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Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles

Rating:

Final Fantasy Tactics is one of my favorite games of all time. I have probably played it a couple dozen times start-to-finish at this point. We even did a Nostalgia Goggles episode on it!

Final Fantasy Tactices: The Ivalice Chronicles is a remaster that I was not holding my breath would ever actually happen. I still have my original PS1 and PSP copies of the game, as well as the android and iOS ports so I am not exactly hurting for ways to play it. And in my opinion, it didn't need to be remastered. Bringing it to PC is certainly worthwhile, but lazily wrapping it in an emulator and slapping it on PC for $9.99 would have been been entirely reasonable considering how well the game has aged.

But lazy is not what this remaster is. Ivalice Chronicles is the remaster most marketing departments pretend they made. It's the one development teams wish they'd had the time and budget to make. Ivalice Chronicles is the "how you remember it" kind of remaster that you dream a childhood favorite will get but almost never does.

The artwork is thoughtfully modernized to make it work on a Steam Deck or a 65" 4K screen. The music sounds fantastic on whimpy speakers, headphones, or a home theater system. The lightly re-worked script is fully voice acted and the performances are excellent. The improvements to the UI are actual improvements. Restarting or abandoning battles is lightning fast. Issues like getting stuck in a series of battles have been elegantly fixed by letting you nope out and start the series again when you're ready.

Most importantly, the gameplay is unchanged. Even down to details like monks being massively overpowered and certain combos being gods-like first-order optimal strategies. If you didn't like the original Final Fantasy Tactics you're unlikely to be interested in Ivalice Chronicles because it is the same game in every way that matters, lovingly restored. If you did like the original, or you always wanted to play it and never did, Ivalice Chronicles is the definitive way to play it.



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