January 29, 2018

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

2 hours 14 minutes

Development -

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is a tactical role playing game developed and published by Square Co for the Nintendo Advance. Released on February 14, 2003 in Japan and September 8, 2003 in the US. It was also released on the Wii-U Virtual Console on January 28, 2016 for Europe, and on March 30, 2016 for US and Japan, but you would have to be one of the thirteen people who had bought a Wii-U by that time. The game isn’t a direct sequel to Final Fantasy Tactics, which is something neither of us knew coming in. It does share several themes and gameplay traits, while bringing a few new ones to the table as well. The game’s development began when Square announced it’s publishing agreement with Nintendo. Advance was developed by recently acquired employees of Quest Corporation. You may recognize them from the famous Tactics Ogre series. The game was initially thought to be a port of Tactics, but features a completely separate storyline. Japan players received a radio drama that broadcast an expansion to the story on Japanese radio stations from January 2003 to late March 2003. The game was mainly scored by Hitoshi Sakimoto, Kaori Ohkoshi and Ayako Saso. You’ll remember Sakimoto from Final Fantasy XII, Tactics Ogre, and Vagrant Story; oh, and a little game called Revenant Wings. The game’s soundtrack was made purchasable on February 19, 2003, and features a whopping 74 tracks. Tactics Advance has sold more than one million copies between NA and Europe, and netted Square 22 million dollars by August 2006. The game received positive reviews, and has an 87.64 percent on Metacritic. It is hailed as one of the best games on the Gameboy Advance.

Setting/Story -

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance centers around four children, named Marche, Mewt, Ritz, and Doned, who live in a town called St. Ivalice. They are transported to a realm called Ivalice after discovering a magical tome. The story follows Marche as he navigates the dream world of his friends Ritz Malheur and Mewt Randell. Let me repeat that; You follow TWO PEOPLE’S BAD SUSHI DREAMS AT ONCE. Your little brother Doned is also here, and I always voiced him as Jimmy from South Park whenever he was on screen due to his wheelchair. Good times. Mewt is basically scarred from the death of his mother, and upon having a bad bit of curry from his local Indian Restaraunt, changes the world for his friends upon reading the aforementioned book. Ritz is a platinum blonde who absolutely hates being called blondy locks or whatever. Your younger brother is also a super large fan of Final Fantasy, which is super meta and something the game suffers for in my opinion. Fantasy Ivalice is a reincarnation of Mewt’s memories from a Final Fantasy game. Marche wakes up alone, and begins his quest for home posthaste. He eventually realizes that life is way better managing a war tribe known as Clan Centurion, but is still longing for home. Marche soon realizes that his entire town has been dragged into this new world which is dominated by adventuring clans and his buddy Mewt, who has somehow managed to become king. (His dream, but come on). Mewt isn’t teased like he is in real life, Ritz isn’t an albino, Doned is still Jimmy/Timmy but he can walk, and Marche is a beast. Cid, Mewt’s Father, is the Judge Master of the region. Marche then sets out to destroy the crystals that bound this imaginary world together. These crystals are bound by summons called Totema, and feature unique battles to defeat. One of the final bosses, named Llednar Twem, is an actual manifestation of all of Mewt’s Negative Emotions, or Recessive Genes if you’re a fan of Metal Gear Solid. In the end, we find out that Mewt’s mother is really Li-Grim, which comes from the book they had read that later manifested itself as Mewt’s mother, Queen Remedi. Apparently there are a couple side plots, one including a foreign crime ring and another where Marche never leaves Ivalice and becomes the next in line for Judge Magister Cid’s sword.

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