One of the most oft-requested remakes/remasters is finally real and Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is a phenomenal way to experience one of the franchise’s best games.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles
Developed By: Square Enix
Platforms: PlayStation 4|5, Xbox Consoles, Nintendo Switch/2, and PC
Release Date: September 30, 2025
Final Fantasy Tactics is finally back! I’ve waited a long time for this (as have many other fans). Originally launched in 1997, it was a critical darling and was fairly successful…it just so happened to get overshadowed by the other big Final Fantasy release in 1997. You know, Final Fantasy VII, which dramatically changed the franchise going forward.
As such, even with decent sales, Tactics became more of a cult hit for players. It managed to get a pair of follow-ups years later on the Game Boy Advance and DS consoles (where they remain locked), along with a remake for the PSP with War of the Lions. These were all relatively well received and made modest sales, but the spin-off series was largely still niche.
As such, we’ve gone nearly 20 years without a solid playable Final Fantasy Tactics game (we’re not going to talk about the iOS version for War of the Lions) unless you held onto your old consoles. I cannot properly convey my excitement when I first loaded up The Ivalice Chronicles, nor my anxiety. I have fond memories of the game (admittedly War of the Lions on PSP was my primary playthrough), but having been unable to play it after so long—and enjoying the many other similar tactical games that have come out since—I was worried all my love was based in nostalgia.
Thankfully, that’s not the case. Not only does Final Fantasy Tactics still whip an insane amount of ass, but The Ivalice Chronicles is hands-down the best way to enjoy this classic game for both fans and newcomers alike.
Game Basics
The Ivalice Chronicles gives players two options upon starting the game. You can play the “Classic” or “Enhanced” version of the game. Both of them or remasters in their own way, with the Classic version being a straightforward remaster of the original game, allowing fans to enjoy it they way it was first released (mostly). The Enhanced version is where all the swanky new quality of life additions have been made.
For the purposes of this review, I stuck mostly to the Enhanced version and, to be entirely upfront, I haven’t completely finished The Ivalice Chronicles just yet. It’s a long game, but considering I’ve played it (a couple times) already, I’m mostly here to talk about what makes this new version worthwhile. After 25+ hours of play time already, I’ve seen all the newness it throws at gamers and feel confident in talking about it.
If you haven’t played the game before, I’ll make this review a bit easier: it’s fantastic. The story is phenomenal and continues to hold up incredibly well. It’s themes of class warfare and injustice are both timeless, and a little too timely at the moment. Combine that with some highly engaging characters, dynamic twists, addictive gameplay, and a stellar soundtrack, there’s a reason it’s highly regarded. The changes made in The Ivalice Chronicles (which I’ll break down shortly) don’t alter what made the original a must-play. It’s still a sprawling, epic fantasy that sticks with you.
The core of the game remains the same. You’ll travel the world of Ivalice as Ramza, where you’ll face down brigands and feuding royalty in the aftermath of a long, drawn out war. Battles take place on an isometric battlefield, where you’ll have to select units, arrange them strategically, and utilize their unique skills in order to win the day. Outside of battle, you’ll need to improve your units by leveling them up, spending Job Points (earned like XP) to learn new abilities, and equipping them with the best possible gear.
The combination of the tactical gameplay and heavy RPG roots is an effective one that turns just about every play session into one that’s hard to put down. I can’t tell you how many times I told myself “just one more battle” only to find another hour go by. Because each battle can play out different depending on the choices you make, it doesn’t matter that I’ve already played this game a couple times; it still feels fresh, exciting, and challenging.
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
Let’s talk about some of the changes made to the game with its enhancements!
Decide Your Level of Ass-Whipping – Tactics was known for being a rather tough game, with a steep learning curve. One of the best things about The Ivalice Chronicles is how much more accessible it’s made the game for players. On top of offering three different difficulty levels to choose from (which can be changed at any time), gamers now have the option to save progress during the middle of battles…You know, in case you want to try something bold that backfires.
On top of that, Random Battles have been significantly tweaked. These are now optional as you’ll have the option to flee from the battles rather than play them. Also, when you hit on waypoints on the map, you can “search” for a battle if you want to gain experience.
Don’t worry, the game still has its challenges, but these improvements make the game less punishing for minor mistakes; eliminating frustrations for players new to the genre and making it far more accessible for everyone.
Scripts – Whether you’re playing the Classic or Enhanced version of the game, the scripts are going to be a bit different from the original release…Namely because the translation for the original title was notoriously not great. Now, the Classic version of the game uses the far superior War of the Lions script. The Enhanced version, however, has gotten some additional tweaks to account for the shift to a full voice cast (allowing for better conversation flow, etc).
Refined RPG Aspects – One of the greatest things about Final Fantasy Tactics is how deep it’s RPG system is. The Job/Class mechanics remains one of the best in the genre, and managing those elements is honestly as engaging and entertaining as the combat itself. The Ivalice Chronicles keeps this intact, while managing to refine them even further (along with balancing out some of the skills).
Managing your Jobs/skills is easier than ever, with some simple User Interface changes on the menu. There’s a new visual “Job Tree” you can look at as well, which clearly shows players the paths characters need to take in order to attain certain jobs. This way, players can plan ahead and train for some of the latter stage jobs they want to acquire.
Among the quality of life improvements made to the game is how much easier it is to make changes/adjustments to your team members. Players can now make changes to equipment, abilities, and even change jobs as you’re selecting units to place on the battlefield. Previously all of this had to be done between battles/missions, meaning if you accidentally hit a random encounter before you could change things, you were stuck until after.
On top of making the RPG aspect of the game easier to keep up with, it also improves the overall flow of the game. You can jump from battle to battle without having to take, making your changes on the fly without having to take big breaks in between (if you wish).
Smoother Gameplay – Other changes that make the overall gameplay experience smoother is the amount of information provided on the screen during battles. Players can now see the actual turn-order of the battle, rather than guessing at it (like in Banner Saga), and the combat actions now have a predictive display showing your chances of success (as Fire Emblem does).
Blessedly, players can also reset their movements during their turn. Before if you made a move on the battlefield…you were stuck with it. If you realized after moving you were in a terrible position, well, that’s tough. Now you can reset the turn and plan out your strategy a little better without feeling punished for it.
Along those lines, there’s also the new “Tactical View” gives you the option to take an expanded look at the battlefield. This flattens out the perspective to eliminate obstacles that might be blocking enemies (or your own characters), allowing you to make more informed movement choices. Oh, and you also get the option to fast-forward through battle animations and such, which definitely helps with the level grinding later on.
For fans of this genre, these gameplay tweaks aren’t necessarily new and have been used in a number of games in recent years. Regardless, it’s refreshing to see them here, as they go a long way towards modernizing the experience for Final Fantasy Tactics. It feels like playing a modern turn-based tactics game, one that was made within the last couple years rather than almost 30 years ago.
Minor Quibbles
I will say, the learning curve aspect still feels a little steep. The new version definitely does more to breakdown the individual gameplay mechanics with tutorial pages, but that doesn’t change how fast the game goes from “here’s how to move” to “good luck.” Even having played the game before, I had to dive into some of the menus to remember how to do certain things. It’s not as punishing as it once felt, nor is it enough to turn away newcomers, but something to be aware of.
The only other “issue” I have aside from that, is the character designs remain a bit too similar. It makes keeping up with who’s talking difficult at times since so many of the character models are recycled. It’s not a huge deal, but considering they had to rebuild the game from the ground up, even some basic color palette swaps would have been nice.
Making the ‘Switch’
Normally on a multi-platform release, I don’t tend to talk overly much about which version I’m playing a game on in my reviews unless there’s some sort of major difference. To be entirely honest, I’m pretty sure there aren’t any major differences between the console versions for The Ivalice Chronicles. That said, there’s a specific reason I wanted to play this on the Nintendo Switch 2 and I think it might be the best way for newcomers to get into it.
Here’s the thing, FF Tactics is a dense game in both the story and mechanics. It’s a game that encourages players to think ahead and take their time. When a strategy fails you in a battle (sometimes at the end of a long battle), it’s a good idea to take a step back and examine what worked, and what didn’t.
As the story progresses, it becomes even more important for you to take a hard look at your battle teams, their job classes, and how you want to balance them out for maximum effect. I’ve spent entire play sessions on JUST tweaking my team, pouring through menus, cycling equipment, and learning/adjusting skills.
For me, this makes the Switch 2 version essential. I know everyone games differently, but a big attraction of the Switch in general, is its ability to work as a “casual” gaming session kind of device. Something you can fire up out of sleep mode right where you left off, play for 15 minutes or so, and go back to what you were doing. Tactics lends itself to the kind of “session” based gaming the Switch encourages. You can hop in to take on some quick random battles for XP or take more frequent breaks when you need time to plan/think about what all just happened.
Similarly, it helps with digesting the story. It’s a taut political thriller (think Game of Thrones) filled with intrigue and surprisingly heavy themes. There are plenty of times when some major stuff happens in the story and you simply need a break to sit with it all. Almost like when you’re reading a good book, and you need to fully absorb events before continuing on.
Speaking of reading…Even with all the new voice-over added in, there’s still plenty of reading to be done; especially through all the minutiae of the menus. For me, being able to do this with a device I can literally hold closer to my eyes as needed, was a big help.
On top of that, the older visual style of Tactics lends itself better to a smaller screen. That’s not to say the enhancements made for The Ivalice Chronicles don’t look sleek on the bigger screen—sometimes I docked the Switch 2 so I could get a bigger view of some of the larger battle maps.
Your gaming preferences may differ, but for what it’s worth…the Switch 2 version feels like the way to go with this release. Without a doubt, I’ve managed to squeeze in more hours of playtime than I would have if I were solely tethered to the TV.
At the end of the day, The Ivalice Chronicles does what any great remaster should do: make an already great game even better. It modernizes the gameplay to make it more accessible for newcomers, while retaining the depth and strategy that long time fans will love/expect. The improvements to the script and addition of voice acting makes the story fans already know feel fresh while offering some new surprises to enjoy as well.
