Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles GBAtemp review
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Product Information:
- Release Date (NA): September 30, 2025
- Release Date (EU): September 30, 2025
- Publisher: Square Enix
- Developer: Square Enix
- Genres: JRPG
- Also For: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
Game Features:
Following the Fifty Years' War, the kingdom of Ivalice was promised peace. But this was short-lived, for new tensions arose after the king’s demise. The power vacuum led to a war of ambition, dragging the whole kingdom in its wake.
Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles’ plot explores this struggle through the lens of Ramza, the third son of House Beoulve. The latter is one of Ivalice's leading military families, but is itself facing turmoil in its midst.
As Ramza, you will have to recruit new allies and face former ones in deadly encounters as you navigate through this tumultuous age within Ivalice.
A grand return to Ivalice
With the launch of Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles, Square Enix finally made the game that first launched on the PS1 in 1997 playable on current-gen systems. While it is billed as a remaster, it’s not far from a remake as the original source code was no longer available, and the game needed to be rebuilt. This version brings some quality of life improvements, enabling new and returning players to experience the sprawling political story within.
Tactics was known for its strong narrative, and it still very much holds up. While the naming conventions don’t really roll off the tongue, the expansive story and its fantasy backdrop match Game of Thrones in scope. This is no coincidence, as they both draw inspiration from the real story of the War of the Roses.
The themes of political tension, class struggle, personal sacrifice and moral ambiguity that this game explored in 1997 are still very much relatable nearly three decades later. The wide cast of characters with their unique personalities and backgrounds is well fleshed out. The depth and nuance of the plot and characters will feel satisfying to fans of narrative-driven games.
It’s worth noting that The Ivalice Chronicles comes with two versions of the game: a classic version and an enhanced version. The classic version is more faithful to the 1997 release and integrates the War of the Lions translation (from the PSP and mobile versions). The enhanced version comes with a revised script, full voice acting, improved visuals, new UI, auto save during battles, fast forward actions and more quality of life improvements. There are also three levels of difficulty to choose from, easing newcomers into the game while challenging veterans with more demanding battles.
These changes make the experience feel akin to a modern game. The enhanced graphics bring a fresh coat of paint to the title, without sacrificing the aesthetics and feel of the original. Performance from the voice actors is outstanding, bringing life to the nuanced characters and enhancing cutscenes and lengthy dialogues.
However, I do wish there were a log of conversation to review what has been said. This game is a particularly text-heavy one, and being able to recap what has been said, especially if you mistakenly skip over some lines of text, would be handy. The Chronicle feature is a welcome way to get you up to speed with the lore and characters at any time, though.
Your job: get the ‘Jobs’ right
To navigate the conflict within this kingdom, you will have to lead armies and emerge victorious in successive battles. As the game’s name suggests, it’s a very tactical process with deep mechanics that reward careful planning.
Before engaging in combat, you will have to position some of your party members in a grid-based battlefield. In the enhanced version, you have access to the tactical view to scout the battlefield, which can help you in deciding the position of your army. Deciding on the latter will depend on the job that each party member holds.
The Jobs system determines the skills and attributes of a particular member, allowing you to strategise accordingly. There are over 20 jobs, some of which can be accessed as your party grows. Each job comes with its own set of abilities, which you can unlock with JP (job points) obtained during combat. The more you use your skills from your job in combat, the more JP you earn and the more proficient you become at that job. Once learned, a character can use previously learned abilities even after switching to another job. This flexibility allows further strategising and experimentation to determine the optimal combination for your party.
You also need to pay attention to the equipment for your party. The right ones will give each character stats boost that will be valuable in combat. There’s a handy option to optimise their equipment from your inventory and even find the best ones based on each member’s job at a shopkeeper.
This depth to the combat mechanics is where Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles shines. The critical aspect of positioning your party, mastery of their individual skills and job selection that can make or break your party makes for an engaging experience. Furthermore, permadeath is a feature of the game. It is double-edged as it can be frustrating to lose characters whom you’ve invested in, but it also makes you play more strategically to avoid losses.
However, the game doesn't hold your hand much. You need to figure out the best combat approaches, party balance and the intricacies of the Jobs system, mostly on your own. This can represent a steep learning curve, but the adjustable difficulty levels somewhat make up for this.
In addition, there are some significant difficulty spikes to contend with. This is especially the case in sequential “boss fights” where you can manage to beat previous enemies, only to get stuck with a much more powerful enemy in the next encounter. It can feel unfair if your team isn’t built for them, especially with the risk of permadeath looming. Not all encounters require you to defeat all enemies, though, as some have specific objectives where you can, for example, target the leader and conclude the battle faster and more strategically.
Despite the focus on combat, I didn’t feel them to be repetitive. This is because each encounter unfolds differently, and with the flexibility of choosing different party members with different jobs, the same encounter will likely be different for each player. The enhanced edition enables you to fast-forward movements and animation during combat. It also allows you to skip random encounters, should you wish to focus on the story. These help speed things up and reduce the exposure to repetitive aspects of the game.
While the story is gripping and combat engaging, there's not much in terms of interaction with NPCs and the world outside of combat. You can check taverns for gossip and visit merchants for gear, but you aren't allowed to explore these areas. Triangle Strategy, which very much feels Tactics-inspired, remedied this by sprinkling small exploration segments.
Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles: a near-definitive version of a genre classic
Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles succeeds where many remasters fail: by honouring what made the original beloved while offering meaningful improvements. Its strong story and compelling gameplay are now more accessible than ever, being available on more systems and with enhancements that make it play like a contemporary game.
While it is close to being the definitive way to experience Final Fantasy Tactics, it cannot boast this claim. This is because it lacks War of the Lions version content, beyond the translation. If you haven’t played the War of the Lions, you won’t be able to experience its characters, classes and cut-scenes in The Ivalice Chronicles. I hope that Square Enix brings this content via a DLC or update to The Ivalice Chronicles, as this version is the best way to experience Final Fantasy Tactics to date.
FINAL FANTASY TACTICS - The Ivalice Chronicles | Launch Trailer
Verdict
- Gripping, nuanced political storyline
- Deep tactical gameplay mechanics
- Wealth of quality-of-life improvements that enhance the experience for a current-gen experience
- Difficulty spikes that can be frustrating
- Missing content from the War of the Lions version (except for the translation)
- Limited interaction with the world outside of combat
