Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles director Kazutoyo Maehiro confirmed in an interview at Square Enix that the remaster will not have content from the War of the Lions version. In addition, Maehiro confirmed that Square Enix doesn’t have any master data or source code for the original Final Fantasy Tactics game.
The most notable tidbits from the interview can be read below:
What was the biggest challenge you faced when creating Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles?
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.
This isn’t to say that they were mishandled or poorly managed or anything like that – keeping that kind of data wasn’t a normal thing to do at the time.
In those days, we didn’t have the sort of robust resource-management tools that exist today, and on top of that, the production workflow for the game was such that the Japanese version was produced first, and then we would create localized versions by overwriting the data with that of other languages, including English.
There was also no such thing as online patches or updates, so unless there was any major reason to do something different, once you’d made the game, that was it.
So, I think it’s fair to say that developing this game without any master data or source code was the biggest challenge.
Why did you decide to focus on updating the original Final Fantasy Tactics rather than the War of the Lions version?
I and other members of this development team were not directly involved in the War of the Lions, but I do believe that the content in that game did fully meet expectations for players at that time.
However, as we looked back on everything nearly 30 years later, during the creation of this game, we asked ourselves what our team – those who created the original Final Fantasy Tactics – could do to bring this game to a new generation of players.
It was through considering this question that we came to the conclusion that the most appropriate path for us was to pay respect to the original game’s experience and recreate that in the best form possible.
Did you consider adding elements from Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions like Balthier, Luso and the Onion Knight and Dark Knight jobs?
We did of course consider the addition of new jobs, abilities, and characters – including the jobs featured in War of the Lions. However, the original version of Final Fantasy Tactics is a very complete game both from a game design and story perspective. If we 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.
With this in mind, our first step in reviving Final Fantasy Tactics in the present was to adhere to the original and put a spotlight on the original game’s characters and jobs, as well as the original gameplay experience.
The development team were passionate when it came to bringing an experience as close to the original as we could, and as a result we have recreated and used the original VFX and SFX – something I hope fans of the original in particular will enjoy as they play.
As previously, the Nintendo Switch 2 upgrade pack for Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles will be free of charge to Nintendo Switch owners of the game. Moreover, it’s worth noting that the Nintendo Switch 2 version of Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles features a code-in-box, instead of a game-key card.
Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles is a remastered version of the original 1997 PlayStation RPG with fully voiced dialogue, an optimized and updated UI, graphical improvements, and a number of other quality of life features, and an an easy “Squire” difficulty setting.
Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles launches on September 30 for Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam.
