The original Final Fantasy Tactics was one of those games that was one of those games that was able to latch onto secret desires in my gaming persona that let it completely control me. Turn-based strategy, set in the world of Final Fantasy, with a huge variety of character customization options.  This was a trifecta of gaming bliss to me, and it could not be ignored.  The fact that I did not have a PlayStation at the time was but a tiny obstacle, and I spent many hours at my friend’s house, happily hogging his.  Eventually I was able to get my hands on the system, and many, many hours were spent leading Ramza and his troops to victory.

Then, the strangest thing happened: Square didn’t make a sequel.  Square, who have always been ready to milk any of their franchises until they bleed for some reason or another decided that FFT did not warrant a part two.  And things remained that way for many years, until finally in 2003, Final Fantasy Tactics: Advance was announced for the Game Boy Advance.  My excitement level, as you might imagine, was high.

When FFTA was finally released, my expectations, unfortunately, were not met.  The game used a very different job system, was set in a very different world, had a very different tone, and included some downright annoying systems. I played it through to the end, not out of enjoyment, but out of sheer determination to do so.  You may think this was stupid, and you would probably be correct.

With that frame of reference established in regards to my relationship with the FFT series, I reacted with cautious interest when Final Fantasy Tactics: A2: Grimoire of the Rift, was announced.  Beyond the fact that the title was too long and contained too many colons, I was dismayed by the fact that the game would be set in the same world as FFTA, but I was heartened by talk of changes to the job system and law system.

When release day finally came, the shining light of cautious optimism won out, and I picked up the game in the hopes that it would recapture some of my love for the original FFT, and wipe out some of stain left on those memories by FFTA.  So now, two months and 80 hours of game later, I’m ready to deliver my verdict:

FFT:A2:GOTR:LOL

Ok, so right off the bat, the fact that I played this game for eighty hours should tell you something; either that I really liked it, or that I’m a moron who won’t give up on games he hates.  Fortunately, in this particular case, the correct answer is the happier one. So what about FFTA2 succeeded where it’s predecessor failed?

IT’S NOT JUST A JOB, IT’S AN ADVENTURE

One of the cores of my love of the original FFT was its job system.  An outgrowth of the FFV system (which was in turn an outgrowth of the FFIII system), it allowed you to guide your various units down different paths to mix and match  abilities to your liking.  Your humble level 1 Squire could eventually make his way to being a two-knight-sword wielding ass-kicker or a math-multi-targeting-flare-casting ass-incinerator.  Every unit could have a main action ability, a secondary action ability, a passive ability, and a reaction ability; these slots could be filled by whatever skills they had mastered.  Anyone could become anything, and it was up to you to decide how you wanted to guide them.

It’s not Final Fantasy unless someone is wearing a frilly hat

FFTA2 keeps this same skill system for the most part, though now, in line with FFTA, skills are learned from equipment rather than purchased with Job Points, and some skills are available across multiple jobs.  Also, with the inclusion of units of different races, certain jobs are only available to certain races and only then to those that have met certain preconditions.  I know that sounds a little complicated, and in theory it is, but FFTA2 is nice enough to lay out exactly what jobs are available to which races, and then goes even one step further my politely information you exactly what conditions you need to unlock each job.  This makes planning out a character’s job path very easy, and it is a welcome inclusion.

FFTA2 ups the ante over its predecessors by including even more jobs than ever, 50 in all.  On top of that, the number of races has been expanded from five to seven, adding Seeq and Gria into the mix.  The immediate concern that this raises is with that many races and jobs, do they all manage to remain unique?  And, on top of that, do they all manage to be useful?  Overall, the game is pretty successful in presenting a mix of jobs and skills that do manage to feel both unique and useful.  To be sure, there are skills that seem to be more or less duplicates of other ones, and certain jobs do seem like they could have been mashed together rather than made into separate ones (Flintlocks and Fusiliers?), but the overall variety manages to be meaty enough to provide plenty of options (except for Animists, which remain useless in my book).

As mentioned earlier, skills are learned from equipment, with every skill having a point value, and those points being earned by succesfully completing missions.  Unlike FFT, individual units do not earn experience or job points for actions, with exp. instead being rewarded to all units who participated in a battle, with small bonuses for their individual accomplishment.  Ability points are rewarded to your clan as a whole, which makes skill learning advance at a faster pace.  At first I was a little thrown by this shift from the individual to the part, and even a little bit annoyed.  But the more I played with it, the more I realized that it served a very positive two-fold purpose: first of all, it let you manage a larger party without worrying about who was or was not learning their skills, and secondly, it eliminated an awful lot of grinding by individual units.  Strong units could work with weak units and still have each get appropriate reward; no more having your Squires constantly throwing stones to grind out a few more job points…

STORY TIME!

To be blunt, the main story arc of FFTA2 is not particular compelling.  In line with the magic book theme of FFTA, the main character Luso, a mischevious youth, falls into a magical book he finds in the library and ends up in the lands of Ivalice.  He quickly takes to life in this new world, joining an adventuring clan and making strange and wonderful new friends.  Yada yada yada, he and his friends end up saving the world.  I reduced that to a yada-yada because that’s really how it felt; standard shadowy organization led by villain with somewhat vague motivations trying to unleash ultimate power.  If you’d played a Squeenix game before, you’ve seen this plot.

This screenshot will convey no useful information to you.  Enjoy!

That said, I actually found the majority of the non-main-story clan quests far more interesting (I particularly enjoyed the Swordmaster’s tale).  Many of them consisted of series of quests that told their own little stories, and even the one-shot quests had enough variety to always keep them interesting.  And there are certainly a lot of them; I finished the game having completed 245 quests, and there was still a list of them I hadn’t even touched yet.  With these quests being the core of the game, it was good to see that the designers put a lot of effort into making sure that they all felt unique in their own way, even if it really was just “fetch quest #67.”  Part of my problem with FFTA was that it never felt particularly compelling, and FFTA2 managed to remedy that problem.

One other complaint, on the subject of story, is that after making it through 80 hours of play, I found the ending thoroughly unsatisfying.  That said, as I was already unenthusiastic about the main story arc, the ending being disappointing came as no real surprise.

MATTERS OF CONTROL

The DS being what it is, FFTA2 does use stylus controls if you so desire, but fortunately does not require them.  I found it far more useful to use the d-pad and buttons, and the only time I used the stylus was one day when my thumb really hurt and I was tired of pressing buttons.

The game also features a quick-save suspend feature in battles, which I feel is an absolute necessity for any handheld game these days.

From a visual standpoint, the sprites are crisp and clean, colors are bright and sharp, and it’s usually quite easy to tell what’s what at a quick glance.  Occasionally it can be a little difficult to determine which squares line up with which others as a result of the pseudo-3d perspective, but this can usually be sorted out quite easily by simply checking your movement.

What’s that you say, Art Director?  You think he needs more crap strapped to him? Agreed!

In Closing…

Final Fantasy Tactics A2 is a game with a mixed heritage, and as such I went into with both high hopes and deep concerns.  In the end, the game managed to allay my fears while at the same time not quite reaching the peaks of my hopes, but certainly not disappointing them either.  FFTA2 is the kind of game a turn-based strategy aficionado will get an awful lot of enjoyment out of, but that someone looking for a rich Final Fantasy story experience may walk away from disappointed.

The game offers a huge variety of quests and character options, and has a very high level of replayability just to try out all the different options.  The interface is mostly clean, with a few exceptions, the art style is appropriate and pleasing to the eye, and the sound is top-notch.  If you were a fan of FFTA, you’ll probably definitely enjoy this.  If you were a fan of the original FFT, but maybe didn’t enjoy FFTA so much, I would still suggest giving this one a try; you may be pleasantly surprised.