Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift Review

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift is a DS SRPG spinoff title of the successful Final Fantasy series. It is an Ivalice Alliance game, which has it set in Ivalice naturally. So without further ado, on to the review!

Story: You're a boy named Luso who is a school truant. Luso's teacher punishes him by making him help the librarian clean up the library on the last day of school. While waiting, Luso finds a magical book that sucks him into the world of Ivalice. And from there, its just a quest of finding his way back home. The game is kinda lacking in characters, only a few matter and most are just normal, generic stock characters. But the whole plot just feels like a Saturday morning cartoon, following more in the steps of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and not like the riveting story of the original Final Fantasy Tactics.

6/10

Gameplay: The gameplay has certainly improved since Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Its still the same isometric grid based battles, but with some minor changes. MP starts out at zero, but each turn rises up by 10. More job classes are available now, which only further increases the depth of the battle system. And a revamped Law system. Which brings me to another point. Some of the laws are just plain unfair, and probably only serve to irritate you. You'll find yourself kicking yourself when an enemy thief uses his steal command and successfully does it when the current law prohibits you from getting robbed.

8/10

Graphics: The graphics are almost just copy paste from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. The sprites are the same except for the new job classes and monsters, and the environment is pretty much the same. Almost all the character portraits are redrawn, with the exception of the barman. It just seems kinda lazy to me.

5/10

Sound: Final Fantasy has never skimped on music. Its fantastically done, and has some Final Fantasy 12 songs in it to boot. And the sound effects are also quite nice. Each bladed weapon gives off a different attack sound depending on what type of weapon it is.

9/10

Some of the things were done right, and some things needed improvement, but Square-Enix has released a fairly enjoyable game for any kind of Final Fantasy or general RPG fan.

Final Score: 7/10