The ads for Final Fantasy Tactics Advance brag of a game that could last forever. Naturally, achieving this goal will require far more fighting than diplomacy or brainwork. The rest of the plot revolves around MarcheвЂ™s quest to find his friends and get back home. Ivalice is gone-replaced instead by the country of Ivalice, a land not unlike the one described in MewtвЂ™s book. When Marche awakens the next day, he finds that St. ItвЂ™s a fantasy tale filled with wizards and warriors, monsters and more. Things change after Mewt finds an untitled book in the local bookshop. All three are generally outcasts-Marche is the new kid in town, Ritz seems a little bossy, and Mewt is dealing with the death of his mother and the fact that his father is basically now the town drunk. The whimsical plot involves Marche, Ritz, and Mewt-three young kids who live in St. While the first game featured an epic (yet poorly translated) tale of honor and betrayal, this new release has a much more вЂkiddieвЂ™ feel to it. Perhaps the most interesting thing about FFTA is that itвЂ™s sort of a dumbed down version of the original game-at least in terms of story. So, does this title live up to the legend inspired by its predecessor? Generally speaking, yes. Never one to miss out on cashing in on a craze it helped inspire, Square (along with new partner Enix) has jumped into the mix as well by releasing Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for the GBA. Games like the GBA version of Tactics Ogre, AtlusвЂ™ recently released Disgaea for the PS2, and the much anticipated Fire Emblem for the GBA are dishing out loads of strategy RPG goodness to a market starving for more. Thanks in no small part to the success of Final Fantasy Tactics, American gamers have been treated to a mini-renaissance in this niche genre. Outside of battle, the games play like traditional RPGs-complete with towns to visit, items to buy, a generally convoluted epic storyline, and so forth. Different factors like elevation, from what side the player is attacking, and what kind of weapon or spell the attacker is using all can affect the amount of damage dealt or if the attack is successful at all. Battles are waged on isometric grids that are broken down into squares-players can move a certain number of squares per turn and then perform an action if an enemy is in range. To make some cash off the newfound demand for the title, Sony and Square eventually re-released the game as part of the Greatest Hits line of budget-priced games-thereby exposing a whole new generation to the joys of the strategy RPG.ДЇor those unfamiliar with strategy RPGs, they can be described like this-theyвЂ™re essentially a toned-down version of chess with fantasy-themed characters instead of pieces.

Soon, the title was fetching more than $70 on Ebay and was one of the more sought out games of the PSX era. Things changed over time, though-and the game garnered a cult following not long after it disappeared from store shelves. While the Final Fantasy brand had become increasingly popular (thanks in no small part to the runaway success of Final Fantasy VII), not even that could lure the average gamer into picking up a strategy RPG. When SquareвЂ™s Final Fantasy Tactics debuted back in January of 1998, few people seemed to really care.

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