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Square Enix is reviving Final Fantasy Tactics after 28 years with The Ivalice Chronicles (which may or may not be a remaster, depending on who you ask), and co-director Ayako Yokoyama is hopeful that the modern changes implemented will make the game appealing even for those "who aren't particularly good at tactical RPGs."
Speaking in an official interview published on the Square Enix website, Yokoyama says she "really can't wait for people to experience this reborn version of the game," noting that "it's a true labor of love, as we've worked hard to preserve what makes the original game great while also making it more user-friendly."
With the modern improvements, Yokoyama says, "we've hopefully reduced some of the frustration that sometimes comes from these kinds of games, and I think this will appeal to people who aren't particularly good at tactical RPGs, as well as those players who have nostalgia for the original game.
"For example, there were some sections in the original where you couldn't easily progress without levelling up, and we've addressed the balance of sections like this to make it a smoother experience," she continues. "We've added difficulty options to make the game approachable for new players as well."
I don't know about you, but any efforts to cut down on the amount of grinding required in a game are always a welcome change as far as I'm concerned. And we know that that's not all – as director Kazutoyo Maehiro told me following my hands-on preview of The Ivalice Chronicles at Gamescom 2025, one of the key improvements in The Ivalice Chronicles is its combat timeline, which displays exactly when units will perform their actions. By his own admission, it was "a little bit difficult to check on what the overall order of turns was" in the original.
Clearly, with the new improvements in place to make the tactical RPG more accessible, Yokoyama hopes that more people will be able to experience Final Fantasy Tactics' "captivating" story. She notes that the narrative "touches on some very deep topics, such as gender and wealth inequality," and so "I really hope that people will give this game a try and experience these characters' respective stories until the very end."
