Product Info

Platform

Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, PC

Publisher

Square Enix

Developer

Square Enix

Series

Final Fantasy

Genre

RPG, Strategy/Tactics

Players

1

File Size (Minimum)

6.8 GB

Release Date (NA)

Sep 30, 2025

Purchase From

eShop

PSN Store

Microsoft Store

Steam

Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is an enhanced version of the original game that came out for the PlayStation in 199. With added features such as voice acting, an improved user interface (UI), and a fast-forward option, this version of Final Fantasy Tactics offers the best possible experience for fans of the original tactics game.

War is at Foot

Ivalice Chronicles keeps the original story intact, but features a rewritten script with voice acting. The story is intriguing and when you first start playing, it is explained by a historical scholar named Arazlam Durai, who comes across documents of Ramza Beoulve’s past from his ancestor’s writings. Revealing the truth about the “legendary hero,” Delita Heirai, Ramza’s childhood friend, proclaims Ramza as the actual true hero. You are then taken on a journey to uncover the “truth”.

Set in the world of Ivalice, a year after a long fifty-year war, the game takes place in a medieval timeframe where kingdoms and churches are the main focal points. Peace is short-lived as a new war approaches for the throne. The White Lion sees Prince Larg as the heir, while the Black Lion sees Prince Goltana as the true ruler. This conflict leads to the War of the Lions, where the two are destined to clash.

You play as Ramza Beoulve, the youngest brother of the noble Beoulve House, a military family loyal to the White Lion. Ramza will face many scenarios before and during the war that will turn his world upside down, leading him down a path where he is labeled as a heretic. Now against the world, Ramza must stop the evil and unjust actions driven by greed of politicians and churches seeking power through the Zodiac Stones. Possessing just one of these stones can turn you into a monstrosity, and things are looking grim for the world of Ivalice.

Your Move Squire

Battles are set on a chess-style board where players place their units on designated squares. As a turn-based game, each character on the board takes a turn based on their speed and stats. In Ivalice Chronicles, players can now see a timeline tree showing the order of turns, making it easier to plan moves and attacks. This feature was not available in the original or the PlayStation Portable (PSP) version, Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions.

Players can move each character within their allowed parameters or use skills like throwing a stone, using a healing item, or summoning a beast. Some skills, like summoning and black magic, take time to initiate and can affect the turn order. Players must strategize when to use their skills against foes or heal their team.

When a fighter dies on the battlefield, they can be revived within three turns or will turn into a crystal or treasure chest that anyone can pick up. The crystal replenishes health and magic points. If a comrade turns into a crystal, they cannot be revived and are lost from the lineup. The timeline graph is crucial for effective planning.

Each battle has specific requirements to win, such as defeating all enemies or preventing a character from dying. One particularly challenging battle in the game is the Roof of Riovanes Castle, where players must prevent a character from dying while facing foes who have a head start in damaging that character. These foes can also inflict status effects like “charm” and “stop” to hinder the player’s ability to save the character. Adjusting equipment to counter these effects is essential for success but can be frustrating as the computer will adjust tactics depending on your character settings. Expect a lot of reloading this battle from the menu screen.

If battles become too difficult, players have the option to lower the difficulty level. Ivalice Chronicles offers three different difficulties: Squire, Knight, and Tactician. Knight is the “normal” difficulty, while Squire is the easiest and Tactician offers more challenges. The game also provides multiple auto-saves, allowing players to back out and train in random battles to improve their fighters’ experience and stats. Players can also load up the menu screen during the player’s turn in battle to reload the battle from the beginning. These features itself will save a lot of headaches without realizing.

Creating the Dream Team

Each character can change jobs to learn various skills. Special characters such as Ramza, Agrias, and Orlandeau, have their own unique class and skills that only they can learn. There are twenty different jobs players can choose from. However, many of them are locked and require specific levels from required jobs. For example, to become a Black Mage, you’ll need your Chemist job at level two. To become a Time Mage, your Black Mage job needs to be at level three. Gaining levels for each job requires you to take action during battle. If you are a Chemist, using items such as potions can earn those points. Jobs such as Black Knight and Onion Knight from War of the Lions are not involved in this version of the game.

Additionally, you can add additional job skills to your current job. For example, if you are a Black Mage you can equip the “Item” skill to use Chemist skills. Players can get pretty creative to make the ultimate fighter, such as adding the “Dual Swords” skill to your Knight to perform a double attack on a foe. There are a lot of possibilities to make this fun, but you have to put in the work and time to unlock these skills for your characters.

With the various jobs and variety of characters you can choose from, there are many layers to explore in order to build your own dream teams for different types of battles you’ll have to face.

Enhanced Through and Through

The Ivalice Chronicles  also features other improvements apart from the timeline tree and difficulty level. The biggest improvement is the entirely redesigned UI. Not only is it neater, but it is also more intuitive. Icons have been added to enhance understanding of sections and options. Character choices now include the “Reset Move” feature, allowing players to try different ways to place their character before attacking, rather than being limited to a one-and-done move. Players can also “fast-forward” during dialogue scenes before and during battle, speeding things up to make it easier to earn those job levels. You’ll spend hours without realizing how much you’ll dive into the game’s story and job systems. Combat is now smoother and faster than before. There’s also an “Auto Battle” option in which you can give orders to all units and let the game AI do the rest but the process takes a while to prepare and playing manually is still faster to use.

Regarding unlocking jobs, Ivalice Chronicles offers a new view that you can switch to see a tree diagram on what each job can unlock. This makes it visibly easier to view and understand, veterans who are used to the classic way, the game still offers that view. An additional feature that may be overlooked is automatically removing new monsters when added. When you have a monster, such as a Chocobo on your roster, they will create new monsters to fill your roster while traveling between cities. Having the option to delete new monsters automatically will be a time-saver compared to deleting them manually.

The game also features voice overs, adding a much more depth to the story and making it feel like playing a whole new game with this addition. Demons sound more like demonic beings and characters feel alive. If the voices aren’t your cup of tea, players can turn the voice volume down. Also available are the animated cut scene clips from the War of the Lions version, which become available as you play through the game’s story.

Graphically, the strategy game smooths the original 1997 PlayStation graphics to have a paintbrush effect. This is true even for the 3D polygon battlefields. Some fans may argue that there should be a new and improved graphics overhaul, but this style feels more in line with the original to play on modern screens. The game also adds a focal point where it includes a depth of field effect. Those who don’t like this option can turn off the effect.

The game’s soundtrack remains solid today, thanks to Hitoshi Sakimoto (Final Fantasy XII, Vagrant Story) and Masaharu Iwata (Ogre Battle, Tactics Ogre). Each score is memorable from the game’s menu screen to the battle against one of the Lucavi. You are likely to find yourself having the music play in the background when not playing the game.

Players who still want to play the 1997 version of the game, Ivalice Chronicles, are offered that option. When starting the game, players are given two different options, the Enhanced version or the Classic version. While the Classic version includes the updated script, it does not include any of the upgrades made in the Enhanced version and is based on the original PlayStation version. Playing at least one stage is enough to see why the Enhanced version offers a much smoother and better player experience. Save data does not carry over between the two versions.

While the game does not carry over other content like the Onion and Black Knight classes from the PSP version, the additional gameplay enhancements offered in Ivalice Chronicles still make it feel like a better option for players to jump into.

The Final Stone

Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is the most polished form of the original and is more than worth revisiting for its enhanced upgrades. The most difficult aspect of the game is tearing yourself away from it. Welcome back to Ivalice.

A PlayStation 5 review code was provided for this review. Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles will be available on the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC starting September 30, 2025. Fans can visit the official website for more information and to make purchases.