If a lot of that description sounds acquainted to fashionable politics and tradition, Matsuno would agree. The conclusion of his publish reads: “Now in 2025—a time when inequality and division are nonetheless deeply rooted in our society—I provide this story as soon as once more.”
We Can Rebuild It
The Ivalice Chronicles could preserve the look of the unique recreation, but it surely’s a re-creation builders needed to full from the bottom up. The grasp knowledge recordsdata and the supply code don’t exist anymore; it didn’t change into widespread observe in recreation improvement to carry on to these sources till later, that means its group needed to rebuild these core items. Maehiro says the group listed out the methods the primary recreation felt “somewhat clunky or much less intuitive,” then reconstructed these components with enchancment in thoughts. A part of that features tweaks to the way in which battles play out, like a transparent fight timeline for gamers to see whose flip is subsequent.
The director says that the group thought of other ways to modernize Ultimate Fantasy Ways, together with following within the footsteps of Sq. Enix’s large, multiyear remake of the unique Ultimate Fantasy VII. “It was an choice on the desk that we thought of—to offer [Final Fantasy Tactics] a full remake, as we did for FFVII,” he says. It’s one approach to successfully revive an previous recreation, he says, and it made sense to reinvent FFVII because it exists in the present day. As soon as a single recreation with an formidable plot, the expertise has been damaged out into three particular person titles to do the unique story service. Its blocky, PS1-era solid has been reworked into high-fidelity characters roaming an enormous world. The primary recreation, Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake, for instance, takes place fully in Midgar—a metropolis gamers the place spent solely a few hours within the unique.
For The Ivalice Chronicles, nonetheless, Maehiro vetoed that concept. A part of the attract of the unique he says, was “the very charming pixel fashion art work, in addition to the 3D isometric maps you’re on for battles. I felt these have been issues that gave Ultimate Fantasy Ways its identification.” Maehiro didn’t wish to lose that.
Different variations of Ultimate Fantasy Ways have been ported over or made for older consoles. That features Ultimate Fantasy Ways: Battle of the Lions, a 2007 title made particularly for the PlayStation Moveable. Notably, it added new jobs and additional playable characters, corresponding to Balthier from Ultimate Fantasy XII. As a result of these options weren’t a part of the unique recreation, Maehiro and his group opted to depart them out.
“Our firstly aim right here actually was to recreate the unique recreation,” Maehiro says. That being mentioned, he is aware of followers need options launched in Battle of the Lions. Maehiro says that whereas he “can’t make any guarantees,” there’s a chance the group will discover including extra content material if the sport does effectively.
Greater than that, Maehiro says, it might result in extra video games down the road. “If [The Ivalice Chronicles] have been to change into successful,” he says, “I do really feel that that might then result in discussions round doubtlessly bringing out sequels, for instance, or newer tactical RPGs.”
