Final Fantasy Tactics is one of those rare games that quite literally defined a whole genre — an essential text for the strategy RPG at large. But it’s also one of most beloved, and shockingly topical, stories ever told through a game. Recreating something with that legacy is no small task, but The Ivalice Chronicles development team is made up of veterans that worked on the original, and they’re hungry for more.
“If The Ivalice Chronicles can do well, that’s good for the fans, they can enjoy it. But, at the same time, it shows the business viability of the strategy RPG genre,” The Ivalice Chronicles director Kazutoyo Maehiro tells Inverse, “So that could potentially open the door for doing something with Final Fantasy Tactics Advance or A2, or maybe even sequels and new titles as well.
A staggering amount of work has gone into recreating Final Fantasy Tactics, partially because Square Enix didn’t have the original source code for the game — meaning it had to be rebuilt from scratch. But there was a deliberate effort to make this the definitive version of the game: one that could truly deliver on the original team’s vision.
With the impending released of The Ivalice Chronicles, Inverse talked to Maeherio, as well as art director (for both the original and remake) Hiroshi Minagawa, learning about the design philosophy for this version, some of the key changes that were made, and their hopes for the series’ future.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
I know it was quite a painstaking process to rebuild this game. I'm curious when you were starting that process, how did you land on this art style? Were there ever other kind of art styles, or visual styles that you considered for this remake, like HD, for example?
Minagawa: To start off by speaking a bit to the graphic side of things: Maehiro and I had spoken at an early point in this project about what sort of style we’d want to go with, visually speaking for the enhanced version. Theoretically, if I had said that I wanted to go with more of like a 3D rendering for the characters then Maehiro would have said yes.
That said, the original Final Fantasy Tactics is a game that I had worked on as my first project when I joined Square. I just have very strong memories with a lot of the other development team members I worked with at the time. So I really thought about how we can recreate this game. I wanted to take the original aesthetic and the original atmosphere, and make it even better, make it look even more refined. That was the reason we pursued this aesthetic.
Maehiro: Final Fantasy Tactics as a game and as an IP has charming characters as pixel sprites, and 3D isometric maps. And the combination of those two things is really the spirit of the visuals.
The HD-2D visual style was definitely a choice that we could have made, but I think that if we did go with that, rather than what we did, ultimately, we would have lost that almost storybook feel that the original Final Fantasy Tactics has as a visual style. Because of that we wanted to keep the original style, and make it look as good as possible on modern consoles.
Tactics was basically the inception of Ivalice, a setting that’s been used in various other games, like Final Fantasy XII. What do you think are the essential ingredients of Ivalice, and what is it like going back to this version in Tactics after all these years?
Minagawa: Truthfully speaking, I never really thought about the angle that you mentioned, outside of Final Fantasy Tactics, what was the approach or thinking in terms of how to create Ivalice as a world. Ultimately, though, I do believe that there is a common thread that exists, when it comes to the various titles we’ve put out that use Ivalice as a setting.
Certainly some shared processes that we would go through, especially on the graphics side of things. Matsuno-san would be the one to come up with the world and lore. From there, Akihiko Yoshida would be the one to illustrate the different characters to appear in that world. So my role would then be to take the hardware and different consoles and think about what graphics would match the world, and establish the framework.
That process does lead to a a common shared thread or taste that exists across all of them.
Maehiro: I’ve done a lot of things on the game design side for these Ivalice titles. But one thing that Minagawa-san mentioned in a separate conversations was how brown is a big color palette used. And that color palette and usage does leave a specific impression on the player.
The War of the Lions script is beloved by fans, because of its almost Shakespearean vibe. For the enhanced version, were you still looking to capture that Shakespearean element, or did you want to go for something else?
Maehiro: The Classic Version in The Ivalice Chronicles utilizes the War of the Lions script as the base, without any changes. Then the Enhanced Edition also uses it, and on top of that base from War of the Lions, we had Matsuno-san’s edits and additions to create the full product.
The localization director on the English side worked very hard to make sure to keep the spirit of the overall War of the Lions script, while also taking Matsuno’s edits into account. It really enhances the overall drama and emotions.
I wanted to ask about difficulty options, as The Ivalice Chronicles now has three. Was it hard to retool the game around these options? And with that, were there any infamous battles, like Dorter City, that you reworked or tweaked?
Maehiro: There were a couple of different reasons that we added difficulties. One of the big ones was because we’d heard so many players of the original version, just wanted to go through and enjoy the story. But like you said, there were some difficult hurdles, and they couldn’t really progress. Then just more in a broad sense, if you think about the strategy RPG genre — it’s something that if you start playing, you can see the fun in those types of games. But at first glance, there’s a barrier to entry.
So we have these difficulties, the casual one called Squire allows people to play through and enjoy the story without many hurdles. Then, on the flip side, we have Tactician, which is the hardest. That one is more aimed at veteran strategy RPG players. So if people have played the original a bunch of times, I’d highly recommend trying that one.
As for specific combat balance, we didn't make any major overhauls or changes. We did make some small tweaks, like, for example, some abilities that might have been hard to use.
You mentioned the Dorter fight, and there’s also the Wiegraf boss fight, which is fairly infamous. But in terms of base design for those, we haven’t changed that. So we have the three difficulties to compensate for it. And then on top of that we have the ability to retry battle, or when you’re doing consecutive battles, you can actually back out to the world map. We have those types of features for accessibility and ease of play.
You’ve talked about this a bit before, but with Cloud’s cameo in Tactics, how have you tried to make him easier to get for players? And with the Remake trilogy, did you ever think about enhancing Cloud’s role in Tactics?
Maehiro: Yes, Cloud was available in the original game and is available in The Ivalice Chronicles as well. Although we do have the Remake series ongoing, I don’t think because it’s happening, that we were going to make any specific changes in this version.
But, truth be told, with the original version, he came to your party very late. He started at level one. You didn't have the Materia Blade to use, so he was pretty difficult to utilize as a character at that point. So with The Ivalice Chronicles, we've made it so that his stats are adjusted a little bit. On top of that, he will come equipped with the Materia Blade when he joins your party initially. So in terms of usability of him as a character, it will be much more approachable than it was in the original.
“Truth be told, with the original version, [Cloud] came to your party very late.”
On top of that, the timing at which you get Cloud, is going to the timing at which you could get him in the War of the Lions version. So from that perspective, he’ll be a lot more useful – and he’s fully voice, as with other characters.
One of the big topics in video games this year has been a resurgence of turn-based games, because of a few specific titles. Do you thing tactical RPGs have a role to play in that resurgence?
Minagawa: Sure. I do feel because of some of the other titles that have been launching around the same window as us, it feels as though our title isn’t sticking out in a weird way. We’re not isolated, but we’re actually launching at a time where there’s this good flow. I wish I could say we did that intentionally, but we didn’t
Maehiro: Of course, with the different hardware advances that have come, we see a lot more action games. But I think, at the same time, that doesn’t really mean turn-based or strategy games went away. They’ve advanced withe hardware advances. I know we have titles that might start with P or have 33 in them, and fans really enjoy these games.
But strategy RPGs are opportunities where people need to be able to think and strategize to excel at these games. And people do enjoy them overall — so these games have a place.
With Tactics coming back, there are two other games in the Tactics series that are trapped on their original systems. Would you be interested in revisiting Tactics Advance and A2, and if so, Minagawa-san, would you consider a similar art style to The Ivalice Chronicles?
Maehiro: To start with the question about other strategy opportunities that haven't been remastered yet. We think the whole strategy RPG genre as a whole, and I’m saying this as a fan of the genre. Once you get into it, and start playing these games, you really see how fun they are. But then if you take a step back and look, maybe it’s a bit more of a niche genre overall.
If The Ivalice Chronicles can do well, that’s good for the fans, they can enjoy it. But, at the same time, it shows the business viability of the strategy RPG genre. So that could potentially open the door for doing something with Final Fantasy Tactics Advance or A2, or maybe even sequels and new titles as well. I think I speak for everyone who’s worked on the original Final Fantasy Tactics, and is working on The Ivalice Chronicles as well — we’d really like to see that happen.
Minagawa: When I think back to how I was involved with the original game’s development for Final Fantasy Tactics — I was in a position where I was responsible for the overall graphics. But when it came to other titles, for example Advance, I feel as though my role was more pulled back in terms of scope. So it feels like if I were to say this is what I want to do, I don’t think it’s something I’d be able to give an answer to until we actually try it out.
But then, even in terms of story in Tactics Advance, the central component of that is different from what you see in Tactics. So even if we were to use a similar pixel-based aesthetic, the approach would be one where it’s maybe a little more delicate, and more like pop-art.
