Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

I can remember going out and buying this game at Radio Shack of all places right when it first came out. I don't think I'd even played the original Final Fantasy Tactics at the time, but I had heard myths about how rare and awesome a game it was from Josh. I remember it had a job system with the jobs available based on what race your character was. Job systems are awesome, so this game had to be pretty good... But I don't remember liking it very much. I never beat it, or even came close. I remember being particularly frustrated by the law system where the rules of the game would change each fight, but you'd have to go look them up or get arrested. I like the idea that the rules can change, but I think I would have preferred something where you couldn't do things rather than getting in trouble for doing them? Maybe?

Now, I was thinking I was disappointed with this game the first time around, but I went and took a look at my cartridge today and it turns out I'd played it for around 30 hours last time. 30 hours is actually a pretty long time for a console game let alone for a handheld game, so that's actually a pretty good deal. And I didn't even come close to finishing it!

I was disappointed to find out the 3DS doesn't have a GBA port, so I couldn't actually play this game on my handheld. But then my sister came to the rescue with her original GBA! She was sad that she couldn't find the charger cable for it, but then I flipped it over and pointed out that it actually takes AA batteries. That's how old we're talking here! It also doesn't have a backlit screen, which I remember being a pain back in the day. But I'm sure I can find a place to sit that has a good light behind it... Or at least, I hope I can!

As far as a plan for the game goes, I don't really have one. I'd like to beat the game this time around, which I suspect means I need to keep myself from getting too distracted by side quests. That may well be easier said than done. Time will tell I guess...

I am a little sad with the intro to the game. It starts with a bunch of kids talking about how cool it would be if a video game came to life, and one of the kids says his favourite game is 'Final Fantasy'. And then the main character gets teleported to a world where 'Final Fantasy' came to life. Except it's actually nothing like the original Final Fantasy. It has Bhangas and Moogles and those weren't things in the original game at all. I guess they're just using Final Fantasy as a shorthand for some fantasy RPG game in their universe but that title has real meaning to me and I'm annoyed that they misused it. Bah! Bah I say!