Video Games : Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift

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from: Square Enix

: Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift

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Binding: Video Game
Brand: Square Enix
EAN: 0662248908069
ESRB Age Rating: Everyone
Label: Square Enix
Manufacturer: Square Enix
Model: 90806
Platform: Nintendo DS
Publisher: Square Enix
Release Date: June 24, 2008
Sales Rank: 435
Studio: Square Enix

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Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift DS



Customer Reviews
Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - Good game overall
PROS:
- Better graphics (particularly dialogue pictures and spell effects)
- more jobs/weapons
- more challenging (fighting king blue for the first time will shock you)
- option to dispatch a person or go on quest yourself (for a lot of quests you use to could only dispatch someone in FFTA)
- dealing more damage from enemies behind/sides than from the front
- more play time (as if the one on the GBA didn't have enough)

CONS:
- storyline is not even close to being as good as the original FFTA. You start with a little punk with no respect for people.
- I don't think judge system is as good (some of the laws are practically impossible to keep) in that the enemy does not have to worry about the laws. If the rules are not to use MP, your enemy can still dish out MP w/o any penalty. This is especially frustrating when fighting against other clans. I liked the old rigid law system better.
- There isn't as much penalty for hitting a person face to face. (The % chance of hitting them is the same as if you hit them in the back) I prefered a bigger punishment for hitting people face on. Expect a lot more spells to be successfully performed on you (doom, sleep, confuse, and my least favorite, charm)

Overall, I enjoyed the game, even though I liked FFTA for the GBA better. If you are as thorough as me, you will get 120+ hours out of this game.



Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - Starts a little slow but takes off
I had difficulty starting up, it takes quite a bit of effort to get through the early missions with almost no equipment and no skills.

But at a certain point, you've crossed a power threshold, and the game just takes off and it's a lot more fun.


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - If you're a fan of final fantasy and a fan of strategy RPGs...
THEN GET THIS GAME! Seriously, it's an absolutely fantastic follow up of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. I warn you though, it's addictive but for all the right reasons. I haven't got through the whole story yet but if you're a fan of SRPGs you're probably less concerned about it than you are how well the battle system holds up. It's essentially a slightly refreshed version of FFTA's system, however, the user interface feels much smoother. The touch screen is usable but not really necessary and sometimes the things you have to touch are so tiny that it's not worth it and the buttons do the job so it's really not worth it unless you're a touch junkie and WANT to do it that way (not that there's anything wrong with that, of course). I'll finish up saying I'm not even that much a fan of SRPGs and can really enjoy this game. It's challenging but easy to get into.


Rating: 2 out of 5 stars - First time tactics player impressions
As a first time tactics player, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. While there were some very enjoyable parts to the game, I found most of the gameplay to be too slow and too cumbersome. Just moving around the map, going between screens/shops/inns, the quest picking systems were all slow. The inventory management system felt weak as well.

With the battles, there were some fun parts with regards to "tactics", but there were so many actions that had to be repeated each battle and each turn that it was just too slow for me.

Overall, I can see the attraction of this kind of game, but having expected something closer to RPGs, I found myself getting annoyed with the long time it took for each combat action. I would say if you are a tactics fan, this is probably a good game, but I did not personally enjoy it.


Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - A promising return of the franchise without much break throughs
Square-Enix has been churning out games after games for their most popular franchises. So it is not surprising to have a sequel to the extremely popular Final Fantasy Tactics Advance on GBA a few years ago. Same as the previous Tactics games, the world is set in Ivalice as part of the Ivalice Alliance series.

A2 inherited quite a number of features from its predecessors in the Ivalice world - a whole array of ridiculously diverse job classes with different degree of customisation. What added to the system of A2 is the new job class that are related to FF XII, which introduced the green magick category for now the new class Green Mage. Also all the summons or espers in FF XII are now back in A2 but instead of assigning them on the license board you can summon them through equipping certain accessories that you get in various quests. Also the Seeq race is back for A2 and now controllable characters that you can recruit.

Treating A2 just as an extension to previous Ivalice games will be unfair though for it does introduce new elements to the world. The most easily spotted being the new Grias race - the flying race that can reach high places on the field to grab those exotic treasure chests that contains items that you could not find in shops or bazaar. They proved to be quite useful on the field as compared to the slow Seeq race. A2 also reintroduced geomancer, one of the most useful jobs (in my opinion) and works in a complementary way with the Viera's Elementalist class. Due to the presence of two new races, there are quite a number of new job classes available for you to choose from and play around to create your favorite army. Not all of them are useful and some skills of different jobs are actually the same when executed on the battle field, so leaving you wondering why they have those skills and jobs anyway.

Story wise, it is similar to Tactics Advance about a boy or teenage got teleported to the world of Ivalice after opening an ancient tome. The objective was to fill up the pages and go back to the original world. Nothing much of a very interesting story. But the great improvement story wise are all the side quests that weave themselves either into the main story or run their own storylines themselves. Clearly in those storylines, the theme are more mature and also provides a very different angle for you to look at some of the story characters.

The battle system still plays on a grid structure, and you have to think about your direction of attack and elemental properties. The Judge system is back but less annoying than its predecessor as now you don't need to bail your allies out from the jail anymore but you lost the Judge protection and won't be able to revive your fallen allies inside the battle if you broke the law. Also a welcoming addition is the Clan Privileges you can maintain (and acquire through Clan Trials) throughout the battles if you comply with the laws. These Clan Privileges could prove to be tide turning if used appropriately in different battle context. Square-Enix has done away with most random battles in A2 but all battles are now mission and quest related - including the rare random battles that pops up according to what time of the year and what other clans are in control of the area. Most of the skills effect play out beautifully on the DS and the will tempt you just to apply them to look at how pretty they look on the small screens. However, in a very Tactics manner, from time to time you will run into very frustrating battles that really test your tactical skills and thinking even prior to the battles e.g. what to equip and what jobs to bring into the battles. Further certain job classes may not behave in the same way you remembered as in the past so you might need a bit of adjustments to get use to what they offer.

A2 has a variety of gameplay to make it less monotonous. The injection of FF XII's bazaar system is one of them although the titling of items are as random as ever and you will need a walkthrough to get what you want without wasting certain hard to come by materials. There is also the Clan Trial for you to obtain bonus Clan Privileges to give you an edge to the battles. Also the Auction House allows you to get goodies and cheaper prices for items if you control certain turfs under your name. These are all welcoming additional gameplay that offer a better variety of experience although for most of the time you don't necessarily need to complete them to complete the game.

In all, A2 is a welcoming and stable addition to the Tactics franchise but it certainly didn't revolutionise the franchise as the predecessors did. If there is another Tactics game for Square-Enix under the Final Fantasy banner, they will need to work harder to make sure that the franchise won't go stale.

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