Originally released in 1997, Final Fantasy Tactics is a cult classic from the PS1 era. Deviating from the established traditional JRPG format of the main series up to that point, Tactics allowed millions of players to immerse themselves in the world of Ivalice–a setting that would eventually make another appearance in Final Fantasy XII.
Nearly 30 years later, Square Enix has allowed many–including myself–to experience Ivalice for the first time, while also allowing experienced players to relive the same adventure they enjoyed all those years ago.
1997 vs 2025: What’s New?
In Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles, players have the option of choosing between the original game and the enhanced version. While the original version is mostly unchanged aside from an improved translation from the War of the Lions expansion, the enhanced version offers some much needed quality of life improvements including: the ability to fast-forward in battles, “tactical view” for scouting the battlefield from above, auto save, and adjustable game difficulty.
As someone who is used to having many of these features in other modern tactical RPGs, it’s great to have Square Enix add these to Tactics. Small additions like the adjustable difficulty and tactical view make the gameplay experience infinitely better. That said, the one point of feedback I do have is for the camera. While you can observe the field with the “tactical view” feature, it would be nice to be able to press the shoulder button once to lock the camera to that view as opposed to needing to hold the button down. This would make navigating the battlefield easier as buildings or structures on the map can make it difficult to view units at times.
While the enhanced version brings many welcome updates to game mechanics and the UI, unfortunately there is no sign of the extra content found in 2007’s War of the Lions version. While the localization was brought over from that title, the additional jobs and items did not make the cut. Sorry if you were excited to relive your experiences of commanding an army of Onion Knights.
Aside from that omission, the modernization of Final Fantasy Tactics has made this remaster a great entry point for someone who has never played the game before. Adventurers can expect to sink around 45-50 hours into the main story, with complete playthroughs taking around 90-95 hours for those who want to explore absolutely everything that Ivalice has to offer.
The Tactics are Tight!
The combat mechanics in Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles are fascinating, as the job system encourages experimentation with your units. Players are able to have up to 50 units in total, with battles often requiring just 4-6 units at a time, so it is crucial for players to try out different jobs for their party.
In other tactical RPGs, I’m used to having a unit just have one job and working on that individually. Meanwhile in Tactics, players are encouraged to switch between jobs with all of their units to obtain a variety of skills. For example, if you want to use items on the field, you have to level up a unit in the Chemist role and spend job experience points to be able to use Phoenix Down on dead party members.
Not only is switching between jobs a good thing to do for obtaining a variety of skills, it’s also necessary to unlock the more powerful job classes down the road. Admittedly, I am not a big fan of having to train my units to be able to use items, but otherwise I think this is a cool mechanic that allows you to create a unique party for a variety of needs depending on the encounter.
One thing about the gameplay that hasn’t aged well, however, is the necessity of grinding. In Final Fantasy Tactics, there are a handful of battles that spike the difficulty significantly, which required me to grind some levels and gil to be properly equipped. That aspect took a bit of enjoyment out of the game for me, as I’m someone that does not enjoy having to grind in games. For those returning to Ivalice, you can expect the same handful of tough battles from the original game; thankfully, there are adjustable difficulty options this time around, but those seldom helped me when it came to unit preparations.
Cool Story, Bro
The story in Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles, while identical to the original version, is as endearing as it was nearly 30 years ago. To quote game director Kazutoyo Maehiro, “it feels as though the tale of resisting against inequality and division echoes with even greater relevance today,” and I could not agree more. The story is further enhanced with the newly added full voice acting. The cast’s performance adds a new layer of immersion to an already fantastic story, including Ben Starr who has returned to the Final Fantasy franchise–this time as Dycedarg.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles not only brings back a fan-favorite spinoff of the Final Fantasy series, but also delivers a wealth of improvements to create a polished tactical-RPG experience, complete with a culturally relevant story that has been given new life with stellar voice acting.
Originally released in 1997, Final Fantasy Tactics is a cult classic from the PS1 era. Deviating from the established traditional JRPG format of the main series up to that point, Tactics allowed millions of players to immerse themselves in the…
Originally released in 1997, Final Fantasy Tactics is a cult classic from the PS1 era. Deviating from the established traditional JRPG format of the main series up to that point, Tactics allowed millions of players to immerse themselves in the world of Ivalice–a setting that would eventually make another appearance in Final Fantasy XII.
Nearly 30 years later, Square Enix has allowed many–including myself–to experience Ivalice for the first time, while also allowing experienced players to relive the same adventure they enjoyed all those years ago.
1997 vs 2025: What’s New?
In Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles, players have the option of choosing between the original game and the enhanced version. While the original version is mostly unchanged aside from an improved translation from the War of the Lions expansion, the enhanced version offers some much needed quality of life improvements including: the ability to fast-forward in battles, “tactical view” for scouting the battlefield from above, auto save, and adjustable game difficulty.
As someone who is used to having many of these features in other modern tactical RPGs, it’s great to have Square Enix add these to Tactics. Small additions like the adjustable difficulty and tactical view make the gameplay experience infinitely better. That said, the one point of feedback I do have is for the camera. While you can observe the field with the “tactical view” feature, it would be nice to be able to press the shoulder button once to lock the camera to that view as opposed to needing to hold the button down. This would make navigating the battlefield easier as buildings or structures on the map can make it difficult to view units at times.
While the enhanced version brings many welcome updates to game mechanics and the UI, unfortunately there is no sign of the extra content found in 2007’s War of the Lions version. While the localization was brought over from that title, the additional jobs and items did not make the cut. Sorry if you were excited to relive your experiences of commanding an army of Onion Knights.
Aside from that omission, the modernization of Final Fantasy Tactics has made this remaster a great entry point for someone who has never played the game before. Adventurers can expect to sink around 45-50 hours into the main story, with complete playthroughs taking around 90-95 hours for those who want to explore absolutely everything that Ivalice has to offer.
The Tactics are Tight!
The combat mechanics in Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles are fascinating, as the job system encourages experimentation with your units. Players are able to have up to 50 units in total, with battles often requiring just 4-6 units at a time, so it is crucial for players to try out different jobs for their party.
In other tactical RPGs, I’m used to having a unit just have one job and working on that individually. Meanwhile in Tactics, players are encouraged to switch between jobs with all of their units to obtain a variety of skills. For example, if you want to use items on the field, you have to level up a unit in the Chemist role and spend job experience points to be able to use Phoenix Down on dead party members.
Not only is switching between jobs a good thing to do for obtaining a variety of skills, it’s also necessary to unlock the more powerful job classes down the road. Admittedly, I am not a big fan of having to train my units to be able to use items, but otherwise I think this is a cool mechanic that allows you to create a unique party for a variety of needs depending on the encounter.
One thing about the gameplay that hasn’t aged well, however, is the necessity of grinding. In Final Fantasy Tactics, there are a handful of battles that spike the difficulty significantly, which required me to grind some levels and gil to be properly equipped. That aspect took a bit of enjoyment out of the game for me, as I’m someone that does not enjoy having to grind in games. For those returning to Ivalice, you can expect the same handful of tough battles from the original game; thankfully, there are adjustable difficulty options this time around, but those seldom helped me when it came to unit preparations.
Cool Story, Bro
The story in Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles, while identical to the original version, is as endearing as it was nearly 30 years ago. To quote game director Kazutoyo Maehiro, “it feels as though the tale of resisting against inequality and division echoes with even greater relevance today,” and I could not agree more. The story is further enhanced with the newly added full voice acting. The cast’s performance adds a new layer of immersion to an already fantastic story, including Ben Starr who has returned to the Final Fantasy franchise–this time as Dycedarg.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles not only brings back a fan-favorite spinoff of the Final Fantasy series, but also delivers a wealth of improvements to create a polished tactical-RPG experience, complete with a culturally relevant story that has been given new life with stellar voice acting.
by Michael Fertitta
