Final Fantasy Tactics Advance Review - GBA

A young boy named Marche has moved - along with his family - to a town called St. Ivalice. He quickly makes friends with a shy, frequently-bullied boy named Mewt and an outspoken girl named Ritz. After school one day, Marche and Ritz accompany Mewt as he searches for a book about monsters and magic at the local used bookstore. Eventually Mewt purchases a mysterious book, an intricate design decorating its cover. The three friends decide to go to Marche's house so that they can read the book together in the comfort of his bedroom. After a short chat about the book, Mewt and Ritz leave and Marche heads off to bed. Marche awakens the next day to find that the town he once knew has disappeared; all around him is a magical world filled with strange monsters that he had only seen before in books. His friends nowhere to be seen, Marche sets off to find out what has happened to St. Ivalice.

Gameplay

FFTA blends the perfect mix of Role-Playing and turn-based Strategy. The new world that Marche finds himself in revolves around clans that battle each other for turf, weapons, armour, gold and more. Before you can do anything in the new world you're recruited into a friendly clan; the leader of which, Montblanc, becomes your sidekick. Montblanc elects you leader and allows you to name the clan. You're then basically thrown into the game world and left to complete the whopping three-hundred missions in the game.

Instead of wandering around towns chatting to people and being thrown into random battles in Final Fantasy tradition, you're presented with a nicely-designed world map. On the map are points that you can travel to, and an animated picture of Marche is displayed at your current point. At the beginning of the game, only a few areas are available to you at the points on the map, although you're still able to travel to blank points. After completing certain numbers of missions, new locations are unlocked. Some areas have no functions when travelled to unless a mission is taking place there, such as the forest and desert regions, but others, such as the towns, have various options available to you. These include visiting the town's pub, in which you're able to listen to the latest rumours and obtain missions from the bartender.

Each time to you travel to a points along the paths, one day passes. This day system influences various features: some missions are only available for a certain number of days, and if they aren't completed within the (continued next page)