Product Description

Return to Ivalice in the latest installment of the legendary FINAL FANTASY TACTICS series. Summer vacation has begun for all but one unlucky student. Alone in the school library, Luso solemnly toils away the punishment his mischief has brought him. It is there that he finds a dusty, mysterious book. Opening it, he reads aloud the only text it contains: “One is fated to fill these barren pages. Know you his name?” Scrawling his name onto the next blank page, Luso unwittingly begins the first chapter of an adventure all his own.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #908 in Video Games
• Brand: Square Enix
• Model: 90806
• Published on: 2008-06
• Released on: 2008-06-24
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Platform: Nintendo DS
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .63" h x 4.97" w x 5.74" l, .25 pounds

Features

• Tactics A2 brings more than 50 job classes to the player, enhancing one of the FINAL FANTASY series¿ most distinctive features
• All-new content and enhancements, including polished game mechanics, new jobs, new races and a new clan system that enrich the Ivalice experience for fans and newcomers alike
• The North American release will allow players to command characters in battle and navigate through menus all with a tap of the stylus
• Witness vibrant and colorful visuals in dual-screen presentation, made possible by Nintendo DS
• Increased replay value with up to 400 available quests, allowing players to immerse themselves in a multi-faceted storyline

Customer Reviews

Deep Engrossing Gameplay Makes Up for Forgettable Story
Pros:

+Deep, strategic combat
+Loads of customization
+Crisp, detailed graphics
+Fantastic artwork
+Great music
+More incentive to obey the law
+It overall greatly improves on its predecessor on the Gameboy Advance

Cons:

-Forgettable storyline
-There are some ridiculous laws
-No control over the camera in battle
-Battles can be unusually sluggish
-Tacked on Stylus Controls


In 1998, Square released a game called Final Fantasy Tactics on the original Playstation. In 2003 we finally saw the follow up, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. While the original game gained a strong cult following, Tactics Advance had a love/hate relationship with many gamers. With that in mind, Final Fantasy Tactics A2 is very much in tune with its predecessor on the Gameboy Advance. If you enjoyed Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, you'll more than likely enjoy this one. If Final Fantasy Tactics Advance wasn't your cup of tea, then Tactics Advance A2 doesn't do much to make you like it. It sticks to many of its conventions and in turn, suffers from many of the same problems. It's problems, however, don't have as great an impact, and that overall helps Final Fantasy Tactics A2 be a better game than the Gameboy Advance outing.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2 focuses on Luso, a school student who is geared up for summer vacation. Unfortunately, his lazy ways have made the teacher want to straighten him out and instead of beginning his summer vacation right away, Luso is sent to the library to help clean it up. While he's there, he stumbles upon a book where the pages are blank. When he finally writes his name in the book he's transported to the world of Ivalice where he'll meet up with a clan who agrees to help him find a way home. Essentially, your main goal is the same as the first Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, to find a way home. The story isn't all that great. It's fairly forgettable, as a matter of fact. However, where Tactics A2 falls in story, it makes up for in gameplay.

Throughout the game, you'll visit pubs which will display missions for you to undertake. Once you select a mission you'll have to go to the location and carry out the duty. When in battle, Final Fantasy Tactics A2 plays like most other Strategy RPGs. You'll send your warriors into battle, move them a certain number of spaces and execute attacks against the enemy. Battles can, at times, be a little sluggish. Even the simplest battles can last for a half an hour at most, but the amount of strategy needed is pretty deep. As is the game's job system which can really put a spin on how easy or difficult a battle can be.

The job system is easily the best part of the game. You can choose a wide variety of jobs. Warriors, Mages and Summoners alike. The job a character can choose depends on their race. For example, a Viera can't become a Soldier. You'll unlock more jobs based on how many abilities you learn for other jobs. Abilities are learned through a character's equipment. This is both good and bad. It's simple to gain ability points, all you have to do is finish a battle. However, learning abilities is a slow task. While most can be learned in one or two battles, the fact that most battles will take a while to finish makes learning abilities take a little longer. Additionally, once you start needing 300 or 400 Ability Points to learn an ability, it's that much longer. Along those lines, since it goes based on your equipment, it's not always a good idea to go into battle with the best equipment. In terms of strategy, Final Fantasy Tactics A2 emphasizes it more so than most Strategy RPGs out there. A slight hiccup in your jobs or abilities can cost you a battle. The strategy involved in the game is very in-depth.

Another feature that returns from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is the judge system. In every battle there are certain laws you must obey. To compensate, however, the judge also lets you have a privilege that will boost certain stats like strength, agility, etc. Breaking a law doesn't have nearly as harsh of a punishment this time around. If you break the law you lose your privilege and you can't revive any fallen characters. You'll want to follow the law as much as possible. Doing so can net you some bonus items, some of which are rare. The judge system works better in Tactics A2, but it still suffers the same problems. There are simple laws to obey such as not using a specific spell in combat, but there are still some outright ridiculous laws to beware of. In one battle, for example, it was against the law to miss the enemy.

The game also lets you use the stylus if you want. While the stylus controls seem like a perfect fit, they'll often slow you down. It's to the point where the stylus controls feel more tacked on than anything else.

Visually, Final Fantasy Tactics A2 is breathtaking. The battlefields are very well designed and colorful. The sprites are detailed as are the characters portraits. The spell animations are also pretty good looking, vibrant and colorful. What's even better is the games overall art design which is nothing short of fantastic. If there was anything to fret over, it would be that the game is isometric 3D and not fully 3D. This means that the camera stays fixed throughout the entire battle. You can't rotate it or anything and that'll become a problem when your characters get bunched up and you can't see them. The top screen is used to display the turn order by showing the sprites. It's detailed but the sprites also looks a little pixelated when they're enlarged on the top screen. Nonetheless, Final Fantasy Tactics A2 is an incredible looking game.

In terms of music, most of it you'll have heard before. Much of the music you here in Final Fantasy Tactics A2 is remixed from either Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, or Final Fantasy XII. Most of it is good music, although if you didn't really like the soundtrack to Final Fantasy Tactics Advance or Final Fantasy XII, you probably won't find this one to be too memorable either.

In the end Final Fantasy Tactics A2 is a better game than Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, but still doesn't manage to be as memorable as the original Final Fantasy Tactics. While it has a forgettable storyline, it's deep, strategic and engaging gameplay will keep the player immersed for hours to come.

Spectacular
The DS has received some wonderful RPG's and strategy games as of late, and Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift is no different, and in fact, this may very well be the best of the bunch. Anyone who remembers the original Final Fantasy Tactics will be happy to know that this game bears much more resemblance in terms of tone and overall gameplay to the original game than Final Fantasy Tactics Advance ever did, and is also one of the best games that Square-Enix has unleashed on the DS thus far. The judge system from FFTA is used here yet again, and it is used quite well and offers some rewarding moments of gameplay during battles. The game's strategy mechanics are top notch and are the best to be seen on the DS, and the game is a piece of beauty to look at as well. Undoubtedly one of the best looking games to grace the DS yet, nearly everything presentation-wise is a work of art from the art direction and design to the game's score. There are tons of customization options and lengthy quests as well, meaning that Final Fantasy Tactics A2 will definitely keep you busy for quite some time. While it doesn't feature the most engaging story or anything that hasn't been done before, Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift is a spectacular strategy game that delivers the goods, and stands as the best third-party strategy game to hit the DS yet.

What's A Grimoire, And Did I Fix The Rift?
I spent over 100 hours playing this game and all of its various side quests, and I only managed to complete a little more than half of the total missions. This game also has a Hard setting so if you're into this game, you can easily get your money's worth by purchasing it and letting it siphon months of your free time.

However, I wouldn't recommend it; after completing the first hundred or so missions you begin to wonder to yourself just how many times you have to clean an airship, deliver correspondence, help with the spring festivals, and other menial tasks. Don't get me wrong, it was awesome to be able to level-up by accomplishing such tasks. It's also a nice break from always battling foes, but is it really worth the trouble? Is it really worth trying to visit four different areas in six days, visiting different baby mamas while posing as your client? Is it moral?

Most of the time it isn't; the dialogue is incredibly drab and after the tenth hour I always skimmed the words. This is an unprecedented move for me, as I generally love the dialogue/storyline of Final Fantasy games. It unnerved me that I just couldn't get into this game.

However bad the storyline may be the battle system more than makes up for it. The classes, weapons, attacks, terrain, enemies, and laws are all incredible. I played this game mainly for the battle system, not understanding most of the reasoning behind why I was killing this bunny, aiding this witch, picking up this flower, or intimidating this blob monster. It had to be for the good of mankind right? I believe I was fighting the forces of evil, but I don't really know. People were paying me to do it, and as a mercenary you don't ask questions.

It's probably a good thing there was no morality gauge in this game. Before I knew it the credits were rolling and I didn't have to contemplate as to my noble/horrendous deeds I committed or my impact on this world. I knew that in the final stage someone was trying to kill me, so I killed them. And that's all that matters in the end, when you're offered a little supplementary income by a shady bartender who has a friend who has a friend who wants you to fight someone to the death.