Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
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Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Developer(s)	Square
Publisher(s)	Square NA Nintendo
Artist(s)	Ryoma Itō
Composer(s)	Hitoshi Sakimoto
Series	Final Fantasy series
Platform(s)	Game Boy Advance
Release date(s)	JP February 14, 2003 NA September 8, 2003 PAL October 24, 2003
Genre(s)	Tactical role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone OFLC: G8+ PEGI: 3+ USK: 6+
Media	128 megabit cartridge

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (ファイナルファンタジータクティクスアドバンス, Fainaru Fantajī Takutikusu Adobansu^?) is a tactical role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. A spin-off of the popular Final Fantasy series, the game shares several traits with 1997's Final Fantasy Tactics, although it is not a sequel. The player assembles a clan of characters, and controls their actions over grid-like battlefields. Players are mostly free to decide the classes, abilities and statistics of their characters.

The game's story centers on four children; Marche, Mewt, Ritz, and Doned, who live in a small town named St. Ivalice. The children are transported to a realm of the same name as their town, "Ivalice", after discovering an ancient magical book. The story then focuses on the exploits of Marche as he attempts to return to the real world while facing opposition from those around him.

Tactics Advance is one of the initial products from the cooperation of Square and Nintendo made for the Game Boy Advance console; it was developed by the team brought over from the game company Quest Corporation. Following its release, Tactics Advance-themed merchandise was introduced. The game was positively received. It has a sequel, Final Fantasy Tactics A2 for the Nintendo DS.

Gameplay

A screenshot of the first battle in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

In Tactics Advance turn-based tactical battles take place on a three-dimensional isometric field in. The player takes the role of a clan leader; the player's character Marche must organize the clan's members and advance their status through missions that are offered in pubs.^[1] The player competes against the computer's team in turn-based play, although unlike Final Fantasy Tactics, characters execute their actions instantly.^[2]

Missions are tasks undertaken by a clan. There are four types of missions: regular, dispatch, encounter, and area. In regular missions, Marche's entire party ventures to a particular location; in Dispatch missions, Marche sends only one member from his party. Encounter missions are where Marche's group battles a rival mercenary clan by purchasing a mission or meeting them on the map. Area missions are usually a dispatch mission where Marche's clan can liberate certain regions to obtain bonuses and discounts at shops. Many of these missions are used to advance the story.^[2][3]

The world map is initially empty except for the starting location; it is customized as the player wins location "tokens" after certain missions. These tokens represent different terrains and settlements that can be placed in slots on the world map. Items are rewarded to the player depending on the placement of the tokens.^[1][2] Tactics Advance also offers multiplayer capability for two players. Players may cooperate or compete using a link-cable peripheral, and also trade items and party members. Additional missions and items are also offered when players link.^[1]

Job system

See also: Final Fantasy character classes

There are 25 classes in Tactics Advance. Each job class has exclusive equipment and abilities; the only way to use and master abilities is to join the class in question and equip a specific item. Most items that can be equipped have various job-specific abilities assigned them. These abilities are available for use only while that item is equipped; however, abilities can be mastered by fighting in battles. When a battle is completed, characters will receive Ability Points (AP) distributed over their currently equipped abilities. Once a target amount of AP has been accumulated for a given ability, the character will master that ability. The character retains it for use at any time, regardless of the items equipped and job chosen.

The ability sub-menu.

Units have a primary job which determines the stat boosts they receive when they level up and the attributes associated with that class. A unit may also have a secondary job, where they can use any abilities of the selected job, but with the stat profile of the primary job. e.g. an Assassin with a Sniper secondary job could use abilities from both jobs, but has the stat profile and appearance of an Assassin, its primary job.

Tactics Advance introduces a variety of races. Each race can take up certain "jobs" that govern what abilities the character can use. Certain jobs are only be available to certain races. Along with the abilities obtained with experience, each race has a guardian beast called a "Totema" to represent them and which can be summoned to their aid when a member of that race has 10 Judge Points. These Totemas do massive damage to the entire enemy party's HP or MP, depending on the race of the summoner.

Laws

One feature of Tactics Advance is the Laws system. Laws are set by Judges, invincible arbiters present at each battle, with some exceptions. 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. Imprisonment happens if a character infringes a law twice or knocks out another unit with a forbidden ability or weapon. However, Jagds have no laws; units knocked out in the Jagds 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 Judges, and therefore grant Judge Points. Judge Points (JP) are used to carry out combos with nearby allies or to summon a Totema. JPs are also received upon killing an opponent. Later in the game, the player gains the ability to add new Laws and cast "Anti-Laws," which can nullify laws that are already in effect.

Plot

Setting

Main article: Ivalice

The game's story takes place in Ivalice, a world created when four ordinary children; Marche Radiuju, Mewt Randell, Ritz Malheur, and Doned Radiuju, come across an old book which Mewt purchases at his local used bookstore. Unaware that the book is the legendary Gran Grimoire with the power to change the world as its reader desires, the children transform their hometown of St. Ivalice into the Ivalice of a fantasy world. The fantasy Ivalice is supposedly a reincarnation of Mewt's memories from a Final Fantasy game.

Other than monsters, which serve as animals, Ivalice is home to five other races Moogles, Humans, Bangaa, Viera, and Nu Mou. The geography of Ivalice includes plains, mountains, deserts, forests, and swamps, and also introduces areas called jagds, lawless slums that Judges avoid. Jagd is a German word which means 'the hunt'. Jagds are the only places in the game in which a character can die; everywhere else, they are protected from death by the judges and are simply knocked out.

Characters

The story of Tactics Advance revolves around three primary characters; Marche Radiuju, the main character who battles the dream worlds of his friends; Ritz Malheur, a stubborn girl who speaks her mind and changes sides in her struggle for self acceptance; and Mewt Randell, a boy whose mother died that discovers a magical entity that changed the world into the world of Ivalice. There are also secondary characters, such as Doned Radiuju, Marche's little brother who does not desire to return to the real world, since he is sick in the real world and healthy in the dream one, and Cid Randell, Mewt's father who becomes the Judgemaster of Ivalice.

Within Ivalice, there are other characters that help advance the plot. Some characters befriended Marche, such Montblanc and Nono who are moogles; Ezel Berbier who is a Nu Mou troublemaker and self-proclaimed genius; and Shara is a Viera archer and later a sniper who befriends Ritz. There are other characters who antagonize Marche, including Babus Swain, a Nu Mou Royal mage in Mewt's service; Llednar Twem (Mewt Randell backwards), a mysterious enforcer who replaces the Judges when they become independent of the Palace; and Queen Remedi, who is the ruler of Ivalice and was in the Gran Grimoire itself in a form modeled after Mewt's deceased mother.

A Japanese-exclusive adaptation of the game's story in radio drama form was also released. It was aired in January and February of 2003. The series was released by DigiCube on CD in four separate parts.^[4]

Story

The game's prologue.

Ivalice is a world created by four ordinary children: Marche Radiuju, a new student and resident of St. Ivalice and its school; Mewt Randell, a shy boy still attached to the memory of his late mother; Ritz Malheur, a loud and outspoken classmate of Marche and Mewt; and Doned Radiuju, Marche's younger, handicapped brother and a big fan of fantasy novels and video games. Mewt comes across a dusty old tome in a local used bookstore and eagerly wishes to show it to his friends. Unaware that the book is the legendary Gran Grimoire, Mewt brings the book over to Marche's house along with Ritz, and the four school children begin to observe the odd book. It is written in a language none of them have ever seen before, and a single inscription reads: "Alta oron, Sondus kameela". The next morning, Marche wakes up in the world of Ivalice (though in the Radio Edition it is somewhat different, as a few moments after Mewt reads the Latin-like inscription outloud the magical book transforms the world right in front of their faces).

Marche is separated from the others, and immediately begins a quest to return home. Even after realizing how much better his life is in the new Ivalice, he knows that none of it is real and is even more determined to return to his home. The other children, and Mewt's father Cid, slowly realize through Marche's efforts that the world has been shaped according to their wishes. Mewt is no longer being teased, is reunited with his deceased mother, and is now the Prince of Ivalice; Ritz no longer has her white albinic hair, instead having the silky red hair which she always wanted; Doned can now walk and is no longer sickly; Marche is suddenly athletic and powerful; Cid is the highest-ranking official in the nation; and all of them now live in Final Fantasy, the video game the children all love.

Eventually Marche succeeds in his quest to return Ivalice to normal, teaching the other children in the process that they cannot live in fantasy but must learn to live with their misfortunes in reality. The other children are obviously wiser from the experience, as the ending reveals them all to have become happy with themselves.

In addition to the main plot, there are two side story plots: The Redwing Arc and the Judge Arc. The Redwing Arc is part of the main 300 missions and can be done at any time. It centers around The foreign crime ring clan Redwings, their subordinate clan Borzoi, and their smuggled foreign monsters. The other is the Judge Arc, unlockable after beating the main three hundred missions. This serves as an alternative ending where Marche stays in Ivalice, overthrows corrupt judges, and becomes next in line for Cid's judge sword.

Development

Rumors of the game's development began when Square announced its publishing agreement with Nintendo, and it was later confirmed by the producer Matsuno. The development team of Tactics Advance was constructed from employees of Quest Corporation, and work began in February 2002.^[5] This comes after Quest announced the handover of its software development team to Square, of which the former is famed for its Tactics Ogre series.^[6] Initially thought of as a port of Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is developed with an entirely new storyline and setting, and received significant changes to make it more user-friendly for the GBA handheld console; e.g. a quick-save function.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance uses the gameplay of Final Fantasy Tactics, but introduced certain changes such as a customizable map for the world of Ivalice. While built for the Game Boy Advance, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance's graphics are vibrantly colored and extensively detailed, and though environments and characters are wholly sprite-based, facial expressions are easily identifiable and many motion frames have been given to create a smooth animation.^[7][8] The game also introduced an option to switch between three display modes. Two of the modes are optimized for gameplay on Game Boy Advance and the new Game Boy Advance SP, and one mode may display the game into a television screen using certain peripherals.^[9]

In Japan, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance's story was expanded and broadcast in Japanese radio stations. The radio drama entitled Final Fantasy Tactics Advance Radio Edition was broadcast in four radio stations within Japan from early January 2003 to late March 2003.^[10]

Merchandise

To commemorate the release of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance in Japan, several merchandise was introduced exclusive for the region. This comes in the form of web money cards, posters, character card collections and a set of twenty pin badges.^[11][12] Square and Nintendo also announced a limited-edition Final Fantasy Tactics Advance-themed Game Boy Advance SP package to commemorate the game and the console's launching on February.^[13]

Audio

Main article: Music of the Final Fantasy Tactics series

There are many albums of music for Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Also, a radio drama based on the game was aired in Japan in January and February 2003. The series was released by DigiCube on CD in four parts. Within the game, the classical-themed soundtrack is compressed into MIDI file format. Simple sound effects are used during battles, and there are no voices and speech within the game.^[3]

List of characters and actors in the radio drama

Reception

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance was well received among the gaming community. The game is widely regarded to feature an outstanding combination of music, graphics, gameplay, and storyline. It was also rated as outstanding by IGN (9.0 out of 10) and given 5 out of 5 by Gamespy. In 2007, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance was named 14th best Game Boy Advance game of all time in IGN's feature reflecting on the Game Boy Advance's long lifespan.^[14] It was also rated the 67th best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Powers Top 200 Games list.^[15]

Reviewers were pleased with graphics and visuals of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance; GameSpot adding that the battles are "clear and colorful", and character jobs are easily identified, though certain gameplays become slow when too many character sprites are in one screen.^[2] The gameplay is also lauded for retaining the elements of Tactics Ogre yet offers freedom to players to develop characters as they wish.^[2] Criticism was thrown to the game's menu, which was cluttered with complicated options in organizing the clan members, and did not detail out statistics for characters and equipments.^[3] Some reviewers thought there are too many character jobs since some jobs overlap one another and certain abilities are redundant.^[16]

Legacy

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance has garnered a sequel in the Ivalice Alliance series: Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift for the Nintendo DS.

References

External links

• Official site for North America
• Final Fantasy Tactics Advance at Metacritic
• Final Fantasy Tactics Advance at the FF Wikia