Despite having been released almost thirty years ago, Final Fantasy Tactics is still remembered as one of the best tactical role-playing games ever released and one of the finest entries in the Square Enix series, thanks to its incredible story, deep gameplay, and the most refined iteration of the series’ Job system, which grants it excellent replayability. I played through the original and the War of the Lions PSP release dozens of times, testing countless strategies, experimenting with wild Job combinations, and finding unusual ways to play—all while continuing to enjoy Ramza’s journey through a war-torn land and Delita’s efforts to reshape their world, as if experiencing it for the first time.
Having played both the original and the War of the Lions release extensively, I welcomed the announcement of FINAL FANTASY TACTICS – The Ivalice Chronicles after years of rumors. While nostalgia alone would have been enough to draw me, or any fan of the original back, Creative Studio III – the studio behind Final Fantasy XIV and Final Fantasy XVI – has delivered an enhanced version that meaningfully elevates the original with some excellent quality of life and presentation improvements.
In both Enhanced and Classic modes, the story remains faithful to the original PlayStation release, with only minor script differences in Enhanced mode based on the War of the Lion localization featured in Classic mode. The game stars Ramza Beoulve, the youngest scion of the House Beoulve that has served Ivalice with pride for centuries, often providing leaders for the Order of the Northern Sky, one of the most renowned knightly orders in the land. Young Ramza was expected to follow in the footsteps of his father and older brothers, but destiny had other plans. After a traumatic event during the campaign to take down the Corpse Brigade – a band of former soldiers and knights turned outlaws – Ramza cast aside his family name and became a mercenary in Goffard Gaffgarion’s band. His values and convictions, so different from those of his older brothers, soon brought him into conflict with every man vying for power in Ivalice. In the process, he uncovered a terrible secret that would mark him in history as a despicable heretic.
Similarly, his childhood friend Delita Heiral’s life was forever altered during the campaign against the Corpse Brigade. Taken in by the Beoulve family after his parents’ deaths, he and his sister Tietra were raised among nobles who never hesitated to use them for their own ends. Vowing never to be used again, Delita became known as the hero who ended the War of the Lions that ravaged Ivalice. Yet, as history shows, heroes are rarely knights in shining armor, and Delita is no exception.
Narrated as a sort of essay on the Durai Papers (which outline Ramza’s role in the War of the Lions by a fictional historian who wrote about it after the war), FINAL FANTASY TACTICS – The Ivalice Chronicles does not shy away from showing the grim realities of war and politics, providing thought-provoking moments that feel as relevant as they did in 1997. Written by Yasumi Matsuno, the mind behind the Ogre Battle series, including Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, which shares much with Final Fantasy Tactics in gameplay and narrative, the story delivers from beginning to end. It masterfully intertwines Ramza’s “secret” history with Delita’s role in the War of the Lions, the plotting of every player in the war, and the overarching manipulations that influenced the conflict. The narrative is so rich that I think it wouldn’t be out of place to compare it to George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels, though in a more compact and complete form.
Although the story is thoroughly enjoyable in Classic mode thanks to the War of the Lions script, Enhanced mode elevates it further with subtle script tweaks and some of the best voice acting I’ve experienced in years. Not only are Ramza and Delita masterfully voiced, but every other character is as well, no matter their importance. The performances add emotional weight to memorable sequences. Without giving spoilers, the spiteful remarks on the roles of nobles and lowborns delivered by a certain character at the end of Chapter 1 were unexpectedly striking, performed with incredible nuance. Other scenes later in the game are equally memorable. With performances like these, the War of the Lions never felt more real.
Experiencing the War of the Lions, and the secret war Ramza waged as the White and Black Lions clashed, would be reason enough to play The Ivalice Chronicles. But its gameplay makes it even more worthwhile. None of the game’s features were particularly innovative compared to contemporary titles like Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together and the first few entries in the Shining Force and Fire Emblem series, but the way they combine still makes it a standout among tactical RPGs.
At its core, regardless of mode, The Ivalice Chronicles is a turn-based tactical role-playing game where players pit up to five units against the enemy, who generally outnumber them. Player and enemy AI take turns moving units, attacking with equipped weapons, and unleashing abilities depending on the Job command to complete a map’s objective, often involving defeating all enemies, a specific enemy, or protecting a guest unit. Basic Jobs like Squire and Chemist provide simple skills, while advanced Jobs – unlocked after improving others – offer specialized abilities. Knights can use Art of War to reduce stats and destroy equipment; White and Black Mages handle healing and offensive elemental magic; Thieves excel at stealing; and hybrid Jobs like the Samurai offer balance between physical and magical attacks.
Using a Job “as-is”, however, is not the way to go in FINAL FANTASY TACTICS – The Ivalice Chronicles. The game’s Job System is one of the most versatile variants of the system still today, allowing players to create units that can equip every Job command, alongside Reactive (counterattacks based on Bravery), Support (passive boosts), and Movement abilities (mobility enhancers). This system, and some of its quirks, such as the stat growths of each Job and how certain abilities scale, allow for the creation of so many different units, and some rather unusual ones that no one would ever try to combine. For example, the infamous White Mage/ Lancer combination is still as effective as ever. With the White Priest’s surprisingly good speed stat growth and the Lancer’s Jump requiring high speed to be more viable, it’s possible to create a healer that can strike enemies from anywhere on the map. Another example is the Black Mage/ Samurai combo, which can make the Iaido Job command devastating at high magic power.
Even sticking specific abilities to certain Jobs can make them way more effective. For example, a Knight with the Ninja’s Dual Wield skill not only can deal massive damage with weapons equipped in both hands, but can attempt the Art of War abilities twice per turn, making it easier to break equipment and lower stats. A Chemist, an Orator, and an Archer also make for great equipment-breaking units with the Art of War command, as the Knight Job command works with ranged weapons like guns, bows, and crossbows. The great synergy between different Job abilities is further enhanced by Job synergy as well. For example, a powerful Monk works great as a support for any magic-based units, as the Chakra ability restores HP and MP depending on physical attack. Add in the special jobs of story characters like Mustadio the Machinist and Agrias the Holy Knight and recruitable monsters, and you get a customization system so deep that any combination of Job and abilities can work well.
However, having such a deep customization system opens up some balancing challenges. The original PlayStation release is known for being a game that is very easy to break, and the same applies to FINAL FANTASY TACTICS – The Ivalice Chronicles. Although Enhanced mode features multiple difficulty settings, including a hard difficulty mode called Tactician Mode, if you have already played the original or the War of the Lions release, you will have no trouble winning every story battle with ease. Knowing enemy positions and abilities is a massive boon in a game where you are often outnumbered, as proper preparation is the key to victory, especially in a certain infamous multi-stage battle in Chapter 3. Thankfully, the high difficulty of these battles has been toned down by a quality-of-life improvement that allows the player to return to the world map between battles. Enemy levels also do not scale with the player, unlike random battles, where enemies are at the level of your most powerful units, so in a few cases, it’s possible to brute force your way through by grinding even without having a solid customization plan for your units.
Those who never played the game before, however, will find FINAL FANTASY TACTICS – The Ivalice Chronicles to be rather challenging even at regular difficulty, especially at the beginning of the game with limited knowledge of the game’s main mechanics. In this regard, the new version of the game does an excellent job bringing the player up to speed, providing all the information needed with some thorough explanation of the battle mechanics and the Job system. This can overwhelm newcomers and be tricky to apply at first. Thankfully, it doesn’t take long for everything to click, and by the time you reach some of the game’s infamous challenges, you should be well-versed in the game’s intricacies to properly set up your characters. Just make sure to have multiple save files if you are playing in Classic mode, or you risk having to restart the game from the beginning, as one of these battles requires specific abilities to win.
This challenge will also be the last hurdle you will need to overcome, as soon after, an extremely powerful character will join your party, one who can clear maps all by himself due to his job command and overpowered equipment, further highlighting some of the game’s balancing issues. This character feels slightly toned down over the original, but he is still extremely powerful and embodies a sort of hidden Very Easy mode that, thankfully, can be easily avoided by not using him in every battle.
Classic mode being a recreation of the original with some minor tweaks lifted from the War of the Lions release, but without any of its additional content, such as extra characters and Jobs, only Enhanced mode features the wealth of quality of life improvements outlined before release. These improvements may sound minor on paper, but they improve the experience greatly. The new menu keeps the spirit of the original, but it’s way more usable, featuring a new Job Tree that provides a clear look at upgrade paths. The in-battle interface provides a clear turns timeline that makes it easier to use abilities that require charging, like magic and the Archer’s Aim Job command. The ability to cancel units’ movement and the option of speeding up combat are also great additions that make battles snappier and more enjoyable.
Rounding up the new features is the ability to see the map while deploying units, and enemy units in random battles as well, and the extremely welcome option of fleeing from random battles, which makes traveling around the map hassle-free. A State of the Realm summary has also been added, making it very easy to follow events and learn more about characters in conjunction with the Encyclopedia that provides detailed information on characters, locations, and terms.
The most noticeable change Enhanced mode introduces over Classic mode is a visual overhaul, including a few new cutscenes that look significantly better than those in Classic mode, alongside generally enhanced graphics. The visual overhaul, however, is only a modest improvement. While locations and sprites display at higher resolution and have lost the pixelated look of the original, some visual noise remains noticeable throughout, so much so that I wish there were an option to combine all of Enhanced mode’s new features and superb voice acting with Classic mode’s visuals. In this regard, the soundtrack fares similarly: both Enhanced and Classic modes feature the original score, which still sounds fantastic, though it would have benefited from a remastering.
Speaking about the PC version specifically, FINAL FANTASY TACTICS – The Ivalice Chronicles is a competent, if not a little barebones, port. With undemanding visuals in both Enhanced and Classic Modes, my system (i7-13700F, RTX 4080, 32 GB RAM) had no trouble running the game at locked 60 FPS at 4K resolution. In terms of options, the game doesn’t feature much, only including a Display Mode selection for Borderless, Windowed, Fullscreen, a resolution selection, a brightness slider, and toggles for a focal effect and VSync. While having a forced 60 FPS cap and the lack of graphics settings can disappoint some, with its undemanding visuals, even dated system configurations should have no trouble running the game smoothly at any resolution. The option to rebind keyboard controls is also a welcome option that too often is missing in modern PC ports.
Despite minor visual inconsistencies and some missing content, FINAL FANTASY TACTICS – The Ivalice Chronicles is an outstanding reimagining of a classic tactical RPG. With meaningful quality-of-life improvements, superb voice acting, and its rich, immersive story, it’s a must-play for both returning fans and newcomers. Hopefully, the game will mark a long-overdue revival for a series that has remained in the shadows for too long.
PC version tested. Review code provided by the publisher.
9.5
WCCFTECH RATING
FINAL FANTASY TACTICS – The Ivalice Chronicles
Decades after its original release, FINAL FANTASY TACTICS – The Ivalice Chronicles remains the golden standard for tactical role-playing games. Refined with excellent quality-of-life improvements that enhance its already deep gameplay and superb voice acting, the War of the Lions’ story and battles have never felt more engaging. While the modest visual overhaul and missing War of the Lions content may disappoint those seeking a true definitive edition, they are minor issues in an otherwise excellent reimagining.
Pros
Amazing thought-provoking story
Excellent cast of characters
Masterfully crafted tactical combat with great compact map design
Best Job system in the series allowing for great character customization
Superb voice acting in Enhanced mode
Quality-of-life improvements make for an even more enjoyable experience
Cons
Modest visual overhaul
Soundtrack hasn’t been remastered
Missing content from the War of the Lions
Still very easy to break difficulty if you know what you are doing
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