The long-awaited remake is real, and it’s been given the titleFinal Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles, but there’s a big problem. Rumors of anFF Tacticsremake have been floating around for years now, along with remakes and remasters for severalother major Square Enix games. Earlier this week, at least one of those rumors came true when Square announcedFF Tactics: The Ivalice Chroniclesat thePlayStation State of Play ahead of Summer Game Fest. In a minute-long trailer,Tacticsshowed off its new UI, its voice-acted dialogue, and various other improvements to this old favorite.
I’m glad to seeFF Tacticscoming to modern consoles. I played it a long time ago on the PS Vita, but it’s only been available on smartphones since then, and no one wants to play such an expansive, mature political drama on their tiny phone screen. I’m also glad the remake is so extensive - I would’ve been happy with a much more barebones PC and console port, but I won’t say no to a little UI revamp and some voice acting. But there’s one problem thatcould prevent me from experiencing the best of theFF Tacticsremake.
FF Tactics’ “Enhanced” Version Doesn’t Look Great
Classic Vs. Enhanced
Uniquely among remakes,every purchase ofFF Tacticswill include two versions of the game: Classic and Enhanced. The Classic version is basically just a port of the originalTacticsto modern consoles, with few, if any, changes. The Enhanced version has all the improvements listed above, including a new UI, full voice acting, and “extensive additions and adjustments to the story,” per the trailer itself.
This is a pretty interesting idea: it caters both to fans who believe the originalTacticsis perfect and shouldn’t be changed, and those who acknowledge that its graphics and controls are a product of their time.It’s something I’d like to see more remakes do, butTacticsis uniquely poised to pull it off because of its relatively small file size.
Tacticsbasically pioneered the 2D-3D style you see in tons of RPG remasters today.
However,the smoothed-over graphics of the Enhanced version don’t look good. They look like they’ve been put into a bad AI upscaling tool and left to their own devices. They exist in a weird middle ground between pixel art and cartoon, and remind me a lot of the pre-Pixel Remasterversions ofFF1-6for smartphones. (Along withcertain otherFinal Fantasyspinoffs.) It’s a shame, too, becauseTacticsbasically pioneered the 2D-3D style you see in tons of RPG remasters today. Give me the original (or slightly modified) sprites on remastered 3D backgrounds, and it’d hold up fine.
You May Have To Play The Enhanced Version Of FF Tactics To Experience New Content
At Least It Sounds That Way
To make matters worse, the trailer makes it sound likeall the new content inFF Tactics: The Ivalice Chroniclesis gated behind the enhanced version. In other words, it seems like, in order to experience the new story details and voice acting, you’ll have to play with the goopy, melted graphics of the Enhanced version. That’s just not right - players shouldn’t have to settle for an inferior visual style just to experience everything the remake has to offer. I understand the appeal of including an untouched port of the original game, but the improvements should still be available as an option.
Instead,I’d rather see each of the remake’s improvements included as various different settingsin a version of the game that still mostly retains its original art style. This way, diehard fans of the original game could toggle off voice acting, the new UI, and the story changes as it pleased them, while more open-minded players could experience the remake in its totality.
I’m willing to admit I may have jumped the gun here, but at least from this early trailer, it seems like the “Enhanced” graphics and the new content will go hand-in-hand, and the Classic mode will be an entirely separate entity. Players shouldn’t have to decide between an inferior pixel art style and new features like story enhancements and voice acting, but that’s an impossible decisionFInal Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chroniclesmay be asking us all to make.
