Final Fantasy Tactics Writer Reveals The Political Inspiration For The Game’s Story

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After years of rumors and speculation, Final Fantasy Tactics is heading to modern consoles with a remaster, Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles. Director Kazutoyo Maehiro, art director Hiroshi Minagawa, and original script, scenario writer, and editor Yasumi Matsuno all gave statements about the remaster. However, it was Matsuno who opened up about the political backdrop of the story and how it’s still more relevant than ever.

The story of FFT centers around two men, Ramza Beoulve and Delita Heiral, who come from completely different backgrounds but initially have similar goals. Eventually, their lives fork off in massively different directions and they find themselves now at odds with one another.

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“Nearly 30 years ago, the collapse of Japan’s bubble economy engulfed the nation’s financial institutions in mountains of bad debt, triggering a wave of corporate bankruptcies, a sudden and extreme rise in unemployment rates, and stagnation of Japanese society as a whole, it was an era when many were robbed of hope, when dreams were measured by their price tag,” Matsuno said.

Matsuno had made a career of injecting heavy politics into his stories. Before FFT, he had helped create the Ogre Battle series. Fans might remember Ogre Battle (originally Ogre Battle: Let Us Cling Together) for the PlayStation, having similar tones and story structure. Atlus even pushed back the North American release to limit the competition with FFT, but also to get the attention of players who liked FFT on board with its game.

“Against this historical backdrop, I crafted a story. It was the story of Ramza, a young man who fought tirelessly against the entrenched social class system,” he continued. “It was the story of Delita, who sought to take advantage of this confusion and despair to advance his own social position. It was a story of a peculiar destiny, in which friendship and betrayal intertwine. And now, in 2025–a time when inequality and division are still deeply rooted in our society–I offer this story once again.”

Matsuno signed off with “the will to resist is in your hands.”

Despite being in the shadow of Final Fantasy 7, Final Fantasy Tactics has become a cult classic over the years, with Ivalice becoming a mainstay in FF lore.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is scheduled for release on September 30 on PS4 and PS5.

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