Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift
North American box art
Developer(s)	Square Enix
Publisher(s)	Square Enix
Director(s)	Yuichi Murasawa
Producer(s)	Hiroaki Kato
Artist(s)	Ryoma Ito Hiroshi Minagawa Akihiko Yoshida
Writer(s)	Kyoko Kitahara
Composer(s)	Hitoshi Sakimoto
Series	Final Fantasy Ivalice Alliance
Platform(s)	Nintendo DS
Release	JP: October 25, 2007 NA: June 24, 2008 PAL: June 27, 2008
Genre(s)	Tactical role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift (ファイナルファンタジータクティクス A2 封穴のグリモア, Fainaru Fantajī Takutikusu Eitsū Fūketsu no Gurimoa^?) is a tactical role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix for the Nintendo DS handheld game console.

Grimoire of the Rift is the sequel to Final Fantasy Tactics Advance as well as an iteration in the Ivalice Alliance. It is set in the same world of Ivalice of Final Fantasy XII, and follows the adventures of a young boy transported to this world by a magic book, who encounters many monsters, and a sinister plot to unleash something from another dimension.

The game was well received by critics, praising the expansive gameplay and character customization, though the slow pace of battle, fixed camera perspective and steep learning curve were also mentioned. The title was called the "Best Strategy Game" of 2008 by IGN, and sold over 670,000 copies.

Grimoire of the Rift features similar game mechanics of the previous game. The player, as before, takes on quests by visiting Pubs in towns in the game world, and pays for information on quests, which range from the usual fights against a group of foes, dealing with a specific target enemy, delivering something, or handling a unique objective such as defending something or someone from harm for a certain amount of time. As before, completing quests requires the player to visit a location or series of locations across the game map to complete them and earns the player Gil, experience (if battles are involved in the quest), ability points for the player's clan members, and Loot. The latter is a new concept in the game and holds two uses, and along with that is also clan points and talents which hold importance as well, the latter for quests. When players select a quest they will have varying time limits to complete them (in-game days), varying ranks of difficulty (1 - 99) and varying fees to pay (i.e. 200 Gil), with quests divided by New (recently announced in Pubs), Recent (quests still currently available) and Other (quests unavailable until after a certain amount of in-game days). Time limits don't apply for quests crucial for the story's progress as these ones can be completed at any time, but cannot be cancelled once selected unlike the others that can be acquired. In addition to picking a quest, the player is given details about it, including type, location(s) and number of clan members at location(s), items required, clan talent(s) needed (i.e. a certain talent of 4 is needed for quest), reward for the quest's completion, and whether a clan members can be dispatched for a quest, with an additional piece of info on job needed for dispatch to be successful. Dispatching, as before depends on levels of clan members and jobs and what abilities they have.