FF:T /War of the Lions vs Tactics Advance vs Tactics Advance 2

[GabrielleTheLost]

Pretty simple really! I just found out there are more FF Tactic games than just two but I noticed non of them are sequels to Tactics/WoTL.

I know my sister has a cart of Tactics Advance around but I never really asked her about it because she is always one to yack how she thinks FF Tactics is probably one of the best FF games ever (in her opinion) despite it being a spinoff.

So, I was wondering how the other two compare to the original. I decided to roll War of the Lions and FF Tactics together because well, War of the lions is pretty much the same game right?

Do you like Tactics advance and or A2? Do you not like them? Are they as good as the original? Are they worth playing? :x

Just curious really ^^ In any case I would probably be playing FF Tactics first because even though my DS does play GBA games, it wont play DS cards correctly for some reason >>

So yeah, that's pretty much it =D Thoughts and whatnot?

 

[Thief of Hearts Joker]

Honestly the two are so vastly different its laughable that advanced even has the same name (the only thing the two games share is it being a Tactical game)

The Original FFT on the PS1/PSP had a unique and dark diverse storyline that really hit home, as well as a real threat of planning your moves with the utmost caution or lose a character forever and have to start from scratch with a new one.

I personally love FFT's Story, character, skills, sense of death, gameplay.


Here's the thing I really had high hopes for Advanced and thought it might be a true blue sequel to tell Ramza's story after the end of FFT but no.

Instead we got... Bunny Girls, Lizard People, and a Law System.

After I spent time playing the Advanced game on my GBA it pretty much just sickened me how crappy and distorted they made the tactic franchise from the original game.

Characters were blah the three main characters featured a kid version of Ramza, a Red Headed girl version of Agrias, and a wishy washy kid who has issues.

The story compared to FFT WotL they aren't even in the same planet, FFTA is so childish with no concept of death, Ivalice being a "Dream World" (this pretty much means FFXII is a dream world too I bet xD), it was just bland compared to the original game.

Now if they actually made the story like WotL and kept that spark that made the game so good, kept a sense of loss in battle, if I died I never really felt punished I just went and bought law cards to sucker punch a easy win(Law Card concept was overpowered in the game as well), worked on character development etc I may have actually liked it.

I haven't played A2 cause I have no interest in playing another failure version of FFT.



It would be best to play them yourself and make up your own mine but you'll see my point when you play FFT WotL and FFTA.

This is just my opinion so sorry if I ruffled FFTA fans

 

[GabrielleTheLost]

Now I know why my sister never talks about FFT Advance. I think she got it bundled with her gameboy or something. She talks about tactics and war of the lions ALL the time >>

I suppose I could try them out for myself but if what you say is true i might wait as long as possible xD When I heard Tactics advance wasn't a sequel or hardly related I kind of figured it was probably a bad thing ;o

 

[Yaoi Master Gavin]

Frankly, Tactics Advance was a project that should never have seen the light of day. Even now, the only fans of it are the ones who never played the original let alone WotL. It wasn't even a sequel and yet it got to carry the name of the best FF spinoff to date. When I first heard about it, I too expected a lot from it but instead I got a load of shit. Advance took everything that was fun about the original and said 'Fuck it, how can we make a really shitty game?'

Nothing was even remotely worthwhile about Tactics Advance and yet they insisted on a sequel to it as well as using it as a base for FFXII - one of the majour reason that FFXII can fuck off. Just don't play Tactics advance, ever. Waste of money, waste of time, and severe disappointment is all you will show for it.

 

[Exoskeleton]

FFT is the best in the series. You could not find a more challenging, tactics game. Not only was it challenging but it gave you a really good storyline that was dark and mature for it's murky post-apocalyptic setting. This game had hundreds of skills and jobs and insane customization of your party members. At the time when I got it as a kid I was totally blown away that my characters could permanently die if I made the wrong move, or that I could replace most of my entire party with dragon eggs that I hatched. Anyone I have talked to who has played this game has not said 1 bad word about it. It's one of few games that can evoke a tear or two by the end and it's at the top of my list for the series.

Here's the thing I really had high hopes for Advanced and thought it might be a true blue sequel to tell Ramza's story after the end of FFT but no.

Instead we got... Bunny Girls, Lizard People, and a Law System.

After I spent time playing the Advanced game on my GBA it pretty much just sickened me how crappy and distorted they made the tactic franchise from the original game.

Characters were blah the three main characters featured a kid version of Ramza, a Red Headed girl version of Agrias, and a wishy washy kid who has issues.

The story compared to FFT WotL they aren't even in the same planet, FFTA is so childish with no concept of death, Ivalice being a "Dream World" (this pretty much means FFXII is a dream world too I bet xD), it was just bland compared to the original game.

I highly disagree. I get not expecting change but I don't think that's a reason to hate on this game. The Ivalice that this takes place in is not based in either the past Ivalice(XII, FFTA2 universe) or the apocalyptic Ivalice(FFT, FFT:WotL universe). It takes place in a dream world version of of the past Ivalice universe that was not even considered the cannon universe. While it is different in terms of tone and story I would not call the dark theme of escapism from tragic real life situation childish.

Spoiler

Ritz was an albino who was ashamed of her looks, so much so that even her mother was depressed by her lack of self confidence. She wanted to get away from that and be a confident female warrior.
Donned was crippled and couldn't walk. He wanted to simply walk again.
Mewt lost his mother and his father lost his job from depression. He was also cruelly bullied. So he created the a world that everyone could be happy and alive and important in.
I think the irony of Marche destroying their dreams in order to bring them to face the realities of their situations was the opposite of a happy beddy by time.

The situations of these characters are really not so different from most people's I know in real life and on these forums. They just want to escape shitty situations-something everyone can relate to.

Every character except the killjoy main character got pretty decent character developement, and you could only die on two maps(yea it's lame but it's something). Comparing Agrias to Ritz just doesn't work here(How did you come to that conclusion? o_o). You can thank FF12 for making the bunny women and other races cannon in the era before the Ivalice Apocalypse time period.

FFTA was my second favorite game. It was a toned down version of the original and while there was no death consequence, the different races and the law system gave combat an even more tactical challenge. The downside to this game is that the skill pool, classes and weapons are pretty much toned down. The GBA can only hold but so much information so I didn't really expect there to be a large quantity. However this is a really solid entry in the Tactics series and it should not be judged based on it's appearance. The fact that it takes place in a dream version of Ivalice, gives it more of a standing within the FF Tactics universe storywise.

Which brings me to the next game...

FFTA2...is not a good game storywise. The overall story sucks terribly, and it barely even has a main story. However they really amped up the gameplay from FFTA and included about 400 missions to take on which can keep you busy. The gameplay in this game is really the only reason any Tactics fan should buy this. The skill pool and job systems increase, the added races are pretty useless but fun to experiment with, and the law system from the last game is toned way down. The game is fun to play but the lacking story is just disappointing compared to the other games that made you actually care for the characters. I enjoyed this but it's not a memorable game, like, I sometimes forget I even own it. What sucks about this though is that it's supposed to be related to the last game and the first due to the version of Ivalice being the real cannon Ivalice which takes place before Tactics and after FF12.

I dont own FFT:WotL because I already have the original FFT, but from the small parts I've played they really made it easier with powerful new jobs and flashier with cutscenes. I do have a problem that they included characters from FF12 and FFTA2 to eff up the timeline but I'm just being picky.

Any true fan of this series should play them all. It's called FF Tactics, tactics implemented in the gameplay. Not FF Medieval soap opera. I get that the first game was good but some really could tone it down with the hatred of it's sequels. Hate bandwagons are fun, but let's try not to look at each game with biased lenses. There's a reason the original never had a direct sequel: The story was done! There was nothing left to tell. Maybe they'll create a new original universe for tactics in the future?

 

[Captain Squee]

While I've not played Any of the FFTA games, I played both the original FFT and War of the Lions. War of the Lions kind of ruined the game. They decided it would be a brilliant idea to make everyone speak shakespearian. You need a fracking dictionary to understand some of what they say. Super OP classes were added, and what really killed it for me, they slowed the visual animations without changing the sound effects. That was just awful, you could cast a long duration spell, the animation as slowed to double speed, so you'd hear the full sound effect run through twice. I recommend playing the original, it provided a more challenging gameplay while also making the animations and audio match up. War of the Lions was a complete mess. Adding Balthier was cool and all, but they made him turn Mustadio into a useless shit stain on the underwear of the gaming industry. Prior to Balthier, Mustadio had a good use.

 

[Thief of Hearts Joker]

While I've not played Any of the FFTA games, I played both the original FFT and War of the Lions. War of the Lions kind of ruined the game. They decided it would be a brilliant idea to make everyone speak shakespearian. You need a fracking dictionary to understand some of what they say. Super OP classes were added, and what really killed it for me, they slowed the visual animations without changing the sound effects. That was just awful, you could cast a long duration spell, the animation as slowed to double speed, so you'd hear the full sound effect run through twice. I recommend playing the original, it provided a more challenging gameplay while also making the animations and audio match up. War of the Lions was a complete mess. Adding Balthier was cool and all, but they made him turn Mustadio into a useless shit stain on the underwear of the gaming industry. Prior to Balthier, Mustadio had a good use.

I actually liked the change to the way they talked, it kinda went well with the timeline they were in (course to each his own), I do agree having some new classes made shit op ( lol I spent all the game with Ramza being a Dark Knight/Samurai ), tbh that was the only real downside WotL was to me, I was actually shocked the effects were so slow in the game it made battles take longer and less enjoyable .

 

[Mikasa]

Didn't have to think much for this one. The answer is already clear-cut, and even if you do like Tactics Advance, I don't think you can say that it is better than War of the Lions. That is, if you're going to view it from a mature audience's point of view. I imagine a kid with his innocent, naive world view could think Tactics Advance is better than Tactics, but whatever. For me, it's crystal clear which one to pick.

And War of the Lions wins hands down with no competition. The plot, the character design... The gameplay. The music... They all came together very nicely - so nicely it was memorable for a game of its genre. Whenever I think of the turn-based strategy genre, I immediately think War of the Lions as the stellar example. I instinctively compare other turn-based strategy to this, and frankly, I don't think many other series has even come close to challenge it... Maybe except Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together... But I liked the sprite design for WotL more.

But we're not comparing between those two. Tactics Advance and its continuation... They're too childish. I hated the fact they broke away from the original Tactics universe. All they did in the end was make a reference... A pity considering how I had a profound respect for the seriousness of the plot in Tactics, and I wanted very much for a continuation in that same universe... Perhaps one that explored a different time in history... Say, the 50 Year War?

But noooo, they had to come up with Tactics Advance and its part 2... Well, it's not that the game itself is bad, but if you're going to compare Tactics with Tactics Advance and the sequel, that comparison itself is way too unfair. They're not in the same league - not even close. Sure, I think it's an okay game to play, it has some kinks to iron out, which I don't really feel they did in the part 2... But whatever man. I can't stress enough how thoroughly Tactics crushes Tactics Advance and Tactics A2.