This is an amazing and addictive game that is playable for many hours after completing the storyline portion of the game
When you first start out you are plopped right into the middle of a storyline and get to start out with a tutorial on the fighting elements of the game. The tutorial makes the simpler fighting commands known well, though there is a second tutorial later that tries to explain a bit of the more complex moves doesn’t do such a well job.
The first thing you will notice about the game is that the storyline takes a back seat to the game play which is strange for a Final Fantasy game where the break between game play and storyline are fairly even. At first every few missions you will receive a cutscene style dialogue which advances the story although later they are more scarce.
That being said, when the main storyline is complete, you will find that you are still far far from putting down this game. There are over 300 missions to complete and although you may not need more, there are some you may find wishing were easier to find and complete as there are some missions that stay in your mission list for the entire game that you are never able to complete until you find a certain item.
Some items can be found with the help of a friend by hooking up two copies of the game in separate Game Boy Advance’s. You can fight each other, work together for a cause or trade different mission items. Also any time you are connected rare and powerful items become available in the item shop, for a price of course although this hardly matters as you become filthy rich rather soon in the game. Anything you do earns gil, the games currency, and you rarely need to purchase anything. You soon have heaps and heaps of cash for which there is nothing to spend it on.
The battle system in this game holds out very well for long periods or short periods of gameplay. At first it seems slow and you will need to designate around 20 to 30 minutes per mission depending on how careful you are through out. Although late in the game they become much quicker and easier to complete.
The character classes are very well balanced and give you a wide range of favorites to choose from. You may find that there are some you wish to avoid as well. Luckily your character can change it’s job any time you wish meaning it learns a new set of moves. The only permanent effect your characters job has is while you are leveling up your stat distribution will be different depending what class you level up in, although when you reach the highest level (50) you can switch classes with ease learning new movies through the unique AP system.
The only portion of the game that is lacking is the Law system. Laws appear seemingly random and change daily. The game explains this away as the kingdom trying to cut down on violence. They hinder the game play considerably until you learn to avoid them or negate them. Law cards are available though it is much easier to simply walk around until a benign set of laws falls on the day you will arrive at your destination. This would all be alright if the game would warn you when you are about to break a law though it does not. You find yourself having trouble remembering the three laws in affect for the battle as it changes every single time. If you accidentally break a law, it seems easier to restart the game rather than face the consequences. The law system, unfortunately plays too big a part in the game.
Despite that fact, this game holds up very well in all of the categories you may be considering for this genre of game play. If you are a fan of tactical games, RPG’s or Final Fantasy Games in general do not hesitate to pick this game up. It lends hours and hours of game play past its cash value and it is completely portable so you can take your adventure anywhere.