The Ivalice Chronicles PC Review

Final Fantasy Tactics has been one of the most notable and beloved games in the Final Fantasy series for decades. Despite originally launching all the way back in 1997, the game’s legacy has endured so much that players have been wondering if the series will return in some form. Thankfully, after almost thirty years, Final Fantasy Tactics has been remade for modern audiences through Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles. It includes several great quality-of-life improvements that significantly enhance the experience. However, while offering an excellent experience, the game is not without flaws.

A Story For The Ages

Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles follows several characters and nations in the wake of the 50 Years’ War.  It takes place in the war-torn kingdom of Ivalice, a land recovering from said great conflict. The story follows Ramza Beoulve, a young nobleman and soldier who becomes entangled in a new civil war known as the Lion War, fought between two factions vying for control of the throne. As Ramza rises through the ranks, he witnesses corruption, class oppression, and manipulation by the church and nobility. As players progress through the game, they see his childhood friend Delita Heiral take a different path that aligns with the flaws and wrongs of the political system. As the war escalates, Ramza discovers that the political struggle is merely a front for an ancient conspiracy involving the Zodiac Stones. These relics can summon demonic beings known as the Lucavi. It’s then up to Ramza and his party to not only fight against the armies of Ivalice but against the church itself. 

Final Fantasy Tactics is regarded as having one of the best stories in the JRPG genre, and for good reasons. The game is filled with twists and turns, and exciting, emotional, and engaging moments. Players will be immersed in the intriguing political relationships and conflicts between nations, and each intriguing character arc.

The narrative is further supported by the fact that all scenes are now fully voice-acted in both English and Japanese. The voice acting is impeccable, especially the English voice acting, which incorporates accents and grammar that perfectly fit the time period. However, it is also worth noting that players will spend a considerable amount of time, over several hours in fact, before they reach the most engaging moments of the narrative. And while the first few hours are entertaining in their own right, some moments are slower and pale in comparison to the latter moments.

An Excellent Tactical But Imperfect Experience

Gameplay-wise, Final Fantasy Tactics is no slouch either, especially with the several new enhancements of the remake. The game provides some of the most quintessential tactical experiences in the genre in many ways.Players fight enemies through turn-based tactical combat in several terrains. Like many Tactics games, players not only control characters in turns but must also move in blocks, with the distance they can travel being determined by several factors. Players can recruit characters, strengthen them with various weapons, accessories, armors, and items. Like many classic Final Fantasy games, character abilities are categorized as classes called Jobs. 

Players will need to learn the ins and outs of the combat system. Otherwise, they will constantly lose battles and risk losing their characters. Once a character dies, they cannot come back. As such, to progress efficiently, you must learn new abilities from other jobs, get strong items, switch jobs to get the full advantages of a specific job, and learn who and what to sacrifice during combat.

Learning how to utilize the terrain to your advantage and leveraging new features, such as the tactical view feature, helps tremendously. Other quality-of-life additions make the otherwise sluggish moments of gameplay bearable and even enjoyable. These include new difficulties, a revamped UI, an auto-save feature,  an amazingly useful fast forward system, and more. All these features make the game more accessible to newcomers. 

The Bad With The Good

If you have an analytical mind, you will enjoy Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles thoroughly. The gameplay experience is engaging, immersive, and incredibly addictive once you get used to it and it clicks. However, despite this, there are thorns to this rose. A major one is the tedious and time-consuming grinding players will need to do to progress comfortably, especially at the start of the game. The experience also doesn’t flow naturally, as every gameplay aspect is rigid and incredibly manual. Players must pick each character’s jobs, abilities, items, optimize what the best tools each character should use, level each of them up painstakingly, and decide the best strategy every single time. The worst part is that they have to do this for each character, and if they die, you lose all that investment. It doesn’t help that Tactics is an incredibly long and challenging game, with each battle potentially taking a considerable amount of time. All that said, it’s safe to say that only the most dedicated players will enjoy the experience.

Visually, Final Fantasy Tactics’ newly remade visuals look impeccable. The models of both the terrain and character models look great, and the character designs are intricate. Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles also offers a Classic mode, allowing players who are nostalgic to stick to the classic elements.

Final Thoughts

Overall, though not without flaws, Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles offers an impeccable story and gameplay experience. It not only enhances the already great classic but also proves why it’s one of the best of its medium.