Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
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Wikipedia-Article "Final Fantasy Tactics Advance"
| Final Fantasy Tactics Advance | |
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| Developer(s) | |
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| Latest version | {{{version}}} |
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| Genre | Tactical role-playing game |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB:  EveryonePEGI: 3+ USK: 6+ OFLC: G8+ |
| Platform(s) | Game Boy Advance |
| Media | 128 megabit cartridge |
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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, a sequel to 1997's Final Fantasy Tactics, and was produced by Square Enix.
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Overview
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is the story of Marche, Mewt, and Ritz; three misfit children who live in a small town named St. Ivalice (which shares its name with the setting of the PlayStation predecessor Final Fantasy Tactics). The children find themselves transported to a realm of the same name as their town ("just Ivalice") after discovering an ancient magical book. This magical realm of Ivalice 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.
The game is a strategy-RPG title in which the player assembles a Clan of individual characters, and marshalls both their efforts in battle and their role within the game. There is a strong focus on player freedom, with a great deal of liberty given in deciding the roles, abilities and characteristics of characters within the ruleset.
To many, the game's storyline and presentation have a light-hearted feel, although the game's popularity spans young and old alike. While many elements of gameplay in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance are the same as 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.
Gameplay
Marche starts his adventure in a town called Cyril where he joins a mercenary clan. Later he gains the ability to buy missions that will, for the most part, be accomplished in a precise location (the location is described in the mission's description). After winning the mission, Marche will get a monetary reward as described. Marche can also buy new equipment and sign up for other missions in towns. There are 3 types of missions:
- The classic missions where Marche's entire party heads off to complete a mission in a particular location. Sometimes, rare items can be found, and many of these missions can be used to advance the plot, or several sub-plots.
- The quests where Marche can send one member from his party to go complete a mission. Some of these missions actually advance the story, such as the Hero Gaol subquest, in which the clan must retrieve the two legendary blades of the mighty hero Gaol. In order for a character to accomplish this mission and return, Marche must complete a certain task. Sometimes it is as simple as walking around for several days, and other times, Marche must fight a certain number of battles in order for them to finish the quest.
- The rival clans missions is where Marche can battle a rival mercenary clan by buying a mission or meeting them on the map. There are two types of clans - the more common clans are red Soldier icons on the map, and these appear randomly every few days and likewise disappear after (usually) 6 days. The second type is the kind only fightable through accepting a mission, and when the mission is accepted and Marche leaves the town, they will appear on the map as a blue Soldier. Unlike the red Soldiers, their duration timers are much longer (usually 15-25 days) or they never leave until Marche has defeated them or surrendered to them. These missions most often advance the plot or a sub-plot.
The World Map
The map looks like that of Final Fantasy Tactics, but with the same principle as Legend of Mana. As soon as Marche starts off on his adventure, the map will be completely empty except for one city (Cyril, the starting town). When Marche wins some important mission(s), he will get to place a location anywhere on the map. Depending on where Marche places it, the enemies and fights will be somewhat different. In addition, placing locations next to each other often triggers a "treasure hunt," in which an option to retrieve treasure appears when a locale is selected. Different combinations of locale placements yield different results, some earning rare items in the process.
Clan characters
Before Marche goes into a fight, it's best for him to look after his characters. With the menu screen, Marche has the ability to set the desired configuration for his mercenaries. The first thing that Marche should do is equip his character with some accessories (sword, armor, shield, and others) available for their job. The second option is to set abilities depending on their job and accessories. The third one concerns changing their jobs. Marche and his clan members can only change their job when they have mastered some abilities in their initial job. This differs from the old Final Fantasy Tactics job system in which they were able to change their jobs as soon as they achieved a certain level of experience in that particular job. The last option available to Marche is the option to fire one of his clan members (with the exception of a few story-critical characters like Montblanc). Such an option might be nessecary to recruit a unit that can prove to be more useful than another.
Cast
St. Ivalice
- Marche Radiuju: The central hero of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. The game begins right after Marche moves to the town of St. Ivalice. Marche and his brother, Doned, moved to St. Ivalice with their mother after their parents' divorce was settled. The natural environment of St. Ivalice was also thought to be better for Doned's severe illness. Marche participates in a snowball fight on his first day of school, on the same team as Mewt Randell and Ritz Malheur. When the world is tranformed into Mewt's dream world, Marche is the only character that wants the world to return to normal. Because of this, Marche is forced to battle with his own friends, end his friends' happiness, and make the others see that they cannot continue in the dream world, as it isn't the real world. These tasks prove to be the most difficult challenges that Marche struggles to overcome, even more so than the many battles he fights throughout Ivalice. It should also be noted that Marche is the default name and players can choose change his name to whatever they prefer.
- Ritz Malheur: A girl who speaks her mind, who was friends with Marche and Mewt in St. Ivalice. Her out spoken nature and strong sense of right and wrong lead to her unpopularity among schoolmates. Ritz's natural hair color is white, but she relentlessly dyes it pink to hide her secret. In the dream world, though she is actually a human, she has the abilities of a Viera. She reveals towards the end of the game that she doesn't want to go back to the real world as her mother always looks at her in sadness and grief for her white hair. However, at the conclusion of the game, she learns to accept her white hair as beautiful. A brief scene after the main game suggests that she may have a crush on Marche, though it never comes to fruition. The Official Strategy Guide features an image of Marche and Ritz together in a somewhat romantic pose, furthering these claims. Intrestingly, Ritz can only take jobs available to viera, and summons the viera totema instead of the human one.
- Mewt Randell: A boy whose mother died some time ago. He found the Grand Grimoire that altered reality as Mewt wished. He is responsible for changing the world to the nation of Ivalice. In this new dream world, his mother is a alive, his father is the most revered man in the nation, and all of them compose Ivalice's royal family.
- Doned Radiuju: Marche's little brother who is partially paralyzed from an unnamed disease. In Ivalice, however, he is able to walk and play as he always wanted to. He feels his brother is being selfish by trying to change the world back, hence, taking away his ability to walk. However, the two later reconcile their differences, and Doned joins Marche's clan. However, he is supposedly too young to Engage and must sit on the side-lines, providing Marche with advice.
- Cid Randell: Cid is Mewt's father. He lacks money and energy and embarasses Mewt with his inability to hold down work. When the world is transformed, Cid is made the Judgemaster of Ivalice -- the leader of all the Judges -- and is the husband of Queen Remedi. At first, the Judges and the Palace are connected and are considered one-and-the-same, particularly the Judges under the command of the Palace. However, towards the game's end, Cid realizes that he cannot maintain true and just Law if he is under the control of the royal family, so he severes all ties to the Palace and makes the Judges a separate entity of their own. Cid at first has no memory of the real world and opposes Marche, but eventually he regains the memories of the man he once was and then supports Marche in his cause. He is responsible for breaking the "Fortune" Law placed upon Llednar.
Ivalice
The World as Mewt fantasizes.
- Montblanc: A Moogle that befriends Marche. He saves Marche from a run-in with some trouble-making Bangaa, and offers him membership in his newly formed Clan Nutsy (which is the clan's default name, but can be changed by the players). He teaches Marche how to Engage and other aspects of the world of Ivalice.
- Nono: Montblanc's kid brother, an airship merchant.
- Ezel Berbier: A Nu Mou trouble maker who creates the Anti-Law Cards. An ally of Marche throughout the game, he is the first non-generic character (i.e. unique, story-relevant character) to join Marche's clan (not including Montblanc).
- Shara: A Viera who befriends Ritz and allows her to join her primarily Viera clan. She is afraid of bugs. At the end of the game, she says that Ritz's white hair means that she was blessed by the Viera gods, and if it makes her rejected in the human race, she will always be able to be close to the Vieras. She later joins Marche's clan.
- Babus Swain: The Nu Mou Royal Mage in Mewt's service. He lives to serve the royal family, especially Mewt, and is extremely reluctant in believing Marche's story of the "real world." Marche must fight him in the battle to destroy the crystal of Exodus, but he later becomes an ally and joins the clan. His class is Runeseeker, a special class that includes powerful magic such as Demi, Explode, and Stillness.
- Llednar Twem: A mysterious enforcer who replaces the Judges when they became independent from the Palace. After his defeat, Llednar is revealed as the embodiment of Mewt's anger and hostility. His name is Mewt Randell spelt backwards. He was invincible in battle due to a "Fortune" Law put into effect by Queen Remedi, but when Cid nullified this Law, Marche was able to defeat Llednar. He is a Biskmatar, a royal guard that can learn some insanely powerful moves, including his trademark move, Omega, an attack that is equal to the power of Ultima.
- Queen Remedi: The ruler of Ivalice, she was the Grand Grimoire itself in a form modeled after Mewt's deceased mother. She is the game's final boss.
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 excluding those taking place in the Jagds. For example, there are laws that forbid the use of certain weapons, items, elemental spells, or status changes. Breaking a Law results in punishment by Carding; the receipt of a Red or Yellow card (in a similar manner to red and yellow cards in soccer) and possible imprisonment. Jagds have no laws but the down side is that characters KO'ed here will die and permanently leave the Clan if they are not revived by the end of the battle.
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. For example, if "Items" are forbidden, but "Poison" is recommended, a character who uses an ability that Poisons another character will receive a Judge Point. Judge Points (JP) are used to carry out Combos with nearby allies or to summon a racial Totema when the unit has ten JP. Judge Points are also received upon killing an opponent. Later in the game, Marche gains the ability to add new Laws and cast "Anti-Laws," which can nullify laws that are already in effect.
The human interface for putting a "Law Card" into play on the Game Boy Advance is unorthodox in that it appears to have been an undesigned afterthought. Unlike other Final Fantasy games, "Card" is not an option in the action menus. The "Law Cards" menu option only appears in the System list during a battle, after a character is ready to "Move", provided the player presses the Start button, possibly after also pressing the B button. The B button is not mentioned in the user documentation, but is obviously required in many situations.
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 V or Final Fantasy XI. Each race has a Guardian Beast called a Totema to represent them and can be summoned to their aid.
The races are as follows:
- Humans: Generic well-rounded characters that can take a wide variety of jobs. The Totema that protects humans is the corrupt emperor Mateus.
- Moogles: As seen in other Final Fantasy games. They specialize in technological jobs and the use of guns. The Totema that protects Moogles is the dark cloud Famfrit.
- Nu Mou: Small creatures with long floppy ears. They specialize in magic. The Totema that protects the Nu Mou is the fallen angel Ultima.
- Viera: Tall tanned bunny girls. They specialize in Fencing and Archery, along with other agility-based jobs. And oddly, the only playable females in the game, besides Ritz. The Totema that protects the Viera is the tree of life Exodus.
- Bangaa: Lizard-like creatures with immense strength. They specialize in fighting jobs. The Totema that protects the Bangaa is Adrammelech. For whatever reason, them being called a Lizard is considered an insult.
Jobs and abilities
There is a much greater range of jobs available in Tactics Advance than the original Final Fantasy Tactics -- examples being Soldier, Warrior, Fighter, Paladin, Mog Knight, Beastmaster, Animist, Morpher, Blue Mage, Red Mage, Fencer, Elementalist, Juggler, Gadgeteer, Gunner, Assassin, Hunter, Dragoon, Sniper, Defender, Sage, Alchemist, Bishop, Templar, Illusionist, and Gladiator. Each job class has a specific type of weapon available to it, and various abilities specific to that class. The only way to use and master abilities is to join the class in question and equip a specific item.
Most equippable items have various abilities assigned them. 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 will receive a specific amount of Ability Points (AP) distributed over their currently equipped abilities. Once a target amount of AP has been accumulated for a given ability (anywhere from 100-999), the character will master that ability. The character retains it for use at any time, regardless of the items equipped and job chosen.
This gives the player long-term strategic goals, swapping characters in and out of jobs and changing their equipment in order to obtain a desirable range of abilities while trying to maintain a balanced, effective unit. A dilemma arises in the case of a weapon that is fairly weak, but 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' abilities can be captured by using the Nu Mou job's Morpher ability and the Blue Mage job's Learning ability. Usually these monsters' abilities are physical-attack based (with great attack power behind them to offset this) but occasionally will have a magical attack.
Radio edition
A radio drama based on the game.
Cast
- Marche: Yuka Imai
- Mewt: Asami Sanada
- Ritz: Yumi Kakazu
- Doned: Hiromi Ishikawa
- Montblanc: Kumiko Yokote
- Nono: Masako Jou
- Shara: Rie Kanda
- Babus: Kumi Sakuma
- Ezel Berbier: Wataru Takagi
- Queen Remedi: Yoshiko Sakakibara
- Famfrit: Mitsuaki Madono
- Ultima: Kaho Koda
- Judges: Akimitsu Takase, Yasuyuki Kase
- Moogle Knight: Ryoukichi Takahashi
- Eaglets: Katsuhiro Harasawa
- Banga Tribe: Satoshi Katougi
- Madam Kiri: Kiri Segawa
Packaging artwork
 Japanese cover art |
 North American cover art |
 European cover art |
External links
| Main series: | I – II – III – IV – V – VI – VII – VIII – IX – X – XI – XII |
| Compilations and collections: | I-II – Collection – Anthology – Chronicles – Origins – Dawn of Souls - Compilation of Final Fantasy VII |
| Spinoffs and related titles: | Before Crisis – Crisis Core – Dirge of Cerberus – X-2 – Rise of the Zilart – Chains of Promathia – Treasures of Aht Urhgan – Crystal Chronicles – Mystic Quest – Tactics – Tactics Advance – Kingdom Hearts – Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories – Kingdom Hearts II |
| Film and television: | Advent Children – Last Order – Legend of the Crystals – The Spirits Within – Unlimited |
| More info: | Creatures – Characters – Designers – Items – Magic – Minigames – Music – Places – Races – Weapons |