PixlBit

In 1998, having played and replayed Final Fantasy VII and Resident Evil 2 to death, I was looking for something new in the gaming department, and with my immense enjoyment of FFVII, I really wanted a new Squaresoft game more than anything. This was in the summer, before Square began putting out games like Parasite Eve and Xenogears. One day at Target, I saw Final Fantasy Tactics on sale. I wasn't sure about the tactical gameplay, but I figured it was cheap enough that if I didn't like it, no harm no foul. Long story short, I got hooked on Tactics, enough to where I made it one of my 20 favorite games of all time on 1UP a few years back.

When I heard of a sequel to Tactics in development in the mid-00s, I was naturally excited. The fact that it was in development for the Game Boy Advance rather than the PS2 didn't dampen my enthusiasm. However, the final game, released for the GBA in September of 2003, was a bit different from what I was expecting in both structure and thematic elements... but for all that, managed to be an excellent game in its own right.

The story in FF Tactics Advance centers around four kids living in a modern world: Marche, the protagonist, his brother Doned, and their friends Ritz and Mewt. Each of these four are dealing with their own troubles that they want to escape from. Marche and Doned are dealing with their parents' divorce and their recent move to a strange city. Doned has been crippled since birth and requires intermittent hospitalization, while Marche, though sympathetic to his brother's condition, is secretly envious of the attention Doned's illness gets him. Mewt is bullied relentlessly at school due to his timid nature (in the game's opening tutorial battle, all the enemies gang up on Mewt), and is also dealing with his mother's death and the problems of his alcoholic father, Cid. Ritz, an athletic, outspoken girl, is teased by her peers for being unfeminine and is dogged by rumors that her red hair is really white. When Mewt finds a mysterious book in a bookstore, the four friends all remark on how they wish they could escape into a fantasy world from their troubles... and the book grants their wish, transporting them to the fantasy land of Ivalice.

The major theme of the FFTA storyline is this: is it better to live with an ugly truth than a pretty lie? In Ivalice, Mewt is the prince of the land, his mother is alive as the Queen, and his beaten-down father is Judgemaster of the land. Ritz has made friends with the Viera tribe of rabbit-women who accept her for who she is. Doned is able to walk, something he has never been able to do in the real world. Meanwhile, Marche is enjoying the fantasy battles of Ivalice and the friends he makes there, but as he learns the truth of Ivalice, he comes to believe that he and his friends cannot continue to live in a world that is one big lie. However, when he discusses this with his friends from the real world, he finds that they are angry with him for wanting to take away their idealized lives in exchange for returning to all their troubles in the real world, in particular taking away his crippled brother's ability to walk and be free from his illness. Worse, his friends actually become hostile towards him over the matter, with Prince Mewt declaring Marche to be an outlaw and an enemy of the state.

Gameplay-wise, the basics of FFTA differ little from those of the original PS1 game. You still fight on a grid-like world where every character has their own abilities to move and jump, and you must still plan your attacks to get the maximum effect on the battlefield.  One new aspect of FFTA is the "Judge" system. On each battlefield (with the exception of three areas on the map, known as "jagds") is a Judge, and each battle is governed by laws that forbid certain actions while rewarding other actions. The laws change from battle to battle. Choosing an action that violates a given battle's laws is a tactical decision: generally, a character will get a "yellow" card for violating a law, plus a penalty in items/gil/experience at the end of a battle. A second infraction will result in the character being transported to the prison in Sprohm. (Note: If Marche gets sent to prison, it's an instant Game Over). Some "violations" of the law are more egregious and will result in an instant red card and ticket to prison. Eventually the player will gain the ability to manipulate the laws in their favor. The judges also serve as a safety feature, as any fallen character is revived after battle. On the lawless "jagd" battlefields, where there are no laws and no judges, not being revived by the battle's end results in permadeath for the character, and this includes storyline-based characters like Marche's friends, and even Marche himself (again, instant game over even if your party wins the battle.)

There are also five playable races in FFTA: Humans, Moogles, the lizard-like Bangaa (but don't call them lizards), the all-female Viera rabbit tribe, and the dog-like sorcerers, the Nu Mou. Each race has its own set of available job classes. Humans can take a broad variety of jobs, Nu Mou are almost exclusively magic users, Viera are skilled in archery and white magic, Moogles in black magic and thievery, Bangaa in physical jobs.  The next game that this development team would release was Final Fantasy XII, which is set in an Ivalice modeled on the Final Fantasy Tactics Advance world with all of these races present. Eventually, you will be able to unlock specific characters from the story to join your party, including all of your friends and their allies in the fantasy world.

FFTA's game structure is also quite different from the original. The original game had you follow linear paths through the game's world in playing through the game's storyline. Tactics Advance is a little more free-form: While the main storyline of restoring the world to its original state does have its own missions (which are generally not marked as such), there are a lot more side stories to play through in Tactics Advance and you can take a break from the main story at any time. FFTA is therefore much more open-ended than its predecessor.

One last aspect of FFTA that deserves mention is the soundtrack. Hitoshi Sakimoto's epic soundtrack for the original FF Tactics remains one of my favorites of all time to this day. This was one area where FFTA could have seriously disappointed compared to its predecessor, especially given the huge difference in sound hardware between a handheld system and a full-size console. Although the sound quality had no hope of comparing with the PS1, the music itself is quite memorable, with various tracks composed by Sakimoto, Nobuo Uematsu, Ayako Saso, and Kaori Ohkoshi. These composers did a great job minimizing the weaknesses of the GBA hardware while playing to its strengths. There are also wonderful orchestral renditions of each song in the FFTA soundtrack.

I've recently started a new playthrough of this game, and am remembering why I enjoyed it all those years ago. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance was not quite what I was expecting based on its predecessor. But instead of being a disappointment, the developers took a new approach to the series that really paid off with a theme that was deeper and darker than its cheery facade let on. But then, I could say the same thing for the original game: it wasn't quite what I expected from Final Fantasy, but it still managed to be memorable. Well played as always, Yasumi Matsuno.