Square Enix has published a new interview with Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles director Kazutoyo Maehiro talking about how the team reimagined one of the greatest tactical RPGs ever made. Of course some changes have been made and Mr. Maehiro was asked why the team focussed on the original Final Fantasy Tactics, rather than the more recent War of the Lions version which launched in 2007 on the PSP. You can read about how the team settled on the original in the excerpt from the interview down below.
Why did you decide to focus on updating the original FINAL FANTASY TACTICS rather than the War of the Lions version?
I and other members of this development team were not directly involved in the War of the Lions, but I do believe that the content in that game did fully meet expectations for players at that time.
However, as we looked back on everything nearly 30 years later, during the creation of this game, we asked ourselves what our team – those who created the original FINAL FANTASY TACTICS – could do to bring this game to a new generation of players.
It was through considering this question that we came to the conclusion that the most appropriate path for us was to pay respect to the original game’s experience and recreate that in the best form possible.
Did you consider adding elements from FINAL FANTASY TACTICS: THE WAR OF THE LIONS like Balthier, Luso and the Onion Knight and Dark Knight jobs?
We did of course consider the addition of new jobs, abilities, and characters – including the jobs featured in War of the Lions. However, the original version of FINAL FANTASY TACTICS is a very complete game both from a game design and story perspective. If we were to make major changes, it would only be a loss for not only fans of the original game, but also those new to the title.
With this in mind, our first step in reviving FINAL FANTASY TACTICS in the present was to adhere to the original and put a spotlight on the original game’s characters and jobs, as well as the original gameplay experience.
The development team were passionate when it came to bringing an experience as close to the original as we could, and as a result we have recreated and used the original VFX and SFX – something I hope fans of the original in particular will enjoy as they play.
