Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles Review — A Polished, Historical Gem

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I still vividly remember discovering Final Fantasy Tactics in 1997. The music was incredible, the battles were strategically challenging, and the story-a tangled web of political intrigue, fractured friendships, and bravery-completely captivated me. It was a truly unforgettable game, and I often found myself lost in thought, plotting new tactics or eagerly anticipating what would happen next. It really stuck with me long after I finished playing.

Tactics has remained a beloved game over the years, with occasional efforts to highlight its quality, like the 2007 release, War of the Lions. The Ivalice Chronicles is the newest and most successful version yet. It updates the game just enough to preserve its original feel and improve the already compelling story, all while keeping what made the classic so special.

The game centers on Ramza Beoulve, the youngest and least-known member of a noble family, and his complicated friendship with Delita Heiral, a commoner raised as one of the Beoulves. While history credits Delita as the hero of the War of the Lions, the story reveals that Ramza was the true champion who deserves recognition.

The way the story is presented – with a researcher discovering forgotten history and revealing what was lost – immediately grabs your attention and makes you wonder what happened. It makes you ask questions like: How did Delita become famous, and why was Ramza forgotten? It’s a clever technique that subtly influences how you see everything that follows.

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We meet the characters shortly after the end of a long and brutal 50 Years War, which deeply fractured the relationship between the nobility and common people. The death of the ruling regent then sparks a fierce power struggle – the War of the Lions – plunging the land back into conflict. As with previous events in the world of Final Fantasy Tactics, understanding the established history helps us make sense of what’s happening.

One of the most compelling parts of Final Fantasy Tactics has always been its complex story of political maneuvering, deception, and plotting. However, the initial English translation wasn’t perfect, with some awkward and unclear passages. The 2007 remake, Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, completely retranslated the game, giving it a more elaborate, old-fashioned English style reminiscent of Victorian literature and Shakespeare. The current Ivalice Chronicles uses that War of the Lions translation as a starting point, but it’s been adjusted to fit the new, fully voiced dialogue. While I don’t remember the War of the Lions translation exactly, as a fan, it feels very similar in how it’s written and the overall mood it creates.

The biggest improvement is the voice acting. Just like a good English teacher might say about Shakespeare, these lines are meant to be *heard* – and this version truly comes to life when the characters speak. The actors don’t just read the lines; they *perform* them, adding emotion and personality with little details like sighs and unique vocal quirks. They were clearly encouraged to make each character their own.

The actors seemed to understand the overall story so well that they could add subtle hints of doubt or future events to their lines, even when those weren’t explicitly written in the script. This was especially effective given the story’s many twists, betrayals, and conspiracies, as it made you question the characters’ motives and wonder about hidden meanings in their delivery.

The Ivalice Chronicles games feature a lot of dialogue. While the cutscenes are well-presented with character movement and expressive sprites, most battles include several conversations. The elaborate writing style makes these conversations quite lengthy, which can interrupt your strategic thinking. The voice acting is excellent, making it hard to skip these scenes, but sometimes you just want to get back to the action.

I first encountered the style of dramatic stories like Shakespearean tragedies when I played the original Final Fantasy Tactics as a teen – it was the first time outside of school that I really experienced that kind of storytelling. The game has all the classic elements – scheming royals, tragic romances, and battles for control – but set in a fantasy world.

Keeping track of everything in Ivalice Chronicles can be challenging, but the game offers some helpful tools for those who want a deeper understanding of the story and its complex royal families. There’s a constantly updated encyclopedia for quick information on characters and places. A special menu tracks the ‘Auracite’ stones – important magical items – and shows who currently possesses each one. But the best feature, in my opinion, is the ‘State of the Realm’ chronicle. It’s a timeline of important events displayed on a map of Ivalice, letting you follow the movements of characters and armies throughout the story.

Battles in this game represent army movements, but on a smaller scale than the overall story might imply. You typically control a party of four or five members, sometimes joined by a couple of computer-controlled allies, against an enemy force of around eight to ten units. These fights happen on small, 3D battlefields where high ground offers an advantage, and features like deep water can restrict movement. Because the battles are small, carefully positioning each unit and choosing which way they face is crucial. While units that fall in battle can be revived within three turns, permanent losses are still a concern. You can hire replacements in towns, but upgrading and equipping characters takes time, making it painful to lose a skilled soldier – especially a named hero. Fortunately, the game frequently auto-saves, letting you easily rewind to a point before a difficult mission.

Okay, so Final Fantasy Tactics is still a game where you really have to put in the hours, even with the updated version. What I love – and what makes it a bit of a time sink – is the Job system. For a lot of us, it was our first real experience with it in a Final Fantasy game, unless you were importing games from Japan back then and played Final Fantasy 5. You’ve got 20 different Jobs you can train your characters in, plus some unique ones for the story characters like Ramza. Each Job lets you learn skills using Job Points you earn in battles. But it’s not really like a traditional skill tree where you have to unlock things in order. You can save up all your points and just buy the most powerful skills right away if you want – it’s totally up to you!

Later jobs often require you to first master earlier ones-for instance, you need to become skilled with a Black Mage before you can unlock the Time Mage job. Managing multiple jobs across several characters, even with a smaller group of around eight, can be quite time-consuming. While strategies from the original game to quickly level up still work, maintaining a powerful party still requires effort. The game does have a fast-forward feature to speed up battles, but it doesn’t offer experience or job point boosts like some recent Final Fantasy remasters.

Honestly, one of the best things about Final Fantasy Tactics is how much you can customize your characters. As you unlock more classes, it’s so fun to start mixing skills and abilities. You can create some seriously overpowered combinations, and it feels *amazing* when a build you’ve been working on finally comes together. I love experimenting with different setups – the game lets you combine jobs, skills, and movement types with very few limits. It’s incredibly rewarding to discover builds that feel almost unfair, and few games let you tinker and discover things like that as well as FFT does.

The game’s early focus on building a basic army creates an unusual balance issue later on. You’ll spend the first few chapters working hard to create a force of fairly standard units, but then, in the final chapter, you suddenly gain access to a wealth of powerful, unique characters with impressive abilities that quickly surpass your existing troops. This feels a bit strange compared to modern tactical RPGs, and it highlights how this game represents a different era in the genre.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is a fantastic remake of a classic game. It’s the best way to experience this title, with many welcome improvements. The translation has been updated and the voice acting is excellent, and new features like a story tracker and rebalanced gameplay enhance the experience. The addition of adjustable difficulty levels is particularly useful – you can make the game easier if you prefer a more relaxed playthrough, or increase the challenge to truly test your skills. And the music is still as memorable and enjoyable as ever; I’ve found myself humming the battle themes since I started playing!

The Ivalice Chronicles version features slightly improved graphics that really make the classic sprite art pop. This art style – with its charming, doll-like characters – feels warm and familiar, and the update lets it truly shine. The world map is noticeably clearer and more detailed, and even the simple 3D battle arenas have a fun, retro vibe.

The character portraits are a bit of a letdown. While they’re created in a similar style to the game’s sprites, they appear blurry and jagged. Since the portraits were originally hand-drawn, it would have been better to rescan the original artwork at a higher quality if Square Enix still has it.

This release is a fantastic way to experience Final Fantasy Tactics, though it doesn’t quite reach ‘definitive’ status. It’s great that you can choose between an updated version and a classic one, but unfortunately, both still use the same translation from the PSP version – the original translation isn’t available. Also, both updated versions are missing two job classes – Onion Knight and Dark Knight – that were added in the PSP version. While opinions on those classes vary among fans, including them would have made this a complete package.

Final Fantasy Tactics is a landmark tactical RPG, and remains a top title in the genre. The story is truly memorable, enhanced by an improved translation, excellent voice acting, and helpful tools that make following the complex plot easier. Even compared to today’s RPGs, the combat is still deeply satisfying and offers a lot of strategic freedom. While the Ivalice Chronicles version might not have every modern feature, it’s the definitive way to experience this classic game.

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2025-09-24 16:14