Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is emblematic of an era in gaming where pertinent information had to be shared via word of mouth on the playground. Thankfully for me, people eventually compiled that information and shared it on the Internet. So much of this game is shrouded in mystery. During my playthrough, I had five or six Gamefaqs threads from 2004 that I would repeatedly reference. These would tell me where a unique weapon was hidden, or how my Blue Mage could learn a particular skill. Tedious perhaps, but pleasantly nostalgic too.
The game features a Law system that presents you with 2 or 3 rules at the beginning of combat (sort of, you have to remember to check them), and if you break those rules, your unit is hit with a penalty. Sometimes this is as innocuous as losing some gold, but it can often result in a permanent stat reduction. While I like the idea of the Law system on paper-- that is, challenging the player to think of creative ways to achieve victory-- the laws themselves always fell to the back of my mind during combat. I would often be 15 minutes into a battle, command a unit to perform a basic attack or cast Fire, and then be penalized because doing so was against the law. It can take up to seven button presses to check the active laws during combat. Some kind of icon to indicate if an action you're about to take is against the law would have gone a long way for me.
Other aspects of combat were let-downs too. Like that there is no indicator for turn order or the AOE of your skills. And that you're limited to a maximum of 6 units for the entire game. The job system is fun enough that I was willing to put effort into training more units than I was allowed to use in a single battle. Not a huge deal, as I simply rotated units in and out. But it was a challenge keeping them all leveled proportionally, especially considering the non-combat missions don't reward EXP. Elemental affinities seemed like an afterthought in this game. The Summoner job was particularly disappointing because Ifrit, Ramuh, and Shiva had an identical effect on most enemies.
The job system is really what makes this game shine mechanically. There was nothing more fun than testing different combinations of jobs and sub-jobs to see if you could get away with something truly powerful (and you almost always can!). I'm sure having guides in front of me to explain each job's requirements removed some of the ambiguity that would have otherwise been frustrating. Considering how often you are swapping weapons to learn abilities, the item management in this game was poor. The more weapons you obtain, the longer it takes to scroll down the list to access them. A sort function would have been very helpful. Speaking of items, not being able to use them unless you dedicate your sub-job to "Items" was INSANE. Hated that. I don't think I used a single item after my first hour or so of playtime.
Thinking back, I was able to look past many of these issues because the sheer charm this game exudes had me under some kind of spell. It was simply fun to look at. And I was always excited to find a rare weapon that led to more powerful skills. I also felt like I had completely control over the pacing and could beeline the main quest to speed things along whenever I was feeling bored of grinding up jobs.
FFTA is a charming tactical RPG with an addicting job system that games like Bravely Default later mastered. For all of its vibrant visuals and creative storytelling, FFTA is riddled with quality of life issues that had me jaded about halfway into my playthrough.
The game features a Law system that presents you with 2 or 3 rules at the beginning of combat (sort of, you have to remember to check them), and if you break those rules, your unit is hit with a penalty. Sometimes this is as innocuous as losing some gold, but it can often result in a permanent stat reduction. While I like the idea of the Law system on paper-- that is, challenging the player to think of creative ways to achieve victory-- the laws themselves always fell to the back of my mind during combat. I would often be 15 minutes into a battle, command a unit to perform a basic attack or cast Fire, and then be penalized because doing so was against the law. It can take up to seven button presses to check the active laws during combat. Some kind of icon to indicate if an action you're about to take is against the law would have gone a long way for me.
Other aspects of combat were let-downs too. Like that there is no indicator for turn order or the AOE of your skills. And that you're limited to a maximum of 6 units for the entire game. The job system is fun enough that I was willing to put effort into training more units than I was allowed to use in a single battle. Not a huge deal, as I simply rotated units in and out. But it was a challenge keeping them all leveled proportionally, especially considering the non-combat missions don't reward EXP. Elemental affinities seemed like an afterthought in this game. The Summoner job was particularly disappointing because Ifrit, Ramuh, and Shiva had an identical effect on most enemies.
The job system is really what makes this game shine mechanically. There was nothing more fun than testing different combinations of jobs and sub-jobs to see if you could get away with something truly powerful (and you almost always can!). I'm sure having guides in front of me to explain each job's requirements removed some of the ambiguity that would have otherwise been frustrating. Considering how often you are swapping weapons to learn abilities, the item management in this game was poor. The more weapons you obtain, the longer it takes to scroll down the list to access them. A sort function would have been very helpful. Speaking of items, not being able to use them unless you dedicate your sub-job to "Items" was INSANE. Hated that. I don't think I used a single item after my first hour or so of playtime.
Thinking back, I was able to look past many of these issues because the sheer charm this game exudes had me under some kind of spell. It was simply fun to look at. And I was always excited to find a rare weapon that led to more powerful skills. I also felt like I had completely control over the pacing and could beeline the main quest to speed things along whenever I was feeling bored of grinding up jobs.
FFTA is a charming tactical RPG with an addicting job system that games like Bravely Default later mastered. For all of its vibrant visuals and creative storytelling, FFTA is riddled with quality of life issues that had me jaded about halfway into my playthrough.