The forthcoming remake of Final Fantasy Tactics has been developed “by sheer force” as the source code of the original PS1 game no longer exists.
The long-requested remake was announced at PlayStation’s recent State of Play, titled The Ivalice Chronicles, and in a new interview with Square Enix, remake director Kazutoyo Maehiro discussed development challenges.
“There were a number of major challenges, but all of them stemmed from the fact that the master data and source code from the original game no longer existed,” he said.
The data itself wasn’t “mishandled or poorly managed”, he added, but keeping it “wasn’t a normal thing to do at the time”. What’s more, production began on the Japanese version but was then overwritten by the data of other languages.
To solve this problem, the remake was developed “by sheer force”, said Maehiro.
The director confirmed that newer content from the 2007 War of the Lions PSP re-release won’t be included, to “pay respect to the original game’s experience”.
So while The Ivalice Chronicles does utilise the improved English translation from the PSP game, it won’t include its additional characters and jobs – namely the likes of Balthier, Luso, and the Onion Knight and Dark Knight jobs.
Maehiro described the original Final Fantasy Tactics as “a very complete game both from a game design and story perspective”, and if the team “were to make major changes, it would only be a loss for not only fans of the original game, but also those new to the title.”
This also explains why this remake will include a classic version without modern embellishments, although this will still include some quality of life features like autosave and fixed bugs.
“Among fans of the original game, there will be those who believe that the game doesn’t need a lot of embellishment. To be honest, I’ve felt this way about a number of remastered titles in the past,” said Maehiro.
“So, there was no doubt in our minds that alongside the enhanced version, which is more in-line with the current era and more accessible to newcomers, we should also include a classic version that is based on the original build of the game.”
As for the modern version of the game, having it fully voiced “was a necessity”, said Maehiro. “On the other hand, the dialogue in the original game was written to be read by the player, so just having it be read out by a voice actor as-is would have felt quite unnatural,” he added. “So, with help from Yasumi Matsuno, who wrote the script for the original game, we tweaked the dialogue to make it better suited for voice.”
He also discussed the revised visuals. “One of the things that was so great about the original game was the sprites for the characters, which were cute, yet meticulously crafted,” said Maehiro. “The visuals for the maps were also put together in a very striking way, with textures and models that had a kind of warmth to them.
“So, for Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles, our aim was to further improve them without losing any of those qualities.”
The game will also feature an overhauled UI to match modern standards, as well as additional character conversations.
Said Maehiro: “In the time since the original game was released, fans have shared a lot of requests in relation to the story. By making this game fully voiced, we have become able to convey the characters’ emotions more accurately, and I think that because of this, we have been able to explore them, and their relationships with one another, in greater depth.”
He hinted that some of these conversations occur under “very specific conditions”, so players will need to hunt around to discover them.
Final Fantasy Tactics was first released on the PlayStation in 1997 in Japan and North America, but wouldn’t reach Europe until the War of the Lions PSP re-release. It has since become a beloved addition to the series, but until this remake it’s been stuck on old hardware – this was a key reason for this remake to be developed.
Following the announcement of The Ivalice Chronicles, original writer Yasumi Matsuno highlighted the political nature of Final Fantasy Tactics.
“And now, in 2025 – a time when inequality and division are still deeply rooted in our society – I offer this story once again,” he said. “The will to resist is in your hands.”
Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles will be released on 30th September for PS5, PS4, Switch, Switch 2, Xbox Series X/S, and PC (Steam).
