Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles developers don’t consider the game a remaster nor remake

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In an interview with 4Gamer, game director Kazutoyo Maehiro says that the main reason the devs went for the "Ivalice Chronicles" subtitle rather than naming the game "Final Fantasy Tactics Remastered" was that several of the original game's core developers, including himself, director and writer Yasumi Matsuno, and artist and designer Hiroshi Minagawa, returned to work on the 2025 title. Instead of approaching it as a remaster, the developers wanted to "create a new Final Fantasy Tactics game in 2025 based on the original."

Since a remake involves rebuilding the systems and graphics from scratch, The Ivalice Chronicles wouldn't fall under this category, as it improves upon the graphics of the original. However, Maehiro argues that its Enhanced version cannot be classified as a mere remaster either. For reference, the new mode includes several additions such as full English and Japanese voice acting, new difficulty modes, and an updated user interface.
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Maehiro admits that of the two versions included in The Ivalice Chronicles, the Classic version seems to be the closest to what is conventionally considered a remaster. Even so, the Classic version includes the translations used in the War of the Lions PSP version and new helpful features such as an autosave feature and several bug fixes.
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automaton-media.com

Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles developers don’t consider the game a remaster nor remake - AUTOMATON WEST

Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles director Kazutoyo Maehiro on why he and his team don't consider the game a mere remaster.
automaton-media.com automaton-media.com
 
I went ahead and bought a discounted copy of this from Green Man Gaming.
It does seem like a Super Final Fantasy Tactics.
I am kind of annoyed that it does not include the WotL extra content.
It would be great if someone mods it in.
 
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I'm super excited for this game, already pre-ordered Switch 1 version which I can upgrade to Switch 2 for free.
 
I think the distinction is losing meaning nowadays. Look at Metal Gear Solid Delta - not really a remaster, also not really a remake. It's probably more realistic to call these games "modern reimaginings" as a catch all.
 
It is more of an upgrade. I am not quite certain if they are filtering the sprites or they increased their resolution.
 
The Enhanced mode still looks extremely bad, but it has all the QoL and additions. Those smoothed sprites are terrible.

The Classic mode looks good and it will look even better with a good CRT filter, but I don't think it has any of the QoL from the Enhanced mode.
 
mèx said:
The Enhanced mode still looks extremely bad, but it has all the QoL and additions. Those smoothed sprites are terrible.

The Classic mode looks good and it will look even better with a good CRT filter, but I don't think it has any of the QoL from the Enhanced mode.
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Yeah. We will have to see if there is a mod to remove the filtering.
It kind of seems like there is a filter on the whole screen. There is probably a way to switch it off.

I was looking at it some more and it looks like they are doing some kind of depth filter like Octopath Traveler.
That was what was confusing me. Sometimes the sprites look blurry and sometimes they do not.
 
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I wouldn't call the awful filter they used "improved graphics" in any way. It is far worse.
 
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Krathoon said:
I am kind of annoyed that it does not include the WotL extra content.
It would be great if someone mods it in.
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I'll buy this when it happens until then I'm not too eager to play this sprites smeared in Vaseline port.
 
Xion_Stellar said:
I'll buy this when it happens until then I'm not too eager to play this sprites smeared in Vaseline port.
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The original developers are too snobby to include the extra psp content. Way to respect your fellow co-workers. Go team!
 
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An all time classic, so I'm buying.

But a real missed opportunity to do something great with it. And the price point is absurd.
 
Man this comes out the same day as the MK Kollection. September needs to chill the fuck out.
 
Kacho said:
Man this comes out the same day as the MK Kollection. September needs to chill the fuck out.
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My guess is that publishers were holding back because of GTA 6. And when that got moved/dated, everyone moved into the new "free" slot.
 
Kacho said:
Man this comes out the same day as the MK Kollection. September needs to chill the fuck out.
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Oh. I did not know if was on the same day. I will have to see if I can find a cheap key for it.

Edit: Well crap. There are no keys. They are selling accounts for some weird reason.
 
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Krathoon said:
The original developers are too snobby to include the extra psp content. Way to respect your fellow co-workers. Go team!
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Yeah I read the interview and it's really weird that they went out of their way to admit to purposely omitting content because evidently their version of the game is better then the PSP version.

I have to wonder if the whole reason we get incomplete ports from Square-Enix is because of equally snobbish attitudes.

For example a lot of those pixel remaster ports are missing a lot of content that got added beyond the initial release of those NES and SNES ports.
 
Killer8 said:
I think the distinction is losing meaning nowadays. Look at Metal Gear Solid Delta - not really a remaster, also not really a remake. It's probably more realistic to call these games "modern reimaginings" as a catch all.
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MGS Delta is a remaster though. The story, levels, characters and gameplay are identical to the original. New added things are extremely minor and aside from the prettier graphics it's exactly the same.

Idk how you can call it a reimagining.. they didn't imagine anything new
 
mèx said:
The Enhanced mode still looks extremely bad, but it has all the QoL and additions. Those smoothed sprites are terrible.

The Classic mode looks good and it will look even better with a good CRT filter, but I don't think it has any of the QoL from the Enhanced mode.
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i wish the og mode had the vo.
 
Hero_Select said:
MGS Delta is a remaster though. The story, levels, characters and gameplay are identical to the original. New added things are extremely minor and aside from the prettier graphics it's exactly the same.

Idk how you can call it a reimagining.. they didn't imagine anything new
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MGS Delta a remake.
Mass Effect Trilogy are remasters.
Resident Evil 2 is a reimagining.
FFVII Remake is a between a remake and a sequel.
 
Krathoon said:
AH. You can turn the blur filter off! This video says so. Great!
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I think you misunderstood what he means here.

The blur is not the smoothing filter.
Blur is just the effect allows to focus on the specific part of the screen (characters talking or attacking for example), by blurring all the screen around that specific part. Which means that the specific part will not be blurred, BUT the smoothing filter will still be applied to all the screen.
Those are two completely different things.

I too would really like to switch off that ugly CRT filter, by the way. But it doesn't seem possible unfortunately.
 
Xion_Stellar said:
Yeah I read the interview and it's really weird that they went out of their way to admit to purposely omitting content because evidently their version of the game is better then the PSP version.

I have to wonder if the whole reason we get incomplete ports from Square-Enix is because of equally snobbish attitudes.

For example a lot of those pixel remaster ports are missing a lot of content that got added beyond the initial release of those NES and SNES ports.
Click to expand...
Yeah. The extra content is good. They need to put their egos aside and keep it in.
 
Hero_Select said:
What is remade besides the graphics? The story, gameplay and levels are exactly the same. It's not a remake at all.
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That's a remake. It was remade from the ground up. A remaster just adjusts a current game to make usd of new hardware and make minor changes.

To change levels, story, etc in addition goes beyond a remake into an reimagining an entirely new game - similar to Resident Evil 2 and 3.
 
Krathoon said:
AH. You can turn the blur filter off! This video says so. Great!
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Maybe I just skipped to the wrong section, but it sounds like you can turn off the blur effect that draws attention to whichever character is speaking in cut scenes... rather than whatever SuperEagle filter they're using on the actual artwork.
 
Danny Dudekisser said:
Maybe I just skipped to the wrong section, but it sounds like you can turn off the blur effect that draws attention to whichever character is speaking in cut scenes... rather than whatever SuperEagle filter they're using on the actual artwork.
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Yeah. It is the blur effect. I am not certain if they are using a filter or uprezzing the sprites.
 
What I hope for is a modding scene. However, I don't know if modding is doable with Denuvo DRM? I would love to see new classes.

In adream scenario, they would have allowed people to do their own stages/stories/classes via Steam Workshop.
 
Labadal said:
What I hope for is a modding scene. However, I don't know if modding is doable with Denuvo DRM? I would love to see new classes.

In adream scenario, they would have allowed people to do their own stages/stories/classes via Steam Workshop.
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Don't get your hopes up. I also anticipated some cool mods for Tactics Ogre Reborn and the modding scene for that is non-existent*.

*Unless you look for mods for emulated versions, like the Saturn one (which is still the best version of Tactics Ogre Let Us Cling Together)
 
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Considering the VA, QoL features, flee feature etc this might be the best version. Agree with price point being absurd, its my only gripe. Though the game is better than 99% of games out there.
 
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