Final Fantasy Tactics is a game with a deep and layered story of political intrigue, betrayal and the complex dynamics of war. It’s dark, gritty and full of over-the-top character names like Argath Thadalfus and Goffard Gaffgarion. Then there’s Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, its lighthearted younger brother, which is about a bunch of school kids who get sucked into a magical storybook. As a 13 year old, I knew which one I preferred.
The earliest memories I have with FFTA are of playing it in the most obtuse setup imaginable — sat at the top of the stairs at a friend’s house, on a GameCube with the Game Boy Player and a 5” MadCatz screen. Clearly I’d do anything back then to avoid running through AA batteries and needing a desk lamp to illuminate the GBA screen. It was a blessing though as it led to us being able to play for
What I hadn’t yet realised was just how deep the rabbit hole went. Playing with the huge variety of jobs was already enough to keep me going, but then I realised you could break the rules by mixing them! Suddenly I was creating Summoner Assassins and Templar Dragoons, scouring the shops after every quest so I could outfit them with the latest gear. Even the weapons themselves were
Back in the day
There are games you remember because they were technically brilliant, and then there are games you remember because they arrived at exactly the right moment in your life, carrying a strange little weather system around them. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance was that kind of game for me. Not loud. Not fashionable. Not even universally beloved among fans of the original Tactics. It just quietly unfolded itself on the back seat of car rides, under blankets lit by a worm-blue lamp from the Game Boy Advance screen, and somehow rooted itself deeper than flashier games ever did.
The isometric battlefields held such a depth of character I didn’t think was possible for a game running on a tiny plastic cartridge. The vibrancy of the rivers and flora, the little jugs that cluttered the outskirts of the adobe houses, all of it painted a picture of somewhere I could whisk myself away to. The depth and verticality of the maps felt monumental, ripe with avenues and platforms for my party to launch coordinated attacks from. There was something especially satisfying about having Montblanc the Moogle nestled safely in a canopy of trees, only for him to rain hellish Firaga spells down on the enemy. The omnipresent judge, clad in full plate armour atop his Chocobo, kept everyone in check with the ever-changing laws. These didn’t bother me much until I forgot about them halfway through a fight, sending my main units straight into the slammer. Still, it was only a temporary loss, they’d be back.
That was until Jagd Dorsa. In these barren lands on the outskirts of Ivalice, there were no judges, there were no laws. I revelled in the freedom of it, engaging in a flurry of combat without a care for what unfolded. But then, when the dust had settled and the victory screen appeared, my mage was gone. I went into the clan menu, changed the sorting options, checked the prison, nothing. A character that I’d spent countless hours building up had simply vanished — permadeath, the hidden twist that I never saw coming.
The knot in my stomach would soon settle as I trained up a Viera in place of my fallen mage, using my experience to forge an even greater party. I was
The job system, which is surprisingly extensive given that this is running on a GBA cart
It’s been over 20 years since I first played this game. The memories, the mechanics, the music — none of it ever really left me. Growing up learning code from books and making little websites and MySpace layouts, I had no idea how obsessed I’d become with the grids and squares I found. Countless projects featuring isometric landscapes, pathfinding scripts and job systems — always the
Perhaps one day I’ll finish my own tactics game, one that captures the same wonder and discovery I felt as that kid at the top of the stairs. But until then, I’ll always have Final Fantasy Tactics Advance — one of my favourite games of all time.
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Final Fantasy Tactics is a game with a deep and layered story of political intrigue, betrayal and the complex dynamics of war. It’s dark, gritty and full of over-the-top character names like Argath Thadalfus and Goffard Gaffgarion. Then there’s Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, its lighthearted younger brother, which is about a bunch of school kids who get sucked into a magical storybook. As a 13 year old, I knew which one I preferred.
The earliest memories I have with FFTA are of playing it in the most obtuse setup imaginable — sat at the top of the stairs at a friend’s house, on a GameCube with the Game Boy Player and a 5” MadCatz screen. Clearly I’d do anything back then to avoid running through AA batteries and needing a desk lamp to illuminate the GBA screen. It was a blessing though as it led to us being able to play for
What I hadn’t yet realised was just how deep the rabbit hole went. Playing with the huge variety of jobs was already enough to keep me going, but then I realised you could break the rules by mixing them! Suddenly I was creating Summoner Assassins and Templar Dragoons, scouring the shops after every quest so I could outfit them with the latest gear. Even the weapons themselves were
Back in the day
There are games you remember because they were technically brilliant, and then there are games you remember because they arrived at exactly the right moment in your life, carrying a strange little weather system around them. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance was that kind of game for me. Not loud. Not fashionable. Not even universally beloved among fans of the original Tactics. It just quietly unfolded itself on the back seat of car rides, under blankets lit by a worm-blue lamp from the Game Boy Advance screen, and somehow rooted itself deeper than flashier games ever did.
The isometric battlefields held such a depth of character I didn’t think was possible for a game running on a tiny plastic cartridge. The vibrancy of the rivers and flora, the little jugs that cluttered the outskirts of the adobe houses, all of it painted a picture of somewhere I could whisk myself away to. The depth and verticality of the maps felt monumental, ripe with avenues and platforms for my party to launch coordinated attacks from. There was something especially satisfying about having Montblanc the Moogle nestled safely in a canopy of trees, only for him to rain hellish Firaga spells down on the enemy. The omnipresent judge, clad in full plate armour atop his Chocobo, kept everyone in check with the ever-changing laws. These didn’t bother me much until I forgot about them halfway through a fight, sending my main units straight into the slammer. Still, it was only a temporary loss, they’d be back.
That was until Jagd Dorsa. In these barren lands on the outskirts of Ivalice, there were no judges, there were no laws. I revelled in the freedom of it, engaging in a flurry of combat without a care for what unfolded. But then, when the dust had settled and the victory screen appeared, my mage was gone. I went into the clan menu, changed the sorting options, checked the prison, nothing. A character that I’d spent countless hours building up had simply vanished — permadeath, the hidden twist that I never saw coming.
The knot in my stomach would soon settle as I trained up a Viera in place of my fallen mage, using my experience to forge an even greater party. I was
The job system, which is surprisingly extensive given that this is running on a GBA cart
It’s been over 20 years since I first played this game. The memories, the mechanics, the music — none of it ever really left me. Growing up learning code from books and making little websites and MySpace layouts, I had no idea how obsessed I’d become with the grids and squares I found. Countless projects featuring isometric landscapes, pathfinding scripts and job systems — always the
Perhaps one day I’ll finish my own tactics game, one that captures the same wonder and discovery I felt as that kid at the top of the stairs. But until then, I’ll always have Final Fantasy Tactics Advance — one of my favourite games of all time.
hgfg
hgfghf
Final Fantasy Tactics is a game with a deep and layered story of political intrigue, betrayal and the complex dynamics of war. It’s dark, gritty and full of over-the-top character names like Argath Thadalfus and Goffard Gaffgarion. Then there’s Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, its lighthearted younger brother, which is about a bunch of school kids who get sucked into a magical storybook. As a 13 year old, I knew which one I preferred.
The earliest memories I have with FFTA are of playing it in the most obtuse setup imaginable — sat at the top of the stairs at a friend’s house, on a GameCube with the Game Boy Player and a 5” MadCatz screen. Clearly I’d do anything back then to avoid running through AA batteries and needing a desk lamp to illuminate the GBA screen. It was a blessing though as it led to us being able to play for
What I hadn’t yet realised was just how deep the rabbit hole went. Playing with the huge variety of jobs was already enough to keep me going, but then I realised you could break the rules by mixing them! Suddenly I was creating Summoner Assassins and Templar Dragoons, scouring the shops after every quest so I could outfit them with the latest gear. Even the weapons themselves were
Back in the day
There are games you remember because they were technically brilliant, and then there are games you remember because they arrived at exactly the right moment in your life, carrying a strange little weather system around them. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance was that kind of game for me. Not loud. Not fashionable. Not even universally beloved among fans of the original Tactics. It just quietly unfolded itself on the back seat of car rides, under blankets lit by a worm-blue lamp from the Game Boy Advance screen, and somehow rooted itself deeper than flashier games ever did.
The isometric battlefields held such a depth of character I didn’t think was possible for a game running on a tiny plastic cartridge. The vibrancy of the rivers and flora, the little jugs that cluttered the outskirts of the adobe houses, all of it painted a picture of somewhere I could whisk myself away to. The depth and verticality of the maps felt monumental, ripe with avenues and platforms for my party to launch coordinated attacks from. There was something especially satisfying about having Montblanc the Moogle nestled safely in a canopy of trees, only for him to rain hellish Firaga spells down on the enemy. The omnipresent judge, clad in full plate armour atop his Chocobo, kept everyone in check with the ever-changing laws. These didn’t bother me much until I forgot about them halfway through a fight, sending my main units straight into the slammer. Still, it was only a temporary loss, they’d be back.
That was until Jagd Dorsa. In these barren lands on the outskirts of Ivalice, there were no judges, there were no laws. I revelled in the freedom of it, engaging in a flurry of combat without a care for what unfolded. But then, when the dust had settled and the victory screen appeared, my mage was gone. I went into the clan menu, changed the sorting options, checked the prison, nothing. A character that I’d spent countless hours building up had simply vanished — permadeath, the hidden twist that I never saw coming.
The knot in my stomach would soon settle as I trained up a Viera in place of my fallen mage, using my experience to forge an even greater party. I was
The job system, which is surprisingly extensive given that this is running on a GBA cart
It’s been over 20 years since I first played this game. The memories, the mechanics, the music — none of it ever really left me. Growing up learning code from books and making little websites and MySpace layouts, I had no idea how obsessed I’d become with the grids and squares I found. Countless projects featuring isometric landscapes, pathfinding scripts and job systems — always the
Perhaps one day I’ll finish my own tactics game, one that captures the same wonder and discovery I felt as that kid at the top of the stairs. But until then, I’ll always have Final Fantasy Tactics Advance — one of my favourite games of all time.
hgfg
hgfghf
Lyrcis here