In a recent disclosure from Square Enix, details surrounding the forthcoming remastered edition of Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles were shared via an interview posted on their blog, with the game’s Director, Kazutoyo Maehiro, uncovering various intriguing aspects about the project. This highly anticipated rejuvenation of a classic does not incorporate fresh elements from Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, a noteworthy point being Square Enix’s loss of the original game source code.
Maehiro examined the multifaceted reasons behind the team’s decision not to include content from The War of the Lions iteration and instead, reiterated their focus on this enhanced relaunch. He further explained how the source code and master data from the original game unfortunately do not exist anymore, making their task immensely challenging. Here’s a deeper dive into the key parts of the conversation:
Maehiro was asked why the team decided to update the original Final Fantasy Tactics rather than rehashing the War of the Lions version. He responded by saying that although he and some of his team members were uninvolved with the War of the Lions, it was a game that certainly satisfied players’ expectations at that time.
Nevertheless, when reflecting on the game after nearly three decades, they endeavored to ascertain what their team, creators of the original Final Fantasy Tactics, could do to rekindle this game for a whole new generation of players. It led them to the conclusion that the most fitting path was to honor the original game’s experience and redesign it in the most compelling way possible.
When asked if they considered incorporating elements from Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions like Balthier, Luso, and the Onion Knight and Dark Knight jobs, Maehiro revealed that while the addition of new jobs, abilities, and characters was indeed considered, they came to the understanding that the original Final Fantasy Tactics is a fully finished product in terms of game design and storyline. Any major alterations would only disappoint not just fans of the original game, but also players new to the title.
Digressing to the challenges experienced whilst developing Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles, Maehiro shared that the primary obstacle they experienced was the absence of the master data and source code from the original game. The root of this challenge wasn’t due to mismanagement or mishandling but more as a result of the non-existence of such robust resource-management tools and practices during the production stage of the original game.
He further stated that the painstaking franchise revival was achieved through agile problem-solving. It required deep dive analysis of multiple existing versions of the game and reconstructing the original program. However, the process demanded massive effort and dedication from the team, akin to the hard work spent on retro game porting.
Eager fans will be pleased to hear that Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles is set to launch on September 30, 2025, and will be playable across PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (Steam).
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