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This Isn't your Dad's Tactics Game....

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

To begin with, cast aside your doubts, oh ye who played the original Tactics on the PSX. Cast them aside and open your mind to the possibilities that a Tactics game could and DOES work on the GBA. As involving as this little game is, comparisons between the two would not do FFTA justice. This is a different game, different storyline, and a phenonmenal piece of gaming history all in it's own right. From the simple beginnings of Marche, you immerse yourself in a world of highly detailed combat, strategy, and intense blow-by-blow moves. Your troops can be customized to your liking. Don't like the Thief? Switch him to a Soldier. Need to customize? How about a Mage with Shield Break (from the Soldier's set)? This level of finesse deserves a bow to Square-Enix and to Nintendo. Remember, folks, FFTA is a strategy/RPG with heavy emphasis on the strategy portion. This is NOT FFX2! There is a storyline, yes, and it advances quite nicely at the finish of certain "jobs", however, what it does NOT have is bottomless depth. All in all, however, any fans of previous Square titles, and even those that were fans of the original FFT, will find a worthy addition to their GBA libraries. Sound, gameplay, mechanics, it's all here. Enjoy your adventures in this compact world. :)

One Of the best games for the GBA.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: March 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is an awesome game, the storyline is where you are this boy called Marche(you can pick your own name though) your world has cahnged into a different kind of world, that is full of fantasy monsters that you can fight and other nice stuff, but your character is trying to change the world back into it's original state, with some others from this fantasy world that help you along.

Graphics-8.5/10
The graphics are pretty good, the best part are the portraits of the each character/monster, for the pictures are atcual drawings which have an aime look to them, though the reason I took off the 1.5 is that the characters always walk in one spot, I know the reason it's for but It kinda gets annoying but it's easy to look over that, in other words it dun matter.

Sound-7/10
Okay this isn't the best music in the world, but some parts are really nice, quite good for a GBA game, so yea not much else to say.

Plot-8/10
Iv'e already told you the general idean above, but just to let you know this game does not have a plot that somehow you have to save the world, so this kind of plot is a nice change considering the plots for the other final fantasies.

Gameplay-7.5/10
In the battles it is a bit different but original, it is not real time action each character takes turns, you can move a certain number of squares and then chose an action eg.fight,red magic,lunge tech et. et. Note there is maagic and physical attacks so for magic you can attack from a distance, for physical attacks you need to attack them from the front/sides/or back, you get a higher hit rate if you attack from the sides or back, there is also another action called 'wait' if you 'wait' that characters turn comes quicker the next time around.
Really the only dissapointment in this game was that you could not walk around the cities or explore in them, instead you have whats called a 'world map' when you go to a town a menu bar pops up wheter you want to go to pub, shop etc. that reminds me you have to sign up for 'missions' at the pub if you want to finish the game. There are also 5 races in the game, human/moogle(if you are familiar with final fantasy then you'll know what this is)/bangaa/Nu mou/and Viera(all female buny eared things, my favourite reace), you also are in a clan, a group of peopel that work together in mission, fight together etc. your group can consist of any of the races, as long as they offer to join your group after you gradually finish each kind of missions(there are diffrent kinds of missions), your clan can contain a maximum of 24 members. Each race has their own kind of specific 'jobs' certain jobs can only be obtained by you character knowing some other job abilities, ex. In order for a Viera to turn into a red mage, it needs to know at least one 'fencer' move.

In the end I give this game 4 stars, which means I think this is a great game, trust me this game is quite long if you want to plan out all the abilities you characters learn, what jobs you want, and including the fact that you need certain items for specific items for other missions, also a whopping 300 misions, no you don't neeed to finish all them to progess in the game, heck I beated the game with only 65 missions done, but if you want a super extra character(s) *hint,hint-Nudge-nudge* I advise you to beat as many missions as you can, so yeah that's it.

Deep gameplay for something that doesn't look like it

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Maybe a year or so after Squaresoft released the uber-masterpiece Final Fantasy VII, they released Final Fantasy Tactics, a more strategy-based game in which you move players around a playing field. It had a immensely deep job system where there were so many jobs and abilities you could've racked up over 100 hours at least if you wanted to get all characters with all the abilities. But the story was way too complicated for it's own good, thanks in large part to a shoddy translation. Now we have the "sequel" and it may look kiddy but it is deeper than the deepest ocean.

Story: After a snowball fight, main character Marche's friend Mewt says he's gonna buy a fantasy book. Marche suggests he brings it to his house and invites his other friend Ritz. The book is in a different language with someone reading out loud a passage. During the night, their world actually takes the form of the book's world, with different races and creatures. Now Marche must discover how to get home, but do his friends even want to, let alone him?

Graphics: Very...um, pretty is the word I'm looking for. Even vibrant. Like the amazon page says, it harkens back to the 16 bit days of Yoshi's Island and Chrono Trigger.

Sound/Music: I didn't notice anything particularly catchy but the music fit the areas. The enemies give out really weird death screams in some cases. But the sound effects from spells and hits are very nice.

Gameplay: Some pros and cons like all games. Gameplay is immensely deep but enemies earlier on can really kick your *** even when you don't have a lot of time in the game. Plus, don't be surprised if you're 2 squares away and your attack misses yet they perfectly nail you from far away. And your classic way of levelling up either comes from clan fights or story missions, which means you can't just wander around and beat enemies left and right. Or maybe you can, who knows but I haven't seen it yet.

The menus are ugh also. When you buy a weapon, it may have a spell that you want to learn but you don't know how useful it is in battle. Be ready for menus upon menus mixed with more menus.

Any fans of the original Tactics remembers that after every battle you obtained Job Points, collect enough and you can use them to "buy" a spell or ability. Now it takes the Final Fantasy IX system by having them attached to weapons/armor.

I'll try to explain: imagine Rod A has the Life spell and it needs 200 ability points to learn it. You get these by competing in many battles where at the end, you get the ability points. If you've obtained 200, you've learned Life and can de-equip Rod A and equip Rod B. However, if you haven't learned Rod A's Life spell and equip Rod B, you can't use Life unless you equip Rod A and get those 200.

This can be extremely annoying as this amazing useful ability is done by doing some off-the-wall missions you probably wouldn't bother with, or stealing off an enemy that you're more concerned is gonna kill you in 2 hits.

Also, there is 300 missions in this game. Some are optional for story advancement, others simply for completionists or for people levelling up. It's as short or as long as you want it to be but you'll probably enjoy yourself in the process.

target audience?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: September 13, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Well, well, well... We've waited quite a bit, for this haven't we now? Maybe its the waiting that's raised expectations, but this game just doesn't come that close to FF:T's pinacle of immersive gameplay. Here's a few things to consider:

Following Nintendo's policy of targetting most GBA games at a target audience of 7-13 year olds, this game has a "light-and-fluffy" feel that I found vaguely unpalattable. Gone are grit and glory, the strategy and mystery of the original. Instead, we have... pastel rabbit-people and moogles.

The story is childish and lacking in places; there are subquests in this game that have more depth than the core plot. The localization is par and fits the mood, which is to say that the dialogue is fadish and repetative.

Still, the game does share enough common elements to make it enjoyable. It is based on the same turn-based tactical combat system as FF:T, but with some slight tweaks to make power-leveling all but impossible (no more ninjas in the first chapter, sorry). FFTA also includes a FFIX-style system for learning abilities and spells - namely, ability points are garnered per-battle, allowing your units to learn abilities from their equipment.

Overall, this game is more than a little disappointing as a tactical rpg, but still well above average for a Nintendo rpg. It has solid gameplay, but its plot is a bit dry and transparent at times. Buy it because you like the genre, not because you're expecting a FF:T sequel.

Awesome, but with a few snags

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: September 27, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game when I first bought the GBA system, but I'm no newbie ;) I have played gameboy color and most of the other non-handheld systems out there. This game was a great game overall, but there were just a few little things that brought my rating down.
Good things first:
-The graphics were really, really good Taking into account that I'm coming from the world of super mario brothers deluxe on my tiny GBC, I really appreciated the depth and shading.
-The battle system was easy to learn, but left a lot to be mastered
-The battling system and battle field were both really fun and really well designed.

Bad things:
-The game was over too fast! I beat the entire thing in under two months, as in all missions, all submissions and every plot in the thing.
-after you beat the game, there's nothing else to do. There are about three battles you can redo and then a couple of random roaming bands, but apart from that, theres nothing.
-THIS is my top peeve. For some reason, the game wont allow you to save after the very last corrupt judge battle. It shows you the credits, but takes you right back to before the battle when you try to play again. Words cannot describe how much this irritates me.
-There are a couple points in the game where you can get REALLY stuck. It took me around two weeks of constantly training one gunner before i could do any new missions, and thats just one example.
-Dispatch missions are SOOOOO boring! I mean, it would be so much better if you could go along with the person you dispatched and do a one on one fight with them. But NOOO...all you can do it wait for them to get back.

Yeah, there are a few other things, but mostly all along those lines. Great game, well designed, but massively boring at points and just plain annoying at others.
Overall, though, I totally recommend it. I got an amazing kick out of the fighting, and while its going, its really going. Awesome game!

Cute Graphics...Addictive Gameplay

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: September 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Don't be mislead by the cute graphics. Remember Advance wars, how simple they were, yet the gameplay was unbelieveable. Same goes for this. The gameplay is great. The graphics, though 'cute' are pretty great, especially with the special effects like the magic and the summons. This game has got me addicted for hours trying to make an army of summoners, ninjas, alchemist and soo much. Everytime I see a random monster pop out, I chase it down and kill it for the AP Points. If you love strategy games and job classes, this is the game that will get you hooked for hours upon hours. Plus there is the linkup modes which will open up new missions and get you new weapons which you can't acheive during normal gameplay. GET IT NOW!

Not What You Think

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 10
Date: June 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game, and really tried to get into it. Really, I did. I spent my $30 on it and wanted to enjoy my purchase. But no matter what I did, I found the game extremely boring. Sure, the game looks pretty, but the game moves at a snail's pace in battles which drags a simple clan mission into a half hour event. I don't have time for that, and I don't care if you can save in the middle of a battle. Little stupid battles should be that long at such a slow-mo speed. Advance Wars' battles can stretch out, but you can take off the animation to speed things up A LOT. There is no such option here. I have to sit there for 30 minutes watching these stupid little sprites walk in place and watch the stupid A.I. go really slow. Just hit me already!!

This being a FF game, I expected a storyline. This has none. I knew I smelled garbage when the characters said "Final Fantasy is my fav. game!". WTF?! There is no world map, there are no town to walk around in, it just sucks. I don't care if this is a "tactics" game, I wanted some iota of a stinking story and didn't get it.

On the bright side, it has nice graphics and sound, and the gameplay could be good if it was just FASTER and not so damn slow that I fall asleep during every battle no matter how hard I fight to stay awake. This game just bores me tears and it takes so long to play it should be a console game, not a GBA game. I cannot suggest this title to anyone. It was a big waste of my money and being a huge FF fan, I'm angry at Square for this garbage.

Argh.

Jolly Good Fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: September 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

People really tend to not expect much from GBA games. Square's first try at a Nintendo console game in a while is as good as any Xbox/PS2/Cube title. The story behind FFTA, while not as deep or heavy as in other Final Fantasy games, is easy to relate to. The battle engine is as good as FFT for the PSOne. The law system, essentially prohibiting certain actions to be taken while rewarding others, is interesting especially later in the game when you are given the tools to manipulate it. Furthermore this game has literally dozens of possible play hours. You get your money's worth, along with cute, colorful graphics, enjoyable gameplay and solid plotline. Great!

Final Fantasy Excels in a New Saga

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: September 10, 2003
Author: Amazon User

One of the most common traits of Squaresoft's hit series of games named Final Fantasy is the evolving difference in each game. Ultimately, no two are alike. And with Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, there finally seems to be something that will hold true: a band of character races and "jobs." However, the name "tactics" comes into play as the game is grid based. Rather than standing in one place and slashing back and forth, you maneuver your way around to defeat your enimy while gaining judge points. But style is not forgotten in this game. Each class supports new abilities and looks for your characters which adds a whole new enjoyment to the game. Gameplay is simple and easy to get used to. Graphics are amasing with a system that supports three color modes. And the music is almost worthy of a soundtrack of its own. FFTA is definitely worth checking out. But be warned, once you start, you'll be hooked forever!

YEA!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: October 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

WOW! I just bought this game about a week ago and i'm already starting to get hooked! I loved the Final Fantasy Series on the PS1 and PS2 but i just thought this would be an ok game. The graphics can only go so far on a handheld system and i had seen famous series go down switching to the handhelds. I bought this and i have barely stopped playing. This is a must have for fans of RPG or a fan of the Final Fantasy Series. Keep on rocking FF!

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