45 minutes of Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles has me certain that Square Enix "rebuilding" the remaster after losing the original source code was worth the effort

Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles has been a long time coming. Launching 28 years after the original PS1 tactical RPG, fans have been begging for its return for years – and I'm pleased to say that after 45 minutes with the remaster, it's looking like it'll be worth the wait.

Sitting down with Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles at Gamescom 2025, I'm introduced to the start of the RPG before jumping ahead to the fight to protect the kidnapped Princess Ovelia at Zeirchele Falls – a slightly more complex battle with more allies to command and also more enemies to think about. There's also an extra element of pressure as the PR supervising the session eagerly watches on to see who can clear the stage, and who can do it first – and I'm not one to back down from a challenge.

I embark on the demo with the newly "Enhanced" version of the game – one of two ways to play the remaster, and specifically, the more modernized one, which I'll admit appeals to me much more as a complete rookie who's never played the original. While the "Classic" option maintains the feeling of the 1997 game when it comes to its gameplay, the Enhanced version boasts improved visuals (which still maintain a retro feel), fully voiced dialogue, and some gameplay adjustments that the devs have added to make things more accessible for new fans.

Rebuilding a classic

Speaking in a group interview following the preview session, co-director Ayako Yokoyama explains that The Ivalice Chronicles "is for modern audiences, so we did want to make it accessible for them." She explains: "For example, I know that people have a lot more time constraints now than they might have had for games 28 years ago. So we've added some different features that might be accommodating for that, such as a fast-forward feature, so they can speed up battles a little bit, [and] make it a more frustration-free experience."

On top of that, she acknowledges that "the original game was quite difficult, and there were even people 28 years ago who played the original and weren't able to clear it," which inspired the decision to create three difficulty levels for the remaster. "The base is overall the same, but we're really just trying to improve upon that and then make it accessible."

One of the main improvements here is The Ivalice Chronicles' clear combat timeline. In the remaster, players are able to keep a close eye on exactly when their units will unleash their moves, offering a bit of a forecast of what's to come somewhat akin to Octopath Traveler's turn order sequence, which itself lets you strategically plan around enemy attacks and know the best time to fight back yourself.

In my hands-on session, this is something I find particularly useful while lining up magic attacks, as I don't want to leave anyone vulnerable while they charge stronger spells. Looking at the timeline, everything is clearly mapped out, and there's no doubt over how long someone is going to be stuck somewhere while casting.

Speaking to director Kazutoyo Maehiro, he believes that this is the single most important change the remaster has brought with it. He's quick to bring up Final Fantasy Tactics' "unique" Charge Time battle system, noting that "the order of how the units do their actions is extremely important.

"In the original game on PS1, due to the resolution that it was output at, due to different specs, I need to say it was a little bit difficult to check on what the overall order of turns was," Maehiro admits. "That's very basic information that's very important to the core gameplay of Final Fantasy Tactics, so with The Ivalice Chronicles, we wanted to make sure that that information was more out in the forefront. So I made sure, when I was in discussions with the development team, that we made that information readily available, and that kind of manifested itself as the combat timeline."

Glory days

Some things, however, haven't changed much at all. I ask if there's been any rebalancing of particularly strong classes such as the Arithmetician, and Maehiro assures me that "we haven't made any changes to characters that were powerful. And similarly, not just for the unique characters, but for jobs such as the Arithmetician, we haven't made any major changes."

Admittedly, this isn't something that I'm able to delve into too much during the demo. Embarking on the battle at Zeirchele Falls, I have a small team including a Black Mage, White Mage, and Archer, who all serve me well, with my bow-wielding ally picking off foes from a distance, and healer making sure that everyone stays healthy (including Princess Ovelia).

While there's not really room to experiment with character builds in a short hands-on slot, as the director puts it, the full tactical RPG "has a lot of different jobs and a lot of different abilities." As he sees it, "I think one of the reasons why this system works so well is because players have the option to be able to play around with the different jobs and abilities and come up with their own combinations, and we didn't really want to break that overall plate."

Yokoyama agrees, although she also notes that "there are certain instances where we did make some adjustments," specifically where "there were certain abilities that might have been difficult to actually make good use of." However, she reiterates: "We didn't really want to disappoint anybody who played the original. You know, your favorite job got nerfed, and then, you know, it's not the way you remember it. So we wanted to avoid that."

Source code struggles

As Maehiro has previously discussed, the remaster of Final Fantasy Tactics came with a unique problem for the developers after "we came to the realization that we didn't have the original source code." Elaborating on this a bit further in our chat, the director explains that Square Enix ended up "rebuilding The Ivalice Chronicles" by "using what resources we did have available to us, whether that be the retail copy of the game or the smartphone version, and analyzing that code."

This wasn't without its issues. "We were of course using the original as a base, and we needed to use the data from that," Yokoyama adds. "There was some data that we could make use of, but there were also certain things that we couldn't find through the analysis, or there were certain things that we were adding into that original data, and then we would come up with unexpected errors or things like that."

Overall, keeping original fans happy while still opening Final Fantasy Tactics up to a new audience is a recurring theme during the interview with the two devs. Yokoyama notes that even the dev team working on the remaster – being a blend of both people who worked on the original and those who were new to it – lends itself well to Square Enix's vision. "I think it created a lot of good synergy, because we could focus on trying to bring new things to the game, to bring it to a newer audience, but at the same time also making sure that we stay true to that original vision," she explains.

Personally speaking, I can definitely say that the efforts made to make The Ivalice Chronicles appeal to new fans are working. Admittedly, I never played the original, but even after being thrown straight into the action of the remaster, everything felt easy to grasp, and just like in any good tactical RPG, it's oh-so-satisfying to watch a plan come together.

So, what of my efforts to protect Princess Ovelia at Zeirchele Falls? I'm pleased to report that, despite being a rookie Final Fantasy Tactics player, I was successful, with no units falling in battle. I suspect I may have overcomplicated things at the start – making an effort to cast protective spells on Ovelia in order to keep her safe when she ended up being pretty self-sufficient in that regard – which may have cost me the race to the end of the battle. Hey, second place isn't bad, though, and I'm keen to hone my skills further when Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles launches on September 30.

You can read more of GamesRadar+'s Autumn Preview by visiting our Gamescom 2025 coverage hub.