Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles — Rebuilding the Game from Scratch

According to interviews with director Kazutoyo Maehiro (reported by Bloomberg and covered broadly), the team behind The Ivalice Chronicles had to reconstruct the original Final Fantasy Tactics codebase from the ground up. The original 1997 source was lost after multiple overwrites during localization and later releases, so developers relied on retail copies, the 2011 War of the Lions edition, smartphone versions, and fan-maintained databases to piece together the game.

Key points

• Original 1997 source code was lost; devs rebuilt the game by reverse-engineering retail/master discs and using fan resources.
• Kazutoyo Maehiro said they leaned on fan databases and their own institutional knowledge (discussed publicly at PAX West 2025).
• Controversial balance choice: Count Cidolfus Orlandeau (Thunder God Cid) remains very strong to preserve his narrative role — the team instead buffed other characters.
• Release date: September 30, 2025. Platforms: Switch, PS4/PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC.
• Team hinted they may pursue sequels or new strategy RPGs if The Ivalice Chronicles performs well.

Sources & further reading

• GamesRadar coverage
• Nintendo Life summary
• Search Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles on Amazon (affiliate)

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