Final Fantasy Tactics is probably, all things considered, my favourite Final Fantasy. As someone who isn’t really a huge video game lore person at the best of times, as in I forget most of it because my brain needs the storage space for memories of food, in my eyes it stands shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the best in the mainline series.
This is a game that gives me the tight, strategic combat fix that I want, you see, whilst delivering a world, characters and story that fit into the overall Final Fantasy vibe incredibly well, without requiring a degree in finalising all known fantasies to understand or fully enjoy. The narrative, which sees you slip into the shoes of Ramza Beoulve as he drops nobility for rebellion, is an epic one, make no mistake. It’s got all the twists and turns you’d expect, and a few more besides, making it easier to get into the groove of.
In serving up its fantastic story in such a direct and effective way — you can relax, I’m not gonna spoil anything — and in delivering the combat goods (and then some) upon its lovely little miniature, rotating battlefields, this game is just a winner in every conceivable way. I thought it was perfect in 1998, and I loved returning for The War of the Lions PSP version in 2007, an upgrade that added new characters, plot points, and jobs to proceedings. It’s just one of those incredibly moreish, flexible and deep turn-based efforts, the sort of thing you can replay many times over just to test new…well, tactics.
Of course, I’m bringing up The War of the Lions awkwardly here, because the stuff that it added, all the good stuff that I’ve just listed, is cut from this new version. Well, I say “cut”…I mean, yes, it has been cut, but it has also had some of its essence (purely in terms of its story, I should make clear) massaged gently into aspects of the retouched narrative of The Ivalice Chronicles. So you are losing all the stuff you were worried you would, but you are also getting a version of the game that looks and feels as though it’s been tightened up and smartened across the board in ways that make it very hard to criticise otherwise.
So let’s start with what we do get, rather than what’s missing. Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles gives you two versions of Final Fantasy Tactics to play with; The Ivalice Chronicles, or ‘enhanced’ version, affords you all of the new features that I’ll dig into in a moment, whereas the ‘classic’ version presents the original game with only minor QoL changes. Simple enough. However, there’s more to it than that. There always is.
The classic version here actually uses the War of the Lion’s script, you see, whilst the enhanced edition settles on a hybrid affair. You still aren’t getting any of the new characters/jobs from War of the Lions back, but playing through the enhanced version, I’ve been impressed by how much work has been put into what’s been done. This is not some lazy, slapdash, cut-content affair. We all know the game has been painstakingly rebuilt due to issues with the source code and whatnot, but with the addition of full voice-acting — easily the biggest and best addition here by the way — there’s also been lots of clever tinkering with the dialogue. It now flows better, it’s been cleaned up and made more easy to parse, and to perform, I’m sure, for the talent involved.
And they’ve gone all-out in this regard; they’ve even got that Ben Starr lad in. It really can’t be overstated what a difference it makes to hear the words not just acted out, but acted out so damn well. Even for someone like me who gives over much of their brain storage to thoughts of meat, I’m going to remember everything that happened this time. It’s emotional! And it drives home just how great a job they did first time around in giving us a rich and absorbing spin-off.
In terms of The Ivalice Chronicles’ other noteworthy changes, you get delicately enhanced looks, now wonderfully crisp and clear, and it’s a delight to see little touches such as the sunlight pouring through a window, or dust and other little bits of volumetric fun floating around in the air whilst conversations and battles take place. It’s nothing that’s going to make your jaw hit the floor — there’s no work for Ray Tracing or any of his pals here — but it delivers exactly what it intends to in a way that doesn’t mess with the classic vibes. And it performs beautifully in both docked and handheld while it does so.
With regards to gameplay, the biggest changes have happened pre-battle. Here you are now free to select characters and drop them into position on the map, a map that you can also now cursor around freely, hovering over enemies for details and so on before the action kicks off. It’s therefore much easier to get the lay of the land. You can also change jobs, swap equipment, and learn new abilities in the pre-battle period, which makes a huge difference in how things flow into the meat of the game.
In battle, the meaningful changes continue, with a new tactical top-down view letting you get a read on things at any time without scenery getting in your way (possibly the only thing that ever annoyed me playing the first one). Turn order being highlighted down the left side of the screen is also a huge change-up for the better, as is the ability to reset your turn should you move to the wrong place.
Alongside all of this, the UI also now shows you predicted hit damage, so you’re looking at scraps that give you more info more readily and allow for much more experimentation before running moves as a result. The enemy AI has seen improvements, too; there’s more range to how they react when you’re trying to flank and mess with them.
Little touches such as improved aiming, easier manipulation of the battle arena to view angles, markers to affix to enemies so you can keep track of them, and so on, add up to a game that feels genuinely fresher. It’s a notable improvement on something that was already fantastic, and that’s saying something.
The frequency of random battles as you travel has been lessened, and you can also freely skip out of these, choosing to flee rather than engage, which is great for players who just want to get on with the main thrust of things, rather than knowing that a play session will force extra encounters on you that hold meaningful progress back.
We also get all of the auto-play, fast-forwarding through enemy turns, and skipping dialogue and cutscene options you’d expect in this day and age, so the momentum of the game can be controlled to a greater extent here – which marries very nicely with Switch 1 and 2 bringing all of this to you in portable form. It’s just an easier game to play in bursts, especially given you can save at your leisure now. If you’re wondering about touchscreen implementation, there isn’t any, unfortunately.
Oh, I should mention — and again without spoiling anything important, I hope — that one character, who was sort of ruined in how late they showed up to the party in the original, now gets introduced more quickly, alongside their weapon, which was a total pain in the arse to get a hold of the first time out. Good news. And if you know what I’m talking about, even better news!
Where there was only one difficulty setting to choose from in Final Fantasy Tactics of old, The Ivalice Chronicles gives us three: Squire, Knight, and Tactician. I’ve played through the game on Knight, which is a smoothed version of the original difficulty, and it feels slightly less frustrating, a little easier than I remember it being, so if you’ve played before, you might want to jump to Tactician straight away. Although make no mistake, this game is still hard, even for returning folk. And so it’s nice that the easier mode is there to take away some of the gruelling aspects of battles for FF fans who want story over everything else.
Finally, this new version also brings back a bunch of “sound novels” which didn’t originally make it to the Western release, giving lots more lore and worldbuilding to dig into. This is great, of course; however, it’s the addition of the State of the Realm feature from Final Fantasy XVI that’s been impressing me most. It’s like they were thinking of me all along. I can jump in here and check out the story, the characters, the timeline, and the terminology at any time. I can get a re-up on my knowledge, thus enabling even the most forgetful amongst us to enter battles with a full awareness of why exactly I’m there. Truly priceless.
And so, what we’ve got here, in the end, is an excellent port of a truly fantastic tactical RPG — seriously my favourite of all the Final Fantasies I’ve played — that makes enjoying the thrilling tactical, turn-based combat at its core easier than ever. It tweaks things to make them smarter, it gives you more options to stop and take stock, and I personally love how it’s hybridised things (to an extent) with the story.
Returning to the game some eight years since the last time I played it, too, I’ve been thoroughly impressed all over again by the flexibility, and replayability, that’s built-in through the wonderful jobs system. Even without the stuff that got added for War of the Lions, when combined with the on-field strategy, the list of jobs here; from Thief to Samurai, Lancer, Dancer and/or Geomancer, the freedom it gives you to switch out and try new moves, spells and approaches to tough scraps, is as dreamily engrossing in 2025 as it’s ever been.
For newcomers, I’ve got zero reservations in recommending what’s here. It sits happily alongside Triangle Strategy, Valkyria Chronicles, XCOM — all the tactical titans of this genre — as a must-play, and it’s an adventure that’s lost none of its impact over the years. Facts.
And yet, I can’t ignore that, for returning players especially, the excision of the War of the Lions content (especially the characters and new jobs) will be a negative. Still, what a game though, eh.
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