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Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced 2: Grimoire Of The Rift (DS); The second unrelated sequel to the original.
Topic Started: Jul 16 2010, 11:42 PM (223 Views)
Mr. Fievel
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Shaken, not stirred.
Now for something a little less obscure. This game. This game that... that... simply followed after the other two FFT games.

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Gameplay:
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The original Final Fantasy Tactics is my favorite game, so one would think that I would only have praise for the gameplay of one of its successors. Well... The gameplay style, if you've never played a tactical/strategical RPG, is basically one of a turn-based and grid-based combat system in which a limited number of units are allowed onto the field. You are able to customize your units to a limited number of jobs, depending on the unit's race, and are basically supposed to create an all-powerful team for use in combat. The player's units and the enemies will each take turns, decided by every unit's speed stat, and be given the opportunity to cast spells, attack, use special techniques, etc. Like in FFTA, the requirement of planning ahead is somewhat dissipated from the original game by the fact that mages can cast their spells instantaneously, as opposed to having to charge their techniques, thereby being forced to think ahead and plan accordingly depending on when the enemies next turn is. In my opinion, this game seems much easier than its predecessors, and FFTA wasn't exactly challenging either, and the difficulty of some of the missions in the original game is what I felt made it fun.

The original sequel for the GBA I found to be a decent sequel (although relatively unrelated) to the original classic. I thought the law system, while bothersome at time, provided new elements and forced one to be better at planning ahead. It was essential to have more than simply the bare minimum number of units on the field in your party, as some laws specifically forbade the use of certain units or spells or attacks or what-have-you, so it was always better to have backup members who could easily replace them. I always thought of that as a neat way to make everything, even the customizable features, more tactical. This game, however, completely nullifies the impact of the laws by merely having the laws give you inessential bonuses in combat. In the FFTA, when a generic unit broke a law, they went to jail, and when the principal character broke a law too many times, it was game over. The sequel, however, simply removes the bonus you get, which you are able to select from the beginning of the fight, which is really just a minor inconvenience, if anything at all. It almost completely removes the tactical elements of the law system, and basically renders it fairly pointless. The job system, however, is expanded somewhat. There are more job classes to choose from compared to FFTA, and you learn abilities based on the weapons you have equipped. The jobs that were completely useful in the first sequel retain their usefulness in this sequel for the most part.

The customization of characters is basically just as it was in FFTA, in that you start with a few races and classes, and must level those up in combat by using the character's abilities before unlocking the more powerful/useful ones, a process which, in this game, doesn't feel as rewarding as the previous two games due to the substantial decrease in difficulty. After all, what's the point of having all-powerful attacks if the enemy doesn't really pose a threat anyway? All in all, the gameplay has actually worsened since the last game, which was worse than the game before it as well, foretelling a bad future for the series if this trend continues.

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Graphics:
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The game has somewhat better graphics compared to its predecessors, but at the same time, the generic classes have even fewer distinguishable traits to differentiate between them, and color is frequently the most pronounced feature of the classes. The Human and Moogle classes, however retain their features that made them easy to tell apart from FFTA. In addition the spells and summons and some special skills are definitely good looking and aren't simply drawn, as they were in the original. The magic's design, while not necessarily lacking, doesn't feel quite so intimidating as spells from earlier in the series were. Some powers do appear to be devastating, for sure, but I feel they didn't spend enough time making them truly unique or wonderful.

The character sprites still seem to retain their original, 2-D style, in that they're drawn to appear 3 dimensional, but the generic costumes that show up don't really appear to be all that fascinating. Fortunately, the character art appears along with the character during combat and in the menu, and the character designs have definitely improved (at least in my opinion) since FFTA, which is a more positive, but relatively insignificant, trend.

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Music:
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The music in the game is perhaps the most disappointing part of all. While FFTA didn't really have much music to brag about either, this game actually has no music I feel is truly memorable, as I cannot remember a single composition from the game, and I played it nearly a year ago, whereas it's been years since I played FFTA, and I can still recall some of the music. The music really doesn't add much to the overall feel of the game, and some of it doesn't even seem to fit too well, and it fails to evoke much emotion in me. The orchestrations really don't feel like they're taking the game itself much too seriously either, and while I must admit that some of them were good, this game doesn't really have much of a soundtrack to brag about.
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Plot:
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In another disappointing trend, the storyline also seems to be taking itself less seriously. The previous two games had significantly deeper plots, with the FFT dealing with corruption, betrayal, and war while FFTA dealt with escapism and coping. Alternatively, this game decides to return to staples of the RPG genre, riddled with cliches and a story a child or a teenager could have easily written. The story is essentially that of Luso (main character) being trapped in another world and wanting to escape that world (sound familiar? (FFTA)), while also attempting to stop an evil presence that steadily makes itself known in the world. I admit that having cliches in your story is not necessarily a bad thing per se, as I found Tales Of Symphonia to have quite the fascinating story, but the story makes it feel as if it should have been rated the same as FFTA (E for everyone) as opposed to E10. The plot is really nowhere near as fascinating or debatable as the previous two installments in the series, and it really takes away from the game.

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Lifetime/Overall:
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While the game has many sidequests and missions that could be done post-game, there really isn't a point to doing to much once you're done. Sure unlocking a few characters is nice, but really it just isn't worth all the trouble. With the fairly unmemorable soundtrack, the rather simplistic gameplay (which may be a selling point for some), and the underwhelming story, the game isn't really worth it unless you are a fan of the series or a fan of the genre. I would not really recommend this game to anyone unless I knew they would like it.

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Gameplay: 3/5
Music: 2/5
Graphics: 3/5
Plot: 2/5
Overall: 2/5
Edited by Mr. Fievel, Jul 17 2010, 04:29 AM.
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