Final Fantasy Tactics remaster adds New Game+ in update 1.5.0, but War of the Lions content is still absent

Square Enix dropped Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles update 1.5.0 on June 17, and the headline feature is New Game+ — something the original 1997 PlayStation game never had. It lets players carry over their units and full inventory into a fresh run and grind everyone up to level 100.

The patch also brings a handful of quality-of-life improvements: you can now check a unit's status effects at a glance, strip all gear from a unit in one move (a handy trick for baiting enemy aggression onto a single character), and use a new Zodiac Compatibility screen that shows how party members' star signs affect accuracy, damage dealt, and HP recovered. For completionists, New Game+ is a big deal because it finally makes it practical to farm multiple copies of the missable Genji equipment — pieces that can only be stolen from Marquis Ondore during the Chapter 4 rooftop battle at Linberry Castle Keep. It also gives players a second shot at any optional party members they skipped the first time around.

Original director Yasumi Matsuno explained on X that he had been pushing for New Game+ since the remaster project began, arguing that the game's many guest characters deserved more time to shine than a single playthrough allows. Budget and resource constraints pushed the feature back, but the remaster's commercial success gave the team room to keep updating it.

Not everyone is fully satisfied, though. The mode ships without new difficulty settings or level scaling, which takes the edge off for veteran players. The bigger ongoing frustration is the continued absence of content from The War of the Lions, the 2007 PSP version — fans are still calling for Balthier from FF12 as a playable character, the Onion Knight job class, and extra story scenes. Some are reading Matsuno's comments as a sign that development continues, and are hoping future updates bring optional endgame content like a new dungeon.