AFinal Fantasy Tacticsremake is all well and good, but another game by Hironobu Sakaguchi might be more deserving of the remake treatment. First released for the PlayStation in 1997,FF Tacticsis a bit of an outlieramongFinal Fantasyspinoffsin its quality and success.Tacticsis typically considered one of the bestFinal Fantasygames of all time - it’s got a powerful, mature, politically relevant story, and unique gameplay that adds a strategic twist to classic turn-basedFFcombat. It was only a matter of time untilTacticsgot a remake.
So, it was scarcely a surprise whenSquare Enix announcedFinal Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chroniclesat this week’s State of Play. The jury’s still out on whether it’s a remake or a remaster - although it’s far from a full graphical remake, there are enough new features and new story content to justify calling it one. Either way, it was a long time coming, as, until this September, you can only playFF Tacticson PS1, PSP, or a smartphone. However, I’d arguea completely different game byFinal Fantasycreator Hironobu Sakaguchi is even more deserving.
Lost Odyssey Is The Final Fantasy Game We Never Got
Final Fantasy In All But Name
Not too long ago, before theFinal FantasyTacticsremake was even announced, I dug my old Xbox 360 out of a dusty recess in my closet, where it’d sat idle for the previous decade or so. I wasn’t even sure it would work - I was prepared for disappointment, to be met with the red ring of death. But I had a plan. I was going to get my hands on a used copy ofLost Odyssey, Hironobu Sakaguchi’s forgotten pseudo-Final Fantasygame, released exclusively for the Xbox 360 in 2007.
Miraculously, it worked, andLost Odysseygot its claws in me. Technically, it has nothing to do withFinal Fantasy, butthe connections between the two are plentiful.Lost Odysseywas the third major product byFFcreator Hironobu Sakaguchi’s studio, Mistwalker, which he founded immediately after leaving Square following his contribution toFinal Fantasy X-2. It also boasts music by originalFinal Fantasycomposer Nobuo Uematsu, the creative force behind all the bestFinal Fantasysoundtracks.
The result is thatLost Odysseylooks, sounds, and plays exactly like a classicFinal Fantasygame. It uses a turn-based combat system perhaps most easily comparable toFinal Fantasy X- no Active Time Battle, but different actions take different lengths of time, so turn order alone doesn’t necessarily determine the order in which your characters act. If I’d been living under a rock sinceX-2, you probably could’ve convinced me that it wasFinal Fantasy 11- after all, the series reinvents itself enough that it doesn’t feel too out of place.
In its own weird way,Lost Odysseyfeels more likeFinal Fantasythan certain recentFinal Fantasygames.
In a lot of ways,Lost Odysseyrepresents the direction I wishFinal Fantasytook afterX-2. I likeFF12 - 16well enough, but the series inevitably changed after Sakaguchi left, and not always for the better. Its turn towards total action combat is something I can’t endorse. The stories, the music, the visuals are all still there, but in its own weird way,Lost Odysseyfeels more likeFinal Fantasythan certain recentFinal Fantasygames. It represents a real, generational evolution of classicFF’s turn-based combat, retaining what’s historically made it successful while introducing some new ideas of its own.
With Lost Odyssey, Sakaguchi Goes In A New Direction
Doing What Final Fantasy Can’t
Interestingly, though,Lost Odysseymanages to tread territory thatFinal Fantasygames likely never would. Sure, it does the whole magic-as-technology thing, depicting a war between two industrialized societies who use magical forms of technology, which is a common trope throughout theFinal Fantasyseries. But there’s a bold departure there in that its protagonist, Kaim, among other characters, is functionally immortal - a fact we know from the very beginning.
That kind of protagonist is a little unconventional for Sakaguchi’s other work.Final Fantasyprotagonists tend to be human, at least at the beginning; at the climax of the story, we might find out they’re actually aliens, or gods, or have been dead for millennia. This makes them relatable right up to the point that they’re not. Of course, closer to the end ofLost Odyssey, the plot goes off the rails in a very typicalFFway. But before that,this unique plot conceit creates some fascinating and unusual character momentsfor Kaim, which I won’t spoil.
Plus,Lost Odyssey’s combat uses real-time inputs, with a system of interlocking rings that you must line up in order to ensure your attacks are maximally effective. This has shown up in other Square RPGs, most notablySuper Mario RPG, as well asmore recent homages to Square’s classic output. However, this issomething that, outside of its action-combat games,Final Fantasyhas never attempted.
I’ll admit that timed inputs in turn-based RPGs have never been my favorite mechanic. But they work well enough inLost Odysseythat they don’t feel unnatural. And at the very least,you have to give it props for staying true to Sakaguchi’s roots while still trying something different.
Lost Odyssey Needs A Remake More Than FF Tactics
Tactics Would Hold Up To A Port
Look, I’m here for anFF Tacticsremake, at least conceptually. I’ve wished for a way to play the original on modern consoles for years now, and I’m thrilled it’s finally happening. However, I’d argue thatFF Tacticsdoesn’t need a remake nearly as much as something likeLost Odysseydoes.
Tacticsisn’t perfect, sure, but it could stand up just fine to a simple modern platform port, even in its original form. Update the graphics, maybe add a few quality-of-life features, and send it out into the world. Things like story changes and voice acting just feel unnecessary - cool, but unnecessary.Lost Odyssey, meanwhile, has real technical issuesthat could be resolved with a proper remake. Each battle requires a loading screen (which admittedlyreminds me ofFF9). Pair that with random encounters every few feet, and it disrupts the overall pacing ofLost Odyssey’s gameplay.
A proper remake could address that, and makeLost Odysseyplay a lot better. A little graphical touching up, and it’d make a brilliant, modern,Final Fantasy-style epic adventure. Besides that,Lost Odysseyis still stuck on a console that’s now two generations old. (You can still play it on newer Xbox consoles with backwards compatibility, but you can’t find it in stores.) I risked a lot of disappointment digging up my old Xbox to playLost Odyssey- I wish the process were easier for everyone else disillusioned with the direction of modernFF.
I’m not holding my breath, but I suppose a remake is possible. After all, Square Enix recently touched up and re-released one of Mistwalker’s more recent games asFantasian: Neo Dimension. Why not look back at its older catalog, and remaster things likeBlue DragonandLost Odyssey? I can’t fault Square Enix for remakingFinal Fantasy Tactics, but I can’t help but feel like the rest of Sakaguchi’s output is just as deserving of a modern audience.
