Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift is another pseudo-sequel in the Final Fantasy Tactics series, much like its forerunner on the Gameboy Advance was to the original Playstation classic. This time around the two games share very similar names, but don't fret if that turns you off this new entry as the two games are very different.
While most of the sprites and icons look like they were pulled from the GBA title and enhanced for the DS and the general concept of battles remains the same, many tiny tweaks have been made under the hood to make this new title stand out more mechanically and aesthetically pleasing than before. Some great examples include changes made to unit positioning and damage done when attacking, an overhaul to the MP mechanic, and a much more refined law system that does not brutally punish you for making an error. Instead you lose some in battle privileges such as getting more treasure when completing a fight.
Along with these small tweaks the overall direction of the game has been changed, much like the GBA Tactics, only taken to an even higher degree. Unlike those grand tales involving the main cast saving the world and what have you in past games of the franchise Final Fantasy Tactics A2 goes down a much different route. Only about 15 of the whopping 400 missions tie into the main story itself, meaning you can blaze through that in just a few hours. Instead the story really focuses more on Luso Clemens, the main character, as he adventures all over Ivalice as he explores the world and meets the people in it. So instead of one large scaled story there are many short story arcs that can go on for up to 7 or 8 missions, introducing plenty of characters you will see repeatedly as you continue on (some you may even know quite well if you are into the ongoing Ivalice Alliance from Square Enix).
With 100 more missions than Tactics Advance, all 400 being directly playable as well, the developers thankfully took time making these into more than just long drawn out battles one right after another, the only goal being to defeat the enemies units. Instead there is quite a bit of variety to the battle types here, sure the classic “defeat the enemies” is present but there are now missions where you have to protect spots on the map, some where you have to kill a certain number and type of enemies, and some where you simply protect a person or group of people within a specific time frame. Heck, some of the missions do not have you killing enemies at all and they still manage to be fun somehow. The developers have made so much creative use out of the game and class mechanics to achieve this. Who really knew a race against the clock to clean the deck of an airship in a tactic style game would actually be fun? Yet somehow it is.
Unfortunately though the mass amount of changes does not pan out everything perfectly. Out of the 200 missions I have completed so far only a few of them really develop the characters in meaningful ways, and some more than others. The main character, Luso, for example is really flat when compared to some of the other major players in the story. While this is to be expected it did bum me out a little since I genuinely liked Luso's personality and wish it was worked on a little more.
Speaking of problems, there are a few minor problems with the game other than the plot points, though none stop the game from being fun. A first for the series, you now get the option of changing the difficulty when starting the game. While this is nice in theory all hard mode really does is increase the damage enemies do, which becomes a dead point once you start getting more classes and races unlocked and ready to use. The classes themselves are also good and bad at the same time, with near 50 classes split up among the seven different races there is a lot of combinations to be made. However, there is severely limited space for units meaning it is not possible to keep half of the classes and get many of the guest characters that pop up along the way, most of which also have their own special class as well.
Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift is really a game made for the portable player. The game can be saved at any time, and most quests do not take to long to complete nor have any long drawn out cutscenes when you are in a hurry to put the game away if you have something else to do. Sure the main plot is stale and the game is very easy, but once you come to terms with a few minor problems you can really enjoy it. With all missions being directly playable this time and the ridiculous amount of quest variety combined with an in game auction house and even some side quests that really test your skill Tactics A2 offers enough to justify pouring hundreds of hours into it.