Tactics Ogre Reborn Producer Explains Why the Latest Remake Isn’t Using HD-2D Graphics

ign.com:

Tactics games have been enjoying a little bit of a renaissance of late. Square Enix alone has released several of them this year, including Triangle Strategy, Front Mission, and The DioField Chronicle. But the oldest and most important of them is Tactics Ogre – the strategy game that led directly to Final Fantasy Tactics along with a host of imitators.

Currently in the midst of its second major update in 10 years, Tactics Ogre Reborn will heavily rebalance the series’ classic gameplay while adding full voice-acting and several quality-of-life improvements. Its development team includes veterans like producer Hiroaki Kato, whose history with the series stretches all the way back to the days of the Super Nintendo. Renowned for its dense story and strategy, it’s clear that Tactics Ogre is special to this Yasumi Matsuno-led team, which is a big reason it’s being remade once again for modern consoles.

During Tokyo Game Show, Kato sat down with IGN for a wide-ranging discussion in which he talked about his time with the series and the return of tactics games. He also talked about Tactics Ogre’s inevitable comparisons to Triangle Strategy, why it’s not being made in the famous “HD-2D” style, and more. The full interview can be found below.

IGN: Can you tell me about how this project got started? My understanding is that Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age was a very important factor in that.

Hiroaki Kato: So the thing that kind of led to our whole project getting started was in 2011 when we did the PSP version of Tactics Ogre, we saw basically the customer reaction. And we saw it was pretty good, and we always wanted to make another Tactics Ogre. And when Final Fantasy 12 Zodiac Age came out, they were able to really upgrade visuals,