Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles

Genre: Turn-Based Strategy-RPG

Players: 1

The Nintendo Switch 2 Difference

.

Review:

When someone refers to a “Tactics-style” Strategy-RPG, they’re referring to games that follow the mold set by two titles. though I would argue that the first of those two is honored more for inspiring the second than for any impact it had on its own, much in the same way that the explosion of the Fighting Game genre isn’t attributed to the first Street Fighter game.

Tactics Ogre, remade in 2022 as Tactics Ogre Reborn, brought together most of the elements that would form the foundations of this particular subgenre, with its isometric perspective, turn-based combat, and tile-based movement system. It wasn’t the first game to have gameplay like this (the Fire Emblem franchise, Shining Force franchise, and even the Front Mission series preceded it), but it largely crystallized what this subgenre would look and play like going forward.

However, I think it’s fair to say that this subgenre didn’t truly start to gain steam until the 1998 release of Final Fantasy Tactics on the original PlayStation. This game combined the gameplay and Game of Thrones-esque plot elements (decades before Game of Thrones was released) of Tactics Ogre, with the job class system of Final Fantasy V and the visibility of the Final Fantasy franchise name. The result was a brilliant combination of RPG and Strategy that would later go on to influence the creation of later games like the Disgaea franchise.

However, there was one major problem with Final Fantasy Tactics – its localization was hilariously bad. While some of its awkward lines have become iconic (“I had a good feeling!”), many criticized the game for having a tutorial that was so poorly-written it could actually make players more confused about how to play the game. Thankfully, the 2007 release of Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions on PlayStation Portable addressed this issue, completely redoing the localization, resulting in a well-written work that truly conveys the drama and political intrigue that the original game was aiming for.

Sadly, while we did receive a few sequels on Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS, and Final Fantasy Tactics’ world of Ivalice has been reused in other games such as Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy Tactics itself has been left to collect dust for nearly two decades, never receiving a proper port or remake until now, with the 2025 release of Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2.

This remake remains faithful to the original release of the game, while making shrewd choices about the best way to present it to modern audiences. For one thing, this version adopts the War of the Lions localization, though it lacks the extra content created for that release, meaning that The Ivalice Chronicles is not a comprehensive release of the game.

There have also been numerous quality-of-life improvements added here, with streamlined menu design, the ability to view the battlefield from a more directly overhead position, the ability to speed up battle when you’re not making choices, difficulty options, rebalancing, the ability to start random battles whenever you like or avoid them, the ability to redo movement, the ability to save job loadout sets, and an encyclopedia of characters and story information.

In addition to that, the presentation has been updated as well, though this is a modest upgrade that aims to retain the look and sound of the original release. As such, the game’s 2D character sprites have been upscaled with a painterly look, but still look similar to the pixel art of the original game, while the 3D battlefields they fight on have upscaled textures and a “depth of field” blur. This game also makes use of upscaled cel-shaded cutscenes created for the War of the Lions release. Overall, it’s nice, but I think some players may have craved something more substantial.

These visuals are backed by what seems to be the same soundtrack as the original release (which is fine, as the original game’s soundtrack was amazing), but the major improvement to the sound has to be in the entirely new voiced dialogue, which is absolutely superb, bringing an added layer of gravitas to the superb plot and wonderful writing of the War of the Lions localization. I strain to point to one highlight here, because the entire voice cast is excellent.

Players who prefer to go it old-school do still have the option to play the original game here, though doing so requires a separate game save. As I understand it, this version received a new localization that’s closer to what was in the Japanese release of the original game. Overall, this is a nice inclusion, though with all of the many improvements made in the Ivalice Chronicles release, I can’t imagine why anyone would want to go back and replay the original at this point.

When it comes to complaints, I do have a few that go beyond my disappointments at how limited the visual overhaul is here. I wish there were more options to customize the experience to your liking. I think character progression is a bit slow, especially at the beginning before you get abilities that can speed that up. And even with the option to speed up battles, they can still be somewhat slow-paced.

Having said that, this release of Final Fantasy Tactics may still have some rough edges, and it may not be a comprehensive release of the game, but it is still definitely the best release of this game, which remains to this day one of the best Turn-Based Strategy-RPG games ever made, with great characters and plot, the excellent job class system, and solid strategical combat, which now has absolutely superb voice acting and excellent new quality-of-life improvements. If you enjoy this genre, you should absolutely get this game.

tl;dr – Final Fantasy Tactics is a genre-naming game for the “Tactics-style” Turn-Based Strategy RPG genre, and for good reason, it’s outstanding, and it is presented here in the best version we’ve ever gotten of the game, albeit not the definitive version, nor one without its own flaws and frustrations. Still, the original game has aged well, and the new quality-of-life improvements and voiced dialogue makes this game even better. If you enjoy Strategy-RPGs, consider this a must-buy.

Grade: A-

.

The Nintendo Switch 2 Difference

Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles Nintendo Switch 2 Edition

Genre: Turn-Based Strategy-RPG

Players: 1

.

Review:

Given how I was generally unimpressed with the visual update Final Fantasy Tactics received in the Nintendo Switch release, I didn’t have high expectations for the Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game. Still, the free Nintendo Switch 2 Edition upgrade boasts “improved frame rates and resolution for enhanced visual fidelity”, so perhaps the game would at least look cleaner on Nintendo’s newest hardware?

Well, there might be an improvement, but to my eyes, the difference isn’t noticeable. The only noticeable improvement I can find here is an improvement to loading times, with the game taking 11 seconds to load on Nintendo Switch, and only 6 seconds on Nintendo Switch 2. Other loading times are harder to judge, as this game’s loading up saves and loading into battles is pretty fast on both versions.

So there you have it: Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles is one of the least-improved Nintendo Switch 2 Edition upgrades I’ve encountered thus far. Thankfully, as a free upgrade, it’s not like you need to spend more to get these meager upgrades, and game itself is excellent either way. Just don’t expect anything different when upgrading to the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of this game.

tl;dr – Final Fantasy Tactics is a genre-naming game for the “Tactics-style” Turn-Based Strategy RPG genre, and for good reason, it’s outstanding, and it is presented here in the best version we’ve ever gotten of the game, albeit not the definitive version, nor one without its own flaws and frustrations. Still, the original game has aged well, and the new quality-of-life improvements and voiced dialogue makes this game even better. If you enjoy Strategy-RPGs, consider this a must-buy.

Grade: A-

.

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are Jamie and His Cats, Ben, Ilya Zverev, Andy Miller, Johannes, Jaka, Jared Wark, Gabriel Coronad-Medina, Francis Obst, Kristoffer Wulff, and Seth Christenfeld. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}