Title: Final Fantasy Tactics A2 Grimoire of the Rift
Publisher: Square-Enix
Developer: Square – Enix
Platform(s): Nintendo DS
ESRB: E 10+
Release Date: 6/24/2008
Official Website

RENT

I know what you’re thinking “Aren’t all reviews supposed to be unbiased?” Well yeah you’re right but sometimes we can’t help but sometimes we just can’t seem to keep our opinions out of our reviews. This happens especially when we don’t like genre of the game or the series So I decided that every once in a while I will review a game that I swore I will never play or one from a genre that I really don’t like and give a totally(well at least as much as it can be) unbiased opinion.

This time I’m reviewing Final Fantasy Tactics A2 Grimoire of the Rift. It’s a pretty old game about a boy who is just starting his summer vacation but is called for library duty. He opens a really old book and is sucked into the book. He soon embarks on a journey in the world of Ivalice; trying to find his way back home.

The graphics remind me of a Gameboy Advance game and that makes sense seeing that its predecessor was on the Gameboy Advance. I find some of the attack animations to look pretty cool like summons or when a meteor comes down on one of the clan members. The attack will still happen regardless of if it hits or not so that adds a sense of realism. Other than that the graphics are nothing too special and are pretty average.

There are two control schemes. One is the slightly annoying touch screen and the other is the buttons that do the exact same thing. However the touch screen may not be ideal for moving, attacking and navigating through the various menus. Trust me there are a lot of them. It is best to use the buttons than to try the touch screen. It can also be mixed up for flexibility. Other than that because the game uses a menu interface for all things except the map the control scheme works well in this game. The game focuses on the completion of a journal you keep of what you do and when you do it. The only way to do that is to explore Ivalice. You can do this by way of quests. There are many different kinds of quests some give clan titles, some are mandatory, and other’s just give loot in which you can sell to the bazaar to get some really cool weapons. The game basically progresses from quest to quest and when a mandatory quest is a success the story progresses. In the mean time you can do whatever you want. The game never really feels linear although it really is. It’s a nice take on an otherwise boring concept.

The game sort of plays like chess with extras like character and powers. It requires a lot of planning, strategy, and thinking. If you like this sort of thing it can be a really fun game and if you’re new to this kind of game it won’t take long to either find this game fun or not. The game is generally for everyone and it isn’t gender specific. However there are some really cool female characters. There’s Adelle, a head huntress with a mysterious past who joins your clan early on. There’s also Illua who still gives me nightmares. Anyone who poisons you so bad that your fingernails turn blue is not to be messed with.

Although this game will sometimes be so frustrating that you’ll want to throw the DS against the wall the successes in quests and the general feeling of thinking up the right strategy to defeat a boss that seems to be unbeatable will make you come back for more and more or maybe it won’t. Overall I can’t see why people would hate this game I found it fun and entertaining for hours and there’s much more to do in this game. This is not a game for everyone though so I suggest that this game be rented, played for a few hours and if you like it, play it more and if not send it back. It’s a learning experience and I must say I liked it and this is coming from someone who dislikes Final Fantasy.