If there was a Final Fantasy Tactics 2...
 

I posted this on another site just for shits and giggles, and I figured I'd post it here as well, mainly for other people's opinions/ideas. Also because Final Fantasy Tactics was the greatest Final Fantasy game to come out, and not seeing a sequel is probably the largest crime against humanity (or at least me!) there is.

I figured I'd start this thread to share my ideas and see what you all thought, as well as to hopefully get new ones. Mainly as this is one of the greatest games in existence and they haven't made a true sequel to it (which is a huge crime against humanity in my opinion, ), I figure it'd be fun to muse what a second Tactics would be like.

I guess since I posted the thread, I'll start.

Locale:

I would like the game to stay in Ivalice, but much broader. Granted, I haven't experienced FFXII yet, so I can't comment on what they did to the world and how it crosses over with FFT, but I would like to see an expanded Ivalice with maybe even more to explore (kind of like Final Fantasy IV did with an underground and the lunar surface).

I would also like to see a world map to actually travel on, abolishing the linear style map jumping from point to point, using hotspots on the map to determine where the battles were to take place. Having explorable cities, dungeons, forests, etc. would just make for a far larger game.

Story:

I would like to see the story centralized around a war of sorts. A serious topic makes for a far more excellent game, and war stories always seem well done. It could be done far past the time of Ramza, or even directly following. I won't get into too specific, as the game could be done very well with any sort of storyline as long as it follows the way the first was written. Keep it human (ie. identifiable to those who play it), keep it serious (I hate "stuck in" humour, which is done so often in Hollywood movies. It just seems far-fetched to have it in there.)

Humor with ironic situations and such is alright, just don't overdo it. An example would be Gimli in the Lord of the Rings. His butt of every joke position seemed wrong, designed to bring laughs and lighten the mood, but in effect detracting from the overall experience of the movie. The story should be adult, dark, deep, gritty and above all real. Epic would be a great way to design it. The game should be based on the story, with the characters reacting to it, rather than the story centralized on the characters and having implausible situations happen around them.

I would definately go with more sidequests and such so that the game isn't so linear, with maybe more options on possible endings, depending on who you finished the game with or what quests you did. You could even have different bosses depending on the story branch you took, so that there is a different way to play the game through on a repeat performance.

Characters:

No Steiner characters please! Keep the characters fitting to the story. That said, I want a large cast, much like the first, all with their own backstories. I would rather stay away from the crappy cute/funny/pointless characters (Mog, Amarant, Quinna, etc.) They are alright to have as story elements as long as they are not too prevalent or overdone, but they are not good characters to base a team around. Ultimately 25 to 30 characters would be ideal (including hidden characters), with a list of up to 50 for created ones.

I would like the main character to be a competant person rather than a pretty boy, metrosexual character like Vaan and not a whiney suck like Tidus. I'm thinking more like a Cyan character overall, or General Leo, or Cecil of old.

Hidden characters, I do not care for as much. Seeing Cloud in the first game was a little unsettling, but I can see it was more fanservice than anything, and at least the story didn't centralize on that, and as well you didn't have to get him. But I would rather have hidden characters that are within the game itself and unlockable say with a new game plus sort of idea. Think of playing through Final Fantasy VI and upon beating the game, you had a chance to get General Leo, Seigfried, Banon, Vicks and Wedge even based on certain actions, or possible dialogue options that opened up in new game plus.

I would like to actually take out the monster egg and gaining monsters for your team, unless it was only 1 and a story based event. Having monsters constantly lay eggs and taking up slots for other characters was very annoying rather than neat, and the monsters overall served no purpose because they couldn't gain anything really from leveling up other than a couple of skills, not like characters.

Party and Fighting Area:

I would like the fighting area to be broadened. Think Shining Force like, but not quite that big. As well, I would like more options for limited battles, where you only got a couple of characters to take with you or even larger battles where you could take a ton. I would like to see split style maps, where you had to split your party beforehand and you had to reach an objective with one (or two) parties before the last could progress. Even having a split style for a while like in Final Fantasy VI where you split up your available party members to go in different directions in the story on the map for a while.

Having more meaning to traps and such would be interesting too, to make them more deadly or even more interesting would be neat, and it would give a need for skills to learn to counteract that.

Disgaea had a neat system for party assists and such. I would take that and broaden it to being able to set your characters to be offensive, defensive or middle, so that you could choose to defend a character if you knew he was going to be ganged up on. I would leave out the pyramid system/throwing system as that seems a little too far fetched for the game though.

I would like the map to be fully rotatable and scalable however.

Style:

I could go one of two ways I think. Either keep the same sprite-based design in the first, or else go full bore with fully 3D and more realistic looking characters. I know I wouldn't want the 3D superdeformed ones though (Final Fantasy VII overworld or the upcoming Final Fantasy III). They seem to detract from the serious nature of the story overall.

Using the 3D aspect would enable you to have equipped armor actually have a visual representation on the characters which would be nice too.

Gameplay:

I would definately keep the same style of gameplay. It wouldn't be Tactics without it. I would definately work on the "math" behind the game though. A lot of it was very "glitchy" as to what it displayed and what actually happened (like the percentages of attacking or being hit). I would like more to be done with the birthsigns/brave/faith though, to make them more important to the game somehow.

I would either get rid of the job ideas where you can go to a tavern to lose a character for a while to get something in return, or else I would make it far more in depth, where you can gain new abilities for that character to use (that wouldn't require a slot for example), or more hidden items/places/people and such to unlock through it. It was mostly pointless as it was in the first game, so it should go or either give it a reason to be there.

Classes and Skills:

This is where I would borrow an element from Disgaea and have upgradable classes. I would like more than just a palatte swap though, with having the upgradable classes be more unique from each other. It would also enable a way for you to have those classes that you saw in the game on other story characters but could never get yourself (like Holy Knight or Assassin or Dragon Knight, etc.).

I would like each individual class to have something about it that was more unique though, to give you a reason to play each class, beyond their inherent skillset. Plus you could give each class an ability that is unassignable to another class.

I would probably get rid of the certain sex only classes, just so that neither males nor females had some sort of inherent advantage over the other based on the classes they had access to. Or else I would make the sex only classes different in name only, but their abilities would remain identical.

I would like each created character to maybe get a special ability that is unique to them only as well, to make them feel truly unique (much like Ramza's Guts was different than every other squire's Guts). Make it random, and have a large set of these skills to draw from. Some could be inherent abilities that act passively (like an increase to attack or damage) or it could be a skill that you actively use (like a special attack that only he could do). Make each "list" of accessable skills separate for each class, so that only certain classes have access to certain skills.

You could have some classes and abilities only unlockable on new game plus as well, to give you more reason to play through it again.

Creatures:

I would like to have more variety in creatures definately, beyond just a palette swap. I would also like to see multiple tile sized enemies, so that they can be ganged up on, but it would also make things like Dragons/bosses seem more imposing and such.

New Game Plus:

This is definately something that is needed, but it needs to be expanded upon. You could have different stories show up to be followed, many new areas to explore, new items, new abilities, new classes etc, as well as unlockable characters to use that would give you more reason to play through the game.

Keeping your characters the same level would be nice, but if the cap is only 99, you would probably max out pretty quick, so maybe upping it every new game plus might be neat (although keeping the enemies challenging would be necessary too). Going Disgaea's route might be overkill, unless the enemies can get radically tougher.

Well, I think that's all I've got for now, so tell me what you think, or how you would do the game yourself.

Final Fantasy Tactics was a huge ripoff of Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, which is pretty much the defining game in the Strategy-RPG genre (in its current form). And isn't Tactics Advance generally considered the sequel to the original?

I loved FFT due to the Job System. But on top of that, the story. It had hands-down the best story I'd seen in an RPG in ages. Loads of politics, backstabbings, in-depth story, etc. Plus, I love the whole setting. I mean c'mon, the game is supposed to be a historian looking over clues he collected, proving that Ramza (hero) was a good guy and not the heretic that the church tagged him as.

Tactics Advance was no fun. It lacked the same sort of job system and had you, like, gather abilities off of weapons and armor. Kinda FFIX-ish, and I really hated the system. Mogs were turned into fucked up rabbits and the story focused on some kids in elementary school. It's hard to make a game dark in setting when the main characters are about half my age. I mean come on.

Also, you might tag Tactics Ogre (great game by the way. Played the SNES version) as the defining game in the genre, but if I'm not mistaken, FF Tactics got loads more attention. I dunno about it being a rip-off, though.

But anyhow, this'd be left best without a sequel. Unless Squenix could prove that they have the skill to pull off an honorable sequel. I'd rather not like to see its name get dragged through the mud.

I wouldn't say it's a rip off at all. Sure, it used the same type of battle system, but how about Disgaea? Or Suikoden Tactics? The idea is there, and it has been implemented in different ways. I just liked FFT so much because it took the genre to a new level.

As far as Tactics Advance, it didn't keep the same feel to it at all. It was much more a kids based game rather than the serious nature of the original, along with the fact that it didn't have any decent semblance of a story. I don't consider it a true sequel at all, a true Final Fantasy Tactics 2.

Final Fantasy Tactics has no room for a sequel. Why defile one of the greatest games of all time with a sequel that has no hope to capture the magic, let alone any sort of continuity of the original anyway. Seriously, leave it alone. Square Enix announcing a sequel would be enough to make a grown man cry.

No, I understand those examples have their differences. What I'm saying is that Final Fantasy Tactics did not. It is practically a carbon copy of Tactics Ogre, with the only major difference being the three-dimensional battlefield.

I'm not talking about what you think. I'm talking about what Square-Enix thinks.

Considering the fact that Tacitcs Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics are created by the same person, what were you expecing from FFT? A new, genre-defining experience for all?

And besides, I know their are people out there who like the battle-system, but most people like FFT for the story.

Exactly. That's why I didn't like FFTA at all...the story. Granted, I haven't played Tactics Ogre, so I can't comment on the story within, but having a true sequel (Advance wasn't a sequel, simply a simplified port for "fun") would be great. Sure there is the chance they may defile it, but there is also a chance that it might turn out as great if not greater then the first. That is what this thread is about. If there were a sequel in the works, what would you want in it? What do you think of the ideas that I posted?

I think that Square could make a good sequel to Tactics, as long as they didn't mess with what made the first one great.

No, I wasn't expecting anything genre-defining. I was expecting a different game. Having the same writer doesn't explain why the actual gameplay is identical.

I wouldn't want an actual sequel to Tactics, as I've seen what SE does with sequels, and it frightens. However, I'd love to see a Final Fantasy style sequel... as in similar game with an entirely new cast and story, utterly independent of its predecessors. I think if they did it in the same style as Suikoden and kept the parts of the story that truely worked, i.e. the retelling of a history from within, the grandiose rising and falling of nations and the concept of the hero and anti-hero's true roles within all of it, it would be wonderful. So long as they didn't ease off the pedal in terms of keeping you involved with the constant updates to people's biographies and the twisting stories.

Now, as for classes, I would love the concept of levelling up the classes and powering them up. I'd also love to see a more dynamic shift in terms of armour to sprite appearance. If your archer is wearing a cape, give the man a damn cape.

For me, however, the truly important bit would be the story. So long as they more or less came through in that department, I'd be thrilled.

Come to think of it... maybe we could tell the story of St. Germonik...


Also, I believe it was more than the same writer. I think it was pretty much the exact same team.

As Denicalis said, the whole team was the same. Matsuno was the Director and Writer for both games, and he probably was the Producer as well.

What? No. A few members who left Quest to work for Squaresoft does not count as Quest developing the game.

They're hardly the same game. I could go into detail on the "differences" between the two games, but it really shouldn't be necessary. They're similar in some ways for obvious reasons, but the same game? That's just simplistic and untrue.

I was obviously using hyperbole.

Some people probably think I dislike Tactics, but that's not the case. I'm just bothered by the fact that it seems to overshadow a better game for no real reason.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced seems to be a 'What-If?' story, as the world of Ivalice is clearly seperate from our own, and the version that was visited was .

I'd say its like this:
Final Fantasy VI and VII are in the same main series, but have very little in common, as do the rest of them.
FFT and FFTA are doing the same thing: General same series, but only related on a marginal (at best) level.

The only way they could NOT fuck up the sequel is if the producer of the game (Who also did Vagrant Story, correct?) have wide creative freedom in the design of the game, much like how FFVII was co-written by Nomura, even though he was offically only the Character Designer... he had a lot of influence none the less, so having the guy with all the ideas and the knowledge of what Ivalice [Proper] is all about, it would make for a much more failthful Next Gen continuation, rather then a horrible travesty of IP Usage.

You know... I keep hearing amazing things about FF Tactics. Is it really that great of a game? Is the story truly mindblowing?

I suspected as much with how strongly motivated you seem to be on this but perhaps you can take some comfort in the fact that the more "serious" SRPG fans tend to favor Tactics Ogre in a comparison. Personally I like both games a great deal. However, there's no denying that Tactics Ogre is the more balanced SRPG, and it arguably has a better story if just because a good branching storyline is more impressive than a good linear one.

If my icon is any indication, I'm a big Ogre Battle fan and Ogre Battle on the SNES was actually my first SRPG. So I can understand (and share to an extent) the frustration over Tactics Ogre being overlooked just because Final Fantasy Tactics happens to have "Final Fantasy" in the title, but thems the breaks.

Actually since I've started playing the game, the FF monkier only serves to distinct the job classes as being of traditional FF elements (Along with the Chocobos & Cloud in Ch. 4, lol ), so I think people would still play the game even if the Final Fantasy Elements were taken out. Its just that those job classes & other small details are recognizeable and help establish a 'theme'.

Its always harder to start a theme with an original IP, so sometimes, (Such as in this case apparently), the company will loosely use a more popular franchise/title as the skelaton of a game, but largely build it as if it were a completley new title. This is done for marketing reasons usually, but there are other reasons and other examples as well (Of which I can't think of any right now, haha).

Yes. And yes. It has a very dark and mature theme and plot with twists, deception, backstabbing, mind screwing and the like. Even the shoddy translation doesn't hurt the game. There's some seriously evil shit going on inside this game.

As for Tactics Ogre, one day a monkey was sitting in the rain forest took a crap and out came a miserable pile of dung that was later shoved in a box and thrown on a shelf with a price tag, and that's all I need to say about that.

Whether FFT copied Craptics Ogre is irrelevant. Anyone with a bit of sense can tell FFT has superior gameplay, graphics, story, music and everything else. You know, all those things that apparently make-up a game.

Sorry sir, but you fail.

Wonder what's keeping Squeenix to release a game that was that awesome again. =/

Just with the music is far from enough. Can't compare such stories; FFT shits on Tactics Ogre's, just like that.

Yes of course, fail, gtfo, pixels, etcetera. I've heard that shit before.

Just like how I always hear how people say Final Faggotry Tactics (you see what i did there) is better, in every way, yet silence always follows the bold statement. I'm never sure if it's because they've told themselves so many times that FFT is better that they actually believe it, or if they've just never played Tactics Ogre before.

Oh God, not another Final Fantasy thread.

Yes, it is, but it was one with a purpose in mind, originally. I would rather cut out the Tactics Ogre vs. FF Tactics arguement, since it is really moot. Some people prefer one to the other. Big deal. I have never played the former, although I'd like to, so I can't make a comment one way or another.

I was just hoping for some more discussion on a sequel for a game that definately deserves one, unlike the rest of the later games that have come out, or the milking of FFVII that is happening to this day.

If anything, Tactics deserves a PS3 remake before a sequel. The reason being is that the original story was not written to support a sequel. We know this because of the game's ending. What you're describing in you're first post is just a crapity crap game bearing the Tactics name. I mean if you're worried about a Tactics 2 introducing us to characters like Steiner and Vaan then clearly we're not in the same universe the original brought us to. Seriously, Square Enix not releasing a sequel to this game is the smartest decision they have ever made.

Despite the FF nay-sayers going wild here, I definately love FFT :) Mainly because I'm a huge fan of that specific team's work on games in general, not just because I like FF titles. I mean, like a lot of things FF-related, the only thing keeping the relative title are some of the creatures used in random battles and a few job titles. It's just really easy for someone that's bitter and jaded to go on a tirade about how everything FF blows and S-E should stop milking it. I don't have any clever rebuttle to those arguments, because really it's about what you enjoy, so whatever :D Spouting your opinions won't change what other folks enjoy, be it fanboyish or not.

Ramble ramble. With FFT and the whole Ivalice world of games (Vagrant Story, FFXII), it's not really about sequels. It's about games taking place in a similar world throughout its history.

That's about all I've got.

I think you're getting carried away there. Who's been talking like that in this thread?

I probably did get carried away :) Wasn't referring to anyone in particular, I just notice stuff like that crop up in FF-related threads and had to ramble about it.

Didn't mean to side-track. Carry on!

Well, if there wer a sequel to FFT, It would have to expand on the job classes, obviously. It would probably have some basis on the classes in the upcoming FF III for the DS, since that's the most current game that will feature a job system. Also, it would be interesting to see the Zociac system come back, but with even more - not only would the zodiac stones corrupt bad guys, but perhaps good guys could recieve stat bonuses or new attacks from them. Lots of ideas to throw around. In any case, it would have to do one thing to be a true sequel - have the same abilty to spend hundreds of happy hours cursing at it, like I did with the original. :)

Well, by sequel I wasn't necessarily meaning "continued from the existing story", more an existing in the same world with the same ideas the first used. If you think what I described in my first post was craptacular, I would rather know what is so craptacular. I mean saying "LOL it sucks" does nothing to help me. I would rather have some actual intelligent discussion going on here rather than inane posts, thanks.

And by going with Steiner, what character can you name in the first Tactics game was even remotely like Steiner? Comedy didn't have a place in the game because it was a serious game, and that made for a far better game. Comedy has its place (see Disgaea), and that place is not Tactics (in general).

All I would ask of a Final Fantasy Tactics 2:

1. More characters on the field at one time to control.

2. More noteworthy characters on your side. Seems like occasionally you'd find people and once they joined, they were disposable. Ramza was pretty "eh" as a main character.

3. No bullshit like the end of FFT's Chapter 3, where you almost need to plan ahead to have Ramza equipped with AutoPotion/X-Potion and you can't back out to equip/learn it if you've already saved prior to that battle.

4. Shorter leveling periods. Realistically, the best way to gain experience in the game was to throw rocks at your own teammates and even that took awhile.

5. More skill slots.

I played Tactics pretty good, then I just lost interest in it shortly into chapter 4. It's okay, but I definitely prefer the Nippon Ichi/Fire Emblem titles and the way they're set up. Tactics felt a little too restricted a lot of times.

FFT2 had been actually planned for PS2 but it was changed as FFTA...

As you know, Matsuno had been employed by Quest and had developed both Ogre there. After Tactics Ogre:The Knight of Lodis(for GBA), Quest had offered Matsuno co-development, so Matsuno decided to make FFT2 on GBA and then he changed it into an entry-level SLG, FFTA.
According to him, there are the two types of FFT: FFT or FFTA. Also, it varies depending on the console which type FFT they will develop. Now, I'm personally sure Matsuno will be shunted off to portable console because of repeated postponement of FFXII. So what we will met can be a FFTA sequel, not a FFT sequel.
And we have to remember SE took over the copy right of Ogre from Quest. Matsuno may plan an Ogre sequel, rather than a FFT sequel.

Discussing "if there was..." topics is kindoff pointless to me. I could spam the rpg forums pretty bad with games that deserve a sequal. Instead you should have made a general discussion thread on the first game. This thread only leads to things like: omg this game rulez!! and then 40 lines of things you would like to see in a sequal which will never come.

Unless you become a developer there isnt much you can do. Only dream.

This thread inspired me to fire up FFT again. Yes, it's that good. One of the few games that you can sit down to play for a few minutes, and suddenly lose 8 hours.

I actually enjoyed both FFT & FFTA equally. While FFT definately has the better story (I had a hard time relating to the kids), I liked the battle system in FFTA quite a bit better. Some of the small changes, like being able to take back moves, made for a bit more of an enjoyable experience. IMHO, of course.

I loved FFT, it was the first game that made me spend an entire day playing videogame (with small stops to bathroom and lunch).

And I belive a sequel to it would be amazing, too bad FFTA wasn't that great.

But if most of the game was renewed it woyld be awesome, SquareEnix could use 3D characters in an SRPG (FFXI graphics for exemple), and considering a SRPG doesn't take too much space in a disk (due to the lack of scenarios and stuff we could have a visual similar to Valkyrie Profile 2.

The story, in my opinion, should be all new. If it would be the same world or not it wouldn't matter much. And besides all the jobs FFT had Square could add the jobs found in the others FF's (FFXI and FFX-2).

It would be awesome to see a new FFT, but I don't think that's gonna happen at least anytime soon, and like Taisai pointed, SE owns the rights for Ogre series now, so either a new FFT (please for the love of God, a mature story this time) or a new chapter in the Ogre series would be greatly appreciated.

Wait you mean this is a figment of my wildest dreams? Say it isn't so :( :( :(


PRE-POST EDIT:Huh, i need more posts before i can post images? Yay. Anyone have an idea how many i need?

Edit2: Bah i'll just post the URL's this makes me mad

img424.imageshack.us/img424/6716/fft2boxucls0.jpg
img315.imageshack.us/img315/1674/fft2boxucbacksb6.jpg

I think US fakes are funny. If there are no covershots of the Japanese versions to begin with, especially considering it's a Japanese game we're talking about, it's obviously fake.

Those are pretty nice fakes though. The art was done by Brownie Brown i think, and i love their art style a lot.

But yeah obviously they're fakes, they haven't been announced at all.

I myself haven't borne out this yet, but it seems to revealed clearly that Matsuno had quited SE... Given Chrono Break, I guess SE won't make any FFT(or Ogre) sequels positively without Matsuno. However, ex-Quest squad, who had developed Ogres without Matsuno, still can belong to SQUARE ENIX. So, there ain't no chance that they will make a sequel... I personally never ever wanna play Matsunoless FFT(or Ogre), tho.

I'm terribly sad...

NOTE:I may edit or even delete this post in the future.

Good luck trying to delete it. :D

I'm sorry, but... Matsuno left SE a year ago. I also confirmed.

If there is a FFT sequel, all I have to say is nerf the assasin from FFTA...too damn strong...

There is no FFT sequel, mate. FFTA was a game that used the same name but had nothing in common. He's talking an actual sequel, not that slap in the face we got.

:aargh:

Damn...

Yeah, what was that? FFTA destroyed my dreams... :(

Seriously, though, I thought FFT left the field wide open for a true sequel, or at least, something!
Story-wise, there's a slew of options they could've ran with.

Hmmm... I think I've convinced myself that I don't want a direct sequel (and that my plot crafting skills are terrible). Actually, maybe they could do a prequel that follows Balbanes or Orlandu (sans the broken-ness) in the 100 Years War or a game that runs concurrent with the FFT, but allows you to follow Delita's story in more detail... that might be the ticket.

Cheap Bastards!

Well, honestly I did not play the PS1 FFT much. Borrowed it from a friend to try it out because he offered it to me for 5$....and being the n00b I was at the time I turned him down.

Sad times :(

Why a sequel? I think a prequel would definitely hit the spot!

Anyways it is a true pity that there won't be anymore Ogres...

I second the comment on no more Ogre Battles - those games ruled. Also, I would like to know more of Balbanes' story, like what happened to his first and second wives, his friendship with T.G. Cid, so a prequel would be cool. Thing is, though, how would they make it as beautiful as they did the original? Those graphics were astounding - and how to properly include all the races and jobs that have been introduced hence? I'm interested to see if they would put a Cannonballer in (a new job in FFV Advance) or not.

A pity with Ogre Battle is that March of the Black queen was actually the 5th (or 4th can't remember) episode of the saga. Meaning that there was a lot of gap for expansion of a storyline.
SE could easily make another FFT game with astounding beauty that overwhelmes the first graphically, but would we really want that? They could easily throw a lot of pretty boy faces (both hero and villians) in replacement of the original FFT's more rugged male characters <_<. No, I wouldn't want that

I've played FFT alot. Alot. I have one 90 hours on one single save file from the first time I had it, not to mention countless hours just playing for the sake of getting nearly everything. XD Even picked up another copy (lost the first one in a move) when I got Disgaea 2.

That out of the way, I'd love to see an actual sequel. I played (and owned) FFTA out of boredom - while on it's own, it wasn't that bad of a game, the 'FFT' moniker was just too much for it to stand up next to. It's hard to compare to an original, especially when you remove a majority of the things that made the original what it was. >.>

What I want to see in a sequel:

More, well, tactics!
Remember how you could use monsters as well as humans? Monsters are generally much slower, can't move as far, don't do as much damage (on your team, that is) and generally are just throw-away targets. I think that if you can use them as characters, give the user some incentive to do so! That doesn't mean human-ize the monsters to the point of holding weapons (a la Disgaea), but it does mean giving them something that humans can't do besides the occasional status-effect - which brings me to...

Status Effects That Make Sense
Face it, a character that has status-effect attacks is either overlooked (because said status attacks rarely hit) or so powerful, they're overrated (look at Orlando). To my knowledge, Sleep is the only one that honestly makes sense - if/when it hits, the enemy character, well, sleeps. Until being bashed, of course. How is it that when you get hit with Paralyze (or a variant), you can't move, but you can still act? Or when you're Poison'd, you can still move and attack at the same rate, but you only lose health? I don't know about you, but if I were poisoned and tried to fight someone, I don't think I could hit them as well as normal. o_O Speaking of hitting...

That's not a knife. That's a knife!
A cue should be taken from Disgaea 2 on this one: IF I'M HOLDING A MYTHRIL BOW, IT DAMN WELL BETTER LOOK LIKE ONE AND NOT THE CHEAP $1 DISCOUNT BOW. There's nothing more embarassing than equipping a super cool weapon, only to have the generic trash in your hands. Yes, I want to see my enemies fall to my good looking weapons. >:[ And clothes, too. Realistically, if my character has a cape equipped, but is kicking back in jeans and a vest, I'm going to wonder why. (I mean, I know, but yeah.) And with clothes and weapons, come...

Finally, a use for all that power-leveling!
Jobs. Classes. Whatever you call them, I want more. You're going to get your bases by default - knight, archer, class-with-two-panel-attack, mages (pick a flavour) - but I want to see more diverse classes. To put it a different way, I want one part branching (Class A - Class A1 - Class A2), one part specialty (Main Character decides to be a knight -> Dark Knight | Holy Knight -> ??? -> Profit!) and a few parts WTF (things like renaming/having custom titles, random abilities to that individual in that class/things that can be gained on a New Game Plus). Shake it up, y'know? And most importantly...

There's no place like home! Well, unless it's a strip-club...
Stay true to the story you're sequel-ing. It's one thing to be stagnant, but another to have such a radical change that nobody knows what the hell it is, or was supposed to be the next part of. The story can reach back and touch on events that weren't finished (Delita's flipping out is one that comes to mind), but it shouldn't feel like a huge side-quest. Give the consumer (us) a reason to play a *new* game, and not feel like we're playing Final Fantasy Tactics 1 ½.

I have more ideas and stuff, but I don't want to throw them all down here. XD

I didnt want to look like an ass revieing a dead thread and all, but I figured I had to say something about a Final Fantasy Tactics Sequal. the things I am about to say might piss some people off but the only reason I feel that I can say them is because I special recgontion from Square for the amount of times I have played and beaten this game from start to finish. Over one thousand times and I hit that mark in 2001. i am not here to brag though, I actually want to put up some good ideas for a sequal.




Location

it would be in a broader span of Ivalice WITH OUT any of the FFTA characters. No offence I loved the game I just dont think they belong in the original Final Fantasy Tactics world. There would be more battlefields and dungeons. The Dark Dungeon was just not enough for me. The all around world would become bigger. Maybe three times what the original Ivalice was.


Story

It would be a direct sequal to the game. Half of it would be Oiln Duri looking for Ramza and his sister. This would work perfectly if you plan on expanding the world itself. The other half would be Ramza and his sister trying to clear their name and bring honor back to the Belouve bloodline. Along the way Olin would run into many old eneimes that where not killed including the church because they are still trying to keep everything hush hush. ramza would run into new enemies and people that doubt his heritage and call him an anarchist against the king. (yes I know the king is technically a child but its still just a game)

Characters

Honeslty there is going to take me some time to think of new NPCs but of new job classes I would add the FFTA classes to the game where some of the classes would be transendent classes, like FFTA's champion would be the transendent class of the knight. None of this stupid shit like haveing regular characters being holyknights. Thats just too powerful for normal characters. The NPCs that will join your party will have those titles just like the original, but not the regular team.

Party & Fighting

your party would actully be just like Final Fantasy Tactics, only instead of 5 people on a team you would get 6 people. The random battle monsters would lvl the same as you just like the game. The only real big changes would be that storyline battles will also lvl up with the team and the classes would also be able to use spells that you have learned adding to the challenge. Also the battle maps in some areas will have differnt high lvls. It was seen in some of the castles in Final fantasy tactics, but here it would be like two or three different hight levels.

Style

sprites with the 3d mapping keep it old school

Classes and Skills

just like I said above, jobs would transend to higher lvls, and they would also get new abilites. Samurai's would not lose their sword to weapon breaking beause that sucked alot when I played my all samurai team I lost alot of swords. Jp would also be a bit easier to gain that way you can learn and master all of the teir one classes before moving on to transended classes, because haveing certain skills for one will passivly power a trancened skill of the same type.

replay value

the game would have alot of it, some of the side quests would not be unlocked till you beat the original game and alot of the real hardcore weapons would be in dungeons that are only accessed after beating the game once, and no, you will not be able to keep your team from the end game.

i would actually have to write this out more to give a full spectrum of what I would make this game into.

tactics advanced was gay and has no right to be called a sequal...thats just me.