TACTICS
(Posted 2003-10-20 13:58:31 by basscomm)

I won't really go too much into the details about this game, since other
sites [ http://ffta.nintendo.com ] do it much better than I can. 

I never really got into tactical games much. I think the last one that I
played was _Heroes of Might and Magic III_ for the PC, and I never could
make it past the first mission. As a rule, I'm just not particularly good
at tactical games. So why did I pick this one up? Excellent question! 

_Final Fantasy Tactics Advance_ is, apparently, not much like _Final
Fantasy Tactics_ for the Playstation. For some reason, I didn't expect it
to be (probably for the same reason I didn't expect _Final Fantasy 8_ to be
much like _Final Fantasy 7_), and since my experience with the original
_Tactics_ was limited to seeing someone play the game one time for less
than 10 minutes, I think that it's safe to say that I was fairly
open-minded to this new foray into the tactics genre. 

One of the more interesting features is the Laws system. During the
battles, there will be two to four laws in effect that restrict what you
can and can't do in the battle. If you perform an illegal action, you go to
jail. Immediately. It's an interesting addition to the game. It makes you
really think about what kind of strategy you will use to win the battle,
and it forces you to have a well-balanced team (which is not necessarily a
bad thing).

The only real downside to the game is that the battles take so long to
complete. I suppose that's normal for a tactical game, but the battles can
take upwards of 30 minutes each. That's a minor complaint, really. You can
save (one time) in the middle of a battle to pick up where you left off.  

Overall, it's a good game so far. Link play looks like it could be
interesting, especially since I know of at least one person with the game.
All too often I buy a game that has link capabilities, and nobody that I
know has the same game. 

Once Nintendo makes my fantasy gaming network [
http://crummysocks.com/blog/archives/000006.php ], maybe that will change.




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There are 5 comments on this post:

Comment #1 by  Ray (  ) on 2003-10-22 01:18:31
I'm trying to decide whether I should get this game.


Comment #2 by  basscomm (  ) on 2003-10-22 14:55:37
You have a Game Boy Advance?


Comment #3 by  Ray (  ) on 2003-10-25 04:32:24
Maybe my wires are crossed.  Isn't this going to be available on PS2 as
well?


Comment #4 by  basscomm (  ) on 2003-10-28 15:42:30
It's a GBA exclusive as far as I know.


Comment #5 by  basscomm (  ) on 2003-10-28 15:44:12
Oh, there was a version of Tactics for the PS1, I just noticed that I
didn't put the word "Advance" in the article... whoops!



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