Let me tell you why (and I'm not going to spoil anything for you):

-It contains elements of gameplay from previous Final Fantasy games, the AP System from FFIX and other installments, as well as all the tactical goodness from the other Final Fantasy Tactics game.

-It makes good use of one of the oldest Fantasy Cliches. It COULD HAVE felt tired, but this game makes it work.

-The art is about the cutest and most colorful I've seen in a game since Suikoden III. As we all (surely!) know, Suikoden III was the Playmobil Roleplaying Game.

-It glues itself into your hands. Don't believe me? Check out some of the things Penny Arcade has said about this game. Go ahead, I'll wait. Simply put, the gameplay is addictive as all get out.

-The gameplay is mission based, while this may turn some people off, it works well for me.

-Since this is a Tactical game I wasn't expecting any character development or story. What I've seen so far has been entertaining.

Okay... This is sounding like I've turned into a fanboy, let me also note that there ARE some negatives here.

-The sound is kinda cheesy. It sounds like the really old Final Fantasy games from the NES.

-It's on the Gameboy Advance. This means that if you've forgotten to plug it in and are playing it in your living room it might turn off on you in the middle of a looooooong fight. It happened to me a few minutes ago. Which is why I'm not playing it right now... And I'm told that the SP version of that machine is better for this game, the backlighting making better use of the colors or somesuch.

-Not as many classes (seemingly at least, I'm only about twenty hours into this game mind you) as the Original Tactics game, but I haven't noticed anything lacking.

-For some reason you get to place items on the map. For some other reason this means you can get treasure for free if you put the landmarks in the right place. This confuses me and I try not to think about it.

All in all this game is a quality installment to the series. A tad on the childish side, but it's solid, addictive gameplay more than makes up for it.

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