Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles Preview - A Timeless Classic For A New Generation

Remasters of classic pixel art titles always leave me conflicted. On the one hand, you’ve got wonderfully executed classics like Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D, while others like Chrono Cross or Final Fantasy 8 Remastered make use of AI upscaling that butchers the original assets, since there are few other ways to do them justice beyond redrawing everything from scratch.

If we want beloved titles from generations past available on new hardware, there is always a catch involved. Either the original source code has been lost, the original talent has long left the studios who made them behind, or something else that makes being a fan of classic series a bizarre exercise in compromise. But from what I’ve seen of Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles, it seeks to do something more.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles Is The Best Of Both Worlds

Upon jumping into Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles from the very beginning, it’s clear that Square Enix intends for this to be more than a simple remaster. It also doesn’t feature any of the content seen in 2007’s War of the Lions, opting instead for its own refined script set to feature additions and adjustments of its own. Instead of directly replicating the 1997 original, this is framed as the definitive experience that combines parts old and new.

This ambition is made clear by the animated opening sequence, which does a gorgeous job of reviving the character designs of Akihiko Yoshida and the wonderful world of Ivalice that calls them home. It’s a classic land of sword and sorcery which, at the time, was very different to the dieselpunk aesthetic of Final Fantasy 7. But it’s that divergence that made everything it presented so memorable, and how it took the series’ iconic classes and made them into worthwhile characters and narrative threads all their own.

From the main menu, you are asked to select between the classic graphical presentation without voice acting and similar additions, or the remastered version that comes with all of those things. It’s great that both are represented here instead of locking the old away.

Fans of Tactics will know the narrative well by this point, and how it follows main character Ramza in the aftermath of the Fifty Years’ War as he tries to reconcile where he belongs in his kingdom where esteemed lords and ladies will punch down on those beneath them. It’s an inherently political tale with immensely memorable characters and themes, but I wasn’t able to glimpse much from how Ivalice Chronicles expands upon it in my brief preview.

Square Enix has confirmed that the majority of characters are now fully voice-acted both in and outside of battle, while changes have also been made to the script in order to reflect its ambitions for Ivalice Chronicles. This will seemingly include not only new lines, but also new plot threads that seek to make this fantasy world deeper than ever. Tactics already features quite a timeless tale of political strife that director Yasumi Matsuno says is as relevant now as it was three decades ago, so I can’t wait to see how that perspective is expanded upon and deepened here. But there was one element of the voice acting that worried me: how it would impact the pacing of already existing scenes and those that unfold during battle.

I Hope Ivalice Chronicles Doesn’t Mess Too Much With The Original Pacing

Final Fantasy didn’t receive any voice acting until the release of Final Fantasy 10 for the PS2 in 2001. Until then, it was an entirely text-based experience. Players would conjure voices or personalities and project them onto characters using their own imaginations, which resulted in nobody experiencing these classic games in quite the same way. Tactics was no different.

Whether dialogue was unfolding in cutscenes or during the heat of battle, you would end up reading through several text boxes to stay caught up on the story, and the writing was sharp enough that we didn’t need voice acting to be pulled in. Ivalice Chronicles throws voiceover into a gameplay experience which, aside from now having the ability to speed up battles like most JRPG remasters of the past decade, hasn’t changed all that much. The pace of battle, in which extensive conversations often take place, remains unaltered despite voice acting now being a factor. This, at least in the two battles I saw, switched up pacing dramatically.

Before, you would read through lines of dialogue and voice them in your head in a matter of seconds, but now the distinct delivery of certain characters can take several times as long. I don’t believe this is a bad thing, far from it, but when no changes have been made to battles they are a part of, it’s hard not to be thrown for a loop. I and thousands of other players will undoubtedly get used to this, but it already frames Ivalice Chronicles as a very different game to its progenitor. As for the voice acting itself, it seems pretty good, with familiar talent like Ben Starr (Final Fantasy 16) bringing some of the iconic cast to life.

I played Final Fantasy Tactics Advance before getting my hands on the original as a kid, so I won’t lie that my nostalgia for this game isn’t nearly as pronounced as some others.

The moment-to-moment gameplay is largely unchanged as you travel across a world map to advance the story before jumping into battles where you pick units, and are given the context for why you are fighting before going off to the races. Encounters are always challenging and force you to consider the nuance of not only unit positioning, but also what abilities they have at their disposal and how to best utilise them.

One stage I played asked me to prevent Princess Ovelia from being killed while enemies closed in from all directions. I have the most fun with optional battles that put my skills to the test, allowing characters to gain experience, so story missions don’t absolutely wipe the floor with you. Fingers crossed Ivalice Chronicles throws in a few more for good measure.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles delicately strikes a balance between remaster and remake, and with many of the original staff returning to lead this revival, it’s clear it has been crafted with a lot of love. While I have some passing concerns about the pacing of its narrative now voice acting plays a part, it’s hard not to look at its satisfying gameplay, refined visuals, and encapsulating narrative without feeling a little bit excited. After years of waiting for a modern port of any sort, I’m glad one of this quality has finally come knocking.