Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (Game Boy Advance, 2003)

Last time I checked, I'd clocked in a bit over 25 hours on Final Fantasy Tactics, and so far, the end doesn't seem in sight. For people who want a quick game, this isn't the one. But if you're prepared to slog it out for the long haul, this is a game for you.

For me, the best part of the game is the job system. Each of the five races has their own job wheel, making your characters infinitely customizable. By building up enough skills in lower classes, higher classes become available on the job wheel. This is also highly customizable, since skills are learned from the weapons you equip characters, and not from experience. Characters can use skills from two separate jobs at once. Sometimes it's more obvious. With Snipers and Hunters you'll generally want to hold on to your archer skills, but other times there's much more freedom involved. Thief skills, for instance, are relatively unhelpful, save for reactionary skills such as counter and maintenance. Your characters can use the same reactionary skills no matter what job you give them.

The storyline is decent, but occasionally I find that the cut-scenes go on long and I wish I could just go back out and kill monsters. For instance, the first cut-scene where the town of Ivalice becomes the world of Final Fantasy seems to last for about five minutes. The storyline is also slightly too self-referential: you are trapped in the world of Final Fantasy... eh. Still, the characters are, on the whole, strong. Also, the story builds well into the actual game play, and the engagements that are story related are almost always fantastic.

The law system is, I'm pretty sure, intentionally annoying. It's mandated by the story that as the game goes on, more activities per battle become illegal -- I've just gotten to a battle where I'm facing only animals and they've told me it's illegal to damage animals.

Engagements are fun. There are two basic types of engagements: missions and clan battles. Missions are bought at any town, you pay for the information and then you travel to where that mission is. Most of your income is going to come from this. Clan battles start pretty early in the game. Basically, your clan is just one of a large number of clans out there in the world of Ivalice, and as you go around the map, other clans are too. You see them going around the map, so it's never a surprise when you bump into them. I often find myself chasing after other clans. Generally, the rewards for these battles are lower than for missions, still, with an enormous group at your disposal, it's always good to have enemies your lower classed characters can fight.

The only things that consistently annoy me through the game are dispatch missions, which so far I have not been able to make rhyme or reason of why some fail and some succeed. Still, it's a small price to pay.

Final Fantasy Tactics is a great buy. It'll keep you for probably a whole summer and keep you entertained. Though the storyline is not quite up to par with some of the rest of the Final Fantasy franchise, the game play makes up for it in spades. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys video games.

4.5/5