A cozy, heartfelt timewaster for long car rides when you were a kid. A slow, plodding timewaster for you to quit less than halfway through now that you're an adult.
I have many vaguely positive memories of FFTA because frankly, it's cute, it's cozy, and its story is trying really hard to be something that it doesn't quite know how to be. What is intended as a parable about fantasy and escapism instead comes across as the regurgitated self-righteousness of a child. Marche wants to go home because his life is fine, and there's nothing wrong with that. There IS, however, something MASSIVELY wrong with unilaterally deciding whether or not a world deserves to exist. FFTA is so caught up in preaching about confronting reality that it forgets to confront any reality that disagrees. It clouds its message with so many looming ethical nightmares that the story's intended hero-child comes across as a self-righteousness brat who is, almost without hesitation, willing to delete a whole universe of conscious beings just to get what he wants: for his brother to shut up and happily sit back down in his wheelchair. Yes, this fantasy is an unhealthy one for princeling who spawned it, but there are more characters in this story, and they are inadequately considered.
I could argue that the gameplay is similarly ill considered. Battles are morbidly, HORRIFICALLY slow, and much of the balance is madness. The difficulty of FFTA will hugely depend on how long it took you to find something overpowered and how eager you were to abuse it. I don't usually gives such issues too much weight in games criticism, and I don't much hold ot against FFTA either, but it does speak to a lack of care. I really probably should not be able to cheese my way through half the game with Charm Shot on my gunner. The miniature-pony-sized elephant in the room here is that I don't like FFT combat in the first place. That's a topic for somewhere else.
100% completion of FFTA has been a long-held goal from my childhood days... but there are a lot of reasons why I've never been able to see it through until now.
I have many vaguely positive memories of FFTA because frankly, it's cute, it's cozy, and its story is trying really hard to be something that it doesn't quite know how to be. What is intended as a parable about fantasy and escapism instead comes across as the regurgitated self-righteousness of a child. Marche wants to go home because his life is fine, and there's nothing wrong with that. There IS, however, something MASSIVELY wrong with unilaterally deciding whether or not a world deserves to exist. FFTA is so caught up in preaching about confronting reality that it forgets to confront any reality that disagrees. It clouds its message with so many looming ethical nightmares that the story's intended hero-child comes across as a self-righteousness brat who is, almost without hesitation, willing to delete a whole universe of conscious beings just to get what he wants: for his brother to shut up and happily sit back down in his wheelchair. Yes, this fantasy is an unhealthy one for princeling who spawned it, but there are more characters in this story, and they are inadequately considered.
I could argue that the gameplay is similarly ill considered. Battles are morbidly, HORRIFICALLY slow, and much of the balance is madness. The difficulty of FFTA will hugely depend on how long it took you to find something overpowered and how eager you were to abuse it. I don't usually gives such issues too much weight in games criticism, and I don't much hold ot against FFTA either, but it does speak to a lack of care. I really probably should not be able to cheese my way through half the game with Charm Shot on my gunner. The miniature-pony-sized elephant in the room here is that I don't like FFT combat in the first place. That's a topic for somewhere else.
100% completion of FFTA has been a long-held goal from my childhood days... but there are a lot of reasons why I've never been able to see it through until now.
Good game, but the sequel is superior.
It's escapism, don't you understand?
Fuck this game.
Fuck this game.
escapism is my middle name. marche is the true villain.
Can never actually get into this because the judge system is awful.
FFTA improved som many features from the first spin-off. When I play a tactical RPG, the most important to me is the gameplay, and this is awesome. More skills, more jobs, more variety with more side missions. Ok the story is not that good anymore, but it's up to you on how you like this style of games.
I used to love it, then I hated it, and now I think it's okay with ROM hacks.
I'm sorry but what the fuck am I looking at?
"It's escapism! Can't you see? It's not healthy!"
-Adolf Hitler (1939)
-Adolf Hitler (1939)
My first foray into the world of tactics games, and I was addicted. I probably put over 100 hours into this overall and am really hoping for a new entry (or even just a port) on Switch someday!
Um ótimo final fantasy e um bom jogo tático.
This is a game i can always come back to for another playtrough and have a good time. As someone who absolutely loves turn based strategy RPG'S (it may be my favorite genre), and loves to experiment, this series is a mix made for me. A while ago i did a 100% completion to get the postgame judge missions, and then you see just how deep this game is. There are some systems that you can miss out on completely when you do a normal playthrough, but are needed to get all the missions. For example monster capturing with a hunter and using the monster bank with a morpher, learning everything with the blue mage when you control monsters with a beastmaster, etc. Sometimes you can miss whole questlines by not checking the rumors regularly or not doing all the dispatch missions. There are so many references to the older main games, Square loves to do that. The graphics are colorful and gorgeous, peak 2d. There are some amazing music tracks in here. Some people seem to complain about the law system, but there are so many ways the game gives you to get around it. In the end the developers just wanted people to not do the exact same tactics each map. If this was the best system to archive that is debatable, but it's an unique system and nicely integrated in the story.
About the story: i can see how it can be hit or miss depending on the person consuming it (like almost all art and media). When i played this game for the first time i was around 12/13 and was in i think the most difficult period of my life. I sheltered myself from the real world problems (like bullying, which is the whole reason the final fantasy Ivalice world got created in this game!) and escaped into games. This story really resonated with me, for that reason. It can be amazing to work yourself up in games and lose yourself in them, but in the end you can't run away from the real world forever. I still love games a lot (evidently), but back then it was a reality check i really needed and i can't believe something that made such an impact on me was a spinoff of a spinoff and on the gba of all things. This game will always stay close to my heart, and i thank the writer(s?) to try subject matter like game addicition that you never see in this kind of game, or any game title for that matter.
About the story: i can see how it can be hit or miss depending on the person consuming it (like almost all art and media). When i played this game for the first time i was around 12/13 and was in i think the most difficult period of my life. I sheltered myself from the real world problems (like bullying, which is the whole reason the final fantasy Ivalice world got created in this game!) and escaped into games. This story really resonated with me, for that reason. It can be amazing to work yourself up in games and lose yourself in them, but in the end you can't run away from the real world forever. I still love games a lot (evidently), but back then it was a reality check i really needed and i can't believe something that made such an impact on me was a spinoff of a spinoff and on the gba of all things. This game will always stay close to my heart, and i thank the writer(s?) to try subject matter like game addicition that you never see in this kind of game, or any game title for that matter.
Hands down best FF game ever made ì best tactical game + best GBA game.
Absolute Masterpiece.
FACT!
Absolute Masterpiece.
FACT!
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is the Gameboy Advance's take on the popular Playstation "Final Fantasy Tactics" game, this time in an isekai universe of Ivalice following the adventures of a middle-school new kid named "Marche" and his comrades, each with troubled youth, Marche must break the spell of a sorceress trapping them in a dreamscape.
This SRPG may be similar to the earlier Tactics Ogre: Knights of Lodis game, also found on Gameboy, this is no mere coincidence, as the development team of Tactics Advance, Square's Product Development Division 4, was constructed from employees of Quest Corporation. Contrary to the human-centric "Final Fantasy Tactics" game, this adaptation of Ivalice is populated by four main intelligent races in addition to Humes; all of them also reappearing in Final Fantasy XII: cutesy Moogles, reptilian Bangaas, wise Nu Mous, and leporine Vieras; each with their own distinct classes to level. Each class can be leveled to earn new abilities and skillsets, reminiscent of Final Fantasy III's job system, mastered abilities can be equipped to another class, allowing the player to customize his clan members to their playstyle. A Law system also prevents players from homogenous strategies, with restrictions and harsh punishment for the offenders.
The graphics and story are more childlike than its predecessor and less convoluted, taking inspiration from children's fairy tales and fantasy books; characters are memorable and can be emphasized easily, their problems are that of childhood and early adolescence.
This SRPG may be similar to the earlier Tactics Ogre: Knights of Lodis game, also found on Gameboy, this is no mere coincidence, as the development team of Tactics Advance, Square's Product Development Division 4, was constructed from employees of Quest Corporation. Contrary to the human-centric "Final Fantasy Tactics" game, this adaptation of Ivalice is populated by four main intelligent races in addition to Humes; all of them also reappearing in Final Fantasy XII: cutesy Moogles, reptilian Bangaas, wise Nu Mous, and leporine Vieras; each with their own distinct classes to level. Each class can be leveled to earn new abilities and skillsets, reminiscent of Final Fantasy III's job system, mastered abilities can be equipped to another class, allowing the player to customize his clan members to their playstyle. A Law system also prevents players from homogenous strategies, with restrictions and harsh punishment for the offenders.
The graphics and story are more childlike than its predecessor and less convoluted, taking inspiration from children's fairy tales and fantasy books; characters are memorable and can be emphasized easily, their problems are that of childhood and early adolescence.
Stellar job system, it loses a lot of charm of its PS1 counterpart but it's got its own fantastical and whimsical appeal which isn't as bad as some people make it look like.
so fucking irritated and bored by the endless hyper-literal arguments online about the morality of Marche's choice when it's a simple and sweet little metaphor about growing up and coming to terms with yourself
when i was playing this game in middle school my brother came into my room to tell me he found the sonic fanfic i was writing on the computer. i panicked and told him i was just reading it for a friend(????) anyway there's 0% chance he believed that but he was a good sport and left. never finished the game
cool spinoff
Este juego recibe muchos palos, a mi ver inmerecidos, por el cambio de tono respecto al anterior Final Fantasy Tactics. Comprendo las quejas respecto al sistema de leyes, bastante molesto, pero la historia es que tiene un tono muy distinto como para compararlas directamente.
Está claramente enfocada a un público más joven y es una fábula antiescapista que deconstruye en cierta manera la trama típica de estas historias y Final Fantasy. Una joyita.
Está claramente enfocada a un público más joven y es una fábula antiescapista que deconstruye en cierta manera la trama típica de estas historias y Final Fantasy. Una joyita.
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is a fantastic game, improving on a lot from the original Tactics while also carving out its own identity and creating its own fascinating world. Ivalice is so wonderful and the characters are colorful and memorable in this game. Marche remains one of my favorite protagonists and the story is a whimsical and often painful one touching on escapism. I love this game. I wish I could give it a higher rating than this.
Não é perfeito como o Final Fantasy Tactics original, mas é o Final Fantasy Tactics perfeito para o GBA.
É um game feito para ser jogado em partidas curtas, enquanto você está no ônibus ou na fila do banco... Mas como estamos em tempos de pandemia, acaba se tornando um devorador de tempo perigoso e silencioso. Seu foco em missões curtas e variadas, a dificuldade atenuada, o sistema de classes mais direto (com cada raça basicamente criando caminhos para builds específicas, diferente do formato livre no primeiro jogo) e até a história simples e inofensiva ajudam fizeram com que várias vezes eu pensasse "vou fazer só mais uma missão", e lá se foram umas dez. O que ele carece em profundidade (se comparado ao FFT original) compensa em puro vício.
É um game feito para ser jogado em partidas curtas, enquanto você está no ônibus ou na fila do banco... Mas como estamos em tempos de pandemia, acaba se tornando um devorador de tempo perigoso e silencioso. Seu foco em missões curtas e variadas, a dificuldade atenuada, o sistema de classes mais direto (com cada raça basicamente criando caminhos para builds específicas, diferente do formato livre no primeiro jogo) e até a história simples e inofensiva ajudam fizeram com que várias vezes eu pensasse "vou fazer só mais uma missão", e lá se foram umas dez. O que ele carece em profundidade (se comparado ao FFT original) compensa em puro vício.
Contando com uma trama bem aquém do Tactics original em matéria em diversos aspectos, Tactics Advance soma ainda um odioso sistema de juízes e proibições que limita o uso de habilidades por certos personagens.
Isso faz com que certos personagens se tornem inúteis ou passíveis de punição com "cartão amarelo" e "expulsão" do combate, que segue uma espécie de regra de esporte, apesar de não ser um.
Isso faz com que certos personagens se tornem inúteis ou passíveis de punição com "cartão amarelo" e "expulsão" do combate, que segue uma espécie de regra de esporte, apesar de não ser um.
Possibly the most underrated game of all time.
Was just starting to get into it, set out on a fight and tried to take some weaker allies to help level them up. Ended up in a battle with a unit that couldn't be hit with physical attacks and had no other attacking options. Couldn't flee the battle. Couldn't end the battle. Couldn't win the battle. It would have taken ages to LOSE the battle. Thought "Fuck this, I'll just play Fire Emblem Awakening instead"
I might try again with this at some point, cause it is CLEARLY very good, but there's a lot of very... "Handheld game in 2001" stuff about it. There's too much information that you can't see properly cause of the screen size. I dunno, man. Maybe try the PSP version at some point instead.
I might try again with this at some point, cause it is CLEARLY very good, but there's a lot of very... "Handheld game in 2001" stuff about it. There's too much information that you can't see properly cause of the screen size. I dunno, man. Maybe try the PSP version at some point instead.
Forbidden Action: Fight.
Mishandled story and characters that I understand what it tried to communicate but it doesn't help most of it's characters are unlikeable anyway.
Ok combat system with "mostly" useless abilities and classes.
Game cycle that gets really boring at points with the same mission structure and an asinine ruling book on the Law System.
Music and art are nice, wouldn't expect no less.
There's no joke at this segment, FFTA is a hard game to discuss given the divisive discourse it carries. I don't think I'll ever return to it but at least I don't hate it, it's just one of the most "decent" games I've played ever.
Would get a 5 but the combat at least allows for some cool quick solution strats like Doom and Death not being completly useless for once.
5.5/10
Ok combat system with "mostly" useless abilities and classes.
Game cycle that gets really boring at points with the same mission structure and an asinine ruling book on the Law System.
Music and art are nice, wouldn't expect no less.
There's no joke at this segment, FFTA is a hard game to discuss given the divisive discourse it carries. I don't think I'll ever return to it but at least I don't hate it, it's just one of the most "decent" games I've played ever.
Would get a 5 but the combat at least allows for some cool quick solution strats like Doom and Death not being completly useless for once.
5.5/10
Escapism but not healthy.
Messing with the system is fun, but there's some missable content if you go for the 100% that is hard to figure out.
Messing with the system is fun, but there's some missable content if you go for the 100% that is hard to figure out.
Maybe I should have played the first one? But the game never explains how to play and I eventually progressed too far doing the wrong thing and got stuck :(
It's cozy
Ótimo jogo, mas esse sistema de leis da uma estragada...