I won’t really go too much into the details about this game, since other sites do it much better than I can.
I never really got into tactical games much. I think the last one that I played was Heroes of Might and Magic III for the PC, and I never could make it past the first mission. As a rule, I’m just not particularly good at tactical games. So why did I pick this one up? Excellent question!
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is, apparently, not much like Final Fantasy Tactics for the Playstation. For some reason, I didn’t expect it to be (probably for the same reason I didn’t expect Final Fantasy 8 to be much like Final Fantasy 7), and since my experience with the original Tactics was limited to seeing someone play the game one time for less than 10 minutes, I think that it’s safe to say that I was fairly open-minded to this new foray into the tactics genre.
One of the more interesting features is the Laws system. During the battles, there will be two to four laws in effect that restrict what you can and can’t do in the battle. If you perform an illegal action, you go to jail. Immediately. It’s an interesting addition to the game. It makes you really think about what kind of strategy you will use to win the battle, and it forces you to have a well-balanced team (which is not necessarily a bad thing).
The only real downside to the game is that the battles take so long to complete. I suppose that’s normal for a tactical game, but the battles can take upwards of 30 minutes each. That’s a minor complaint, really. You can save (one time) in the middle of a battle to pick up where you left off.
Overall, it’s a good game so far. Link play looks like it could be interesting, especially since I know of at least one person with the game. All too often I buy a game that has link capabilities, and nobody that I know has the same game.
Once Nintendo makes my fantasy gaming network, maybe that will change.