If a lot of that description sounds acquainted to fashionable politics and tradition, Matsuno would agree. The conclusion of his put up reads: “Now in 2025—a time when inequality and division are nonetheless deeply rooted in our society—I supply this story as soon as once more.”
We Can Rebuild It
The Ivalice Chronicles could preserve the look of the unique sport, however it’s a re-creation builders needed to full from the bottom up. The grasp information information and the supply code don’t exist anymore; it didn’t turn out to be frequent follow in sport growth to carry on to these assets till later, that means its staff needed to rebuild these core items. Maehiro says the staff listed out the methods the primary sport felt “a bit clunky or much less intuitive,” then reconstructed these parts with enchancment in thoughts. A part of that features tweaks to the way in which battles play out, like a transparent fight timeline for gamers to see whose flip is subsequent.
The director says that the staff thought of other ways to modernize Remaining Fantasy Techniques, together with following within the footsteps of Sq. Enix’s large, multiyear remake of the unique Remaining Fantasy VII. “It was an choice on the desk that we thought of—to present [Final Fantasy Tactics] a full remake, as we did for FFVII,” he says. It’s one technique to successfully revive an previous sport, he says, and it made sense to reinvent FFVII because it exists at the moment. As soon as a single sport with an formidable plot, the expertise has been damaged out into three particular person titles to do the unique story service. Its blocky, PS1-era forged has been reworked into high-fidelity characters roaming an enormous world. The primary sport, Remaining Fantasy VII Remake, for instance, takes place totally in Midgar—a metropolis gamers the place spent solely a few hours within the unique.
For The Ivalice Chronicles, nevertheless, Maehiro vetoed that concept. A part of the attract of the unique he says, was “the very charming pixel type art work, in addition to the 3D isometric maps you’re on for battles. I felt these had been issues that gave Remaining Fantasy Techniques its id.” Maehiro didn’t need to lose that.
Different variations of Remaining Fantasy Techniques have been ported over or made for older consoles. That features Remaining Fantasy Techniques: Conflict of the Lions, a 2007 title made particularly for the PlayStation Transportable. Notably, it added new jobs and further playable characters, similar to Balthier from Remaining Fantasy XII. As a result of these options weren’t a part of the unique sport, Maehiro and his staff opted to depart them out.
“Our at the start purpose right here actually was to recreate the unique sport,” Maehiro says. That being stated, he is aware of followers need options launched in Conflict of the Lions. Maehiro says that whereas he “can’t make any guarantees,” there’s a risk the staff will discover including further content material if the sport does nicely.
Greater than that, Maehiro says, it might result in extra video games down the road. “If [The Ivalice Chronicles] had been to turn out to be successful,” he says, “I do really feel that that will then result in discussions round probably bringing out sequels, for instance, or newer tactical RPGs.”