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First look at Final Fantasy Tactics A2: The Sealed Grimoire

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The spiritual successor to Final Fantasy Tactics Advance made its debut as a demo at the Square Enix Party. Now, through the power of YouTube, the trailer for Final Fantasy Tactics A2: The Sealed Grimoire has made its way onto the internet. The first video preview should give players an idea of what to expect from character designs, music, and the overall feel of Luso's adventures through Ivalice.

Ah, Ivalice...

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: The Sealed Grimoire is set to make its debut on the Nintendo DS. The story centers on the antics of Luso, an energetic student who has trouble prioritizing his studies above daydreaming about adventure. One day, Luso finds a book in his school library called The Sealed Grimoire. Opening the mysterious tome, the boy is transported to another world, and his paltry existence receives some much-needed spice. Venturing through the world of Ivalice, Luso meets an aristocratic member of the Rebes, named Cid, who invites him to align with his clan of adventurers. They are joined by a headstrong thief named Adel the Cat, a moogle named Hardy, and a ragtag party of Viera, Seeqs, and Bangaa.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2's connections to other "Ivalice Alliance" titles abound. Final Fantasy XII enthusiasts will notice that Rebes like Cid were the highborn inhabitants of Skycity Bujerba. Viera like Fran and Bangaa like Ba'Gamnan will also be joining your party. Even the Judges will be making an appearance. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance aficionados will no doubt be familiar with the story's premise, as a kid in our everyday reality delves into the realm of Ivalice by encountering a strange book.

Luso, Adel, and Hardy aboard a chocobo

Those anticipating the upcoming DS strategy RPG Heroes of Mana will notice that Ryoma Ito is unmistakably responsible for The Sealed Grimoire’s character designs. The lush, vibrant sprites of Tactics Advance are back, and more fully fleshed out thanks to the superior hardware of the DS. The gameplay retains the strategy elements of the Tactics series, such as the grid-based battle system, intricate job system, and the ability to recruit party members belonging to various races. Also, players will be allowed to move from town to town between the major battles of the game. Exploration will allow for gathering information as the plot unravels.

As for the music, the demo of Final Fantasy Tactics A2 playable at the Square Enix Party contained remastered tracks from the Final Fantasy Tactics Advance original soundtrack. Improving on the now-antiquated Gameboy Advance synths, the trailer gives fans a sneak peek at what to expect aurally. Those who enjoyed the full sound version of the soundtrack by Hitoshi Sakimoto and Super Sweep composers Kaori Ohkoshi and Ayako Saso should be interested to hear that the remixed tracks from the OST are being incorporated into the sequel. For a sound quality comparison of the two arrangements found on the Final Fantasy Tactics Advance original soundtrack, compare the in-game version of Nobuo Uematsu's main theme with the full sound version. The latter is closest to the music appearing in the Sealed Grimoire trailer, running on the Nintendo DS sound card.

While a minimal amount of information on the game has been available so far, aside from details revealed through a Famitsu interview with director Yuichi Murasawa, all that's changed. Thanks to the magic of YouTube, here is the Square Enix Party trailer.


Final Fantasy Tactics A2: The Sealed Grimoire




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Forums / News / First look at Final Fantasy Tactics A2: The Sealed Grimoire

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will it suck like the first advance game? looks pretty good so far.
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Yeah, I'm not expecting much more than the suckfest of the original Tactics Advance
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I'm expecting less, considering that FFTA was at least produced by Matsuno. Today's FFTA2 is part of the "Ivalice Alliance" shitstorm built to rape the dead body of Matsuno's hopes and dreams. And on top of that, Square Enix isn't even developing it! They fucking outsourced a Tactics game.
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According to us they are developing it.
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We're misinformed.
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So who is developing it?
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I am apparently full of shit at this point because I looked around the interwebs and all I can find is that Akitoshi Kawazu is the executive producer (as usual) and Yuichi Murasawa is directing. I swear I heard about an outsourced development house at some stage, but given that I can't find any details on that right now, we'll go with "Rahul is drunk"
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Fair enough, let us know if you hear anything about other studios.
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