Is Final Fantasy Tactics Advance Really That Bad?

I was a huge fan of Final Fantasy Tactics I must have beat that game five or six times already. It's one of those games that I could never get tired of playing. The political/religious story was easily one of the best stories to come out of a Japanese developer. This game is in my top ten games of all times. I've heard a lot of bad stuff about FFT Advance. Despite the changes to the basic FFT formula is this game still playable?

I just started playing it and I'm a bit disappointed to see the story is a "The Never Ending" rip off. From the reviews I've read they dumbed down the story and gutted the character development system. As well as added some moronic judge that gives you red and yellow cards for combat infractions during battle. With all these changes is there any depth to be found in this game? Will it be able to capture even a little of the magic that FFT had?

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I havent played final fantasy tactics, but i have played the advance game, it did keep me entertained for a couple of months, i suggest renting it if you can to try it or read others reviews on gamefaqs.com and look for the game in the f section under gba.I think its like 20 bucks right now here in dallas.

 

...i picked it up without having ever played the original FF Tactics...


Tried playing WAAAy back when....An interesting looking game, but i was pretty frustrated with how unforgiving it was right from the beginning..

If you make ANY form of mistake, tactically, the computer makes you pay..

I guess, not being familiar with the game, i really wasn't ready for it..

Eventually plan on going back to it, as it seems like a game i SHOULD enjoy, once i get used to it..

 

I have FFTA and have completed it, have done all the missions, got all the secret characters and have an unbeatable party. And I ended up disappointed.

I've always believed any Final Fantasy game should have a strong story, as that's what people have come to expect from the series. But FFTA has a rather childish trapped-in-a-magic-book storyline which gets very boring, very fast. There are no plot twists, no memorable characters, nothing. It really fails in this department.

The gameplay isn't brilliant either. The introduction of Laws and Judges does not add a tactical element to gameplay, but instead makes it very frustrating when, for example, you've fought a boss battle for twenty-five minutes only to make one wrong move and have Marche sent to prison, thus resulting in a Game Over (this is even more likely at later stages in the game, when there will usually be three laws in effect at every battle). The Law system wouldn't be so bad if it affected your enemies as well. But trust me, enemies hardly ever break laws, and when they do, it results only in a cautionary yellow card. I have NEVER seen an enemy sent to prison.

The missions get rather boring as well, and all go along the same lines of go and collect item/defeat bandits/battle enemy clan.

That's not to say there aren't some good points. It is fun building up a party of varying jobs and skills and combining different skills (for example, in my game Marche became a Fighter with the Ninja ability to wield two swords and the Paladin skillset) and overall the game is a decent game. It's just that compared to its predecessor, it stinks.

 

Well, seeing as how FFT on PSX is my favoriye game of all time, this one had a lot to live up to.

I don't think FFTA is a bad game, by any means, but yes, it is very unforgiving, yes, the story is shallow and childish compared to the original, and yes, those judges are really annoying.

All that said, you could still do a helluva lot worse when choosing a GBA game.

Honestly, I think this game would have been better if it had been a console game instead of a portable. Mainly because it just gets annoying to have to constantly strain your eyes to see the endless menus, and that is by far my biggest problem with the game.

 

The Main thing about the game that ticks me off are the stupid "Judges". At first your like "ok, this makes it kinda hard sometimes" But later on in the game when they stack 2-3 on you, it just goes over board. I want to have fun not worry about a lot of "laws" and if I have something that cancel one out. I like Tactics Ogre much better.

 

Just played it for a few hours. It's not that bad once I accepted that there is no real story. Still very early in the game so haven't had to much problems with the laws. Not a big fan of the FFIX system of learning skills from items. Between that and the judges it just kills the immersion. I hate being reminded that I'm playing a game.

-----signature-----
"Rabid Balding Ewok, you make me sick.
If there was an enemies list, you'd be on mine."


:::*::(^^) :(^^) :::::::
::::::/::::^^:::::\ ::*::
:::::/###-^^-##I :::::
: *:.l##/(*)# (*)\\:::::
:::/##(###.00#)#I ::::
::(___/#*#(XXX)/__) ::
::/000{{{{www}}}}\:: Ewoks Will Eat You!