You'll love it if:
- You like strategy games, strategy RPGs ike Fire Emblem, XCOM, Into the Breach, Baldur's Gate, and Divinity: Original Sin
- You like intriguing stories, with a fully developed plot, lots of characters, different kingdoms, and political tensions between them
Not for you if:
- You prefer something with more gameplay action
- You want a more accessible story, not Game of Thrones, which is full of lore that you have to pay full attention to while reading and remembering names
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is a remake of Final Fantasy Tactics, which was released for PlayStation 1 in 1997. It is a spin-off game of the main franchise, changing the familiar turn-based JRPG gameplay of the other Final Fantasy games to a turn-based strategy game, such as Fire Emblem, XCOM, and many others.
It adopts various elements from the original game series, such as the high fantasy setting, the names of the different jobs characters can have (Black Mage, White Mage, Monks, Dragoons, etc.), spell names (Cure, Cura, Curaga, etc.), and the names of other items. This remade version also features the game’s more modern aesthetic, but players can also choose to play through the original PS1 version.
TL;DR
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is a remake that stays very faithful to the original PS1 game, perhaps more than necessary. It has excellent worldbuilding, great voice acting, a deep job system, and gameplay that makes you think strategically. However, I don’t feel that it offers anything substantially new to justify its existence as a remake. If you love strategy RPGs, you’ll enjoy it. If you’re looking for something more modern or “lively,” you’ll probably find it somewhat unnecessary.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles – Story: GoT but with Cure Spells
The events of Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles unfold as a historical narrative, with the story following the adventures of Ramza Beoulve, the son of an aristocratic family. The setting is the kingdom of Ivalice, where a 50-year war known as the “War of the Lions” had taken place. Therefore, we find ourselves in the aftermath of this war, which has destroyed almost the entire kingdom. In short, there are many uprisings by the citizens, and major distrust of the current aristocracy.
As the story progresses, you learn more and more about this world, the tensions with neighbouring kingdoms, the relationships between the aristocrats, and the betrayals that take place. In general, I would describe the story as a political drama, with a lot of worldbuilding, different fronts, and far too many names (hence the GoT reference). The latter requires a lot of attention, so you don’t get lost in the chaos.
In The Ivalice Chronicles, the story is told through cutscenes that are essentially dialogues between characters, using classic in-game models with text bubbles. The remake is fully voice-acted, which is quite a good feature, and something I always appreciate. It is also divided into four major chapters.
On the positive side, I can say that the worldbuilding is very good, and it makes you want to learn more about the world and the characters. At the same time, the story is quite pleasant and definitely doesn’t bore you. I also can’t overlook the fact that the voice acting is quite good and has a good flow.
Let me be a little meanie, though, and point out some negative aspects. While the game has a lot to teach you about the world, it requires a lot of attention, plus you have to read the supplementary material provided in the menus (Chronicle > Encyclopedia) and in the taverns you can visit (in the form of eavesdropping on rumours). Furthermore, while the updated character models are beautiful, I feel that for a “remake,” the standards should be higher. For example, I would at least like to see 3D models interacting with each other instead of the game’s “pawns” talking with text bubbles (hey, maybe it’s me, I’m the problem).
And as a bonus personal comment, I should also mention that everyone speaks in this old-fashioned English style, as if you were reading a Jane Austen novel (I LOVE her, BUT). And yeah, it fits the fantasy setting, but personally, it didn’t really suit the setting that much for me. But of course, others might like it, because in this life, everything is a matter of taste, am I right?
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles – Gameplay: Spell Chess
Unlike the rest of the franchise, Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is not a JRPG, but a strategy game. Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is divided into “tracks,” or different maps, where you have your own players, essentially your army, which you can customise as you wish (more on this in the mechanics section). There are enemies you must defeat, and the battle ends when you kill all the enemies and, of course, you lose when all your own characters die (kinda obvious lol).
Each map is divided into squares that players can walk on (like a chessboard) and perform different actions depending on their class (jobs) and the skills they have learned. The layout of each map has buildings and other environmental elements that affect how you can approach your enemy and the strategies you can follow. In addition, you can change the angle from which you view the map, and here, in the remake, there is also an analytical view that shows the track from above.
I really appreciated that The Ivalice Chronicles offers many options for different strategies, taking into account many factors such as terrain, height, and the direction in which the characters are facing. This really makes you think about how to approach each battle. However, while the terrain is nice, it sometimes blocks your field of vision, no matter which direction you look at the map. The analytical view that shows everything from above helps, but you can’t set it up permanently, so it gets a little annoying.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles – Mechanics
In each stage of The Ivalice Chronicles, you enter from the world map and go to whichever city/area you want. In cities, you can visit shops (Outfitters) for equipment and items, taverns to learn more about the world, and the warrior’s guild to recruit other players for your army, in addition to the characters you unlock throughout the story.
The Ivalice Chronicles – Τhe Job System
Let’s talk about the Job system! In the menus, you customise each character’s job (basically their ‘class’) and unlock new jobs by levelling up from previous ones. This feature is essentially the same job system found in Final Fantasy 3, 5, and 6. You can carry the skills you learn from one job with you, even when you change jobs. Of course, this applies to each character separately. Moreover, each character wears the appropriate equipment for better stats, and each job has specific gear that suits it.
All in all, I can’t help but mention that the job system SLAYS, as it has endless combinations and you generally spend hours building your army however you want. Plus, it’s not too complicated, therefore anyone can make good builds. As a minor negative, however, I’ll mention that all the characters who aren’t part of the main cast are identical, and sometimes I couldn’t figure out to whom I had given what skill.
Sound – Groovy Medieval Vibes
The music of Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is exactly what you would want from a Final Fantasy Tactics remake: medieval, epic, but also melodic. The compositions are reminiscent of old times, with harps, drums, and choirs that heighten the intensity of the battles. The voice acting is flawless, without being excessive, and the sound design in the spells and hits gives weight to every action. Simply wonderful, lads.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles – Conclusion
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is like a favourite book that has been reissued with a new cover. It’s still fantastic, but you don’t necessarily need to reread it. Overall, it’s a nice game, and I understand why everyone says it’s the best Final Fantasy spin-off.
It’s just that while I was playing, I found myself wondering, ‘Was a remake really necessary?’ I mean, okay, the new models and graphics are nice, but they’re not THAT different from the original. Therefore, you can’t really say it’s worth the money as a new game (unless you’re playing for the first time, I guess).
All in all, maybe it was a bit unnecessary, especially after I played the original again. Apart from some quality of life changes, I didn’t feel like it was that different. I truly think I’d have preferred them to make a new game of this style or a sequel. There was nothing wrong with the original to say that it has been ‘fixed’ here. In the end, not much changed to make you say this remake was really worth it and was groundbreaking (oopsies, don’t come for me, fans, I still love FF).
Huge thanks to CD Media for sponsoring this review.