Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

I remember it vividly (hooray for cliché openings...). The day I got my first Gameboy Advance SP. The first game I bought for it was Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. I remember getting back into my father's car and putting the game into the console... *click* went the on switch as I pushed it up...

...and I saw this.

This game was perfect for me. It's story was so beautiful. It dealt with issues that I was facing at the time, being a public school student. Stuff like teasing, problems at home, and friendship. It was the perfect escape. In fact, the entire game is actually an escapist fantasy: one character accidentally uses a magic book to change the entire world. In the real world, he's picked on constantly. He misses his deceased mother greatly and his father has had many problems ever since her passing. However, in Ivalice, he's the prince, his mother is the Queen, and his dad is the powerful Judgemaster. Doned, the protagonist Marche's wheelchair-striken, sickly brother, is not ill in this new world and doesn't want to return.

The game looked beautiful. The battle maps were highly detailed, the character models looked great, the hand-drawn style character portraits were enticing. Half of the fun of FFTA was just looking at the game. I mean, look at this illustration. Ryomo Ito's character designs are incredible. The detail, the specific color palette, and the overall lightness of the artwork vaguely recalls the work of series veteran Yoshitaka Amano without seeming like a copycat.

And there there was the actual gameplay itself. The game is an interesting combination of linear and non-linear elements. The main character joins a "clan" which is basically a band of mercenaries willing to do all different kinds of work. You get to name your clan. You then get leads on "missions" from the pub. Missions come it two varieties: battle missions and dispatch missions. In a battle mission, you have to complete a battle to clear the mission. In a dispatch mission, you choose a character to leave temporarily (a span of time that varies by mission, usually a few in-game days or after you've defeated a certain number of enemies) to complete a task. As an added twist, some missions require items or specific jobs to complete. For example, one bodyguard dispatch mission requires the "Defender" job. All missions have rewards. You're free to take any mission, so long as you have the required items. Most battle missions are either turf wars between clans or events that advance the story. More missions become available as you complete others. It's never boring. You're always either advancing the incredible storyline or laying the proverbial smackdown on rival clans, gaining new turfs and unlocking new areas. When you unlock a new area, you get to choose where it is placed on the world map. This makes sense in the context of the game because the four main characters (Marche; the hero; Ritz, Mewt, and Doned) have basically created the world of Ivalice themselves, with Doned seeming to be the game's primary influence. Just play the game and you'll get it.

The game's job system is similar to the original FF Tactics with one notable exception: some jobs are exclusive to race. There are five races in Ivalice: Human, Nu Mou, Viera, Moogle, and Bangaa. If you've played Final Fantasy XII, you are familiar with these races. Only Moogles have access to the Gunner job and only the Bangaa get Dragoon. There are many other exclusives, as well.

Ivalice is governed by "Laws". Laws are enforced by Judges (Mewt's father, the Judgemaster, is at the left) who appear anytime there is a conflict. Laws forbid certain actions in combat and rewards others. For example, a typical law would forbid a successful attack with a "Greatsword" and reward an attack with a "Rapier". When you break a law, a judge will issue a yellow card or a red card, depending on its severity (first offenses that don't result in KO get yellow cards, but repeat offenses and illegal KOs receive red cards). Legal KOs and recommended actions like a strike with a rapier in the example above, result in a character being rewarding with "JP" (Judge Points). JP is used to perform combos with other characters using your specific job's combo command. Combos are essentially team-up attacks that deal high damage. When a character amasses 10 JP (the maximum), they can summon their race's Totema (beings who guard the crystals that keep the world in order) to deal massive HP or MP damage to all enemies. Later in the game, you get access to cards that alter laws. You can nullify a law that is detrimental or you can add a law that may be advantageous. However, its made clear from the beginning that something may be wrong with this system....

"Resentment towards Queen Remedi has been building these last few years. The reason? Frequent and seemingly arbitrary changes in the laws. It's gone so far that some pundits wryly say she's "...doing it to please that brat, the prince."

This adds a whole new wrinkle of potential tactics to the game. For example, each law that forbids something also rewards something. In the "Greatsword/Rapier" example, a successful Rapier strike with award a character with 1 JP. Also, if you're fighting mages, just use a "Color magic" card to forbid the use of black/white/red/blue magic. Should be an easy victory.

As fun and as deep as FF Tactics Advance's gameplay is, the part that shines the most is the storyline. It's one of the most impressive stories that a Final Fantasy game has ever told. Each main character faces a powerful enemy within themselves during the course of the game. One example is Ritz (the first character illustration above). She is teased for her natural white hair in the real world. She constantly dyes it red to hid her imperfection. However, all the kids know she does this. She strongly resents Marche's attempts to turn the world back to normal. Her comrade is Shara, a Viera warrior. She teachers her that, to the Viera, white hair is considered a blessing and helps her learn to fully accept herself.

Thus is Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. I'm willing to say it's the finest game ever made for the Gameboy Advance. It's powerful, relevant storyline teaches us many lessons about self-worth, dwelling on the past, corruption, and the importance of accepting reality rather than living in fiction. Combine that with beautiful graphics and a deep combat system and you've got one of the best games ever made.