Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles

A new version of Final Fantasy Tactics was released on September 30, 2025, and it's available on multiple platforms. What was already great has become even better, with lots of new features. I got the Deluxe Edition, which comes with some cool extras. If you’re a Final Fantasy Tactics fan like I am, I’m sure you’re going to love this a analisys.

Just a quick heads-up: this isn’t a remake, but rather an enhanced version, with improved graphics, new features, and technical changes that make the gameplay more dynamic, accessible, and complete.

I’ll break down the most important updates — the key points I think are worth highlighting — and I hope that both longtime fans of the series and new players will enjoy this short guide and celebration of what I consider a true masterpiece in the world of strategy RPGs.

Game Start

Right at the beginning, you can choose between the classic version and the new updated version. You also have the option to tweak a few settings before jumping into the game.

In this new version, there are three difficulty levels, and the cool part is — you can change the difficulty anytime during your playthrough. I’ve been playing on the hardest setting, but to be honest… I didn’t really notice a big difference compared to the original game's single difficulty level.

But what about you? Did you play it and feel like it was more challenging? Drop your thoughts down in the comments!

Animation & Cutscenes

The CG animations are the same ones from the Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions version on PSP — but not all of them are included in this version. In fact, only a few scenes made it in.

You’ll see CG cutscenes mainly at the beginning and end of each chapter. For the rest of the game, you’ll mostly get the standard in-game dialogue, like the ones that play during battles.

Story changes

At first, the story is basically the same, but the dialogues have been changed to a more formal tone compared to the original version. Now, the theme feels closer to what you’d expect from a medieval knights’ world.

It’s worth noting that some parts even have slightly different contexts than what we remembered from the first game.

As for the ending scene, it’s more complete and less mysterious than the original — but I’m not gonna spoil it! If you want to check it out, I invite you to watch the gameplay videos on our channel.

Voice acting feature

I hope you guys like having audio in the game, because now we have voice acting in the dialogues, battles, and pretty much throughout the entire game!

It’s pretty similar to what you see in most modern games, where all the characters and monsters talk or make sounds.

But if you’re not a fan of all the chatter and just want the characters to stay quiet, you can simply go to the settings and turn the voice volume all the way down. That way, the game feels just like the PS1 version.

Auto-save and quick save system

In addition to manual saves, we now have a modern quick save option, which is super useful if you regret saving at a bad moment. You can even go back a few battles before your last manual save.
But the big new feature is that there are also auto-save points during battles, which feels a lot like using emulator save states.

This not only saves time, but also lets you cheat a little — especially when you're trying to grab the hidden treasures in each stage and want to make sure you always get the best possible item.

Honestly, these auto-save features are amazing. I wish every game had them — it would make life so much easier!

Speed-up feature

Speaking of emulators, here’s another similar feature: you can now speed up dialogues and battles, making the game feel more dynamic and saving you a lot of time.

Just a heads-up: don’t go overboard with the speed! Your enemies might be wrecking you — and you won’t even notice.

New Tavern Tasks

It looks like some new features have been added to the taverns — things that were removed from the original version of the game. These job requests that show up in taverns can sometimes lead to mini-games and other fun extras. Just keep in mind that these features only become available after the first chapter.

Complex Menus

Back on the PS1, we had simpler menus — whether it was managing abilities or guiding characters during battles. But here, everything feels more complex and a bit more work to handle. Of course, having all this extra information does come with its advantages, especially in the battle menus. I was honestly a bit surprised by how many options and ways there were to organize everything. But after a few hours of gameplay, you start to get used to all these features and the benefits they bring.

Changes to jobs and abilities

The jobs and secret characters in this version are the same as in the original PS1 release, not the ones from Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions on PSP.

In this version, some jobs and abilities now require a bit more Job Points (JP) to unlock. It's not a huge difference, but it’s good to know ahead of time!

I had a few surprises myself — for example, if you want to unlock the Thief job, you’ll need to level up your Archer to level 3, instead of level 2 like in previous versions.

Also, nearly all ability names have been changed, but don’t worry — you’ll get used to them quickly.
If you have any questions about the jobs, the abilities, or anything else in the game, make sure to check out our blog! In addition to the YouTube tutorials, we’ve got detailed guides, tips, and info on the site covering all the games featured here on the channel.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the channel and visit the blog — links are in the video description!

Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles ALL INTROS

Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles New Features

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