Thanks to the lovely people at Square Enix, I had the opportunity to play a small portion of the upcoming Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles and, more importantly, sit down and do an interview with the game’s director, Kazutoyo Maehiro. As a huge fan of the series, I want to thank Maehiro for not only taking time out of his busy schedule to talk with me, but also for answering all my questions. And also thanks to the Square Enix staff who translated and helped with the interview.
RPGFan: Hi! I’m Scott from RPGFan. I am a huge fan of the game, and it’s easily one of my favorite games of all time, having played it 30 times or so in my life. Thank you for taking your time to sit down and do this interview. To start us off: with the original game coming up on 30 years, what do you think the legacy of Final Fantasy Tactics is, and do you think The Ivalice Chronicles lives up to this legacy, or changes it in some way?
Kazutoyo Maehiro: So, when it comes to Final Fantasy Tactics, I do feel like the original game defined all the tactical games that followed it. When it comes to the game design, the story, and BGM, all the factors of this game were very defined; as a Final Fantasy game it really was a complete package back in the day. So, now that we can rebirth this game as The Ivalice Chronicles, it is something I am very very proud of and think will live up to its legacy.
RPGFan: The first thing I saw when you all announced The Ivalice Chronicles was that there will be actual difficulty levels, which I am very excited for. Not only for myself, because I want to jump right into hard mode at the start, but because difficulty levels are always great for people who want to enter any series, and especially since Tactics is notorious for having some truly difficult sections. I am curious about what hard mode entails. There have been a few rumors, like a harder Belius fight, but those are just rumors. Can you elaborate on some of the changes?
Maehiro: When it comes to difficulty settings for this version, we knew that the original version was a game where a lot of fans had a hard time going through the story. We want people to enjoy the story if that is their main focus (and let them enjoy the story a bit more) so we decided to have three different settings implemented for this game. For players that want to enjoy the story, we have the casual, or Squire, settings. Then we have the Knight, or standard, difficulty which is a version that is balanced slightly lower than the original experience.
Then, when it comes to Tactician, or hard mode, we actually have a part of the game where the calculations of the game are changed completely. For example, if you used a holy attack using a Calculator/Arithmetician the damage won’t be as great. With that being said, it’s not just about lowering damage output of attacks within this mode. We did a lot of adjustments that are really geared and unique towards the Tactician mode specifically. So I do feel that the final product is something even veteran fans will enjoy. I do think ultimately, though, that this is an RPG, and what is most important is to level up and progress your characters to prepare yourself for battle.
RPGFan: A bit of a follow up to this question: when we got the original game in the West, it was kind of poorly translated. A lot of the mechanics of the game were never fully explained to the player, and even when they were, the translations held back a lot of the explanation. Basically, there were a lot of limitations to explaining the more nuanced game systems, like the Bravery and Faith systems, or even the Zodiac system. Are there new systems in place so that new players can enjoy it and learn the mechanics without having to guess or fumble for what worked like we did back in ’97/’98?
Maehiro: Yes, actually, I do feel as though you’re hitting the nail in the head here. When it comes to the PlayStation 1 version of the game, because there were so many limitations from a technical perspective, there were also limitations on what could be shown on screen as well. In this version, we actually have an encyclopedia, as well as a mode that explains a lot of the various elements and components of the game. As you may know, we have a character, Darlavon, the military academy instructor, and we have a mode where he explains a lot of the mechanics as well. You can use this mode to check the various status you will encounter through the game, as well as how to utilize the jobs as well. We hope it will help newcomers and veterans alike.
RPGFan: I always love to ask developers this, since you all get to spend so much time with these characters, probably more than any of us will. Who is your favorite character, and who is your least favorite character? It can either be from a gameplay perspective, or from a story perspective. Mine is Agrias Oaks because of her story and appearance, but my least favorite is Barich/Balk because of one of the last fights in the game where he is notoriously annoying to fight.
Maehiro: My favorite character would be Gaffgarion. He is a character that is more fatherly and a mentor to Ramza since his mercenary days. But his character isn’t able to express that directly, and I find that almost charming. My least favorite aren’t major characters, but they would be Lettie and Celia, the two assassins. They are very tough to deal with, and when I play the game, they annihilate my party, so I do not like them!
[laughs from the room]
RPGFan: Lettie and Celia actually leads me to my next question. You meet them at Riovanes Castle, which is maybe the most notorious part of this game. It’s the Weigraf/Belius fight setting, and people often forget another challenging fight happens right after with Lettie, Celia, and the Marquis Elmdore. I know there has been talk about the ability to back out of these continuous battles now, which honestly is one of the best changes for this game. Was there any point in development where you and your team thought that letting the player back out would take away the seriousness of the situation during those segments? Or did you feel this was an absolutely necessary change? As a long time veteran, I think it’s a great idea, because I know many people that got stuck and quit the game at this point.
Maehiro: When it comes to this iteration of the game, knowing it’s been 25 years since the original game, we definitely kept in mind that ensuring the actual experience will be as comfortable as possible. The option to flee/retreat from battle was something that came out from that. Another way we originally thought was to actually adjust the balance itself, but that would change a lot of core parts and change this into something that isn’t Final Fantasy Tactics. We definitely wanted to retain that difficulty that’s inherent in these games, and keep those moments in the gameplay so you can experience it much like the original while adding a lot of quality of life improvements like autosave and redoing battles. Basically, make the experience much more accessible. We definitely felt it was necessary to change. Basically, keeping the grueling sections of the game but also making it accessible to everyone.
RPGFan: Playing a small section of the game, I noticed that one of the class abilities was changed from Defend to Evasive Stance. It’s an ability that not many people actually use, including myself. Was there a time during development you felt some of these skills and abilities needed to be changed or reworked a bit to help game balance? Because there are a lot of abilities like Walk on Lava which never get used.
Maehiro: Speaking of Defend that you mentioned becoming evasive, in the original game, even though it’s called defend, it’s actually doing the same thing and increasing your evasion. (I learned something new today!) But we made sure to properly rename it this time so people understand what this and a few other abilities actually do. Overall adjustments for abilities, we wanted to adjust the speed for when characters are aiming/charging so that it’s a little bit easier to use. When it comes to job point consumption, we wanted to adjust that as well.
RPGFan: Yeah, I saw teleport now costs 3000 JP! That’s a lot, but understandable. It’s such a good skill.
[laughs from the room]
Maehiro: We wanted to make sure the abilities are more more usable and easier in a way that kind of fits the intention of the jobs. As a result, you’ll find that abilities like Aim and even summons that you use will become much easier to use. That said, even though it’s easier for the player to use now, it’s the same for the enemies as well. So watch out!
[laughs from the room]
RPGFan: Since we’re talking about abilities and Jobs: What is your favorite Job and ability in Final Fantasy Tactics? What would be your perfect character to use?
Maehiro: When I am playing, I enjoy the dual wielding Ninja. And even though its defensive abilities are weak, and it gets usually killed in one attack, the trade off from all that damage you can do is fun for me to play with. Aside from that, I also really enjoy Orator/Mediator. When utilizing that class, I enjoy recruiting enemy characters, and raising and debuffing parameters is fun as well.
Square Enix PR: What’s your favorite class?
RPGFan: Mine would be Geomancer. I love the whole appeal of the class. I once did a whole run with just Geomancers and nothing else. It was fun, but also very hard at the end of the game. A knight with elemental magic skills; it’s just really cool.
Maehiro: Actually, using new the tactical view with R2, you can now actually see the effect of each Geomancer skill!
RPGFan: You said in a previous interview that you had lost the original source code for the original PlayStation One version of the game. As someone pretty knowledgeable about the game, I am curious if a lot of the AI quirks that were in the original game will still be present. For example, in the Weigraf/Belias fight, you used to be able to trick his AI into not using his holy sword abilities with a chameleon robe, since it absorbs holy, despite the fact that the skills are actually not holy elemental. When you went back and rebuilt the game, did you fix these quirks or can we expect a few of them to remain?
Maehiro: You are very knowledgeable about this game!
RPGFan: I just have played it way too many times!
[laughs from the room]
Maehiro: Speaking of bugs, we definitely squashed a lot of the critical game-breaking bugs in this version. The ones that impeded the player’s path to finishing. But we definitely wanted to retain the original experience. As for that glitch that you mentioned, that is something, at least according to my understanding, that is still in the game. When it comes to AI and what sort of actions that they would take, the behavior was sort of determined by the PlayStation 1’s CPU, but now it’s determined by the PlayStation 5’s CPU. Knowing the CPU has changed with the hardware, it definitely increases the way the AI will use abilities and make decisions. So even though the AI hasn’t changed, the way that it processes the information has changed, and will affect their behavior.
RPGFan: It was recently announced that the sound novels, something we never got in the West at all in either version of the game, will be coming in this version of the game. Which kind of blows my mind, because I didn’t know these were even a thing outside of the Germonique Scriptures until three days ago. These will be localized for the first time, so what can players expect from these sound novels?
Maehiro: When it comes to the original game as well as War of the Lions, there were so many various factors and reasons that happened that led to us not being able to implement the visual novels. And, fun fact, my involvement in the original game was related to the visual/sound novels, so when I was put in charge of directing The Ivalice Chronicles, I really wanted to make sure these were in this version of the game for everyone.
RPGFan: Thank you!
Maehiro: Generally speaking, what’s in these are the Germonique Scriptures as well as four additional books. For these, we took what’s in the original game and added new localized text so that everyone in the West can finally enjoy them. I hope you look forward to them.
RPGFan: I very much am looking forward to them, because I have always thought the story of Final Fantasy Tactics and the world of Ivalice is so great and fantastical, and getting more lore is always great. This also leads me into my final question. What are you looking forward to seeing the most from long-time players and from newcomers that get to experience it for the first time with The Ivalice Chronicles?
Maehiro: When it comes to the overall script, since this game does have full voice support, when we were thinking of how to add a little more emotion writing into each line, we worked closely with Matsuno-san to power up and enhance them so the emotions will be that much richer. For fans of the original game, I do feel you’ll be able to enjoy and immerse yourself more into the story this time around. And when it comes to newer fans playing Final Fantasy Tactics for the first time, I hope the new features make the overall ability more comfortable and accessible to play to enjoy this amazing story.
I am curious to hear, as someone who has played the original a lot, and you got to play a small portion of The Ivalice Chronicles a bit more, what are your thoughts on the game?
RPGFan: I absolutely adored it. I really love that everything feels streamlined, and as someone that knows where to go and what to do in most battles, it’s nice to see something that feels familiar yet a bit different at the same time. I am really looking forward to sinking my teeth into the Tactician mode, and I love that you added a fast forward function, because some sections and fights in the game can take a while to complete at normal speed. I am also happy it’s following the original PlayStation One version of the game, as I was never a big fan of The War of the Lions, and I am excited to see the definitive vision of the game you guys had planned almost 30 years ago. I’m very excited to play it.
Maehiro: And I am relieved that a veteran like you enjoyed it so much!
RPGFan: Thank you so much for your time!
Be sure to also check out my hands-on preview and video! Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles releases on September 30th, 2025 for PS4 & 5, Nintendo Switch 1 & 2, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
