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Mission: Success!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 05, 2008
Author: Amazon User

FFTA2, like its predecessor, sports a rather simple storyline, but don't let that convince you this game won't be much fun or be very long! The fighting system has built on FFTA, changing some things that weren't so good and adding in new jobs, abilities, and races.

The sheer amount of time you can spend with this game is amazing! There are hundreds of quests you can run aside from those that progress the main storyline- most involve fighting, but some just require you to talk to a particular person or bring someone a special item. Instead of being repetitive or dull, most of the missions are quite entertaining, with recurring NPCs and subplots. I've played for over forty hours and I still have plenty of things I want to do!

Anyone who enjoyed the Final Fantasy Tactics Advance would definitely enjoy FFTA2, as well as anyone who likes strategy games with plenty of things to do in them!

Classical FF Tactics gameplay, and not much else

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 19, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The Final Fantasy Tactics series traces its roots back to the venerable game of the same name on Playstation, and the gameplay hasn't changed much in the intervening ten or so years. This is a good thing, since the original game was remarkably enjoyable and deep. Of course, there are minor differences between this game and FFT or FFTA, but the core of the gameplay is identical. You still command a small group of characters who can accept various jobs, each with its own (more or less) unique set of abilities, and combat other armies and monsters on a top-down grid of squares.

However, the story in this game is seriously lacking. While the original FFT had an engrossing (if poorly translated) plot, this game has virtually none at all. Because the game is structured around quests, many of which are optional, there is no focus on the central plot line since you may very well take on multiple optional quests in between two "main storyline" quests. The main storyline is also very forgettable, and I found some of the sidequest storylines more interesting than the main story.

Nevertheless, if you approach this game with the expectation that you'll find classic FFT gameplay and a subpar story, you won't be disappointed. There are lots of missions to complete for the thorough gamers out there, some of which are rather challenging, so if you stay interested throughout this entire game you can expect this game to last about a hundred hours or so.

A promising return of the franchise without much break throughs

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 04, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Square-Enix has been churning out games after games for their most popular franchises. So it is not surprising to have a sequel to the extremely popular Final Fantasy Tactics Advance on GBA a few years ago. Same as the previous Tactics games, the world is set in Ivalice as part of the Ivalice Alliance series.

A2 inherited quite a number of features from its predecessors in the Ivalice world - a whole array of ridiculously diverse job classes with different degree of customisation. What added to the system of A2 is the new job class that are related to FF XII, which introduced the green magick category for now the new class Green Mage. Also all the summons or espers in FF XII are now back in A2 but instead of assigning them on the license board you can summon them through equipping certain accessories that you get in various quests. Also the Seeq race is back for A2 and now controllable characters that you can recruit.

Treating A2 just as an extension to previous Ivalice games will be unfair though for it does introduce new elements to the world. The most easily spotted being the new Grias race - the flying race that can reach high places on the field to grab those exotic treasure chests that contains items that you could not find in shops or bazaar. They proved to be quite useful on the field as compared to the slow Seeq race. A2 also reintroduced geomancer, one of the most useful jobs (in my opinion) and works in a complementary way with the Viera's Elementalist class. Due to the presence of two new races, there are quite a number of new job classes available for you to choose from and play around to create your favorite army. Not all of them are useful and some skills of different jobs are actually the same when executed on the battle field, so leaving you wondering why they have those skills and jobs anyway.

Story wise, it is similar to Tactics Advance about a boy or teenage got teleported to the world of Ivalice after opening an ancient tome. The objective was to fill up the pages and go back to the original world. Nothing much of a very interesting story. But the great improvement story wise are all the side quests that weave themselves either into the main story or run their own storylines themselves. Clearly in those storylines, the theme are more mature and also provides a very different angle for you to look at some of the story characters.

The battle system still plays on a grid structure, and you have to think about your direction of attack and elemental properties. The Judge system is back but less annoying than its predecessor as now you don't need to bail your allies out from the jail anymore but you lost the Judge protection and won't be able to revive your fallen allies inside the battle if you broke the law. Also a welcoming addition is the Clan Privileges you can maintain (and acquire through Clan Trials) throughout the battles if you comply with the laws. These Clan Privileges could prove to be tide turning if used appropriately in different battle context. Square-Enix has done away with most random battles in A2 but all battles are now mission and quest related - including the rare random battles that pops up according to what time of the year and what other clans are in control of the area. Most of the skills effect play out beautifully on the DS and the will tempt you just to apply them to look at how pretty they look on the small screens. However, in a very Tactics manner, from time to time you will run into very frustrating battles that really test your tactical skills and thinking even prior to the battles e.g. what to equip and what jobs to bring into the battles. Further certain job classes may not behave in the same way you remembered as in the past so you might need a bit of adjustments to get use to what they offer.

A2 has a variety of gameplay to make it less monotonous. The injection of FF XII's bazaar system is one of them although the titling of items are as random as ever and you will need a walkthrough to get what you want without wasting certain hard to come by materials. There is also the Clan Trial for you to obtain bonus Clan Privileges to give you an edge to the battles. Also the Auction House allows you to get goodies and cheaper prices for items if you control certain turfs under your name. These are all welcoming additional gameplay that offer a better variety of experience although for most of the time you don't necessarily need to complete them to complete the game.

In all, A2 is a welcoming and stable addition to the Tactics franchise but it certainly didn't revolutionise the franchise as the predecessors did. If there is another Tactics game for Square-Enix under the Final Fantasy banner, they will need to work harder to make sure that the franchise won't go stale.

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