The ‘Final Fantasy Tactics’ Refresh Provides Its Class-War Story New Relevance

If a lot of that description sounds acquainted to trendy politics and tradition, Matsuno would agree. The conclusion of his submit reads: “Now in 2025—a time when inequality and division are still deeply rooted in our society—I offer this story once again.”

We Can Rebuild It

The Ivalice Chronicles might keep the look of the unique recreation, nevertheless it’s a re-creation builders needed to full from the bottom up. The grasp information recordsdata and the supply code don’t exist anymore; it didn’t develop into widespread follow in recreation growth to carry on to these sources till later, which means its group needed to rebuild these core items. Maehiro says the group listed out the methods the primary recreation felt “a little clunky or less intuitive,” then reconstructed these components with enchancment in thoughts. Part of that features tweaks to the way in which battles play out, like a transparent fight timeline for gamers to see whose flip is subsequent.

The director says that the group thought-about alternative ways to modernize Final Fantasy Tactics, together with following within the footsteps of Square Enix’s huge, multiyear remake of the unique Final Fantasy VII. “It was an option on the table that we considered—to give [Final Fantasy Tactics] a full remake, as we did for FFVII,” he says. It’s one option to successfully revive an previous recreation, he says, and it made sense to reinvent FFVII because it exists in the present day. Once a single recreation with an formidable plot, the expertise has been damaged out into three particular person titles to do the unique story service. Its blocky, PS1-era forged has been reworked into high-fidelity characters roaming an enormous world. The first recreation, Final Fantasy VII Remake, for instance, takes place completely in Midgar—a metropolis gamers the place spent solely a few hours within the authentic.

For The Ivalice Chronicles, nonetheless, Maehiro vetoed that concept. Part of the attract of the unique he says, was “the very charming pixel style artwork, as well as the 3D isometric maps you’re on for battles. I felt those were things that gave Final Fantasy Tactics its identity.” Maehiro didn’t need to lose that.

Other variations of Final Fantasy Tactics have been ported over or made for older consoles. That consists of Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions, a 2007 title made particularly for the PlayStation Portable. Notably, it added new jobs and further playable characters, comparable to Balthier from Final Fantasy XII. Because these options weren’t a part of the unique recreation, Maehiro and his group opted to depart them out.

“Our first and foremost goal here really was to recreate the original game,” Maehiro says. That being stated, he is aware of followers need options launched in War of the Lions. Maehiro says that whereas he “cannot make any promises,” there’s a chance the group will discover including further content material if the sport does properly.

More than that, Maehiro says, it may result in extra video games down the road. “If [The Ivalice Chronicles] were to become a success,” he says, “I do feel that that would then lead to discussions around potentially bringing out sequels, for example, or newer tactical RPGs.”