Final Fantasy Tactics features magic and monsters in a semi-medieval fictional world complete with demonic Knights Templar, but its original developers at Square Enix wondered if they might as well keep one aspect of the 1997 tactical RPG realistic. In a humbling blow to franchise hero Cid, Final Fantasy Tactics devs considered making him weaker each time he leveled up.
"Originally, the thinking of Cid was, because he's a much older character, the way he'd progress as he levels up is that his strength actually becomes lower," says director Kazutoyo Maehiro, who's also in charge of the upcoming re-release Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles, to Bloomberg in a new interview.
I gather that, because Final Fantasy Tactics' version of the chameleon – the name "Cid" persists in Final Fantasy games, but the specifics of the character always get rearranged – has sort of a salt-and-pepper beard thing going on, Square Enix devs considered him fairly ancient. But age begets experience.
"There were people who felt that tactical RPGs were difficult to play," Maehiro says when describing why the idea ultimately got scrapped, "so the intention was to make a character who would come in and help the player at their time of need." Now, Cid's reputation is as a divinely powerful, so-called "Thunder God," whose sword is imbued with so much holy power, it might as well slice your game disc in half, along with every enemy inside it.
It's a timeless way to blow players' minds, so Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles won't weaken Cid either.
"We haven't made any changes to characters that were powerful," Maehiro told GamesRadar+ at Gamescom 2025. "And similarly, not just for the unique characters, but for jobs such as the arithmetician, we haven't made any major changes."
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