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.
The classic version of FINAL FANTASY TACTICS is also included in The Ivalice Chronicles. It’s very cool, but why did you add this in?
*Author's Note: There are two English translations for FINAL FANTASY TACTICS: the original 1997 PlayStation text and the updated version from The War of the Lions release in 2007. The classic version in The Ivalice Chronicles features the The War of the Lions translation.
Among fans of the original game, there will be those who believe that the game doesn't need a lot of embellishment. To be honest, I’ve felt this way about a number of remastered titles in the past.
So, there was no doubt in our minds that alongside the enhanced version, which is more in-line with the current era and more accessible to newcomers, we should also include a classic version that is based on the original build of the game.
The classic version isn't just a direct reproduction of the original game, however. We added some quality-of-life features such as autosave and fixed a lot of bugs, allowing players to get the same feel as they did from the original game, but play comfortably on current platforms. Fans of the original game will still be satisfied with the gameplay experience.
