I did not expect this remake to get to me. Final Fantasy Tactics has always been one of those games people talk about in reverent tones, the kind of title you play once and then spend the next twenty years comparing everything else to. It was brutal, dense, and political in a way that made other Final Fantasy games feel like Saturday morning cartoons. So when Square Enix announced they were bringing it back, I braced for disappointment. Most remakes these days feel like marketing exercises. You slap some new textures on an old game, add autosave, and call it a remaster. Ivalice deserves better than that. To my genuine surprise, The Ivalice Chronicles actually delivers.
From the moment I booted it up, it felt familiar but not old. The opening cinematic still hits like it did back in the day, full of pomp and betrayal and that incredible score that sounds like a choir marching into battle. Ramza Beoulve’s story remains one of the best in the series. The writing is still sharp and serious without being self-important. The whole thing plays out like a medieval tragedy, with every betrayal and every victory carrying real emotional weight. What surprised me is how modern it all still feels. The world of Ivalice is as political and layered as ever, but the presentation makes it easier to follow. You no longer need a wiki open just to remember who’s plotting against whom. It’s still dense, but it’s more readable now, and that’s a huge win.
The visuals are where the game takes its biggest creative swing. Instead of chasing the trendy HD-2D style, Square chose a hand-painted aesthetic that gives the world texture and depth. It’s a softer look than I expected, but it suits the tone. There are moments when the art direction feels almost painterly, with sunlight bleeding through the fog of war or a ruined church bathed in the glow of a spell. It is not perfect. Some character models look slightly too smooth, almost plastic, but the overall impression is cohesive and respectful. This remake understands that the original game had soul, and it doesn’t try to overwrite it. It enhances it just enough to make it breathe again.
What really sold me is how the gameplay feels more responsive without losing its weight. The combat is still tactical and unforgiving. Every decision matters. Positioning, class balance, job mastery, all of it still demands patience and planning. The AI can still ruin your day if you get cocky. Yet the quality-of-life improvements make it far more approachable. You can preview turn orders now, cancel movement if you change your mind, and the autosave system stops you from losing an hour of progress because you misjudged a battle. It is the kind of modernisation that respects your time without watering down the challenge. I found myself taking risks more freely because I knew I could recover from mistakes. That, in turn, made the game more fun.
The interface deserves special mention. The menus are finally clean and readable. The font choice is mercifully modern. Navigating equipment and abilities no longer feels like an act of bureaucracy. This is the sort of invisible design work that people often overlook, but it makes a massive difference. When you are forty hours into a campaign, shaving off seconds of menu time matters. It lets you focus on the actual strategy rather than wrestling with the UI.
The audio is as good as it has ever been. The soundtrack remains one of the best in the genre, filled with swelling orchestral pieces that make every battle feel significant. The newly recorded voice acting is strong overall. Some lines land a little too theatrically for my taste, as if the actors were trying too hard to sound medieval, but the intent is right. It gives characters like Delita and Ramza more dimension. The dialogue now carries the kind of human frustration and ambition that used to get lost in text boxes.
Not everything is perfect. The new art style, while lovely, occasionally clashes with certain environments. Some cutscenes look slightly too polished for the grim tone of the story. A few of the added side quests feel unnecessary, padding out what was already a long game. And while the improved systems make it more welcoming, it is still not an easy game to get into. The opening chapters can be overwhelming for newcomers. There are tutorials, but they still expect you to learn by failing. Personally, I like that. The difficulty curve is part of what gives the game its identity. Still, I can imagine some players bouncing off it before the story really hits its stride.
What stands out most to me is how this remake never loses sight of what made the original special. The sense of scale and consequence remains intact. Every fight feels meaningful. Every victory feels earned. When you lose a unit because you misjudged the terrain or forgot to check a turn order, it still stings. When you pull off a perfect victory, it feels like triumph in miniature. That emotional push and pull is what keeps the game alive all these years later. Square could have easily made this a simplified, accessible reboot for modern audiences. Instead, they trusted the material to hold up, and it absolutely does.
I think the best compliment I can give The Ivalice Chronicles is that I kept meaning to play for an hour and ended up losing entire evenings. That is not nostalgia talking. That is design that still works. It is rare for a remake to feel this confident. It does not feel like an apology for the past. It feels like a celebration of it. The few rough edges that remain only remind you how bold the original was. It was ambitious, flawed, and brilliant, and now it looks and plays the way you remember it in your head.
When I finally saw the credits roll, I realised something that has not happened to me in a long time. I wanted to start over. Not for achievements or trophies, but because I wanted to live in that world a little longer. That is the mark of a game that still matters. For all its minor flaws and artistic compromises, this is the definitive way to experience one of the best tactical RPGs ever made.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles earns its 9 out of 10 not by reinventing itself, but by understanding exactly what it was and what it still can be. It is both a reminder of how far we have come and proof that some things never needed fixing in the first place.
Also….. Ben Starr.