Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

by Square

Product Features

• Three young men open an ancient tomb, and unleash a magical tomb that turns their town into a kingdom of swords & sorcery. They'll have to take up the arts of combat and magic, to fight for the soul of their home!
• Battle your way through dozens of turn-based conflicts, using your strategic thinking skills to come out on top
• Command your squad of fighters, mages, and monsters and create battle plans that suit their unique abilities
• Team up with a friend to battle deadly opponents -- but be careful - if you don't follow the rules of combat, you'll wind up in jail!

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00009WAUK
• Product Dimensions: 4.8 x 4.8 x 0.8 inches ; 3.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: September 8, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (212 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,146 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

You can almost hear the collective drooling of RPG and Game Boy fans worldwide. As the inaugural Nintendo/Square reunion title, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance has a lot to live up to--and it does, spectacularly!

The long heralded Final Fantasy series has enjoyed a number of spin-offs and sequels. Using the familiar character types and classes of the Final Fantasy series, but with a wholly original storyline, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance creates an immersive world of strategic combat and conquest.

Snow Job

While most fantasy games favor romantic landscapes, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance slyly starts out in a plain-vanilla suburb. Players assume the role of young Marche Radiuju in the humble burg of St. Ivalice.

A snowball fight introduces the characters and sets the groundwork for future battles. After a brief (but chilly) skirmish, Marche heads home to visit his younger brother.

Marche Madness

Soon after, Marche's friends drop by to show him an ancient book of mysterious origins. After failing to translate the text properly, Marche's friends leave for the evening. After a wistful slumber, Marche awakens and realizes he isn't in Ivalice anymore... or is he?

Alone in a foreign land, Marche quickly comes under the care of a helpful creature known as a Moogle. It doesn't take much to convince Marche to adopt a lucrative career as a mercenary.

Gangs of Ivalice

A quick stop at the town inn introduces Marche to his new gang. A motley crew at best, your associates include low-level monks, mages, archers, and soldiers. The only hope you have of finding your way home is to turn your ragtag group of misfits into a finely tuned fighting force.

Begin your tour of duty by chatting up the local barkeep. He'll clue you in to interesting news bits, rumors, and job opportunities. Due to your severe lack of experience, early quests are little more than errands.

As you gain experience and reputation, your job options grow as well as the rewards. You can also send one of your crew members on side missions for extra swag. You cannot use these members in your regular quests until they return from their mission.

Rules of Engagement

Whether your quest is to fetch rare herbs or escort the local nobleman, you can always expect bad company. The battlefield is set up from an isometric 3D viewpoint, allowing clear view of every character in play.

At the start of a match, you must choose which members of your gang you wish to take into battle with you. You have a clear view of the enemies before choosing, so try to match your lineup to your opposition.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance introduces an innovative law system to the series. During every battle, an impartial judge decrees specific rules, such as banning poison attacks or physical attacks. The judges' unpredictability requires players to keep a well-rounded group of characters at all times.

Technically, you can break the combat laws, but it is generally not recommended. Even if you win the battle, any of your characters who breaks a law is whisked away to prison. They can only be released after paying a hefty fine.

Fantasy Fighting

The battlefield is set up like a 3D chessboard, with elevations and terrain types. In each turn, a character can move a specific number of spaces and perform a single action, such as attack or using an item.

Most strategy games employ either real-time or turn-based action. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance employs a speed-based system that is somewhere in-between.

Characters still take turns to move and perform actions, but these are based on each character's individual speed ratings. Nimble characters like rogues and ninjas are usually the first characters to go and can usually move farther than other characters. The downside is that faster characters typically lack strong armor and health stats.

Subtle details such as terrain type and attack proximity can have a direct affect on your ability to hit an enemy. Attacking an enemy from behind or the side will yield much higher hit percentages than head-on attacks.

Job Fair

What you do off the battlefield is arguably more important than what you do on it. Thanks to a stable economy, your characters can usually change job classes once they gain enough experience.

Need a little more magic in your life? Try turning one of your grunts into a mage. There are more than 30 different job classes available, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.

Even in far-off fantasy lands, commercialism is a way of life. You'll be amazed at how quickly you'll end up spending your hard-earned greenbacks on shiny new stuff. Weapons and armor serve not only to boost your stats, but also grant special abilities to specific character types and species.

While one sword might grant tremendous attack points, a seemingly lesser sword may give its wielder access to a special attack that can tip the scales in your favor. Thanks to the law system, one should never get too attached to a single piece of equipment.

Face Value

Gorgeous character illustrations and 2D sprites harken back to Square's 16-bit glory days. Each of the shops, inns, towns, and fields is superbly detailed, with subtle background animations. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance maintains the series' stellar rep for technically and visually brilliant summon attacks.

Uniquely, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance features three separate display settings, depending on whether you're playing on the Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Advance SP, or the Game Boy Player. Each setting offers different levels of brightness, contrast, and saturation to appease even the most fickle of gamers.

The only thing that can rival the on-screen wonders is the audio candy. It is no surprise why Square Enix's soundtracks are the most sought-after in the video game community.

Lasting Power

Needless to say, there are hours upon hours of gameplay packed into this tiny little cartridge. Square Enix has done a tremendous job in creating an easily accessible yet incredibly deep gameplay experience. Plug into one of the finest strategy RPG experiences ever created with Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

Product Description

Final Fantasy: Tactics Advance brings you into a world of magic and mystery!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

104 of 110 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It Really Doesn't Seem Real, September 29, 2003

By 

Jay Skinner (Tampa, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (Video Game)

I'd like to implore you to NOT compare this game to the FFTactics for the Playstation. For just a moment, weigh this game against itself. Evaluate it for what it IS, and not what it isn't.
People may be upset because this is not like the original. But for that reason I am very thankful. Not to say that the original Tactics wasn't wonderful; it remains one of my favorite FF titles to date. What I mean to say is that it's different. I know that the story is not as mature as the first one. I know that the music is not quite as bombastic as that of the original (From what I've heard so far, anyway). But Final Fantasy Tactics Advance presents its own story, its own set of characters and its own battle system, which in my opinion is just as good as that of the first Tactics.
The Job system has been redesigned, and takes into account what race a character is. While it's true that both a Human and a Moogle can obtain the Thief job, there are differences in stats and abilities due to their racial diversity. There are five different races, and each one has advantages and weaknesses, along with several Jobs that are unique to that particular race. This new concept is amazing and innovative, and results in very different, customized characters.
Abilities are obtained through the use of specific items, much like the ability system of FFIX. Many items boast abilities for multiple classes, and each ability takes a certain amount of AP (Points received at the end of battles or side quests) to fully learn. Once a character completely masters an ability, they no longer need to have the item equipped to use that skill. Needless to say, this interesting system will lead to hours upon hours of gameplay.
Concerning the story, I do not understand everyone's complaints. While it's a fact that the original FFTactics had a much more serious storyline, that does not mean that this one is not just as entertaining or creative, because that is exactly the type of plot Tactics Advance offers. That said, I must admit that so far (I'm about six hours into the game) there is not as much CONTENT storywise, but what's there certainly shines. Three young people who have grown tired of the cruel, boring life of the norm awaken mysterious writings within an ancient volume of unknown origin. The book morphs their world into the realm of Final Fantasy, one that they have all longed for. Differences emerge when the three attempt to decide whether to go home or stay in the adventure.
From whatever angle you look at it, this game is undeniably exceptional. Consider the fact that this is a GBA game, and you MUST commend SquareEnix for this masterpiece.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to the store to get a ton of batteries.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worthy addition to the FFT line, January 30, 2006

By 

Ramsis Lion "ramsislion" (Long Island, NY USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (Video Game)

After the very successful and fun Final Fantasy Tactics game that was on the Playstation 1 in 1998, it was only expected that a follow up would come in the not to distant future. Little did anyone expect that it would be on the Nintendo Game Boy Advance.

The premise behind the new version of the scaled down game is the same. You start out with a hero who has to build a team of fighters of variying classes to take on others in turn based battles with each character on each team getting a seperate turn to take out various enemies on the field with their moves. All the classes are traditional Final Fantasy classes that we have seen through out the years in various FF games. Only unlike the PS version of the game this time the classes are seperated by race of the character you have in your party.

There are five races that you will meet in the land of Ivalice where the story takes place. Humans, Viera, Moogles, Bangaa and Nu Mou are the races that will fill up your team. Each race can hold certain jobs with only a few jobs being able to be used by more then one race. In typical FFT way, you must level up by fighting in battles and learning skills that a particular job can hold to retain them for later use even if you change your job to another one. Half the fun is building up characters with the various skills and jobs and building a dream team that is totaly under your control. You can have magic users, warriors and specialist all working on one grand team complimenting each other in perfect unison.

The game play is fun and pulls off a tactics type environment as well as can be expected on the GBA. The graphics aren't stunning like the first FFT game due to the system it is on but it does pull off everything graphicly well enough. Summon spells and magic looks stunning and you can clearly see what is going on without difficulty of making out each character is supposed to be. The game is colorful and easy enough to understand. There is some strategy to things as depending on where you stand when you are about to attack can make things easier for you. Also the various status of you or your enemies at the time of attack will matter too. Like if they are asleep you will hit them 100% as they can't defend you. If you face them with their back to you you will hit them more then 50% due to them having to turn around to defend themselves.

The game itself is a lot of fun but far from perfect. The storyline is a tad on the weak side, almost being secondary to the whole experience of playing the game. The game has the weird notion of making the main characters realizing that they are in a "Final Fantasy" game the whole time. Making many mentions of how the series is their favorite and everything they are going through is something out of a Final Fantasy game.

The story of the game is basicly a group of kids one being a new kid and another being a shy kid who lost his mother years ago and has been depressed and the last being a girl who is more of a tom boy all find a book that seems to date back decades in time. As they open the book something weird unknowing to them occurs. They go to sleep and wake up only to find their whole town has been transformed into a world out of a Final Fantasy game and now Marche the new kid has to figure out a way to get home while the boy who lost his mom, Mewt has become the prince of the land and enforces tough laws that must be followed during every battle or else you can be penalized or even be put in jail. Marche now must destroy crystals in order to get closer to bringing the world back from what seems to be all a figment of Mewt's imagination.

The story doesn't even seem to matter after awhile though, and even the writers didn't seem to focus to much on it. The game itself is fun just by building up your characters and classes and doing the missions and tasks that you will have to in order to expand through the game. The laws though get annoying after awhile. They add challenge to the game which is needed but sometimes they are just annoying rather then challenging. Laws are basicly what you can and can't do during said battle and it randomly changes every battle. Sometimes you can't use bows other times you can't use magic and as the game progresses more and more laws that can't be done are added making things harder as now you have 3 laws rather then just 1 that you can't do during a match.

It can be quite a tasking challenge at times to sort out what missions you have to do, what battles you have to do and what weapons have to be changed to learn new skills and will keep you more then occupied all the while. No its not up to the same standards and excellence that the PS1 version of the game was but that is only expected given the different abilities that the two systems can do. You definitely will get your monies worth here by adding this worthy addition in the FF line to your GBA. Its a game you can play often as you can always build different classes and try and get differnet abilities and weapons you never had before and its a lot of fun. There are some negatives to the game but no game is perfect and this pulls off the transition well enough to more then satisfy. A little more story and less annoying random battles that you have to do would have been nice (you will see that defending areas in battles will get to be draining and boring at times) but the pros definitely out weigh the cons.

Highly recommended is getting a strategy guide for the game as it will make your life easier when you have to figure out what weapon gives you what abilities and what you need to form what class. It can come in very handy when you have to over come the limitations of what info can be shown on the screen at a time when it comes to what you have over what you don't.

Over 300 missions, 34 jobs and multiplayer abilities this is a game that will keep you more then occupied as you navigate through the vast world of Ivalice. Check it out, you won't be sorry you did if you are a fan of Tactics games or a good role playing game.

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple, yet addictive., November 10, 2003

By 

ostawookiee "ostawookiee" (Winston-Salem, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (Video Game)

The premise of the game is dirt simple, in that it's just a series of battles/missions, over and over. Yet I can't put the thing down. I get that determination - "I must make my characters stronger! Level up! Better armor!" and it's addictive.
The battle scenes are turned based and play out slowly, and as such, you can play this game for a very long time. After twenty hours of game time, I was still not even 1/3 finished. Plus replayability is high, because you can create a new clan with an entirely different character makeup.