In a recent interview, Final Fantasy 14 and Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida (lovingly called Yoshi-P by fans) mentioned that it is “probably about time” for a new Tactics game, reigniting hope in the hearts of the genre's fans (myself included).

During the recently concluded PAX East, Yoshi-P sat down for an interview with TheGamer alongside Takeo Kujiraoka and Michael-Christopher Koji Fox. Kujiraoka is the director of the Rising Tide DLC, while Fox is the localization director. Although the interview was primarily about Final Fantasy 16 and its upcoming Rising Tide DLC, the conversation took a surprising turn, and Tactics games were brought up. To be specific, the interviewer asked about using 16 as the base for a new Tactics game.

In response to this question, Yoshi-P, Kujiraoka, and Fox were unanimous in saying that Final Fantasy 16 may not be the best choice for a new Tactics game, as its scale “may not be the best choice for a revival.” Fox even joked about the game's title: “What would we even call it? Final Fantasy 16 Tactics? That’s a lot.” Yoshi-P expands on this further, saying that it might not be a good idea from a storytelling, gameplay, and size point of view.

We’re very happy for you to suggest this because we’re all fans, but if we were going to make this, we wouldn’t want to do the same story that turns out to be a different story… How would we even do the Eikon versus Eikon battles in that style? If you have the Eikons, how many squares is an Eikon going to be? You have more people out there as well, so what about the wait time in between?

Yoshi-P does explain, however, that if there was gonna be a new Tactics game, then his team, Creative Business Unit 3 (CBU3), is likely the best candidate for its developers.

We have a lot of our staff who worked on previous games like Final Fantasy Tactics or Final Fantasy 12, so you’re going to have a lot of that [Tactics] feel because a lot of the same people are on the team… the series does lend itself well to that kind of storytelling, and we love Tactics as well. It’s probably about time that we do a new one.

It is that last line, that “it's probably about time that we do a new one”, that has once again rekindled the fire of hope inside the hearts of fans of the Tactics series of games.

What Exactly Is Final Fantasy Tactics?

For those not familiar with this subgenre of Final Fantasy games, let me explain. Unlike the purely turn-based combat of older Final Fantasy games, Tactics brings in a, well, more tactical twist to the game. If you've played games like Fire Emblem before, it's basically that. Players deploy a certain number of units on the field and take turns with the enemy moving said units across a grid, and attacking. This adds more depth to the combat, as players now also have to consider the positioning of their units.

The first Final Fantasy Tactics game came out back in 1997 in Japan, and in 1998 in North America. This was later enhanced and ported as Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. Afterward came Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced for the Game Boy Advance, and Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift on the Nintendo DS. All of these games were set in the land of Ivalice, which is also the setting of the mainline game Final Fantasy 12. Ivalice, as well as the original Tactics game, also served as the inspiration for Final Fantasy 14's Return To Ivalice Alliance Raids in Stormblood.

Whether or not Yoshi-P and his team will actually make a new Tactics game, we don't know for sure. That won't stop me from hoping, though, as it's been 16 years since the last one.