I am in kinda a weird position cause I played FFTA before I played the original. I never understood why people were so disappointed with advance till I played fft. Here are my thoughts.
Overall
The game was old school hard. The graphics where
A couple steps up from a and a2. It was somewhat confusing and had me rage quit much more than advance ever did.
Difficulty
This was rough at first. I was used to the soft easy learning curve (or lack of learning in advance) so dealing with some of the elements in fft took some getting used to. First was the death counter. Only having 3 turns to revive a character you worked hours to built was somewhat frustrating. Eventually I was able to get over this and gauge how long before crystalization. But there were missions i could have won if it hadn't been for the counter as I raced back across the map to revive my summoner only to be pelted with arrows from an
Archer that had I one more turn, could I have smacked into the stratosphere.
The "charge" time on magic spells also took some getting
Used to. Even being able to determine when the spell would hit was not enough cause you can target the ground or the enemy. If you chose the ground, the targeted character could just walk away. But if you chose the character, he
Could just as easily walk over to your guys and wait
For the lightening to strike your team too.
This game had me using all of my strategic mind, until chapter 4. There are alot
Of recruitables in chapter 4, including pissy ass cloud, Balthier (who was veryuseful) and orleandu. Orlandu has the ability to learn and use every spell blade move and his sword gives him perminant haste, and his stats are through
The roof. So all that work you did to get Ramza to master 3 classes and power level 5 other just to unlock dark
Knight, is all put in perspective. I could have spent my time better by teaching Ramza to
Piss into the wind. Basically all the challenge leaves the game after you beat chapter 3.
Actually, the hardest battle of the game is the 3rd battle of chapter 1, Dorter Slums. EVERYONE loses at Dorter at least once.
Graphics:
Pretty cool. All the portraits look hand drawn. What's interesting is that everyone in invalice suffers from s
Genetic disposition and is lacking a nose.
The battlefields are all 3d and can be rotated around
In forced isometric angles at two heights and distances.
Characters:
Most characters are human and can be male or female. Interestingly, because of certain equips, female characters turn out to be slightly better. All but two classes are available to everyone (save the female class dancer and male class bard). So you have to do some planning for certain character growth. In battle you aquire jp that you spend on abilities after the
Battle.
Monsters can be tamed into your party. While you walk around, they breed and create new monster you can use in battle or poach for items.
Closin Thoughts:
Now that I've slugged my way through fft, i now understand why people hated so hard on FFTA. It's not the fft that everyone was looking for. I'm very glad I played it, even though FFTA is still my favorite.
Overall
The game was old school hard. The graphics where
A couple steps up from a and a2. It was somewhat confusing and had me rage quit much more than advance ever did.
Difficulty
This was rough at first. I was used to the soft easy learning curve (or lack of learning in advance) so dealing with some of the elements in fft took some getting used to. First was the death counter. Only having 3 turns to revive a character you worked hours to built was somewhat frustrating. Eventually I was able to get over this and gauge how long before crystalization. But there were missions i could have won if it hadn't been for the counter as I raced back across the map to revive my summoner only to be pelted with arrows from an
Archer that had I one more turn, could I have smacked into the stratosphere.
The "charge" time on magic spells also took some getting
Used to. Even being able to determine when the spell would hit was not enough cause you can target the ground or the enemy. If you chose the ground, the targeted character could just walk away. But if you chose the character, he
Could just as easily walk over to your guys and wait
For the lightening to strike your team too.
This game had me using all of my strategic mind, until chapter 4. There are alot
Of recruitables in chapter 4, including pissy ass cloud, Balthier (who was veryuseful) and orleandu. Orlandu has the ability to learn and use every spell blade move and his sword gives him perminant haste, and his stats are through
The roof. So all that work you did to get Ramza to master 3 classes and power level 5 other just to unlock dark
Knight, is all put in perspective. I could have spent my time better by teaching Ramza to
Piss into the wind. Basically all the challenge leaves the game after you beat chapter 3.
Actually, the hardest battle of the game is the 3rd battle of chapter 1, Dorter Slums. EVERYONE loses at Dorter at least once.
Graphics:
Pretty cool. All the portraits look hand drawn. What's interesting is that everyone in invalice suffers from s
Genetic disposition and is lacking a nose.
The battlefields are all 3d and can be rotated around
In forced isometric angles at two heights and distances.
Characters:
Most characters are human and can be male or female. Interestingly, because of certain equips, female characters turn out to be slightly better. All but two classes are available to everyone (save the female class dancer and male class bard). So you have to do some planning for certain character growth. In battle you aquire jp that you spend on abilities after the
Battle.
Monsters can be tamed into your party. While you walk around, they breed and create new monster you can use in battle or poach for items.
Closin Thoughts:
Now that I've slugged my way through fft, i now understand why people hated so hard on FFTA. It's not the fft that everyone was looking for. I'm very glad I played it, even though FFTA is still my favorite.