Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 161

Warning: mktime() [function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 40

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 43

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 44

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 45

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 46

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 47

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 48

Warning: mktime() [function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 50

Warning: mktime() [function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 40

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 43

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 44

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 45

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 46

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 47

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 48

Warning: mktime() [function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 50

Warning: mktime() [function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 40

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 43

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 44

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 45

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 46

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 47

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 48

Warning: mktime() [function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 50

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 161

Warning: mktime() [function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 40

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 43

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 44

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 45

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 46

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 47

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 48

Warning: mktime() [function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 50

Warning: mktime() [function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 40

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 43

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 44

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 45

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 46

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 47

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 48

Warning: mktime() [function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 50

Warning: mktime() [function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 40

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 43

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 44

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 45

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 46

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 47

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 48

Warning: mktime() [function.mktime]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/functions.php on line 50

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/gameInfo.php on line 142

Warning: date() [function.date]: It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'America/Chicago' for 'CST/-6.0/no DST' instead in /home/ninbit/public_html/gameInfo.php on line 274

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

MetroidHunter

Published:7- 2005
User Views: 1651
User Replies: 0



Childhood...what a wonderful time it is. Snowball fights, getting picked on, looking at magical books and being sucked into an entirely different world full of monsters and moogles--wait...you say that's not what you remember? Well, that's about how Final Fantasy Tactics Advance begins. Square-Enix has returned to a Nintendo platform to bring Game Boy Advance and role-playing game fans alike a very deep and compelling game. You can literally put in over a hundred hours if you try to completely finish; the depth of the game is never ending, and the storyline has many twists--some that even left me open mouthed. If you are or have been a PlayStation owner, you may remember a game called Final Fantasy Tactics; this game has nothing to do with that game, except that it does involve strategy. This game is also not a sequel to any of the games in the ever-popular Final Fantasy series, but its own unique game. And it is quite a sparkling gem in the Final Fantasy franchise.

You start off at the beginning of a snowball fight in the snowy town of St. Ivalice; here you will learn the basic gameplay mechanics--how to attack and move; it’s the normal slow start, but once the game gets going, it never turns back. You take the role of a young boy named Marche; after the snowball fight ends, you head back home to your mom and handicapped brother. Some of your new friends drop by with a very old book about a magical world, this world being very reminiscent of Final Fantasy, of course. During the night, you and your friends are scattered throughout the land of Ivalice, and thus your adventure to get back home begins.

The fun starts when you arrive in your new world; Marche runs into a bit of trouble with some liz...err, Bangaas. This is another short tutorial that will teach you more about the laws and judges of the land. Afterward you take on the role as clan leader, and you have the power to control all of your clan members on the battlefield and choose which missions to take, along with providing new clothing and weaponry for your clan. Missions are posted by the citizens at the local pubs of Ivalice, and clans will purchase them.

Some missions are more expensive than others, and this is sometimes due to rare rewards or whether or not this particular mission is one that affects the story. Each mission has its own unique task and objectives, so reading the description of each mission isn't a bad idea, although it is not always necessary. Usually you will be required to knock out all of the enemies on the battlefield, but sometimes your only requirement is to defeat the boss. There are two types of missions: ones in which you will use members from your team--usually six of them--and dispatch missions in which you will select one member to complete the mission. Some missions will require special items such as an "Old Statue" or "Clock Gear" or maybe a specific job. You can acquire these items by completing other missions, thus one has continuous chain of missions to complete in order to acquire items used to complete other missions. Usually the item-required missions are dispatch missions. Dispatch missions will keep one member of your clan away for differing amounts of time; it could be a three-day mission or twenty day--sometimes they won't return until you beat a specified number of enemies or win a certain number of battles. Your two most powerful members, Marche and his moogle friend named Montblanc, cannot be selected for dispatch missions, so you can't depend on them to make the choices easy. Make sure you choose wisely because selecting the wrong person for the wrong task could cost you some valuable gil (the game's currency) and opportunities to collect rare items.

Battling is of course the focal point of the gameplay; whether it's to fulfill a mission or to fight a rival clan, you will be spending most of your time in battle. The entire battlefield is a grid, and at first the control can take some getting used to. This is due to the fact that the area is shown in a way that to go up, you must push left on the control pad, and to go left you must push down. It was pretty awkward in the beginning, but after a little while I didn't even think about it. Apart from missions, you can also opt to fight in the "Clan Wars" in which clans will compete for territory and battle one another. Sometimes you can free areas through dispatch missions, while other instances will require you to take your clan to fight. Once an area is freed, you are left with the painful task of making sure that it remains free--other clans will attack the location and try to make it their own, so you will have to return to the spot in forty days to battle their clan and send them away. This can get rather aggravating when you are at the top of the map and about to begin another mission and suddenly, "Giza Plains is under attack!" appears on the screen; and so you make your way down, dodging other clans who are moving about the map to get back and fight the invaders off. And yes, from time to time other clans will appear on the screen and walk around; and if you choose to, you can meet up with them and engage in battle. These battles can help you level up and master more techniques or skills to prepare for a difficult mission you are not prepared for, which is handy because you are rewarded some gil and sometimes items; still, this is not something you have to do. You will fight a variety of enemies; from teams of monsters to clans of moogles, the different enemies are endless, and if they are the same enemy, they are usually a lot stronger. This can happen when a certain clan thinks that an area should be theirs and they keep trying and trying to capture it, and you keep beating them. Some clans never learn.

Micro-managing your members will help your whole clan to become stronger; you will have to go through a variety of menus to manage each member of your clan. You are able to control many different aspects of each person; you can choose a member's job, what weapons he has (and see what the weapon will teach), which mastered abilities to have him use in battle--even which type of shoes he wears. To create a more powerful person, you will want to have each clan member master a broad range of techniques and abilities. Some items can even teach abilities. For example, a shield can teach a skill called shieldbearer. Each race has its own initial set of jobs to choose from such as a Nu Mou beastmaster or a Moogle thief. Humans have the largest range of starting jobs to pick from, but all races can become complex hybrids. One of my more powerful members was a Paladin who was a thief at first but later mastered abilities to become a ninja and master the double-sword technique. And a double sword-wielding Paladin is a force to be reckoned with. As your members master new abilities, they will be able to have more advanced jobs; in my example, teaching a human thief certain abilities allowed for him to become the more potent ninja. You can decide which of the previously-mastered techniques carry over to the new job. It will take some time to become accustomed to it, but it will get easier down the road.

One large, new element of battling is the judge-and-law card system, which is one of the first things you learn upon your arrival in Ivalice. Each match will have a presiding judge who comes from thin air on a chocobo (a birdlike creature from the Final Fantasy universe). He will watch over the battle and make sure that the laws of the given conflict are followed. At the start of each match, the player will find out what the laws are, such as banning the use of swords but recommending staves. Anyone caught using a sword in that case would be punished with a yellow card or red card penalty. The yellow card is given for a small penalty, while the red card sends one to jail immediately. Usually a red card will come when you have broken a law and knocked someone out. You will then have the option to get someone who has gotten a card in battle pardoned by paying a fee that reduces the sentence to two-battles' suspension. If you elect not to get the pardon, the penalties continue to increase. If you use the recommended law, you will be awarded a judge point. By gaining judge points, your clan members can use combo abilities, and if you collect ten points, you can use the all-powerful totema--that is, if you have acquired it. Laws can become a real pain at times, but at other times can be a real blessing, and this potential adds a lot to the strategy of the game. It will literally make you question your every move and cause a lot of anger if you break a law. Later in the game you will learn how to annul laws, which can become very handy.

Oddly enough, the world of Ivalice is customizable by completing some missions, most of the time ones that effect the story. You can add a new place to the map, maybe a mountain or forest; and you can place it wherever you choose to place it. It's a little strange compared to most games where the world is a set place with already specified locations. I don't see why it was important to allow the player to make his own map, but at least his Ivalice is unique from his friend's, I suppose. Speaking of friends, you can also link up to exchange items or battle against each other after helping Montblanc's younger brother at a certain point in the game. It adds more replay value to the game and is an entertaining experience.

The graphics of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance are very nice; the top-down perspective can only go so far, but this title does display some amazing moves. Arrows will fly, spells be cast, and swords slashed. Some of the spells are rather fun to watch, and the details are amazing, especially on the game's summoner attacks. But the most detailed and graphically pushed segments of the game are those when the wrath of a totema is unleashed. And this is true whether it's the Adrammlech flying in the air casting a blaze of damage or Framfrit sending a laser canon beam to damage your foes--this is where the details and colors are showcased. You can tell that the developers tried as best they could to give each race and job its own unique qualities, but if you see two beings of the same race and job, don't expect a lot of variety excluding clothing color. But the battlefields do look nice; water will flow, and you can almost feel the heat of the volcanic lava. The designers really did the best they could with the top-down perspective, and it looks really good. In the menu screens, however, the character models' detail is amazing; regardless of his job, each character is represented by very nice visual graphics. Square-Enix did a great job with the graphics especially considering this is on the Game Boy Advance platform.

The musical soundtrack is a work of art, there is one song in particular that just makes me want to get my inner moogle dance groove on. I would grab a pair of headphones for this game; I made sure I had my volume set fairly high all the time. The music really gets you in the spirit of battling and the whole Ivalice world. While there aren't to many sound effects, the flowing of water, groans when someone is knocked out, and the sound of villagers talking are all rather realistic, which adds to the mood of the game. The music is really incredible, and the sound effects give that light touch of realism which when present with incredible music can make the difference between a good game and a great one.

Now at the end of most role-playing game quests I find myself filled with a grand sense of achievement and asking myself what game is next. But immediately after completing Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and wiping away my tears, I had something in my eye. I started right back up on another file, not even putting it down for a second. As of now I am back to playing again, trying to accomplish the challenging task of beating it at one hundred percent. This might be in part be caused by my lack of new games, but it might be--and probably is-- due the fact that this game is so much fun. Really, once you get going, you just don't want to stop; and even after I beat it, I didn't want to stop. I can see myself picking up this game ten months down the road perhaps just to beat a mission or two or maybe to link up with a friend who might buy the game. The replay value is moderately high, but I can see some gamers who will just be satisfied with beating it once and being done with it; still, for many a replay will be enjoyable as well.

Closing Comments:
After playing through the entire game I can safely say Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is one of my top five favorite Game Boy Advance games. This was my first strategy role-playing game; and at first I thought that the RPG just wasn't for me, but I was wrong. I took a brave step, and I was rewarded greatly. I can remember countless nights continuously playing and being shocked when I looked at the clock and saw it was three o'clock in the morning. It was just that much fun; the battles, along with the beautiful graphics and amazing soundtrack, kept me satisfied for hours on end. Of course there were a few times when I was frustrated because I had broken a law or two in a match, but those times were overshadowed by the enjoyment I received from the game. The story was really incredible; like I said earlier, sometimes I would literally be open mouthed at the twists and events that unfolded. The only flaws I can think of are really minor, such as the technicality of the managing and maybe the customizable map. They're really nothing to complain about. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is going to be looked back on as a handheld classic of its time, and you don't want to miss out.

Post Comment Game