I remember first trying out FFTA back when it came out for GBA. At the time my experience to strategy RPGs was severely limited to only the original Final Fantasy Tactics. That said, seeing FFTA as a sequel I couldn't stop comparing the two. Sadly to say, I wasn't too impressed.
My biggest problem was how dumbed down FFTA felt from the original Final Fantasy Tactics. The original FFT was built on layers of complexity, in that you couldn't really make decisions as you went. Your characters had to pick a move and stay there before acting. (you couldn't undo a move because you'd made a mistake, or it turned out to be a bad idea) Zodiac alignments would dynamically change your ability to spellcast on others, as well as the majority of abilities taking an amount of turns to cast. (you had to think a ways ahead for your plan to succeed) In the meantime, don't let your characters stay dead for 3 turns, or you lose them forever! Also there was the JP system, which meant as you performed more actions with a character, they gained more abilities in that class. I was very dissapointed to find such complexities gone, or at least heavily modified (the AP system instead of JP) in Tactics Advance.
What was the last straw for the moment was the nature of the story. The original Final Fantasy Tactics had a rather mature story and theme, telling the tale of war, conspiracy, backstabbing and betrayal, among other themes. I can't help that FFTA was dumbed down not just in complexity, but also in story for the 'younger' GBA owner base. Instead of a rather grim world in an economic schism, we see grade (middle?) school children who get transported to a magical fantasy world. There's prisons and judges, but overall the FFTA world feels very happy go lucky and kiddy.
After putting some time into the campaign, I ultimately quit out of boredom and not caring so much for the game.
Fast forward to a couple weeks ago. I've beaten the first Final Fantasy (remake on PSP) and needing something new and portable to play during work breaks + lunch. Looking over my backloggery, I decide FFTA needed to be beaten eventually, why not give it a second shot?
As much as I hate to say this, I've come to the conclusion that one thing truly allowed me to appreciate FF Tactics Advance more, and that one thing is Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. Disgaea proved itself extremely fun and addictive, by taking the general mechanics and gameplay of a strategy RPG (such as FFT) but keeping it simple and fluid enough as to not bog down the player. This improved my second playthrough of FFTA, in that I had now realized FFTA didn't necessarily have to be on the same level of complexity as it's predecessor.
Now, I realize this may sound incredibly dumb reading back over it, but in all honesty few would expect a sequel to a game to be dumbed down, and have less of it's strategic elements, etc. It simply comes down to that having clouded my opinion on the game, and once I could look past that, it became better. Anyway, back to pseudo-reviewing.
Once taking FFTA as it's own strategy and letting it have a little light instead of living in FFT's shadow, it was fun. Gameplay is rather solid (traditional Strategy JRPG gameplay), and even though the story is a little weak you're still given complete control over your party's build and design as you decide every aspect of your party from race, to class, to weaponry, to abilities. Speaking of races, I recall at first not liking classes being specific to races. It annoyed me that I couldn't create super awesome characters with the best abilities out of every class. Since then, I've come to actually enjoy this aspect of the game.
This is because FFT gave you the option of creating a 'god party' (if you had the time and patience) that could have the best of all worlds. This was displayed when my final party in the original FFT wiped out the final boss with little to no resistance. (2x calculating black mages and the remainder having Two-Swords wasn't very fair) By limiting what races can perform what jobs, I had completely missed an entirely new level of strategy in FFTA. If you want variety of classes, you're forced to mix up the racials in your party. At the same time however, there's enough variety that you're not forced to use any one race if you'd rather not. (Need a white mage? Having a Nu Mou (or whatever they're called) isn't necessary. Get a Viera! <3)
Probably FFTA's greatest strength however lies in something many before me have stated: it's portability. The original FF Tactics (and many / most SRPGs for that matter) had very long battles. On that note, I've come to discover that a typical skirmish (say with an opposing clan) lasts 15 minutes or so. Even when they go over, FFTA has a -VERY -handy quicksave feature that lets me save where i am, and then load that exact spot in battle later. This has allowed me to play FFTA at any little work break, not having to worry about if i have enough time or not to finish a battle. It's also a lot more motivating to play a game when you have the ability to pause or standby the entire game at a moment's notice. (ie chipping away at it in short bursts) (A feature now thankfully default on DS and PSP)
Now at this point, I will say that I've found a lot of fun with FFTA again, and am glad to have picked it up. On that note though, I wouldn't say the game is without it's flaws.
- Story -
As said before, the game feels a bit more themed towards a younger audience. While I realize most people are probably not bothered like this, it gnaws at me. It's hard to keep caring about the story when it's "kiddies sucked into the FF world", like something out of a middle schooler's fanfic. - Difficulty -
As much as I try to separate the two now, I can't help but compare FFTA to FFT once again. FFT had some very hard battles (until a 'god party' is acquired) , and really made you earn the right to continue. This was a very welcome change from traditional FF games, which many would agree just 'give' you the story anymore. While I'm not terribly far in the game, FFTA still feels very much like easy mode. Battles are not at all hard, at least of those I've played so far. - Laws -
I realize this is the #1 thing complained about when people speak of FFTA, so I'd like to take this moment and clarify that my complaints are a bit different. As a whole, I have little to no problem with the idea behind the law system. My complaint rather is with the implementation. There is no order at all to the laws, but rather a list of laws randomly by day. You can't use swords or ice in a given battle, simply because it's a "no swords" or "no ice" day. In this regard, it feels like the only reason you can't use swords or ice in a given battle is "because we say so". No valid reason. While this may be another thing that just gnaws at me, I'm annoyed that there's no real logic or sense to the laws. Instead it feels like Square put them in just because they could.
(yes, i realize there's a plot element relating to this, but I don't think it's a very good explanation in the least) - Clans -
Just like laws, the idea / concept is a cool one. Instead it becomes little more than a replacement for the random battles one would find in FFT. The entire 'turf warfare' idea has amounted to nothing of importance, and is simply an excuse for mobs to wander around the map until I fight them or they leave.
All in all, after giving it more of a chance than I did originally FF Tactics Advance has been a fun and enjoyable experience. It has it's share of flaws, but not enough to bring the game down as far as i'm concerned. It's a fairly solid and enjoyable SRPG, so long as you let it out from under the original FFT's shadow and regard it as it's own game.
Now that said, maybe it's time to give FFTA2 another chance as well
-Ed Kun Out-
