A fan-favoriteFinal Fantasytitle from 1997 is finally getting a remaster, withFinal Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chroniclesannounced for September 30. The original title introduced the high-stakes, conflict-riddled world of Ivalice. The game told the tale of The War of the Lions through the point of view of a cadet, and gained many fans for its deep storytelling and memorable cast of characters.
Theremaster ofFinal Fantasy Tacticswas announcedlast night during the June 4 Sony State of Play, and will include both the original game and an upgraded version for modern gamers. The remaster will include several exciting additions to the base game, like visual upgrades, full voice acting, optimized UI, and plenty of other quality-of-life updates. But fans of the original game may be interested in a more specific question: WillFinal Fantasy Tactics:The Ivalice Chroniclesnerf notorious powerhouse, Cidolfus Orlandu(sometimes spelled as Orlandeau)?
Yasumi Matsuno Has Discussed Weakening Cid Orlandu
The Powerful Character Was Considered Game-Breaking
Every game in theFinal Fantasyseries since the second gamehas its own Cid, a character associated with airships and flight. The Cid fromFinal Fantasy Tacticswas the first one to break this mold, as he’s neither an engineer nor an airship captain. He is, however, a general in the Order of the Southern Sky and apowerful addition to the player’s party.
The character is so powerful, in fact, thathe can generally take out nearly every regular enemy in just a hit or two.His unique class is the Sword Saint, a powerful mashup of the Holy, Fell, and Divine Knight classes. The character can unleash a flurry of sword attacks on the battleground, which are made even more powerful by the fact that Orlandu joins the party equipped with the strong legendary sword Excalibur.
The Sword Saint is widely considered to be the strongest class in the entire game, giving Orlanu the ability toclear entire skirmishes without support. The character’s strength was considered game-breaking by many, since itupset the balance of battlesand rendered other characters useless.
This issue didn’t go unnoticed by the Square Enix team. With rumors of aTacticsremake floating around for years,the company would have to make a decision about the character.
Even the director of the original game,Yasumi Matsuno, weighed in on this issue in 2023,asking fans whether a remaster should address the imbalance created by Cid Orlandu or remain true to the original. In a post onX(then known as Twitter), Matsuno asks: “If we remaster it, what do you think about whether it is better to weaken ‘The Thunder God Cid,’ who was accused of destroying the balance?”
Many of the responses on Xbeg the developer not to change a thing about Cid.For many, the character’s strength makes sense in the context of the narrative, while others believe that everyone should get to experience the character’s God-like power for themselves. For others, the character was a broken part of the game that should be fixed in a remaster. Either way, some fans point out that the character is an optional one, and anyone who doesn’t want to can simply choose not to use him in battles.
We’ll Have The Answer When Final Fantasy Tactics Remaster Releases
Final Fantasy Tactics Remaster Arrives Soon
Remasters always have towalk the fine line between recreating the game faithfully and updating itto meet today’s gaming standards. It looks like the upcomingFinal Fantasy Tacticsremasterupdates how the classic game looksto be more at home on current-gen consoles while maintaining its charm.
But makingchanges to how the game playsisn’t as straightforward, since changing the base game in any way can change the way the game feels and upset long-time fans. In the case of the overpowered Cid, Square Enix will have to decide if it wants to depart from its source and fix the imbalance caused by the all-powerful Thunder God.
While the upcomingTacticsremaster will feature several gameplay and visual upgrades, it’s not clear yet how much Square Enix changed regarding the base gameplay. Whether the developer chose to weaken Cid Orlandu remains to be seen. Players will get to see for themselves whenFinal Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chroniclesis released later this year, on September 30.
