I heaped upon it in the score category. Well...not as much nitpicking in this review...but a lower overall score. I nitpick because I care. :) Aside from the huge complaints I had about the Law System, there really isn't too much to yell about. The menu system definitely needed some fine tuning. You will be using every button on the GBA at some point....and a lot of times the same action is mapped to a different button making you have to hunt to find something in nearly every instance. To find out if a particular item raises or lowers your stats, you have to hold down the Start button to see it...and then it doesn't tell you how much it is raising or lowering by...just that it went up. Really hard to find your optimum equipment that way.
You can't rotate the map anymore, which is a bummer, but more often than not, you really don't need to. The FFTA guys designed the maps so this really wouldn't be a problem, unlike in Disgaea, where you're really hurting for a camera angle shift on some of the randomly generated maps.
The other gripe I have involves the regenerating MP. In FFT, you had an ability that would let you regenerate your MP when you walked. In FFTA, you get 5 MP back per turn, no matter the class, no matter the ability you have equipped. There's a big problem with this. It makes any sort of Magic draining attack worthless. If you want to stop someone from casting something, you have to deplete their MP, and Stop them or something. The worst is when an enemy is equipper with Damage > MP. This will convert any HP damage over to MP damage, provided the target has even 1 MP left. If you hit them for 200, and they have 1 MP left...they take 1 MP worth of damage. It doesn't wrap around. Since they'll regenerate 5 MP every turn, when you run into a character like this, you have to either sic someone with the 2 Weapon ability on them, or have 2 characters tasked with killing them...just to start trying to deal damage. The MP regeneration is what makes the Nu Mou and Viera Totema so utterly useless in combat.
Then there's the little random character names thing. While it's cool that I recognize a lot of the old QA team from Tactics (Stan, Sis, and of course, Clay.) someone of the other names are just short of being something recognizable...which just makes me grunt...because it could have been something meaningful. For example. Odonel? What about O'Donell? Or Nabkov? Perhaps Nabokov? As in Vladimir, the writer? Or possibly Evgeni, the hockey player? If they were just complete nonsense, I'd understand...it's just that they're close and there are others that actually do make sense as references, like Chaucer. So, I can't help but think they're mistakes. Plus, you can't ever rename anyone. You get to name the main character, your clan, and that's it.
Seriously though, aside from a complete overhaul that gets rid of the Law System, this game is probably almost as enjoyable as its going to get in its current state...I'd say all tolled I dock .1 for all the flaws put together.
Overall
It's good...but not great. As far as strategy RPG games, this pales in comparison to both Disgaea, and Final Fantasy Tactics. I can't really give it an Editor's Choice either. I can say that if you manage your expectations appropriately, you're going to have an enjoyable ride. It's not very challenging (I stomped the last 3 bosses into the ground something fierce at level 42.) but it's a nice comfortable, enjoyable ride. My GBA says I pumped 80 hours into the game, which isn't really true. I'd have to say it was probably 40 of gameplay, and 40 of me either falling asleep GBA still in hand (something about the screen just puts me to sleep.) or having it waiting for me to take my turn while I was trying to solve some customer's problem at work.
If nothing short of a full FFT sequel will satisfy you, you're going to probably want to stay away from FFTA. If you'll just be happy with another deep Square game that'll provide you with $30 of value, FFTA is going to be a hell of a deal for you. A fairly enjoyable ride, and plenty of replay to boot.
