Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is a strategy video game for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance. It is a spin-off of the popular Final Fantasy series, and was produced by Square Enix. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance was the winner of Penny Arcade's 2003 "Just One More Round, Is It Really Four In The Morning?" award.

Overview

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is the story of Marche, Mewt and Ritz, three misfit children who live in a small town named Ivalice (sharing a name with setting of the PlayStation predecessor Final Fantasy Tactics), but find themselves transported to the realm of the same name after discovering an ancient magical book. This magical realm appears to be a manifestation of the video game "Final Fantasy," which the three children have played. Fans have speculated that the game in question is actually Final Fantasy XII, and that this is the link between the two games that developers have continually mentioned. This is currently unconfirmed.

Both the gameplay and the story have been simplified in an effort to appeal to a wider audience and enhance the experience on the smaller Game Boy Advance. This gives the game a childish and light-hearted feel to it, although the game is still popular with both children and adults alike.

While many elements of the game play in FFTA are the same as those in its PlayStation cousin, this installment sees the introduction of a system of laws.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is sometimes called Tactics Advance or just Tactics. It is also commonly abbreviated as FFTA.

Cast

Marche

Ritz

Mewt Randell

Monte Blanc

Shara

Cid Randell

Llednar Twem

Laws

One of the central features of FFTA is the Laws system. Laws are set by Judges, invincible Chocobo-riding arbitrator characters present at each battle. For example, there are laws that forbid certain weapons, such as rapiers, greatswords, or arrows. Other times, items, certain types of elements, or status changes (such as Sleep, Confusion, or Poison) may be forbidden. Breaking a Law results in punishment by Carding; the reciept of a Red or Yellow card (in a similar manner to red and yellow cards in Soccer) and possible imprisonment.

To offset the difficulty of having things forbidden for use, there are certain things that are "Recommended" by the Judge for use, and therefore grant Judge Points (which enable the player to cast certain spells and use special abilities). For example, if "Items" are forbidden, but "Poison" is recommended, and a character uses an ability that changes the status of a character to poison, their party receives a Judge Point. Judge Points are also recieved upon killing an opponent. Some hours into playing the game, the player gains the ability to add new laws and cast "anti-laws", which can nullify laws that are already in effect.

Races

Tactics Advance introduces a variety of races. Each race can take up certain "jobs," that govern what abilities the character can use in a similar manner to Final Fantasy IX.

The races are as follows:

• Humans: Generic well-rounded characters that can take a wide variety of jobs.
• Moogles: As seen in other Final Fantasy games. They specialize in technological jobs and the use of guns.
• Nu Mou: Small creatures with long floppy ears. They specialize in magic.
• Viera: Tall Rabbit-like creatures. They specialize in Fencing and Archery, along with other agility-based jobs.
• Bangaa: Lizard-like creatures with immense strength. They specialize in fighting jobs.

Jobs and abilities

There is a much greater range of jobs available in Tactics Advance than the original. Examples include Soldier, White Monk, Archer, Dragoon, Mog Knight, Beastmaster, Animist, White Mage, Black Mage, Gunner, and Thief, to name a few. Each job class has a specific type of weapon to be used with that class, and the only way to use and master abilities is to equip a specific item.

Each equippable item has various abilities assigned to it. These abilities are available for use only while that item is equipped. However, abilities can be mastered by fighting in battles; every time a battle is completed characters receive a specific amount of Ability Points (AP) distributed over their currently equipped abilities, and once a set amount of AP has been accumulated for a given ability (anywhere from 100-999) the character masters that ability and retains it for use at any time, regardless of the items equipped. The challenge comes when a weapon is fairly weak, but it has a good ability attached to it. This requires players to draw a balance between fighting power and the long-term goals of their characters.

Later in the game, creatures and use their abilities can be captured by using the Nu Mou job Morpher. Usually these monsters' abilities are physical-attack based (with great attack power behind them to offset this) but occasionally will have a magical attack.

External links

• GameFAQs entry for Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
• Final Fantasy Tactics Advance Shrine