For nearly three decades, Final Fantasy Tactics has sat on the strategy RPG throne, often imitated but rarely equaled. With the release of The Ivalice Chronicles late last year, Square Enix has finally brought Ramza Beoulve’s war-torn journey to modern hardware. After spending 60+ hours with the game (and another 10 tinkering with the "Classic" mode), I can confidently say this is the definitive way to play the masterpiece—though it comes with a few baffling omissions that keep it from absolute perfection.
The Presentation: A Painting Come to Life
The standout feature of The Ivalice Chronicles is the dual-mode presentation.
Enhanced Mode: This is the default modernization. The character sprites have been smoothed, which I initially feared would look like a cheap mobile filter. Surprisingly, it works. The game applies a subtle "canvas" texture to the world, making the environments look like hand-painted dioramas. The spell effects are gorgeous, retaining their punchy PS1 feel but with modern particle lighting.
Classic Mode: For purists, this mode emulates the CRT scanlines and original pixel sharpness of the 1997 release, but renders it at a crisp 4K. It’s a love letter to the original hardware.
The audio, however, is the real headline. The script—based on the War of the Lions translation—is now fully voiced. The performances are incredible, grounding the Shakespearean drama in genuine emotion. Hearing Ramza (voiced by Shinnosuke Tachibana in JP, and an excellent English equivalent) and Delita verbally spar adds a layer of tragedy that text boxes simply couldn't convey. The re-orchestrated soundtrack by Hitoshi Sakimoto remains sweeping and majestic, sounding better than ever.
Gameplay & Quality of Life
The core gameplay remains the addictive, job-changing chess match we all love, but the friction has been sanded down.
UI Overhaul: The new user interface is a godsend. You can finally see the turn order dynamically on the left side of the screen (no more guessing when the enemy Lancer will jump!).
Camera Controls: Full 360-degree rotation is smooth and responsive, eliminating those awkward "hidden behind a wall" movement errors.
Speed Up: The "Fast Forward" toggle is essential for grinding Job Points, making the mid-game slog breeze by.
The new "Tactical" difficulty is no joke. It remixes enemy compositions and improves their AI. I watched an enemy Archer explicitly target my White Mage to bait my Knight out of position—it was brutal and brilliant.
The Controversy: Where are the Lions?
The elephant in the room is the content omission. The Ivalice Chronicles is largely based on the original PS1 release, not the PSP's War of the Lions.
Missing Content: The Dark Knight and Onion Knight jobs are absent in the base game. Balthier and Luso are also missing.
The "Purist" Defense: Square Enix has stated they wanted to balance the game around the original 1997 vision (hence why the genji equipment stealing exploit is back!).
The Fix: Thankfully, if you are on PC, the modding community has already added these jobs back in, but console players on Switch 2 and PS5 are left with the "vanilla" job roster. It’s a disappointing choice for a package labeled "Chronicles."
The Verdict: 9/10
FINAL FANTASY TACTICS - The Ivalice Chronicles is a triumph of preservation and modernization. The story of class warfare, religious conspiracy, and lost history feels more relevant today than it did in 1997. While the exclusion of the War of the Lions bonus content is a stinging negative, the quality-of-life improvements, voice acting, and beautiful visual update make this the best version of the best strategy RPG ever made.
Pros:
Gripping, mature story elevated by stellar voice acting.
"Tactical" difficulty breathes new life into the combat.
Quality of life features (Turn Order, Speed Up) respect your time.
Beautiful "diorama" visual style.
Cons:
Missing War of the Lions content (Dark Knight, Onion Knight, extra characters).
Some graphical smoothing on sprites might annoy pixel-art purists.
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