Forward: Sorry for being so lurk-tastic

Topic: My favorite DS game to date.


I did a quick search and couldn't find anything relevant to A2, just the original on the boards so I figured I'd turn all of you on to this amazing sequel. If you never played the first, don't fret. While FFTA2 is a direct sequel set roughly 20 years after the first, you can pick the game up fresh and still be instantly engrossed in its whimsical story telling and breezy soundtrack. In fact, the first thing you'll probably notice about this game is how much it focuses on the player through personality questions and decisions that define your morality.

You still get a huge party of 24 characters, with a whopping 50+ jobs (Chocobo Knight!!) to mix and match for hundreds of combinations with which to rule the battle field. Veterans of FFTA will feel right at home, while at the same time unchained with the revision of the Law system. Gone are the steep penalties, replaced by privileges for upholding the law. Don't you wish your parents had done it that way?

And if you played FF12 you'll notice the Bazaar system has found it's home on the DS as well. Rather than equipment becoming available as time goes on in the shops, you now unlock it at a somewhat more random, but steady pace by exchanging loot won (or stolen) in battle.

The story moves just as fast as you want it too, with the plot points laid out for you to see and play at your lesure. In the mean time, hundreds of side missions fill out the bulk of the game. As of this writing I've completed 118 missions with about 75% of the main story finished (I think! Basing this on the Quest Report Grid, I refuse to use guides. >__< ) and I'm 61 hours in. Yeah, it's a doozy.

The only thing this game is lacking that keeps it from a perfect 10 for me is the total absence of online play. You can trade items with friends that have a copy of the game and their own DS, but as far as the instruction manual and title screen imply, there is no multi player to speak of which is a shame because the original at least had co-op two cart play. That being said, you could probably play this game to death over the 99:99:99 time stamp before you realized your multiplayer was missing.

No Assassins aren't the best class in the game anymore, YES they gave Moogles Cannons bigger than they are and OF COARSE you should run out and buy three copies right now. :hehe:

I just beat this one myself with my play clock at 79:52:12. I didn't do an exact count but I think I've got something like another hundred missions or so before I've actually FINISHED the game. The fight against Cinqulair is gonna be rough. >_>