"Final Fantasy Tactics" was produced mostly by the team that made ' and ', and was Yasumi Matsuno's first project with Square following his departure from Quest in 1995. In an interview with Akito Inoue, an assistant professor at the International University of Japan, Inoue mentions that "Final Fantasy Tactics" was made because of how casual gamers are usually put off by games with branching storylines found in other Matsuno's titles such as "Tactics Ogre". Matsuno stated that the game's thematic use of class-based society was derived from his own life experiences.