Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift

The second battle in Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift; an enemy prepares to attack the main protagonist Luso.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift is a tactical role-playing game in which players take control of a party from the clan of protagonist Luso Clemens—Clan Gully—for turn-based tactical combat in three-dimensional isometric areas viewed through a fixed camera.[2][3] The game's world of Ivalice is divided into sections which unlock as the story progresses; character units not in the player's active party can be sent on training missions to grow stronger or complete side-quests.[3]

In addition to story and side-quests, Clan quests can be completed which cost a special in-game currency dubbed Clan Points and feature optional handicaps; the reward for completion increases with the amount of handicaps in place. The Clan also controls areas of Ivalice, with the Clan bidding for control of areas in auction houses and defending them with teams made up of inactive party members. When the Clan fights in native territory, they receive passive ability boosts.[3] Between missions, the Clan can purchase new equipment at guilds, with the types of gear available depending on their Clan ranking. Equipment is principally earned from loot drops after an enemy is defeated.[2]

The game's turn-based battles play out in a grid-based arena; each unit on both sides has their turn placed according to their Agility statistic, with the most agile units going first.[2] During their turn, characters can be moved and positioned to face in four directions, and perform actions such as attacking, performing skills and using items.[4] Each unit has health points (HP) and magic points (MP), with MP starting at zero and regenerating with each turn. MP are used to perform magic abilities, with more powerful spells costing more MP. When a Unit's HP is depleted, they are knocked out.[2][4] Some battles are affected by changing weather, which impacts unit movements and abilities.[4]

Unit abilities are tied to a character class-based Job system, with over fifty different Jobs; a unit's Job influences their abilities, and some Jobs are specific to the game's seven playable races.[3][5] Job abilities are learned from armour and weapons equipped to a unit, with the types and number of skills learned enabling characters to switch Jobs.[2] Jobs are drawn from the Tactics games and the wider Final Fantasy series, including close-quarters melee fighters such as Warrior and Soldier; ranged fighters such as the Archer and Sniper; and magic-based jobs such as White Mage, Black Mage and Summoner.[2][4] The Summoner job allows a unit to summon Scions, powerful beings which deliver a cinematic attack which damages all enemies.[4][5]

A feature carried over from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is the Law system. Each battle is supervised by a Judge, which imposes a randomised restriction on the battle such as not healing party members or refraining from using certain spells. Complying with the Law results in the party earning additional rewards at the battle's end, while breaking the Law causes the Judge to abandon the battle and leave defeated units unable to be revived until the battle ends. There are also zones in the game called "Jagd", where the Judges cannot go and fallen units are subject to permadeath.[2][3]

Tactics A2 was developed by Square Enix, owners and main developers of the Final Fantasy franchise.[15] The game forms part of the Ivalice Alliance, a series of games sharing the setting of Ivalice while taking place at different times in the land's history.[7][16] The director was Yuichi Murasawa, who had directed the original Tactics Advance. Akitoshi Kawazu acted as executive producer, a role he shared with the other Ivalice Alliance projects.[17] The producer was Hiroaki Kato, while Kyoko Kitahara acted as scenario and event director.[18] Character designs were by Ryoma Ito, who also worked on Tactics Advance and Final Fantasy XII.[19] The logo design was created by Akihiko Yoshida.[20] Planning for Tactics A2 began due to positive fan reception and demand for a sequel to Tactics Advance, which was released for the Game Boy Advance (GBA) in 2003.[5][21] The team also wanted to add new features, as the short development time of the original Tactics Advance prevented their inclusion. The team initially planned to develop the game for the GBA, cutting down on development time, and started producing a version for the system. After the Nintendo DS was launched to worldwide commercial success, Square Enix shifted the project from GBA to DS. Production for this version began in 2006, with active development being delayed due to Murasawa's commitment other projects.[21] Like its predecessor, Tactics A2 was designed to be accessible to casual gamers while maintaining "serious narrative themes"; the team designed the game with the large casual gamer base of the DS in mind.[1]

In contrast to the mature tone of Final Fantasy XII, Tactics A2's story was described as "light adventure" similar to Tactics Advance.[15] The first story draft was much darker, with Kitahara setting the entire story in Ivalice. Luso was to have been living a carefree life in his village, with the story starting after an attack on the village left everyone but Luso dead. The team decided against this approach, going for the lighter tone of the final game.[22] The sense of fun intended by the developers was thematically represented by the opening being set during the beginning of summer break, and reinforced by Luso's attitude to his situation.[20] The characters from Final Fantasy XII were planned on from an early stage. Kato initially wanted Balthier to be included, but Kitahara repeatedly refused. Wanting characters who could appeal to long-term fans and series newcomers, the team incorporated Vaan and Penelo, with Vaan's attitude reflecting his character development across Final Fantasy XII and its sequel Revenant Wings. Al-Cid originally had a minor role, but he was later turned into a recruitable character.[18]

The biggest change from developing Tactics Advance was the dual screens of the DS, which enabled menu displays to be spread out and increase the visual spectacle of some sequences.[17][18] The team's aim was to make a "character-building game with a twist", promoting variety and depth with character customization.[21] The quest variety was also expanded compared to Tactics Advance, as Murasawa regretted the lack of variety in the original game.[20] The summoned monsters were taken directly from Final Fantasy XII, and the team used both screens for their attacks to convey their scale. Initially planned to be purely cinematic attacks, the effects team successfully created a version which used real-time graphics and still conveyed the summons' scale and power.[18] When creating the gameplay, the team carried over multiple mechanics from Tactics Advance, while also adjusting elements such as the leveling system and Law mechanics.[17][20] For the original Japanese release, the team decided not to use the DS touchscreen as it did not fit in with their design plans.[7] The Western versions added touchscreen-based stylus control.[23][24] The team also included a large number of tutorials, further catering to a casual audience.[7]

Music

Main article: Music of the Final Fantasy Tactics series

Hitoshi Sakimoto composed and produced the soundtrack for Tactics A2.

The music for Tactics A2 was composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto, who previously worked on Tactics Advance.[26] Sakimoto also produced the soundtrack, in addition to arrangements. Additional arrangements were done by Masaharu Iwata, Mitsuhiro Kaneda, Kimihiro Abe and Noriyuki Kamikura of Sakimoto's music studio Basiscape.[27][28] The soundtrack included themes from Tactics and Final Fantasy XII by Sakimoto, Kaneda, Kaori Ohkoshi and Ayako Sasou. An arranged version of the main theme of Tactics Advance by Nobuo Uematsu was also used.[28] Sakimoto said that, including new and returning themes, the soundtrack had over sixty songs.[18]

As with Tactics Advance, Sakimoto moved away from his typical heavy style to create a more light-hearted score. While he knew what to do, he felt under pressure due to fan expectation.[18] The opening feel of the game was a bright summer environment, which impacted Sakimoto's choice of musical feel. Due to the increased hardware of the DS, Sakimoto could incorporate higher-quality music into the game compared to Tactics Advance.[26] While the battle tracks were the first to be started, they were the last to be finalised as Sakimoto kept making adjustments when all the other themes were complete.[18] To maintain a high quality for battle tracks, Sakimoto used sound streaming, bringing the music's quality close to that of a CD release.[26] A two-disc soundtrack album was released on November 21, 2007.[29]

Tactics A2 was announced in December 2006 alongside the other Ivalice Alliance projects Revenant Wings and The War of the Lions, a remake of Final Fantasy Tactics for PlayStation Portable.[16] As part of the cross-game promotion, Tactics A2 protagonist Luso appears in War of the Lions, with the decision being made when the Ivalice Alliance was first announced.[30] The game was released in Japan on October 25, 2007.[31]

A North American and PAL-region versions were released in 2008.[23][32] The localization was handled by Kajiya Productions, a company led by translators Alexander O. Smith and Joseph Reeder; Smith and Reeder were veterans of previous Square Enix titles, having worked on the acclaimed localizations for Final Fantasy XII and Vagrant Story.[33][34] The game was released in North America on June 24,[23] and in Europe on June 27.[35]

During its first week on sale, Tactics A2 reached first place in gaming charts, selling over 142,000 units; these sales put it level with debut sales of War of the Lions, and the only title that week to sell over 100,000 units.[45] The following week, the game dropped to third place with further sales of 51,000, bringing total sales to 193,000 units.[46] As of 2009, the game had sold 670,000 units worldwide; 310,000 were sold in Japan, 240,000 in North America, and 120,000 in Europe.[47]

The gameplay was praised by Famitsu for its relaxed difficulty compared to Tactics Advance and large amount of content,[39] while 1UP.com's James Miekle praised the depth of gameplay as the game's strongest feature.[37] Simon Parkin, writing for Eurogamer, called the game a "straightforward interpretation of the [tactical RPG] genre", enjoying several elements of the gameplay and calling it one of the genre's best examples on the DS.[38] Game Informer's Joe Juba positively noted the greater range of strategic options compared to earlier Tactics titles.[40] Will Herring of GamePro praised the amount of content and breadth of gameplay freedom.[41] GameSpot's Shiva Stella enjoyed the amount of content despite general pacing issues,[42] while IGN writer Daemon Hatfield praised the overall depth while noting a lack of innovation.[43] Fred Dutton of Official Nintendo Magazine generally praised the gameplay, although he noted that the game's scale and depth could be quite daunting.[44] Critics had differing views on the Law system; some praised its challenge,[40][44] while others found it needlessly restrictive or an unwanted element from Tactics Advance.[37][38][42] The slow pace of battle, menu design and lack of a rotating camera were commonly criticized.[37][40][41][42][44]

Miekle felt that the graphics were inferior to fellow DS tactical RPG Advance Wars: Days of Ruin.[37] Parkin called the graphics among the best on the DS at the time,[38] while Juba praised the general graphic designs.[40] Hatfield said: "Excellent translation, engaging characters, memorable tunes, and a dazzling art style come together to make a great package".[43] Dutton called the presentation "top notch" and praised the musical score;[44] these sentiments were echoed by Stella in her review.[42]

Famitsu felt that the game's narrative development was "unsatisfactory".[39] Miekle negatively noted a lack of mature story elements compared to the original Tactics or Tactics Advance,[37] while Parkin found the initial premise cliche and noted a lack of substantial story after the opening segment.[38] Juba said that the story "certainly won't keep [the player] enthralled",[40] and Herring found it a suitable backdrop to gameplay despite its low quality.[41] Stella called the plot "generic",[42] while Dutton felt that the light tone of the story was at odds with the gameplay.[44]

Tactics A2 was awarded Best Strategy Game for the Nintendo DS by IGN for their 2008 video game awards.[48] At the 2008 National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers awards, Tactics A2 was among those nominated in the "Game Strategy" category.[49] RPGFan named the game "Strategy RPG of the Year: Handheld" during their "Games of 2008" feature ahead of Yggdra Union.[50]

The artwork and character jobs of Tactics A2 were reused by Square Enix for Crystal Defenders, a series of titles released principally for mobile and covering turn-based strategy for its first two entries and tower defense for the third.[51][52] Like Tactics A2, the Crystal Defenders series uses the true Ivalice as its setting.[53] The Crystal Defenders games were released between 2008 and 2009, with the second and third entries releasing internationally.[51][52] Music from Tactics A2 was used for the Crystal Defenders series.[54] The Tactics A2 jobs were later used in the mobile title Final Fantasy Tactics S.[55]

• Official website (in Japanese)
• European official website
• North American official website