"Full HD-2D" Was Considered but Rejected for The Ivalice Chronicles Remaster

While many recent Square Enix remakes use the HD-2D style, the Tactics remaster takes a different approach. Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles offers both a Classic and an Enhanced version.

"Reproducing the original game from the ground up, might seem like no great feat at a glance, but for us, it basically meant developing two games in one go, so taking into account things like staffing and costs, it was a pretty huge undertaking."

"The prevailing sentiment in developing the two versions is that we wanted to give something back to the fans who have shown so much support."

The Enhanced version adds several new features, including full voice acting, an updated UI, autosave, and bug fixes. The Classic version keeps the look and feel of the 1997 original.

The choice not to use HD-2D was intentional. When Final Fantasy Tactics first launched, it already combined 2D pixel sprites with 3D isometric environments. Instead of switching to the more stylized HD-2D look used in games like Octopath Traveler, the team chose to improve what was already there.

"When we first started the project, we did consider using 3D character models and using highly detailed map models, but in the end, we took the approach of taking the art assets from the original game and showing it off as best we could on the current generation of games consoles."

In addition to basic improvements, the team carefully updated the game’s visuals to meet modern standards while staying true to its original style.

"As with the original, the image on-screen is a combination of 2D pixel sprite characters and 3D maps, but for the Enhanced version of the game, we also added some modern image processing techniques, such as glare, depth of field and peripheral dimming."

Technically, the end result overlaps with the HD-2D framework, but the team chose not to label it as such. They wanted to maintain the tone and atmosphere of the original game.

"The atmosphere is quite different to other HD-2D titles like Octopath Traveler due to differences in the colouring and how the sprites were put together, but technically speaking, it’s the same."

Source:

jpgames.de

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