Fans of the original Final Fantasy Tactics game are partially responsible for the upcoming remaster, Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles. Developers of the remastered game have explained how fans helped play a role in making the remaster of Final Fantasy Tactics happen.
Final Fantasy Tactics fans have been eagerly awaiting Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles, the game's remastered version. However, fans were understandably a bit worried after it was revealed that the original source code for Final Fantasy Tactics was lost. Due to the method of developing games at the time, the source code was overwritten numerous times, and as a result, much of The Ivalice Chronicles has been rebuilt from scratch.
Final Fantasy Tactics Remaster Highlights Job System and Gameplay
Final Fantast Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles shares some new information, including a peek at the remastered game's updated job system.
Fans Help Save Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles director Kazutoyo Maehiro was present at PAX West, and talked about the upcoming game during a panel. He reiterated that every time the game was released in a new language, the developers would overwrite the prior version, making it hard to recreate the game as it originally was. As a result, the remaster developers used "whatever resources" they had available to them, including looking at fan websites dedicated to the original game. Maehiro noted that fans do a "good job of keeping all of that up to date," which likely helped to find important facets of the original game to preserve for the new version.
While The Ivalice Chronicles hasn't released yet, this level of effort from the team likely bodes well for the game. One of the most famous cases of a remastered game losing its source code and being rebuilt from scratch was the Silent Hill HD Collection, which remastered the second and third games. Unfortunately, though, the game was a technical mess at launch, with a myriad of issues stemming from no longer having the original source code.
When all is said and done, one question that remains is whether other Squaresoft games were treated the same way during development. Fans have been pleading for remakes or remasters of classic Squaresoft titles like Vagrant Story, Parasite Eve, and Chrono Cross for years, which like Final Fantasy Tactics, all released on the original PlayStation between late 1990s and the year 2000. If their source code has also been repeatedly overwritten, that could be a major problem. However, Maehiro did seem to hint at more remasters and sequels potentially happening if The Ivalice Chronicles sells well, so fans may be able to hold onto hope.
- Released
- September 30, 2025
- ESRB
- Teen / Fantasy Violence, Blood, Mild Suggestive Themes, Mild Language, Drug Reference
- Developer(s)
- Square Enix
- Publisher(s)
- Square Enix
- Franchise
- Final Fantasy
- Number of Players
- Single-player
- PC Release Date
- September 30, 2025
- Genre(s)
- Tactical, RPG, Strategy
