Depending on the day, Final Fantasy Tactics could be considered my favorite Final Fantasy. No matter the day, Final Fantasy Tactics is always my favorite SRPG of all time. In the time when I was desperate for games to rise to meet my developing mind, this was there. There’s a maturity to it that I think the series has never really been able to recapture that just pulled me in and never let me go. Tactics’ complex narrative sees young Ramza Beoulve navigate a power struggle in the land of Ivalice. War ravages his nation, as a conflict for the crown overshadows the needs of the people. There are so few games that are able to carry themselves in the way Final Fantasy Tactics has done, and I’ve never been able to let it go.
Time passes, though, and after years of patience, we finally have Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles ready to meet a new generation. I have spent around half a decade wanting this game to be playable on a modern device that isn’t just a mobile phone, so I was thrilled to see the long-rumored remaster finally unveiled. After countless hours of revisiting Ivalice (this is quite literal; unfortunately, the game doesn’t track your play time), I think I can confidently say that this was the remaster I’ve been waiting for all along.
At the start, you’ve got the options of two completely different ways to play Final Fantasy Tactics: Enhanced and Classic. Enhanced is the rebalanced and remastered version of the game, clearly the new and pretty version that the developer put the most effort into. The UI was entirely redone, the script in English and Japanese was given a new pass, the visuals have been touched up, and there’s now full voice acting. Classic is a new version of the original PlayStation release, with the original visuals, UI, but with the very popular War of the Lions (the PlayStation Portable remaster of the game) script used. I will mainly be talking about Enhanced, but I found my time with Classic to be a faithful version of the original game that will surely appease fans who don’t want to see all the new changes.
Enhanced features cleaned up sprites with added detail, bringing them a league above many other 2D game remasters that just throw sprites in a filter and call it a day. Character portraits in cutscenes have been cleaned up as well, now with added mouth animation, but retain the pixelation. The slowdown problems that plagued the PSP version are nowhere to be found, and the 60 frames per second is so smooth it unnerved me in the very first cutscene as the 3D environment of the church rotated into frame. I personally feel that all the visual enhancements are well-made, and the dithering filter added to them emulates CRT screens really well.
Visuals are probably the largest perceivable difference between both, but there’s a lot new under the hood of the Enhanced version. This version got script enhancements and new scenes by the original writer and director, Yasumi Matsuno. The UI, which is understandably clunky given its age, has been nicely touched up to make it more approachable for modern audiences. I was thrilled to learn that they’ve implemented the ability to undo movement actions before the end of a turn. You also have a battle timeline to properly plan ahead.
This job system is at the core of Final Fantasy Tactics’ gameplay, and is probably one of the most addicting iterations of the system I’ve ever seen. A tweaked version of Final Fantasy V’s job system in an SRPG is a recipe for success, and it’s just as engaging all these years later. Every character in your army can pick a Class, known as a Job. By taking actions in battle, you’ll gain Job points and gain Job experience. Points can be spent to unlock abilities under that Job, and these fall under: Action, Reaction, Support, and Movement. You can mix and match these between different Jobs to build unique units.
This means every battle is a way to develop your characters, allowing you to travel down the Job branches and pick up skills that will complement each other. A Monk is great with their native Brawler skill that allows extra damage with no weapon. From there, you could either take that to different Jobs, or pull Dual Wield from the Ninja job into Monk to essentially run around double-punching everything for serious damage. Maybe you want to stack this with the ability to ignore elevation, or increase your move distance? You’re always encouraged to battle more and optimize how your team is used in battle. This allows you to build some really broken teams, but the unbalanced nature is honestly part of the charm. The game is what you want it to be, and even if it’s not the most deep and perfectly balanced system, I think the hook of grinding jobs captured my heart for years and never let go.
Outside of this already fun system is a plethora of subsystems hidden in the background, not needed to be understood to make it to the end, but still really fun to learn. Almost every status ailment from the mainline Final Fantasy series is there, plus some extra ones like being able to cast Atheist or even Chicken. You can collect Chocobo to take you around the field if you want to use up an extra party space. Terrain, weather, and elevation can be used to your advantage as well. The game even gives every unit a Zodiac sign based on their birthday, giving them positive or negative affinities to different Zodiacs. There’s just a lot here to delve into if you have the time.
Enhanced mode’s balance changes are noticeable if you’re familiar with the old versions of the game, streamlining progression without taking away too much of the core experience. Your characters will gain JP (Job Points) much quicker, cutting back on a lot of grinding that many will feel is unnecessary. Going into my playthrough, I was a bit worried that changing too much of the game’s uneven difficulty pacing might alter too much of the game that I loved so much. Thankfully, the game is still plenty challenging despite the introduction of multiple difficulty levels.
Tactics was known for a really hard early game, which slowly peters off as you familiarize yourself with the systems, build your team, and recruit really broken story-specific characters. I think this curve has been smoothed out to make the early game more manageable without losing its teeth. I played most of the game on Knight (with brief bits on Tactician, the hard mode), the normal mode, and felt it to be plenty challenging. Some of the biggest gauntlets the game is infamous for are just as devilish. You have the ability to leave these chain battles now and reconsider your team make-up or grind some, with the great choice to make your party levels revert back to what they were before you entered. The friction isn’t gone from the experience, and the texture it created is still present.
The only downside to Ivalice Chronicles is what isn’t here. The original OST is masterful, and I love what they were able to do with the original PlayStation’s soundchip. However, it would have been wonderful to even have the option of a newly orchestrated OST. I’m also quite bummed that the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition doesn’t bother to implement the console’s Joy-Con 2 mouse feature at all. I’m a big fan of options in my remasters, so it is also a bit unfortunate that you can’t customize more of the visuals depending on your mode.
Endless digital ink has been spilled on the War of the Lions content being excluded, such as a few Jobs and several cutscenes not making the jump from PSP. A lot of people love this content, and I absolutely get why people are sad to see it gone. While Ivalice Chronicles has added to the supremely polished core experience, I’ll always wish this could have been a bit more here for all Tactics fans. In my opinion, though, nothing new to that PSP version was ever representative of what made this game so special to me. Tactics is its core gameplay and story, and that is here in all its splendor.
What truly makes Tactics unforgettable to this day, though, is the story, and this has always been the aspect that has kept it fresh in my mind since playing it so many years ago. Ramza’s journey to understand his privilege in a system far larger than himself makes for a poignant narrative that still feels relevant today. He grew up a well-intentioned noble, but a noble all the same. Matsuno’s writing is laser-focused on class divides and revolution, picking away at those scabs until nothing remains but blood. The first chapter of the game sees him learn about the turmoil around him, unsure why desperate criminals simply don’t commit crimes. Due to a horrible tragedy, Ramza leaves that life behind as he learns about the realities of the world around him. He’s a fascinating point of view character to frame the conflict. He rejects his family name, yet holds onto the ideals he was raised with. His sense of justice is something other nobles only consider lip service, but he continues to fight for this naive, idealized world.
On the other side is his childhood friend Delita, a man born a commoner who seeks to manipulate the system from the inside. As we see both of them navigate the rapidly changing world, their actions are always asking the player to examine if ends or means are more important. The nature of human conflict, an examination of war as a means to fan the ego of the ruling class at the expense of the people they oversee, and how organized religion can be politicized to control people with blind faith, is just why Final Fantasy Tactics has been leagues above most video game writing since it released.
It is genuinely sad to see that the world has not improved much since this game hit store shelves in the ’90s. Every conflict Ramza comes upon has to do with powerful, rich, and evil men abusing their authority, while the people who serve under them do nothing but what they can to simply survive. As you move from one arc to the next, it’s rare for you to feel true satisfaction. You are so rarely fixing anything, with systemic issues continuing to lay themselves bare. But Ramza’s ideals bring people together, and slowly but surely create a bit of a small community of people to fight with him. Would this ever truly be enough for you? Are we capable of something truly better? What would you be willing to do to achieve that?
Matsuno’s script, translated beautifully in elevated English for the War of the Lions version, does speak for itself. However, as a voice acting geek, I’ve always yearned to hear the many pointed ideological conversations from Tactics’ characters acted out in-game. Tactics on modern systems with voice acting is all I’ve ever wanted from a remaster. This wish has been granted, and the voice actors chosen to fill these roles are everything I could have ever wanted and more. All of my favorite moments were captured perfectly by these actors, and I think this will stand out as some of the best English voice acting from a Square Enix game.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is basically the dream remaster I’ve always wanted for the game. I’m sad it couldn’t be the perfect version for everyone, but what is here makes it certainly the perfect version for me. Everything I cherish in my favorite strategy game is better than ever, and I’m so happy to see them do justice to it. What was truly so important for me, though, is for Ivalice Chronicles to be able to deliver this game’s thematically dense narrative for modern audiences. Tactics was always a raw reflection of our real world and politics, and I’m glad Ivalice Chronicle feels like it has met the moment. I’ve spent years feeling that I’ve been unable to properly convey why this game is so special to me. Even now, I’m left with the feeling that there’s just so much more to say to do the game justice. I can only hope that this problem will infect a whole new generation of people who fall in love with Ivalice Chronicles.
Version Tested: Nintendo Switch 2
Review copy provided by Square Enix
