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The battles play out similar to the original on the Gameboy Advanced but with focus on teamwork via a clan system. The more you excel within combat, the better the spoils will be to raise your clan’s skills. Taking place on a grid, players will move their units across the battlefield in a turn-based fashion to attack their enemies. You’ll be setting up your units in hopes to take advantage of their abilities against their opposition. The farther along you play in FFTA2, the more advanced the jobs you’ll unlock to use a variety of different abilities.

In terms of length of the battles, gamers need to be well prepared for lengthy battles with their adversaries or else they’ll become tired of the gameplay. Rather than focusing on quick action, FFTA2 determines that it’s better to strategize your maneuvers to best your enemies. Before every battle begins, players will receive the rules of the battle from the Judge, an overseer of the combat taking place. Players can be punished for breaking the rules or rewarded for following them, but the choice is ultimately up to the player. The punishments can be pretty harsh; if a comrade falls in battle, the Judge could possibly remove the ability to revive them – so be observant to the rules beforehand.

There is also the addition of the Nintendo DS’s Wi-Fi to trade online loot with gamers, but there isn’t any need to go online when most of the items are found within the game if you look hard or play long enough. But if your patience is low and you are fed up with hunting for those desirable treasures, then you should feel safe to know that online will work wonders for you.

Graphically speaking, FFTA2 is a visually pleasing game that exceeds the original and is on par with the current output on the Nintendo DS. Not only does it have lavish worlds to explore, but the sound effects and soundtrack are exquisite. Though, gamers looking to have spoken dialogue will have to look elsewhere as the game’s dialogue is handled by text.