Final Fantasy Tactics is finally being brought to modern platforms later this month, thanks to the release of The Ivalice Chronicles. Not only will it include the same distressingly relevant story of the original game, but it will also include a number of improvements that will hopefully build upon the base game and make it better. It promises to be the definitive way to experience Final Fantasy Tactics, and it wouldn't exist if it wasn't for fans.

It's been known for a while that the main reason why we've waited so long for a Final Fantasy Tactics remaster is due to Square Enix losing the code for the original. It was explained that every time Final Fantasy Tactics was released in a new language, the game's original code would be overwritten, and Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles had to be rebuilt from the ground up as a result.

Final Fantasy Tactics Remaster Exists Thanks To Online Preservationists

However, that was a bigger challenge than you might assume, and during a panel at PAX West last week (thanks Popverse), director Kazutoyo Maehiro described having to search all over the place to try and gather as much of the original data from the base game as they could find. It turns out, Final Fantasy fans helped out pretty massively.

"So we kind of went on a journey to find the original version, and we were using whatever resources we had available to us, so all those different versions would be analyzing what was there to try to find what we felt was the original," says Maehiro. "On top of that, we actually had to go to different websites made by fans and look for data there, because we know you guys do such a good job of keeping all of that up to date."

In a world where it feels like big publishers are trying to dictate ownership of your games, and wipe out any existence of them if they can't profit from them, it's such a massive win to see a game as beloved as Final Fantasy Tactics get a full-blown remaster partly thanks to the efforts of fans and online preservationists.

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Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles

Tactical RPG Strategy Systems Released September 30, 2025 ESRB Teen / Fantasy Violence, Blood, Mild Suggestive Themes, Mild Language, Drug Reference Developer(s) Square Enix Publisher(s) Square Enix Franchise Final Fantasy Number of Players Single-player PC Release Date September 30, 2025 Xbox Series X|S Release Date September 30, 2025 PS5 Release Date September 30, 2025 Nintendo Switch Release Date September 30, 2025 Powered by Expand Collapse