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Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles | Review Thread

This is one I never played but always meant to. So this could be my chance. Glad to see that there's an apparently decent version of this that can be played on modern machines without an emulator.
 
Looks bad. I'll pass...

You can get the original off eBay for $20 if you want the best version that looks much better.
 
Looks bad. I'll pass...

You can get the original off eBay for $20 if you want the best version that looks much better.

No VA, no tactician difficulty (OG is a bit of a cakewalk overall), No state of the realm/x-ray mode, no contribution towards the sequel - they said they're watching how well it sells and will potentially green light a sequel / another SRPG after it.

Also no widescreen (PS1) or incorrect aspect ratio (PSP). Plus this will get mods, so that's a lot of effort to save $20, but I guess to each their own. Just seems like if someone was going to pirate/rip the original, they wouldn't wait for a remaster to come out to do so.
 
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No VA, no tactician difficulty (OG is a bit of a cakewalk overall), No state of the realm/x-ray mode, no contribution towards the sequel - they said they're watching how well it sells and will potentially green light a sequel / another SRPG after it.

Also no widescreen (PS1) or incorrect aspect ratio (PSP). Plus this will get mods, so that's a lot of effort to save $20, but I guess to each their own. Just seems like if someone was going to pirate/rip the original, they wouldn't wait for a remaster to come out to do so.

Then they shouldn't have made it look so bad. 🤷‍♂️
 
Then they shouldn't have made it look so bad. 🤷‍♂️

If you look at the video linked a few posts earlier, there's a decent amount of visual options to adjust / disable. So I have some hope it can be improved, if not in options, by mods.

That said, I don't think it will be an issue at all if you have a portable device, Switch 1/2/PSPlay/Deck/etc. Can't imagine on a 7-8" screen anything would be an issue. So there's always that option.

Remember when the original came out we were playing on ~20" CRT TVs, with way less detail than even today's handhelds can display.
 
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I really want this now that the release is looming. Its too expensive and they could've done a better job on the graphics but TO Reborn was one of the best games I beat this year and I continued a good while with CODA. Its like crack, but more healthy.

FF Tactics is the best strategy game I've ever played and just the thought of the QoL features.. yeah, I need this.

I'm a little surprised this is scoring higher than Tactics Ogre: Reborn, given this remake for one thing allegedly kept things the same, albeit with weaker sprites.

FFT is a far better game to begin with. And TO is already extremely good. But FFT took the amount of classes you can toy with to a new level, it has more mechanics, and its story is (even) better.
 
I wonder how many FFT fans have not played Jeanne d'Arc yet, because if that is the case it's something you should seriously fix asap!

Jeanne d'Arc is one of the few games in the vein of FFT from that era that I found almost as captivating and with a great story as well. In a few ways, it's even better than FFT. Tighter plot, better graphics, and similarly crazy, OP characters.
 
Switch 2 one is key card?
Yes, but Switch 1 game is on cart, and has a free upgrade to Switch 2 version.
I wonder how many FFT fans have not played Jeanne d'Arc yet, because if that is the case it's something you should seriously fix asap!

Jeanne d'Arc is one of the few games in the vein of FFT from that era that I found almost as captivating and with a great story as well. In a few ways, it's even better than FFT. Tighter plot, better graphics, and similarly crazy, OP characters.
Jeanne D'Arc is awesome, and they've ported it to PS4/PS5 now!
 
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In a few ways, it's even better than FFT. Tighter plot, better graphics, and similarly crazy, OP characters.
I LOVE Jeanne d'Arc but that I don't agree with that, the story is much darker than I expected from Level 5 but the story suffers towards the end.
 
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I'm probably alone in thinking the graphics filtering looks good. It's more like a subdivided pixel look rather than the smearing you see in other games. I also really like the combination of the paper-like texturing effect and the tilt shift blur they've added. It's convincingly changed the art style to sort of resemble a pop-up story book. I guess some people might hate that change but it makes the game more commercially viable. Nobody is going to buy a straight port of the PS1 original (and the option exists in this release to play it like that for those that want it).
 
We all have to get it so they make a sequel. I bought the digital deluxe on switch. That's if you want to. lol
 
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I LOVE Jeanne d'Arc but that I don't agree with that, the story is much darker than I expected from Level 5 but the story suffers towards the end.

Yeah, it gets a bit too far gone at the end with the fantasy demon elements, but I guess I mean it's just a tighter plot in the sense it's a lot more centralized without as much political and warring factions to decipher. The dynamics in Jeanne d'Arc are more straightforward IMO. You're fighting demons and monsters quite often, where in Tactics it's not so black and white, but it's been a while now since I've played either so I don't doubt you're right.

The one PSP-era sRPG I never got around to, but always was very curious about and still have on my list is Wild Arms XF, ever play that one?
 
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Nobody is going to buy a straight port of the PS1 original (and the option exists in this release to play it like that for those that want it).

They could have just posted WOTL, and added voice acting.

This is the weird case where they chose to ignore the easy cash grab... and made it worse.
 
They could have just posted WOTL, and added voice acting.

This is the weird case where they chose to ignore the easy cash grab... and made it worse.

The creator said WOTL was not canon, and not their vision of the game. And that adding VA to the WOTL would not work because the way it is written is not natural to VA.

That is my understanding anyway, and it more or less checks out for me. WOTL content was not made by the person that made FFT, and listening to WOTL voice-acted line for line would be like trying to write a modern TV show using a Shakespeare script, it just wouldn't sound natural.

"The original game is included with the localization used in The War of the Lions. Multiple original staff returned including Kazutoyo Maehiro as director, Matsuno as writer and script editor, and Minagawa as art director"

Apparently from what I understand the original directors did not work on WotL, and they do not like it.
 
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9-capture_29012011_103312.png


scared forrest gump GIF
I walk in there with a summoner with auto haste, faith up, high mag attack and one shot that room with a nicely placed Cyclops Summon. ☠️
 
I got it off Loaded (CD Keys) for $44.99. An excellent game for the Steam Deck. The War of The Lions was good for the time, but added things that weren't ever meant to be a part of the game. I'm sure there will be mods coming to add that stuff back in sooner or later, but it's good to have the OG as intended from the original creator. It's almost like a reverse to what Lucasfilm did with the original Star Wars Special Editions. 😂 There are a number of people that would buy them despecialized if they could as most of the CG that was added hasn't aged well at all. I'm sure Disney could do it and it would be easy money, but somehow I bet Lucas may have put something to prevent it in the contract.
 
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Definitely picking up a copy in a few days, since the Switch 1 version gets the upgrade. I'm in Japan, so physical copies are about $33 usd
 
This is sadly becoming very common with remasters and remakes lately

To easy to repeat the marketing points already given to them by Square. It's difficult to write and explain how maybe buffing moves, nerfing moves, making previously prohibitively hard moves/jobs easier to acquire might not be such a good thing. But that would go against the old design decisions = bad, anything new = good, school of thought.

And now we also have the whole "we have to buy this game because we MIGHT get a sequel if it sells well" mentality from the desperate fanbase. Reminds me of the Wii era and all the "test" games it got.
 
And now we also have the whole "we have to buy this game because we MIGHT get a sequel if it sells well" mentality from the desperate fanbase. Reminds me of the Wii era and all the "test" games it got.

From the horse's mouth:

If The Ivalice Chronicles can do well, that's good for the fans, they can enjoy it. But, at the same time, it shows the business viability of the strategy RPG genre," The Ivalice Chronicles director Kazutoyo Maehiro tells Inverse, "So that could potentially open the door for doing something with Final Fantasy Tactics Advance or A2, or maybe even sequels and new titles as well.

So there it is.

And I get being cautious but maybe let's see whether or not the game actually fucked it all up or maybe, just maybe made some pretty decent changes before we burn all the witches.

That said with how well received the art style for DQ7 is getting, way better reception than any of their 2DHD games, as well as this, I expect we should see that style of 3D remaster become more common than sticking with the sprites/2D. I already see people wanting other 2D games like Chrono Trigger to get the same 3D makeover as DQ7.
 
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General rule of thumb now seems to be the majority game reviewers will never be critical of these remasters or look beyond the surface level marketing given to them that's basically just "old is bad, new is good." How many of these reviewers actually compared the two versions side by side beyond just graphics and UI. The updated graphics look hideous too but are getting praise or no negative response so that's concerning.

Again, I'm waiting for actual impressions from experienced players instead of reviewers who have to chuck out a review for a deadline and then never play these games again.
Todays Youtubers and reviewers have no integrity whatsoever. They appeal to casuals first amd always err on the side of being overly positive, unless of course it becomes trendy to hate on a particular game before launch, then they will follow the herd and be overly negative about something.

I swear there are only two, maybe 3 reasonably popular Youtube review channels with integrity.
 
General rule of thumb now seems to be the majority game reviewers will never be critical of these remasters or look beyond the surface level marketing given to them that's basically just "old is bad, new is good." How many of these reviewers actually compared the two versions side by side beyond just graphics and UI. The updated graphics look hideous too but are getting praise or no negative response so that's concerning.

Again, I'm waiting for actual impressions from experienced players instead of reviewers who have to chuck out a review for a deadline and then never play these games again.
Coffee Potato is good at reviews, because he has an obsession with srpg(Especially Tactics Ogre, guy can make a 10 hour video just explaining the units, composition etc).

 
I really want this now that the release is looming. Its too expensive and they could've done a better job on the graphics but TO Reborn was one of the best games I beat this year and I continued a good while with CODA. Its like crack, but more healthy.

FF Tactics is the best strategy game I've ever played and just the thought of the QoL features.. yeah, I need this.



FFT is a far better game to begin with. And TO is already extremely good. But FFT took the amount of classes you can toy with to a new level, it has more mechanics, and its story is (even) better.
I love FFT but felt a few of the mid to late missions could have had better encounter design.
 
Coffee Potato is good at reviews, because he has an obsession with srpg(Especially Tactics Ogre, guy can make a 10 hour video just explaining the units, composition etc).



He has terrible Review . He made a long Video to defend a terrible weapon type ( Bow ) that need a ton of set up to do same damage with a good weapon type in TO reborn . In the end , it just prove that everyone is right .
 
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