The original Final Fantasy Tactics was a sleeper hit as it was in the shadow of Final Fantasy 7 and the coming Final Fantasy 8. It helped redefine what a tactical RPG should look like and function, and will be getting a complete remaster later this year. However, the original game could have looked a lot different if not for art director Hiroshi Minagawa insisting it run at 60fps.
Having already put his stamp on Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together–the game many fans consider FFT’s tonal predecessor–he wanted to improve the visuals even with the technical constraints of its era.
“At first, we wanted something closer to Tactics Ogre in terms of map size and character count. But no matter what we tried, the framerate dropped to 30fps,” he said, while talking to the Japanese gaming site, Denfaminicogamer (translated via Automaton Media). He mentioned how he became obsessed with sticking to 60fps, especially after seeing Tobal No.1 playing incredibly smooth at 60fps.