If much of that description sounds familiar to modern politics and culture, Matsuno would agree. The conclusion of his post 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 may maintain the look of the original game, but it’s a re-creation developers had to complete from the ground up. The master data files and the source code don’t exist anymore; it didn’t become common practice in game development to hold on to those resources until later, meaning its team had to rebuild those core pieces. Maehiro says the team listed out the ways the first game felt “a little clunky or less intuitive,” then reconstructed those elements with improvement in mind. Part of that includes tweaks to the way battles play out, like a clear combat timeline for players to see whose turn is next.
The director says that the team considered different ways to modernize Final Fantasy Tactics, including following in the footsteps of Square Enix’s massive, multiyear remake of the original 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 way to effectively revive an old game, he says, and it made sense to reinvent FFVII as it exists today. Once a single game with an ambitious plot, the experience has been broken out into three individual titles to do the original story service. Its blocky, PS1-era cast has been transformed into high-fidelity characters roaming a vast world. The first game, Final Fantasy VII Remake, for example, takes place entirely in Midgar—a city players where spent only a couple of hours in the original.
For The Ivalice Chronicles, however, Maehiro vetoed that idea. Part of the allure of the original 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 want to lose that.
Other versions of Final Fantasy Tactics have been ported over or made for older consoles. That includes Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions, a 2007 title made specifically for the PlayStation Portable. Notably, it added new jobs and extra playable characters, such as Balthier from Final Fantasy XII. Because these features were not part of the original game, Maehiro and his team opted to leave them out.
“Our first and foremost goal here really was to recreate the original game,” Maehiro says. That being said, he knows fans want features introduced in War of the Lions. Maehiro says that while he “cannot make any promises,” there’s a possibility the team will explore adding additional content if the game does well.
More than that, Maehiro says, it could lead to more games down the line. “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.”
Megan Farokhmanesh
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