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the story behind ffta

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: October 14, 2003
Author: Amazon User

in this game you take the role of marche, a kid whom just mved to a town called ivalice. nobody likes him until he meets ritz and mewt. mewt shows them a book of magical properties. the next morning they find themselves in a new world, they find themselves in mewts dream. now you, marche, must face various enemys and explore this new land to try and find a way back home.

this is a really fun game!! i reccomend it to any rpg fans!

Final Fantasy's twist on a strategy simulation battle / RPG

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: October 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is not the traditional roaming Final Fantasy RPG game. Instead this is in the same format as the amazing Tactics Ogre (GBA) game, where it is a speed based strategy / RPG. This is not a sequel to Tactics Ogre, but it does use the same system, which is you are a commander of a band of do-gooders, called a "clan." Your clan can consist of dozens of members and to gain gold, you must visit pubs at towns and take on missions. The missions have different plots but they are all basically traveled to a place and defeat all of the enemies or a boss. This is one of the most realistic role-playing games in existence, because with a normal RPG, you wander the countryside looking for a battle, when you find it, you have a choice, fight, use magic or run. With Ogre Tactics, when you battle you see an entire landscape of a battle area, trees you can hide behind, mountains, water and so on. Where you must then control each character of your army (up to six can be in a battle at a time). Control them to move, fight, use spells, special abilities, items, and use real battle tactics! Maneuver a character behind an enemy and have them stab the enemy in the back! Have your archers take the high ground and bombard the enemy with arrows or you can fight the enemy head on! There are dozens of weapons, spells with dazzling graphics, armor and so on to equip to characters of your clan. The reason why I am calling members of your clan "characters" is because there are several character classes and races. There are classes such as knights, soldiers, magicians, clerics, archers, thieves, ninjas, beast tamers, dragon tamers, musket men and more. The races vary from humans, fairies, mermaids, moggles, lizard-like people and beasts such as antoids, griffins, dragons and giant hounds. Throughout the game randomly people will ask to join your clan. What is really nice about this game is to mix things up it has dispatch missions where it requires you send out someone of your clan for a few days to do the mission themselves. You do not see their action, but they come back successful or not. Another nice twist of the game is that there are rival clans to compete against and turf wars. For each battle you control in the game there are different rules for each area you battle in, rules such as no blinding, or ganging up. If a character dies during combat he is only "knocked out" until the battle is won, however there is also an impartial referee to carry out these rules, if you break a rule you get a warning, the second time you are thrown in prison for a penalty of a few days (so that person cannot compete in the present battle or any others while in prison). The story in this game is not as strong as it is thick, because of its endless twists and turns to the story. Each twist adds a new depth to the game.

Good game, lacks something

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 07, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The first thing that came to my attention playing FFTA was the story. You must watch a over 25 minute story (with some participation) before you can save your game for the first time. It's a FF fan dream plot: you play a boy (Marche) who's picked on by other boys in school, and get friends with another boy and a girl who aren't very popular either. One of them (Mewt) buys a fantasy book (which is actually a Final Fantasy book) and wishes that the book could become reality. It happens, and you soon find out that (SPOILER) the whole world is put together by Mewt's wishes. So, actually, the main villain is your friend.

So, the whole story goes about "should we stay here or go back to the world the way it was?". Not well developed, though, feels kinda empty and senseless when the game ends, and it can be a problem if you're concerned about it.

But if you're not, the game system somewhat compensates this problem. Getting new jobs and learning new abilities can be quite addictive, and the game has, I think, 34 different jobs distributed by 5 races. Some are classical to FF games, like Black Mage, Dragoon, Thief, Time Mage and Blue Mage, some are not, like Sage, Assassin, Sniper...

The whole game is composed by missions, some of them tied to the main storyline, but most of them just optional. There's also a Law system which gest you penalized for not remebering some forbbiden actions during the whole battle.

Sounds are good, graphics are great, the story not so great. I finished the game today, and I was surprised when I noticed the last battle was the last battle... you don't get a "mission complete" feeling when the game ends, but even so, I would definitely recommend this game.

Pretty good

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I've been playing this game for about 2 months now and I still have 130 missions left because there's 300 missions in the game!
Which is ok but REEAAALLLLLLLYYY LOOOOONNG.
Also its a little hard managing all you charaters and sometimes you'll want more than 24 people on your team so you'll need to choose which jobs you want carefully. there's more than 35 out there. overall this game is pretty.

Just Buy It

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 14, 2003
Author: Amazon User

this game is probaly the best game out on gba. it has awsome graphics and has a very good story involved. i think this game is less confusing than advanced wars 1 or 2. if your lookin for a good rpg, get this game. i haven't played fire emblem because i still play this game all the time. this game has many of the same features as fire emblem just you come back to life unless you're on certain levels. this game should get 5 stars because of the graphics and all around game play.

the BEST rpg that I have EVER played

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 04, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Shadow here. this is a great game, while its true that you have no idea where this game is going, thats a good thing, i mean who likes games that are obvious. ive been playing this game for 30 hours and im nowhere close to beating it yet. so its very addictive, fun, surprising, and long. if you dont like these qualities in a game you might not like it, but for all you hard-core RPG gamers out there, buy this game NOW! it gets Shadow's seal of approval, the only game on my five star list. Shadow signing out.

A true gameboy classic

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is a great game. GREAT. It has great characters, cool graphics, tons of jobs and multiplayer. The story itself is pretty cool and the characters involved are neat. Some of them even join your team at the end of the game. I got at least 160 hours out of it. The job system is cool and you can create an awesome party. Definetly a must have. This a great game that will challenge you and amaze you. Go buy it. You'll thank me afterwards.I probably sound like an idiot, but it really is a great game.

A worthy successor

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: October 18, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Gameplay

FFTA is a "tactical RPG." The "tactical" part comes from the way it arranges its battles: Characters are arranged on a 3 dimensional grid and take turns moving and taking action. Movement and positioning is particularly important - attacking from the side or rear are more likely to succeed. Elevated positions increase the range of ranged attacks. The focus on maneuver is what sets tactical rpg battles apart from traditional rpg ones (where the focus is primarily on timing.)

The "RPG" part comes from the ability to grow your characters over time. Like its predecessor, FFTA allows you to change the character's job. Reflecting this, you are rewarded with two types of experience: one that affects your base stats and one that affects your job stats.

Tactical elements

FFTA introduces several new tactical elements that set it apart from its predecessor. It simplifies some aspects: Gone is the delay between executing a particular attack and having that attack complete (like casting a spell or having your dragoon jump). Instead, attacks are completed when they are executed. No more wasting an attack because your target has moved out of the way. However, the game also rachets up the difficulty by introducing laws - rules imposed on the battlefield that prohibit you from using certain weapons, or taking certain actions. You can chose to disobey these rules, but doing so may remove the offending character from battle.

Strategic Elements

On the strategic side, FFTA deepens the role of equipment. In the original game, equipping your characters involved merely purchasing the most powerful sword you could afford. Here, the game initially ties job abilities to the weapons and armor. Certain weapons and certain armor unlocks certain job abilities. Until these abilities are "mastered", the character must use that weapon to access that ability. Abilities are mastered after a character accumulates enough job experience points which are awarded to all characters at the same rate after a battle. It's reminiscent of the Final Fantasy VI's magic learning system that required characters to equip certain Espers and then to accumulate a certain number of ability points (awarded after every battle) before being able to use certain spells.

The game also deepens the role of random battles. In both the original game and this one the world is represented as a series of linked areas, like dots on a graph. In the original game, wilderness areas randomly spawned battles and these were used primarily to grind your characters up to the next level. Here, the random battles take the form of fights between your group of characters - your Clan - and a competing Clan. The effect of these fights not only levels up your characters, but also increases your Clan's influence on the immediate area. This, in turn, affects the money you need to pay to engage in story missions.

Yes, I did say "pay" to engage in missions. You need to cough up gil in order to chase after a mission. Most missions give you items and money. Others will advance the storyline. I'm not sure this really adds to the strategic gameplay. The only thing it does, aside from preventing you from purchasing all the latest and greatest gear (at least in the early game), is to provide some impetus to taking on rival clans.

The final notable strategic element is managing the laws themselves - Movement between points on the world map takes a single day. Each new day changes the laws in effect. The order of the changing of the laws is accessible in one of the screens, so once you take on a mission or go after a rival clan, you can time it so as to avoid the more restrictive laws.

Presentation

FFTA stands in contrast to its more moody predecessor. While both present cute character designs, the original game featured a darker, more complicated story. Themes were more adult, colors were darker and the music was more somber and urgent. FFTA is all about kids tromping through a fantasy world. The bright colors and light hearted music reflect that. All of the battlefields are well presented and the screens between battles are nicely drawn and I think the crisp graphics rival those on the PS1.

The characters are likeable and I found them believable after the intro. They certainly aren't annoying like the whiny COs of Advance Wars: Dual Strike (ugh.. stop it with the hip-slang already!!) I have to wonder why it was presented this way - especially with a gameplay system as deep and complicated as this one. How many kids are drawn to these types of games, anyway?

Is it fun?

The tactical side is just as much fun as the original game. There is much satisfaction in coming up with a plan to attack the enemy's weaknesses, maximize terrain advantages and maximize the strength of your forces. The enemy AI is fairly easy at the lower levels - several times it has failed to gang up on one of my weakened characters or has sent a its thinly armored spell caster right into a group of my soldiers. The difficulty ramps up, though.

Removing casting times is very welcome. In the original game, the casting times just nerfed high level abilities. What good is that high level Bolt when the entire enemy squad gets to move before you can cast it?

Landing hits has become more difficult. In the original game, a side or back attack almost always landed. Here, those attacks aren't guaranteed. Forward attacks are even less successful. I did notice that the enemy seemed to land more low-chance hits than I did. Grrr...

The inclusion of laws is, ultimately, a good thing. It forces you to come up with creative alternatives and prevents you from stocking your clan with too many of a one class. In the original game, a monk with the Ninja's dual-swords ability and a Counter reaction could land 4 triple digit hits in one turn. A squad of them could bulldoze a random encounter. The laws, here, forces you to build up alternative characters and think of new battlefield tactics.

On the strategic side, the introduction of Clan fights gives random battles much more meaning. It also gives you a bit of empire management as you have to chose between chasing off rival clans or finishing off missions.

Linking abilities with weapons is not an unwelcome innovation. It certainly gives more strategic significance to equipment selection. But I think it is hindered by a clumsy menuing system. When you're browsing a particular weapon at the shop, the game doesn't tell you which of your characters is already equipped with it, or which are eligible to use it or, more importantly, whether a particular character already has the ability that the equipment unlocks. You can access a list of jobs that can use a weapon, but even this involves hitting the select button, going through a few dialog screens and then hitting the select button again at the final dialog screen. If you miss that final screen, you gotta go through the process all over again. This problem could have been remedied by linking the shop screens with your character information screens. They did this pretty well in the original game. I don't know why they dropped it here.

Bottom line:

Aside from a menuing system that's clumsy at times and a presentation that seems to appeal mostly to kids, FFTA improves on the gameplay presented by its predecessor and is a fine game for strategy fans.

Very boring

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I had thought I remembered playing this when it first came out on the playstation, and thought I had remembered that I liked it somewhat...but boy was I wrong, or they changed quite a lot of it in this portable version.

I don't even know what to say, small map shown from the start, easy fights...can only use 6 characters max, though you can send others off on solo jobs that you can't see, if they are high enough lvl.

seems it has done worse off in the portable remake as other similar games.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I like this game a lot. I do not care much about the rules system but it forces you to think before you act instead of using the best possible attacks. You should automatically receive bonus characters after you put in 100+ hours into the game. I like Disgaea/ Disgaea 2 better but that is for the PS2. I wish they would make a part 2 for FFTA. I still love FF.

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