The pacing is quite slow, often to the point of being tedious. Some fights can take close to an hour to complete, even ones that are not plot centric. Given that the player can pick and choose the next quest at their leisure means rarely is there any sense of urgency to the progression of the plot. It doesn’t help matters that the plot itself is exceptionally bland, and without the interesting characters that it revolves around it is predictable and forgettable in its own right.

Ultimately the game’s strengths outweigh its weaknesses, but it has many gameplay elements that starkly contrast with the ones that made the original game in the series so memorable. The gameplay is open-ended yet lacks a compelling plot and the combat is as solid as ever but veterans of the series will miss being able to fully flex the might of the job system. What remains is entertaining to some extent, but the gameplay lacks any real meat due to how little customization the player really has over their party members. It’s not that Final Fantasy Tactics A2 is a bad game, but it is quite bland even when it isn’t compared with the classic title that kicked the series off.

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