I’m going to be real with you right off the bat: I’ve never playedFinal Fantasy Tactics. I’ve never played aFinal Fantasygame, full stop. I completely missed out on the series when I was a kid, never found the time nor desire to play them as a teenager, and since I don’t have any nostalgia propelling me to the comparatively bloatedFF7remakes, and FF16? I just never got around to it either. But I’m always looking for a solid reason to finally get into the series proper, and the announcement ofFinal Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chroniclesmight finally be my reason to do just that.
Final Fantasy Tactics Has Always Been Political
The critically acclaimed 1997 original has been praised for its story and themes, alongside its complex strategic turn-based gameplay. It’s been included in many lists of the greatest video games of all time. It’s alsospawned countless memesbecause of its leftist politics.
That description also perfectly fits Final Fantasy 7, but Tactics is always the one that I’ve been drawn to.
The game’s story focuses on class conflict and the struggle to create a better world, the latter of which is a common theme in video games, but Tactics is explicit in its motivations. In a letter to fans,Yasumi Matsuno, the game’s original script, scenario writer, and editor, said:
“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.
“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. 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.
“The will to resist is in your hands.”
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Right Now, We Need Hope More Than Anything
That’s about two steps away from being a manifesto. Video games, despite what anti-woke ranters on the internet will tell you,have long been vehicles for political messages– after all,artisso often political, evenwhen it avoids taking a side. As Matsuno alludes, we live in a time of massivepoliticalandclass division, wherepopulist movements on both ends of the political spectrumin many countries rage and roil. There’s widespread discontent everywhere, fuelled by hopelessness about our lack of power to change things. It’s impossible to close your eyes to it.
But Final Fantasy Tactics is a game about fighting to create a better world, even when it feels futile because the people you’re pitted against are so much more powerful than you are. It was timely when it was made, but somehow it feels even more relevant and necessary now that we remember our actions, no matter how small, matter.
Everybody who’s played Tactics knows that it’s an overtly political game, but to see a developer be so explicit about it in a time where that draws so much backlash only makes me want to experience it for myself even more. The will to resist is in our hands, and in a few months, the remaster of FF Tactics will be too.
