Confession time: While I’ve always been a huge fan of Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Tactics is a blindspot for me, and it’s not for lack of trying. I own all sorts of different versions of this game, from the black-labeled PSX original to the War of the Lions edition on PSP, I’ve tried, but it just never clicked. With this improved version coming out on HD and 4K consoles, I’m hoping this changes, but after spending almost an hour on it… I don’t think that’ll be the case.
For what we can tell you right away prior to jumping into gameplay, there’ll be two versions of the game right out of the box–enhanced and classic. The enhanced version of the game features improved graphics, fully voiced dialogue, and apparently refined gameplay. The game also sets out to be a little less difficult by introducing a more accessible “Squire” difficulty designed to make it a better starting point. To round out the package, the classic version the gameplay and graphics from the original 1997 release is combined with the War of the Lions translation to make this the definitive FFT package.
I get that perception depth is important, but I’ve never been a fan of the cursor controls when it comes to FFT’s isometric look.
Moving into the gameplay, people love it. I don’t. Maybe it’s because I grew into strategy games with Fire Emblem as a starting point, but to me this just felt and continues to feel worse. With the game coming out at the end of the month, I know that there won’t be any changes or improvements that’ll mean anything to me.
So what don’t I like? There are two things, and I’d call them pretty major. First is the fact that the game is isometric. I absolutely hate fumbling through the D-Pad or stick to move my cursor left or right because of bad positional depth perception. I never have this issue in Fire Emblem because all the action is on a straight chess-like plane, while other games like Unicorn Overlord and Square’s own Triangle Strategy don’t feel this disjointed.
My other issue is that while there’s been some attempt at making the game flow like you’d expect a AAA game in 2025 to (I love the ability to hold the right shoulder button to speed the action up), there isn’t enough quality of life improvements for me. If I move a unit in front of another to attack and there’s absolutely nothing else in range for me to attack, I shouldn’t have to manually move my cursor over to the enemy I’m attacking. That sort of thing should be automatic, and I don’t know why this isn’t a function in 2025.
At the end of the day, that’s the way the FFT games always were, especially since every turn ends with having to make your units face a certain side of the field, but this could easily have been the same requirement at the end with the other improvements to turn flow actually made. If you’re walking into this as your first strategy RPG like so many others have, it’s easy stuff to pick up. You’ll be fine. But if this isn’t your first rodeo with the genre, having played other modern strategy games that have done it right makes it hard to not compare its shortcomings to other games.
The addition of a full voiceover definitely makes the story more epic while making the setting more immersive, but you still gotta wonder how much better this could have been in HD-2D.
That isn’t to say the game has no positives. As I got over my gameplay issues, I did find some fun the build. FFT is known for having one of the best and most epic stories in all of gaming, and all of that is definitely enhanced by the cutscenes and voice acting now featured in the game. The demo we played got us through some key plot points, and I definitely appreciated the acting chops shown by the cast in the little bits of VO we actually got. As far as presentation and menus go, The Ivalice Chronicles does it better than it ever has, but I wonder how much better it would have been had Square taken this the HD-2D route.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is set for a September 30 release on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and both version of the Switch. It won’t be from me, but definitely come back as we get closer to release for a full review on the game.
Confession time: While I’ve always been a huge fan of Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Tactics is a blindspot for me, and it’s not for lack of trying. I own all sorts of different versions of this game, from the black-labeled…
Confession time: While I’ve always been a huge fan of Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Tactics is a blindspot for me, and it’s not for lack of trying. I own all sorts of different versions of this game, from the black-labeled PSX original to the War of the Lions edition on PSP, I’ve tried, but it just never clicked. With this improved version coming out on HD and 4K consoles, I’m hoping this changes, but after spending almost an hour on it… I don’t think that’ll be the case.
For what we can tell you right away prior to jumping into gameplay, there’ll be two versions of the game right out of the box–enhanced and classic. The enhanced version of the game features improved graphics, fully voiced dialogue, and apparently refined gameplay. The game also sets out to be a little less difficult by introducing a more accessible “Squire” difficulty designed to make it a better starting point. To round out the package, the classic version the gameplay and graphics from the original 1997 release is combined with the War of the Lions translation to make this the definitive FFT package.
I get that perception depth is important, but I’ve never been a fan of the cursor controls when it comes to FFT’s isometric look.
Moving into the gameplay, people love it. I don’t. Maybe it’s because I grew into strategy games with Fire Emblem as a starting point, but to me this just felt and continues to feel worse. With the game coming out at the end of the month, I know that there won’t be any changes or improvements that’ll mean anything to me.
So what don’t I like? There are two things, and I’d call them pretty major. First is the fact that the game is isometric. I absolutely hate fumbling through the D-Pad or stick to move my cursor left or right because of bad positional depth perception. I never have this issue in Fire Emblem because all the action is on a straight chess-like plane, while other games like Unicorn Overlord and Square’s own Triangle Strategy don’t feel this disjointed.
My other issue is that while there’s been some attempt at making the game flow like you’d expect a AAA game in 2025 to (I love the ability to hold the right shoulder button to speed the action up), there isn’t enough quality of life improvements for me. If I move a unit in front of another to attack and there’s absolutely nothing else in range for me to attack, I shouldn’t have to manually move my cursor over to the enemy I’m attacking. That sort of thing should be automatic, and I don’t know why this isn’t a function in 2025.
At the end of the day, that’s the way the FFT games always were, especially since every turn ends with having to make your units face a certain side of the field, but this could easily have been the same requirement at the end with the other improvements to turn flow actually made. If you’re walking into this as your first strategy RPG like so many others have, it’s easy stuff to pick up. You’ll be fine. But if this isn’t your first rodeo with the genre, having played other modern strategy games that have done it right makes it hard to not compare its shortcomings to other games.
The addition of a full voiceover definitely makes the story more epic while making the setting more immersive, but you still gotta wonder how much better this could have been in HD-2D.
That isn’t to say the game has no positives. As I got over my gameplay issues, I did find some fun the build. FFT is known for having one of the best and most epic stories in all of gaming, and all of that is definitely enhanced by the cutscenes and voice acting now featured in the game. The demo we played got us through some key plot points, and I definitely appreciated the acting chops shown by the cast in the little bits of VO we actually got. As far as presentation and menus go, The Ivalice Chronicles does it better than it ever has, but I wonder how much better it would have been had Square taken this the HD-2D route.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is set for a September 30 release on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and both version of the Switch. It won’t be from me, but definitely come back as we get closer to release for a full review on the game.
by Danreb Victorio
