Quote Originally Posted by Bolivar View Post
FFTA2 - which leads me to this game, which I do not own. Having DS anxiety I mentioned, I want to know, is this game good? Is the job system tighter than it was in TA, where you get bombarded with a million items with a million abilities, all of which I couldn't care less about? Is the main story supplemented by mandatory grinding sessions, composed of meaningless battles between monsters and clans, both of which I care so little about I want to throw my DS out of the train? I heard they made the menus more streamlined, and I like how they have the monsters who take up four spaces and such, it just would appear logical that after the first one they would be set to make things a lot better on many fronts, and even take things further with the FFT name. I think it would help a lot if it had more than 2 songs.
I have some gripes with TA2 but overall, I do feel its a much greater improvement over its predecessor. My main complaint has always been that the main story is short and pretty bland. Many of my main gripes about FFTA's gameplay that I disliked only got band-aids put on them instead of fixing them. Classes are still not balanced, and once again I feel the creators show an unhealthy level of favoritism to the Humes and Viera. The Nu Muo, who were already not one of the fave races from the last game really get nerfed thanks to the games new "No mp when the battle starts" nonsense.

With that said, the missions are much more diverse and fun, its not longer just mindless battles. You deliver items, protect characters, search for items, get into battles where laws actually change the rules of combat in a more fun way (like the Bonga Bugle mission where you can't have anything stolen from a character.) you do delivers and other interesting tasks. There is even a mission where all you are required to do is watch two high level characters have a duel on a volcano that's about to explode. Storylines are much stronger for the side missions and many interconnect to create tales that quickly outshine the main plot.

They also added in two things from XII. Mark hunts are now part of the quests and they brought back the bazaar and retooled it into a thing of beauty. The Bazaar system eases the problem of equipemtn. You still get screwed sometimes (my poor White Monks) but due to having more control over events, you can actually acquire equipment better. The Law system is also vastly changed. The Judge protects your party from dying and getting a game over, you also recive some good bonuses (mostly bazaar goods) for finishing missions with the law intact. You also get to choose a privilage to bring into battle like W-AP, Power +2, Power up Moogles, or the ability to see traps on the field. You get all these rewards as long as you keep the law. Breaking the law makes you lose many of these bonuses but thats it. You don't have to worry about losing battles because your main character uses a Flamesabre in a No-Fire rule battle just so he can get an instant red card and auto game over like in TA

There are more classes and several really try to bring new elements of gameplay into the battle. A lot of the new classes revolve around support or using status ailments, hence the game does better about keeping strategy at the forefront of gameplay.

There are also special tournaments you can enter to gain new Clan Privelages for battle and a new Territory auction house where you bid for control of territories. Getting said territories nets you bonuses in shops and some extra loot.

Its a vastly superiro game to TA, even the special characters get better unique classes like Penelo's Dancer, Hurdy's Bard, and Al-Cid's Agent class which gets stronger based on how many women you have in your battle party with him...

Its a very different beast of a game. Despite my whining, I still recommend it. Its not Tactics, but its such a vast improvement over TA that I feel you owe yourself to check it out. If you can rent it or get it cheap, do so.