Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound has nary a rage-quit in sight.
November 22, 2025
My history with Final Fantasy Tactics is like other RPGs during the PlayStation era. Outside of initially seeing it displayed on the shelves of Electronics Boutique or FuncoLand, I didn’t know much about it because Final Fantasy VII was all anyone was talking about. Myself included. The first time I saw Tactics in action was at a friend’s house. He was in a story battle, going through the motions of teleporting his squad throughout the battlefield. I remember being confused by the entire thing, but I thought it was neat that his entire team was able to teleport. I later learned that was an ability he had to teach them. Fast forward a couple years later, and a different friend of mine has it. This time, I’m savvier with my RPGs. I played a few random battles and became hooked; so much so that I went over to this friend’s house more often so I could get more time with the game. See, the game was impossible to find at this point, and I didn’t dare look in the no man’s land known as eBay.
Luckily, Squaresoft heard the outcry and released a Greatest Hits version of the game…which ended up being unplayable due to a bug. It took another two weeks after that for the bug free copy to arrive. I remember it was summertime in 2001; just a few weeks before school was about start. All that to say, it took about three years (1998 to 2001) for me to finally get a copy, and finally dive into it, and finally consume the heck out of it. Along with multiple files on the PlayStation, I played through it multiple times on the PSP with its War of the Lions version. And now, in 2025, we’ve got another version to enjoy. The Ivalice Chronicles continues to reiterate that Final Fantasy Tactics is one of the best strategy games ever, and one of my top five games of all time. I have a lot of praise for Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles. If you’ve played any version, then you should know what you’re getting into. I want to start this review by highlighting the new features unique to this version.
First, there’s voice acting. Normally, I don’t care for voice acting, but in the Ivalice Chronicles, I’m able to make an exception due to the quality. (I read faster than the characters speak – for those wondering why I don’t like voice acting). Ramza, Mustadio, Agrias and all the random recruits and soldiers encountered sound more life-like and add extra realness to world. It especially comes alive during new dialogues that play during battle. Characters like Mustadio and Agrias have much more development and personality, depending on the battlefields they’re on. Speaking of characters, bonus recruits like Beowulf and Cloud can now be recruited earlier than usual. It’s not by much, but it’s worth pointing out. (Cloud doesn’t begin at level one when you get him.) There’s multiple difficulty levels, the option to skip and/or fast-forward events, in-depth descriptions of the rewards you find from side jobs, bonus reading material to add to the lore of Ivalice, and more extras. My favorite new feature is the inclusion of an on-screen display that shows the turn order of the battlefield participants. In previous versions, players would take additional steps in menus to determine if an ability such as a magic spell with extra charge time or a charged attack would land on target. Now, you’re shown when the move will execute.
My least favorite change? Sadly, it has to do with one of the game’s best features: the jobs. The Dark Knight and Onion Knight are not in this version. Also, remember that anectdote when I was wowed by my friend teleporting his troops around the stage? Teleport, a Time Mage ability, normally requires 600 Job Points (JP). In The Ivalice Chronicles, it requires 3000 JP. Other ability costs from other jobs have been altered, but this one was the most noteworthy. The rest of the War of the Lions content has been cut, too. This sadly includes characters from Final Fantasy XII and Final Fantasy Tactics A2, as well as the bonus Rendezvous Battles. It shouldn’t make a major difference, but still. I’m curious why Square omitted it. That’s the majority of the new content. For those that don’t care for any of that, a classic version of the game is included in The Ivalice Chronicles.
Final Fantasy Tactics has a story with so much history and depth; it would take way too long to describe all of the background information. So, I will begin when we meet our hero, Ramza Beoulve, after The 50 Year War in the land of Ivalice. A mercenary for hire from the established house of Beoulve, Ramza has been given the duty to protect Princess Ovelia from a band of rogues. After Ramza and his team fight off an assault, Princess Ovelia gets captured by Delita Heiral, a long-time friend of Ramza who was thought to be dead. Delita is alive, and Ramza soon gets swept up in a tale of intrigue and virtue, of legends and facts, and of good and evil. The script feels new and fresh, and is much easier to digest this go-around.
The look of Final Fantasy Tactics may seem a bit dated to some. This is because the graphics are an exact copy of how they looked in the original version. Basically, the graphics are just as good as they were back in the day for their purposes. All of the spells, battlefields, towns, and weather effects look the way they did back in the day. The new and beautifully animated cut scenes are also available. Regardless of what you are watching, FFT is a graphical masterpiece. Like the graphical presentation, the sound track of The Ivalice Chronicles evokes every important mood and feeling. The soundtrack remains a favorite from Sakimoto and Iwata.
Gameplay remains largely unchanged. You move Ramza from location to location on a large map of Ivalice. You can not only avoid random encounters, but you can also restart/retreat from them. This applies to story battles as well. I was so excited to see I could avoid a fight if I wasn’t feeling it. In town you can shop for gear for your team, head to a warrior’s guild to find a new mercenary, or go to a bar to hear rumors. Also, going to a bar later in the game will allow you to run errands. Doing these errands can grant you huge bonuses in money and job points, and they also allow you to discover hidden treasures. The more successful you are at errand running, the higher your rating will go up.
While on the world map, you have access to various menus. Besides having a full tutorial of the game’s mechanics, options, character profiles, and story events, you can customize your party as you see fit. Final Fantasy Tactics still has one of the best class systems. With over 15 jobs, each with their own special abilities, it should be duly noted that having just one character “master” each job will take hours. For those who have played games like Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy V, this system will seem familiar to you. The game begins with you having only two jobs: squire and chemist. As you level up certain jobs, you will unlock new jobs. These include the monk, the knight, the black mage, the time mage, the thief, the ninja, the mathematician, and so much more. No matter the job you are using for your character, you can customize him or her with abilities that you learned from other jobs. The possibilities are endless.
Acquiring these abilities comes from using the job points you gained in battle. Obviously, the better the ability, the more JP you will have to save up. Certain classes take far longer to master than others. Also, there are a few abilities that are downright useless in battle. This, in turn, makes certain jobs have more worth than others. Stat growth is different for each job, so it is important to have a balanced party. Not to mention, some of the jobs can take the entire course of the game to unlock.
Besides the job system, FFT implements brave points and faith points. A character with high bravery means they will remain strong in their attacks. If bravery gets lowered too much, the character will turn into a chicken and not participate in battle. A character with high faith means magic will be extremely potent. The lower the faith, the less effective a magic spell. Finally, FFT uses the signs of the zodiac to have use in battle. In real life, certain signs are compatible with others. The game takes this idea to the next level. Characters who are of compatible signs will be great allies. If these same allies are of the least compatible sign of the enemy, then damage and success will be greater.
The job system and all it has to offer may seem harrowing to newcomers. When this is added to the brave, faith, and zodiac systems, it becomes clear the FFT is not to be taken lightly. Level grinding will help those who are struggling with some of the mechanics, but true SRPG tacticians will use careful customization and planning. This all begins in the customization menu.
When you enter a battle, you have to chose your team and place them on a choice of squares. In most story battles, you will have to make room for a guest character that has relevance to the story in some way. After you have determined the battle participants, the fight will begin. Your victory conditions will be displayed at the start of the battle. Usually, this means you have to finish off every enemy. Other times, you may have to defeat a certain character or protect an ally from harm.
Speed determines the order of turns. When your character’s CT gauge reaches 100, it is their turn to act. Besides moving around the isometric battle field, you can attack, use the abilities of your current job, use the abilities you equipped from a different job, and/or wait. Certain attacks like powerful spells and skills take time to charge. Thus, if you plan on using a potent attack spell, you have to be sure that the enemy’s turn is not coming up soon and it moves away from the range. Furthermore, certain spells can hit your allies and heal your enemies.
However, I recommend not doing this unless you know the battle is just about over and you want some extra experience points and job points. When a character’s HP reaches zero, they are KO’d. However, after a certain amount of time, a character will turn into a treasure chest or a crystal. This means that the character has disappeared from battle. If this happens to your ally, you will never see him or her again. Moving to a treasure chest will give you an item that the character had equipped. A crystal will allow you to restore your HP and MP, or learn an ability that the character knew.
Battles can range from very easy to insanely difficult, and can take either five minutes or a half hour. Ramza’s level will determine the difficulty of the non-story battles, which are usually the more difficult of the two types of battles. If Ramza is level 50, but the rest of the party is below or above 50, the enemies will be around Ramza’s level 50. You can always lower the difficulty, but still – no matter the battle, a victory comes only with proper preparation. Again, level grinding and certain ability spamming with the right characters can make the challenge drop significantly. However, the die-hard strategy players will use all the mechanics the game has to offer.
Every time I play FF Tactics, I sink at least 50 hours into it. My first time in the Ivalice Chronicles was no different with a playtime of about 55 hours. And of course, I already have plans/ideas for my next file. It should go without saying: I recommend this game to everyone. All gamers, all over should look into this game. Its the legacy is as strong as myself and others will tell you. I’m sure I could think of more things to say about it, but this review has gone on for long enough. So, I’ll end it here. Play Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles.
Overall, 10/10: Can a masterclass be remastered? Of course it can! Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles brings the legendary title to new consoles.
