Frustratingly good.
For every great idea this game has, it has another terrible one to bring it back down. A troubled development process and shipping unfinished seem to be the story all the games in this series share, but you can truly feel the passion the developers had for this game and Ivalice in general.
As a disclaimer, I played this game with the "Final Fantasy XII TZA: Classic Mode" mod, which restores practically everything from the original PS2 release while keeping all of the quality of life from The Zodiac Age, which I highly recommend playing personally.
Before commenting anything about the game itself, Square Enix did an excellent job remastering this game; it's one of the best-looking PS2-era games already, and it looks even better in The Zodiac Age. The fast forward functions are a godsend, as are the improved loading times. These combined can save about 20 hours that you spend walking or loading on the PS2 version. Combined with the existence of the Classic Mode mod, this is the definitive way to play the game on PC, regardless of whether you prefer the original balancing or job system.
This game has some of the best English localization of any game I've played and is combined with fantastic voice acting. Unfortunately, the audio is quite low quality, and it isn't improved in the remaster, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the great dialogue. Gone are the typical tropey anime writing you tend to see in a lot of other JRPGs to be replaced by classical Victorian-era vernacular, and it's spectacular.
However, even with the great writing, the plot points were stretched too thin in the middle of the game to make the game feel grander than it is. To pinpoint an exact part of the game where the story falls apart, it would be after the final Mt. Bur-Omisace visit halfway through the game, where you're asked to walk across the map with very little plot or cutscenes outside of some minor character exposition. The game never comes back from the lowered focus on the story until the very end, after the point of no return, where I felt the game forgot its own tone it set. The characters ended up being too one-note and underdeveloped, with most of them existing for the sake of driving someone else's character arc, though I still enjoyed their dialogue between each other, and liked Ashe, Balthier, and Basch, who feel like the closest to main protagonists.
Nevertheless, I found the intro and credits sequence to be excellent, while the middle of the game had a lot of low points. The music being great is just a Final Fantasy standard, and the ambient tracks were the star of the show for this game. However, I felt like the lack of combat music for normal fights took a lot of intensity out of the game, though I did get why they did it to make the game feel more seamless.
The worst part of the game is how slow it is to play. This game has an excessive amount of walking in it, to the point of having a step counter in the menu. While it isn't a true open world, it's made up of many interconnected zones that have a loading screen in between, which is perfectly fine except for the fact that you walk incredibly slowly and there's no run button outside of Chocobo's in a select few locations. It would also be more bearable if most of the environments weren't just long hallways, deserts, or flatlands. The remedy for this run button is the 2x/4x speed, but I find that more of a band-aid fix than a substitute because it just feels like your time is being wasted exploring the same environments at a snail's pace. The combat also feels incredibly slow. In the beginning, when you do not have many skills, there isn't much you can do other than watch the combat animations and fill the ATB bar, which takes forever even with max battle speed in the settings. 2x with max battle speed on Active Mode is what I recommend for most of the battles in the game outside of boss fights since you do not need to perform many actions if you have your gambits set up properly.
As for the combat itself, it's very unique, but I can see why no game really replicates it. The most apt description I can give of it is that it is very similar to a tab-target game with a long global cooldown like FFXI or FFXIV. Where it differs is in your control of your party members and how you can automate nearly everything in the game with the gambit system, which makes the game feel more akin to a tower defense game where you set your parameters beforehand and then watch your strategy play out. I found the combat most enjoyable when fighting the bosses because you had to adjust your gambits for all of them because usually a simple attack and heal when low setup wouldn't suffice, so you have to find their weaknesses and vulnerabilities to status effects. Though, by the end of the game, I did feel like it did get too easy with you being able to easily stack every status buff before battles with the amount of gambit slots you get, and there was little need to adjust my setup, which is the whole gameplay loop. I also found fighting the normal enemies very boring, as they usually don't pose any challenges, so it's mostly just watching the battle animations play out, so I would recommend fast-forwarding on those parts.
This is a game that lives or dies based on its balancing. The Zodiac Age ends up being too easy, especially when you get two jobs, and that leads the game to play itself with no effort or grinding, while I found the original PS2 version to be much better balanced and offer proper challenges to bosses. It's even arguable that this is the most challenging Final Fantasy game if you don't grind, though that's not much of a high bar, and the game's balancing is easily broken by the end of the game once you get a proper gambit setup going and have access to a majority of the skills.
The other main difference between the PS2 release and The Zodiac Age is the addition of jobs. In the PS2 version, every character shares the same license board (this game's version of a skill tree), but they all start with slightly different skills matching their default armor and weapons. By the end of the game, all the characters have access to nearly all the same weapons, skills, and armor, which some may dislike, but I ended up preferring it since you can completely change your characters on the fly without them having any set roles or having them specialize in different areas. For example, I had Penelo be a mage with high evasion and mystic armor that focused on using white magic with her gambits, while I had Basch be a tank with an axe that focused on buffing himself and drawing aggro away from the rest of the team. Nothing stops you from switching them around if needed, which means you are very adaptable and aren't reliant on any character specifically. On the contrary, The Zodiac Age went with a more conventional job system where you pick two of the twelve classes for your character to specialize in; these jobs would have smaller, more focused license boards that only allow you to use certain weapons and magick compared to the adaptability of the original. The job system seems like it was in the original vision of the game, but due to time constraints they couldn't implement it properly it. Even so, I'm not a fan of the way it's implemented, as it seems the game is balanced completely around everyone having access to anything. The Classic Mode mod also restores the summoning animations for Espers, which adds some flavor to them if they are a bit too long and the summons themselves are not really worth using. The Quickenings also have some of the best animations in the series but also have the same issues as the summon system.
In retrospect, it honestly is impressive how expansive this game is, however oversized it may be. There are so many locations, and the dungeons are so diverse. If you enjoyed the gameplay loop, this game has the highest quantity of side content, with the main focus being hunts. These operate similarly to the Monster Hunter games, where you have to find some kind of enemy to slay in the overworld with information given to you by a bill. These hunts have some of the most challenging boss fights in the game and can give you some of the best items in the game, though by the end I did start feeling like they got way too tedious with the amount of backtracking you have to do for some of them as well as having to go back and forth to people to turn the hunt in. You can definitely see the MMO elements that remained in the game from when it was planned to be one. This is even confirmed by the producer in an old IGN interview where they said: "Back in 2000, when Final Fantasy X, XI, and XII were originally announced as being in the planning stages, X was announced as an offline game while XI onwards would be online games. Obviously, in the process of developing Final Fantasy XII, that changed—it is, of course, an offline game that we have now."
This game is a strange game to recommend because there are a lot of parts that have merit, but at the same time, I can fully understand how people may say the game is boring or a waste of your time. I would say it's only worth playing if you want a slower, more grounded Final Fantasy with a world you can fully engross yourself in, full of things to explore. A game about where the characters aren't the main focus, even lacking a true main protagonist entirely. Instead, it's a return to form for the older games that had a focus on mechanics and role-playing over a finely woven narrative. Final Fantasy XII dares to be different, and that is something I can respect.
For every great idea this game has, it has another terrible one to bring it back down. A troubled development process and shipping unfinished seem to be the story all the games in this series share, but you can truly feel the passion the developers had for this game and Ivalice in general.
As a disclaimer, I played this game with the "Final Fantasy XII TZA: Classic Mode" mod, which restores practically everything from the original PS2 release while keeping all of the quality of life from The Zodiac Age, which I highly recommend playing personally.
Before commenting anything about the game itself, Square Enix did an excellent job remastering this game; it's one of the best-looking PS2-era games already, and it looks even better in The Zodiac Age. The fast forward functions are a godsend, as are the improved loading times. These combined can save about 20 hours that you spend walking or loading on the PS2 version. Combined with the existence of the Classic Mode mod, this is the definitive way to play the game on PC, regardless of whether you prefer the original balancing or job system.
This game has some of the best English localization of any game I've played and is combined with fantastic voice acting. Unfortunately, the audio is quite low quality, and it isn't improved in the remaster, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the great dialogue. Gone are the typical tropey anime writing you tend to see in a lot of other JRPGs to be replaced by classical Victorian-era vernacular, and it's spectacular.
However, even with the great writing, the plot points were stretched too thin in the middle of the game to make the game feel grander than it is. To pinpoint an exact part of the game where the story falls apart, it would be after the final Mt. Bur-Omisace visit halfway through the game, where you're asked to walk across the map with very little plot or cutscenes outside of some minor character exposition. The game never comes back from the lowered focus on the story until the very end, after the point of no return, where I felt the game forgot its own tone it set. The characters ended up being too one-note and underdeveloped, with most of them existing for the sake of driving someone else's character arc, though I still enjoyed their dialogue between each other, and liked Ashe, Balthier, and Basch, who feel like the closest to main protagonists.
Nevertheless, I found the intro and credits sequence to be excellent, while the middle of the game had a lot of low points. The music being great is just a Final Fantasy standard, and the ambient tracks were the star of the show for this game. However, I felt like the lack of combat music for normal fights took a lot of intensity out of the game, though I did get why they did it to make the game feel more seamless.
The worst part of the game is how slow it is to play. This game has an excessive amount of walking in it, to the point of having a step counter in the menu. While it isn't a true open world, it's made up of many interconnected zones that have a loading screen in between, which is perfectly fine except for the fact that you walk incredibly slowly and there's no run button outside of Chocobo's in a select few locations. It would also be more bearable if most of the environments weren't just long hallways, deserts, or flatlands. The remedy for this run button is the 2x/4x speed, but I find that more of a band-aid fix than a substitute because it just feels like your time is being wasted exploring the same environments at a snail's pace. The combat also feels incredibly slow. In the beginning, when you do not have many skills, there isn't much you can do other than watch the combat animations and fill the ATB bar, which takes forever even with max battle speed in the settings. 2x with max battle speed on Active Mode is what I recommend for most of the battles in the game outside of boss fights since you do not need to perform many actions if you have your gambits set up properly.
As for the combat itself, it's very unique, but I can see why no game really replicates it. The most apt description I can give of it is that it is very similar to a tab-target game with a long global cooldown like FFXI or FFXIV. Where it differs is in your control of your party members and how you can automate nearly everything in the game with the gambit system, which makes the game feel more akin to a tower defense game where you set your parameters beforehand and then watch your strategy play out. I found the combat most enjoyable when fighting the bosses because you had to adjust your gambits for all of them because usually a simple attack and heal when low setup wouldn't suffice, so you have to find their weaknesses and vulnerabilities to status effects. Though, by the end of the game, I did feel like it did get too easy with you being able to easily stack every status buff before battles with the amount of gambit slots you get, and there was little need to adjust my setup, which is the whole gameplay loop. I also found fighting the normal enemies very boring, as they usually don't pose any challenges, so it's mostly just watching the battle animations play out, so I would recommend fast-forwarding on those parts.
This is a game that lives or dies based on its balancing. The Zodiac Age ends up being too easy, especially when you get two jobs, and that leads the game to play itself with no effort or grinding, while I found the original PS2 version to be much better balanced and offer proper challenges to bosses. It's even arguable that this is the most challenging Final Fantasy game if you don't grind, though that's not much of a high bar, and the game's balancing is easily broken by the end of the game once you get a proper gambit setup going and have access to a majority of the skills.
The other main difference between the PS2 release and The Zodiac Age is the addition of jobs. In the PS2 version, every character shares the same license board (this game's version of a skill tree), but they all start with slightly different skills matching their default armor and weapons. By the end of the game, all the characters have access to nearly all the same weapons, skills, and armor, which some may dislike, but I ended up preferring it since you can completely change your characters on the fly without them having any set roles or having them specialize in different areas. For example, I had Penelo be a mage with high evasion and mystic armor that focused on using white magic with her gambits, while I had Basch be a tank with an axe that focused on buffing himself and drawing aggro away from the rest of the team. Nothing stops you from switching them around if needed, which means you are very adaptable and aren't reliant on any character specifically. On the contrary, The Zodiac Age went with a more conventional job system where you pick two of the twelve classes for your character to specialize in; these jobs would have smaller, more focused license boards that only allow you to use certain weapons and magick compared to the adaptability of the original. The job system seems like it was in the original vision of the game, but due to time constraints they couldn't implement it properly it. Even so, I'm not a fan of the way it's implemented, as it seems the game is balanced completely around everyone having access to anything. The Classic Mode mod also restores the summoning animations for Espers, which adds some flavor to them if they are a bit too long and the summons themselves are not really worth using. The Quickenings also have some of the best animations in the series but also have the same issues as the summon system.
In retrospect, it honestly is impressive how expansive this game is, however oversized it may be. There are so many locations, and the dungeons are so diverse. If you enjoyed the gameplay loop, this game has the highest quantity of side content, with the main focus being hunts. These operate similarly to the Monster Hunter games, where you have to find some kind of enemy to slay in the overworld with information given to you by a bill. These hunts have some of the most challenging boss fights in the game and can give you some of the best items in the game, though by the end I did start feeling like they got way too tedious with the amount of backtracking you have to do for some of them as well as having to go back and forth to people to turn the hunt in. You can definitely see the MMO elements that remained in the game from when it was planned to be one. This is even confirmed by the producer in an old IGN interview where they said: "Back in 2000, when Final Fantasy X, XI, and XII were originally announced as being in the planning stages, X was announced as an offline game while XI onwards would be online games. Obviously, in the process of developing Final Fantasy XII, that changed—it is, of course, an offline game that we have now."
This game is a strange game to recommend because there are a lot of parts that have merit, but at the same time, I can fully understand how people may say the game is boring or a waste of your time. I would say it's only worth playing if you want a slower, more grounded Final Fantasy with a world you can fully engross yourself in, full of things to explore. A game about where the characters aren't the main focus, even lacking a true main protagonist entirely. Instead, it's a return to form for the older games that had a focus on mechanics and role-playing over a finely woven narrative. Final Fantasy XII dares to be different, and that is something I can respect.
I'm not normally one for JRPGs - this is the first Final Fantasy game I've seriously played that didn't charge me a subscription fee - so it was surprising to see how far I took this one, stopping just short of the final two optional superbosses. One of the first things that caught my attention was the realisation that unlike a lot of video games, I wasn't playing the story of a single protagonist, but rather, a much broader story of a moment in Ivalician history, presented through the trials and agencies of the six characters that make up the party. The game opens with a lengthy montage of military invasion, multiple royal deaths, betrayal and schemes. It's a lot, and there's a certain passion one needs to have for excessive fantasy worldbuilding to immediately get much out of it (I loved it, obviously)
With all of that swirling around, we sensibly draw back to Vaan and Penelo, passionate and principled, but powerless in the face of an imperial occupation of their home. From there, we have a stable grounding from which we can expand back out, capturing pirates and princesses, floating fortresses and resistances, until we're out of the footnotes and into the annals of history. An excellent balance is struck between the immensity of Ivalice's inter-imperial politics and the individual, personal story that acts as the immediate, played narrative. It all connects and coheres, without needing to hold back on introducing characters and locations. Even if it does, at times, feel like the events that are happening on screen are filling space between things that are actually important, and two of the three women in the party have very little to do or say about anything important, it's a remarkable progression that suits the game well
That progression, as with most RPGs, is at the heart of the game, but not in the way I expected. Here, the typically time-consuming and dull number scaling of experience points happens without input - you don't need input, because all of the interesting decisions are on the license boards, where you specialise your characters and find that satisfying synergy that makes building characters so entertaining. Since you (mostly) can't miss any license board upgrades, you're always building your characters up from a sensible baseline, and simple completion of the story has plenty of room for building inefficiently. It takes off a lot of the pressure that normally comes with such decision-making, and creates a wonderful, intrinsic incentive to pursue side content and see how well you do. Not only that, but the gear that you get from pursuing that side content, delving deeper into each of the story's dungeons, is often the best and most interesting in the game.
Which is where we come to my first big issue with this game, and a broader issue I find I have with the genre. As I've discovered in wiki-diving, there's a lot of gear that you'll simply never get, because it only has a slim chance to be obtained from an enemy you only have one chance to fight, or it has a slim chance of appearing in a room you have no reason to walk into more than once. I couldn't tell you what rare items I obtained, because I couldn't tell you if they were rare or not. From my perspective, I just opened a box. Any perceived rarity has nothing to do with what I actually experienced. I earned the gear, certainly, but who's to say what I never even knew I missed out on?
The same philosophy applies to the game's approach to much of its optional content, however. I did my best to take the game as it was, but if your curiosity is peaked by the promise of a new fight or area, there's a good chance you'll have to look up what you're supposed to do to actually get it. For example; there's an optional boss fight in a locked room hidden behind a puzzle, which you can open by getting a key by trading an item (that you got from an unrelated sidequest) to an NPC you've never heard of, who you can't see, in a corner an area that is nowhere near the locked door and you have no reason to revisit, much less thoroughly examine every corner.
I think the intent is that players learn about these things through methods other than just, like, playing the game. Maybe there was a time when hearing about a legendary sword at the peak of the Great Crystal was something significant, and being fortunate enough to find it was a story worth telling. Unfortunately, whether or not it's a fair criticism to put on the game, what that looks like now is just skimming any one of a number of guides available online. There's simply no other way to engage with, frankly, sizeable chunks of the game, even if you do want to take it at its terms. It's a frequent occurrence, and unsatisfying every time.
This method of obfuscation seems to me a very deeply held part of the genre. The nature of Final Fantasy XII is that it's always throwing you at new enemies, new problems to solve with your party of heroes, all without telling you exactly what you're in for. It's something of a double-edged sword; the downside is that every new problem is met with a brief period of experimentation, where you find out what exactly it is you're not allowed to do. So much of the challenge in the game centers on this; the more you delve into the game's Espers and Hunts, the more you encounter enemies who refuse to be Slowed, or Sheared, or affected by most any of the tools at your disposals. Some bosses enter lengthy phases of invulnerability, where you're left more or less standing around and waiting for them to finish. Of course, they have no trouble including enemies who cast spells that simply kills your entire active party as soon as you start the fight. It's often exasperating, and I can't help but wonder if there isn't - in a completely different game, mind - a better approach they could have considered.
The developers do need to do something to force players to change their strategies, though, otherwise we'd just find something that works and stick to that the entire game, which would be a tremendous waste. Developing a strategy in this game is an exercise in flexibility and improvisation, aided by the wonderful specialization of license boards and the frankly brilliant Gambit system. They're so pitch-perfect for this style of gameplay that I'm surprised to not have seen them elsewhere. All of the non-decisions of picking targets to attack, juggling obvious elemental advantages and healing are taken care of, leaving you to focus on the edge cases and complexity that actually make combat interesting. Between that and the generous, welcoming progression systems, it really does feel like developing a party of competent heroes, who have a place in a story of such scale.
There's other things to talk about, like how it's easily one of the most gorgeous games of that entire console generation, or the refreshing and inspired Ivalician aesthetic, or the wonderful blocking in the cutscenes, or how they really didn't have to make all the men in the game as hot as they did, or how fucking ICONIC Fran is, etc. I really wasn't expecting to find so much to love. It's mired in an often frustrating philosophy of obscurity that permeates every minute of actually playing the game, but without the pointless busywork of random battles and grinding, the worst moments are over quickly, and the moments of triumph feel like a direct result of careful planning, quick thinking and versatility.
With all of that swirling around, we sensibly draw back to Vaan and Penelo, passionate and principled, but powerless in the face of an imperial occupation of their home. From there, we have a stable grounding from which we can expand back out, capturing pirates and princesses, floating fortresses and resistances, until we're out of the footnotes and into the annals of history. An excellent balance is struck between the immensity of Ivalice's inter-imperial politics and the individual, personal story that acts as the immediate, played narrative. It all connects and coheres, without needing to hold back on introducing characters and locations. Even if it does, at times, feel like the events that are happening on screen are filling space between things that are actually important, and two of the three women in the party have very little to do or say about anything important, it's a remarkable progression that suits the game well
That progression, as with most RPGs, is at the heart of the game, but not in the way I expected. Here, the typically time-consuming and dull number scaling of experience points happens without input - you don't need input, because all of the interesting decisions are on the license boards, where you specialise your characters and find that satisfying synergy that makes building characters so entertaining. Since you (mostly) can't miss any license board upgrades, you're always building your characters up from a sensible baseline, and simple completion of the story has plenty of room for building inefficiently. It takes off a lot of the pressure that normally comes with such decision-making, and creates a wonderful, intrinsic incentive to pursue side content and see how well you do. Not only that, but the gear that you get from pursuing that side content, delving deeper into each of the story's dungeons, is often the best and most interesting in the game.
Which is where we come to my first big issue with this game, and a broader issue I find I have with the genre. As I've discovered in wiki-diving, there's a lot of gear that you'll simply never get, because it only has a slim chance to be obtained from an enemy you only have one chance to fight, or it has a slim chance of appearing in a room you have no reason to walk into more than once. I couldn't tell you what rare items I obtained, because I couldn't tell you if they were rare or not. From my perspective, I just opened a box. Any perceived rarity has nothing to do with what I actually experienced. I earned the gear, certainly, but who's to say what I never even knew I missed out on?
The same philosophy applies to the game's approach to much of its optional content, however. I did my best to take the game as it was, but if your curiosity is peaked by the promise of a new fight or area, there's a good chance you'll have to look up what you're supposed to do to actually get it. For example; there's an optional boss fight in a locked room hidden behind a puzzle, which you can open by getting a key by trading an item (that you got from an unrelated sidequest) to an NPC you've never heard of, who you can't see, in a corner an area that is nowhere near the locked door and you have no reason to revisit, much less thoroughly examine every corner.
I think the intent is that players learn about these things through methods other than just, like, playing the game. Maybe there was a time when hearing about a legendary sword at the peak of the Great Crystal was something significant, and being fortunate enough to find it was a story worth telling. Unfortunately, whether or not it's a fair criticism to put on the game, what that looks like now is just skimming any one of a number of guides available online. There's simply no other way to engage with, frankly, sizeable chunks of the game, even if you do want to take it at its terms. It's a frequent occurrence, and unsatisfying every time.
This method of obfuscation seems to me a very deeply held part of the genre. The nature of Final Fantasy XII is that it's always throwing you at new enemies, new problems to solve with your party of heroes, all without telling you exactly what you're in for. It's something of a double-edged sword; the downside is that every new problem is met with a brief period of experimentation, where you find out what exactly it is you're not allowed to do. So much of the challenge in the game centers on this; the more you delve into the game's Espers and Hunts, the more you encounter enemies who refuse to be Slowed, or Sheared, or affected by most any of the tools at your disposals. Some bosses enter lengthy phases of invulnerability, where you're left more or less standing around and waiting for them to finish. Of course, they have no trouble including enemies who cast spells that simply kills your entire active party as soon as you start the fight. It's often exasperating, and I can't help but wonder if there isn't - in a completely different game, mind - a better approach they could have considered.
The developers do need to do something to force players to change their strategies, though, otherwise we'd just find something that works and stick to that the entire game, which would be a tremendous waste. Developing a strategy in this game is an exercise in flexibility and improvisation, aided by the wonderful specialization of license boards and the frankly brilliant Gambit system. They're so pitch-perfect for this style of gameplay that I'm surprised to not have seen them elsewhere. All of the non-decisions of picking targets to attack, juggling obvious elemental advantages and healing are taken care of, leaving you to focus on the edge cases and complexity that actually make combat interesting. Between that and the generous, welcoming progression systems, it really does feel like developing a party of competent heroes, who have a place in a story of such scale.
There's other things to talk about, like how it's easily one of the most gorgeous games of that entire console generation, or the refreshing and inspired Ivalician aesthetic, or the wonderful blocking in the cutscenes, or how they really didn't have to make all the men in the game as hot as they did, or how fucking ICONIC Fran is, etc. I really wasn't expecting to find so much to love. It's mired in an often frustrating philosophy of obscurity that permeates every minute of actually playing the game, but without the pointless busywork of random battles and grinding, the worst moments are over quickly, and the moments of triumph feel like a direct result of careful planning, quick thinking and versatility.
I LOVE IVALICE
super unique gameplay for an FF title, you basically program if statements for every possibility in battle and watch your genius plans play out. You can also play manually, if you're into that kind of thing.
super unique gameplay for an FF title, you basically program if statements for every possibility in battle and watch your genius plans play out. You can also play manually, if you're into that kind of thing.
almost a perfect game, really, if not for the unfortunate pacing issues in the last third... going from political intrigue and breaking out of prisons and into palaces and all kinds of fun shit to dungeon and ruin diving was a mistake, but mistakes happen
gameplay ruled, characters ruled
hot take: vaan and penelo are actually good characters, they never get in the way of the story but are there to support the main characters when it matters and then back the fuck away when it matters! as usual the internet is full of shit and probably illiterate! D:
vayne going full cyborg god freak at the end was probably the biggest hiccup, it really came out of nowhere, but if i let every weird nonsensical thing ruin a work for me i'd hate most things and that's boring
gambits, bring em back! also gimme an if block!
oh and also: the best remaster they've done, unless you count the pixel remasters, which are full on remakes in unity, so i don't, and it's a real fucking shame they didn't put this much effort and polish into their other remasters... maybe one day
gameplay ruled, characters ruled
hot take: vaan and penelo are actually good characters, they never get in the way of the story but are there to support the main characters when it matters and then back the fuck away when it matters! as usual the internet is full of shit and probably illiterate! D:
vayne going full cyborg god freak at the end was probably the biggest hiccup, it really came out of nowhere, but if i let every weird nonsensical thing ruin a work for me i'd hate most things and that's boring
gambits, bring em back! also gimme an if block!
oh and also: the best remaster they've done, unless you count the pixel remasters, which are full on remakes in unity, so i don't, and it's a real fucking shame they didn't put this much effort and polish into their other remasters... maybe one day
I AM CAPTAIN BASCH FON ROSENBURG OF DALMASCA!!!
One of the best in the FF series IMO. The art style still holds up to this DAY. I think is one of the weakest cast of characters, but even then they are all still likeable even if you don't know too much about them. Music of course, is 10/10.
One of the best in the FF series IMO. The art style still holds up to this DAY. I think is one of the weakest cast of characters, but even then they are all still likeable even if you don't know too much about them. Music of course, is 10/10.
Simplesmente o melhor final fantasy, ótimo sistema de combate, história foda e mundo aberto sensacional.
Es raro de narices. Los sistemas (gambits y licencias) complican en exceso el juego si no lo entiendes bien, el combate no me ha convencido, prefiero turnos o acción pero no un híbrido, la historia es interesante al principio pero luego decae mucho y al final ya te da igual y los personajes son muy irregulares, a destacar los protagonistas que son los peores que yo recuerdo en un videojuego. Bastante decepcionado después de venir del XVI. [6/10]
Some neat ideas and pretty environments but it feels like every single element of this game is designed to be either the most annoying or lamest version of itself.
i say "mastered" because the only trophy i'm missing is the goddamn trial mode one
see you in hell.
i still love this game tho
see you in hell.
i still love this game tho
you know what they say about a leading man.
A perfectly decent combat system and a pretty well-realized setting are unfortunately mired by tedious pacing and grind, not helped by its bland story and characters
Having played the PS2 versions years ago, I loved this game for its story, gameplay and characters (Minus Vaan and Penelo, they suck lmao). The overall designs were extremely nice felt different from other FF titles. Having replayed it on the PS4 with the new mechanics, it got even better.
Koyam böyle fantaziye zodiac job sistım
I’ve probably finished this game with full playthroughs about three times. Admittedly I have not done all of the elite hunts yet as I don’t always have the most follow through with post game content. However, the parts of the game I have finished are some of my favorite parts of games ever. The areas from Gilmore Jungle to the feywood are so memorable in my mind. The story is also in my mind is the prefect cross between Star Wars and final fantasy. Ultimately what makes the game for me was watching my family play through the game as I was younger. When I was able to play it later as myself it felt like a brand new world had been opened up!
Balthier rules.
This games story is so fucking bad but it's not actually there and you can make the numbers go up so good oh my God.
Normally, I wasn't planning on playing Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, but it went up for sale and I couldn't pass on it. In the end, I'm glad I decided to play this game because otherwise I'd miss out on a very interesting experience.
Final Fantasy XII's story, while not as exciting as in most of the other Final Fantasy games, is still well-written for the most part.
The gameplay on the other hand, is amazing; it's innovative because it makes you feel like playing an offline MMO game instead of a typical turn based JRPG. The gambit system is basically programming an AI, it's genius and I love it. The license boards add extra layers of character customization, giving you the opportunity to build each character differently. Overall, the combat system is extremely fun, the customization is fantastic and the mechanics work perfectly.
The characters are good too; some of them are a bit underwhelming but most of them are fine and few of them are truly great.
The visuals hold up well and the CGI cutscenes are stunning, and the music is very good as well.
Also, the world in Final Fantasy XII is probably one of the best in the series.
Now, although Final Fantasy XII does many things well, it also has some noticeable flaws; the story for example, is not engaging at times, it feels a bit disjointed.
Lastly, many dungeons get tiring after a while because of their lenght.
Pros:
+ Decent story
+ Addictive gameplay
+ Unique mechanics
+ Nice characters
Cons:
- Inconsistent narrative
- Overwhelming dungeon design
Narrative: 6/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Content: 9/10
Characters: 7/10
Music: 8/10
Graphics/Audio: ?/10
Final Rating: 8/10
- Great -
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age is a unique, rewarding and enjoyable RPG.
If you're a fan of J/RPGs but you haven't played the original version of Final Fantasy XII before, you should give Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age a try.
Do I recommend it?:
Yes, even to those who don't play JRPGs at all.
Final Fantasy XII's story, while not as exciting as in most of the other Final Fantasy games, is still well-written for the most part.
The gameplay on the other hand, is amazing; it's innovative because it makes you feel like playing an offline MMO game instead of a typical turn based JRPG. The gambit system is basically programming an AI, it's genius and I love it. The license boards add extra layers of character customization, giving you the opportunity to build each character differently. Overall, the combat system is extremely fun, the customization is fantastic and the mechanics work perfectly.
The characters are good too; some of them are a bit underwhelming but most of them are fine and few of them are truly great.
The visuals hold up well and the CGI cutscenes are stunning, and the music is very good as well.
Also, the world in Final Fantasy XII is probably one of the best in the series.
Now, although Final Fantasy XII does many things well, it also has some noticeable flaws; the story for example, is not engaging at times, it feels a bit disjointed.
Lastly, many dungeons get tiring after a while because of their lenght.
Pros:
+ Decent story
+ Addictive gameplay
+ Unique mechanics
+ Nice characters
Cons:
- Inconsistent narrative
- Overwhelming dungeon design
Narrative: 6/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Content: 9/10
Characters: 7/10
Music: 8/10
Graphics/Audio: ?/10
Final Rating: 8/10
- Great -
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age is a unique, rewarding and enjoyable RPG.
If you're a fan of J/RPGs but you haven't played the original version of Final Fantasy XII before, you should give Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age a try.
Do I recommend it?:
Yes, even to those who don't play JRPGs at all.
After nearly twenty years of playing this game, I finished the post-game of Final Fantasy XII! Both the vanilla superbosses and the Trial Mode The Zodiac Age added in. I left a review on the PS2 game’s page but figured I’ll add my thoughts on The Zodiac Age version.
The big sell here is the job system and it’s pretty cool! I like the dual-classing upgraded they added in this edition of FF12, but character being so focused creates a lot of small inconveniences. Only the Time Mage has Float, a very important spell if you are going through a place with traps. I had to keep my Fran out through most dungeons because I didn’t have a lot of Float Motes and mines were abound. You can unlock some extra abilities on everyone’s License Grids with Quickenings and Espers but there should have been more options available for late game conveniences. I was missing the absolute freedom of everyone sharing vanilla FF12’s maximalist License Grid.
While The Zodiac Age took away a lot of original’s need-guide BS like the whole thing with the Zodiac Spear, a lot of spells are stuck in normal-looking treasures that you can easily miss then go through the whole game never having that spell. It’s two steps-forward, one step back with this game.
The 2x and 4x speed settings were a great edition. Got a lot of use of them beating Hell Wyrm and Yiazmat. On the other hand, TZA could have improved the gambit system more. While the multiple gambit sets are a nice addition, I wished for more gambit types and additional complexity.
Overall, the speedup option and cool job system make this the definitive version of a game that I, despite my criticism, think it is pretty good and still love a lot. Maybe I don’t think it’s as good as I used to, but still something that is worth playing. A lot of my problems are things that became more obvious in the sidequest/post-game parts of Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age so someone playing a casual playthrough probably wouldn’t butt heads with those annoyances.
The big sell here is the job system and it’s pretty cool! I like the dual-classing upgraded they added in this edition of FF12, but character being so focused creates a lot of small inconveniences. Only the Time Mage has Float, a very important spell if you are going through a place with traps. I had to keep my Fran out through most dungeons because I didn’t have a lot of Float Motes and mines were abound. You can unlock some extra abilities on everyone’s License Grids with Quickenings and Espers but there should have been more options available for late game conveniences. I was missing the absolute freedom of everyone sharing vanilla FF12’s maximalist License Grid.
While The Zodiac Age took away a lot of original’s need-guide BS like the whole thing with the Zodiac Spear, a lot of spells are stuck in normal-looking treasures that you can easily miss then go through the whole game never having that spell. It’s two steps-forward, one step back with this game.
The 2x and 4x speed settings were a great edition. Got a lot of use of them beating Hell Wyrm and Yiazmat. On the other hand, TZA could have improved the gambit system more. While the multiple gambit sets are a nice addition, I wished for more gambit types and additional complexity.
Overall, the speedup option and cool job system make this the definitive version of a game that I, despite my criticism, think it is pretty good and still love a lot. Maybe I don’t think it’s as good as I used to, but still something that is worth playing. A lot of my problems are things that became more obvious in the sidequest/post-game parts of Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age so someone playing a casual playthrough probably wouldn’t butt heads with those annoyances.
Been sitting on this one for years, but finally played it. I'm glad I did, because while I don't have fond memories of the original, I really enjoyed my time with Zodiac Age. The secret to enjoying this game is removing Vaan from your party and pretending that nearly anyone else is the main character.
Joking aside, this game has a strong cast of characters, both heroes and villains. Sometimes the story falls a little flat and does a disservice to these characters, but overall it's a solid piece of storytelling.
The music is incredible with a good number of memorable themes. I feel the imperial theme is one of the strongest reasons people compare this game to Star Wars.
Combat is excellent and you're rewarded for how much work you put in. You can completely ignore the gambit system if you want, but I found it fun tweaking the system to get the best performance out of it. I did have a problem with the sheer amount of status effects the enemies loved to throw at the party, and the final area was more frustrating than enjoyable, but they made some great improvements over the original and this is well worth playing.
Joking aside, this game has a strong cast of characters, both heroes and villains. Sometimes the story falls a little flat and does a disservice to these characters, but overall it's a solid piece of storytelling.
The music is incredible with a good number of memorable themes. I feel the imperial theme is one of the strongest reasons people compare this game to Star Wars.
Combat is excellent and you're rewarded for how much work you put in. You can completely ignore the gambit system if you want, but I found it fun tweaking the system to get the best performance out of it. I did have a problem with the sheer amount of status effects the enemies loved to throw at the party, and the final area was more frustrating than enjoyable, but they made some great improvements over the original and this is well worth playing.
I Played the original on PS2 when i was kid and as soon they were releasing a new improved version of it on all major platform i was excited. It was amazing to revisit Ivalice again with this game having a unique Mediterranean style and the story is still a favorite of my mine till this day.
A versão definitiva desse título. A única coisa que me incomodava era a progressão dos personagens, que não tinha distinção. Com o Zodiac Job System, tudo melhorou. Talvez o melhor remaster já feito, ao lado de Metroid Prime (não confundir com remake).
There was a lot I liked here but a lot that I didn't. I loved the soundtrack, the gambit system was one of the most unique and entertaining combat systems I've played, and I enjoyed exploring the world. That being said I did not care about the story. It's extremely politics heavy and I had trouble keeping track of what was going on; making some of the later moments of the game fall a bit flat for me. I also felt it lacked many compelling characters. Besides Balthier who I loved; most of the characters in the game just don't have much about them I find likable or interesting. The English voice acting also felt hit or miss to me; with performances sounding either pretty good or devoid of emotion (the low audio quality doesn't help). Like I said the gameplay was great, but in a series that can have some really good stories, I felt just a bit let down by 12 even with all the things it does great.
This review contains spoilers
This is a weird game. A lot of the time I feel very strong or very weak, but I finally had an in-between. The good definitely outweighs the bad, but I will list them as normal.
(Negatives)
This game is definitely more story driven than character driven, which is fine, on paper. But the villains aren't on screen nearly long enough to get that point across. It's supposed to be this large scale political drama but it doesn't feel like Vayne himself does much. Cid carries the antagonist super hard.
This game's story feels like a zelda-game at certain points. Get item to help beat bad guys --> get new item to adjust to situation --> get new item to adjust adjust to situation --> finally fight bad guys. It leads to these deadzones in the story because the characters can't hold the story together because of lack of focus towards them.
Basch has a great foundation for a character but it doesn't feel like he gets to do anything until super late into the game. He barely even feels like Ashe's "Knight" because Vaan and Balthier do all the talking for him. Was pretty disappointed in him honestly.
Penelo and Larsa should certainly get more screentime together. They are definitely trying to show the gap between classes but there's only 1 main scene that shows this. I wish there was just something inbetween.
Vaan is alright, but I do agree with the majority, I have absolutely no clue why he is the vocal point of the story. They could of done it with Penelo. She narrates the ending, and builds a connection with a super major character in the story. He actually has enough for a supporting character. He feels quite contrived at times as they were trying to force a supporting character to be a main character. It feels very messy.
The traps are just irritating. I have no clue why this game has an obsession with them. They just make progression 10 times more annoying unless you consistantly float your party. Or remove all of the AIs to make sure you don't want into them.
The dungeons are pretty weak, especially Great Crystal, Pharos. Insanely tedious. Or just mazes.
There's a ton of walking because there isn't some teleport crystals in some points where there definitely should be.
And this is more personal but I think there is a little too much status spam, and bosses that just become immune to certain moves which slow certain battles to a crawl. Since this game doesn't have the Xenoblade mechanic of enemies ignoring you if you're higher leveled.
The chest system is really, really stupid. Along with the Bazaar system, I would put them in the same catagory. Very frustrating and grindy mechanics, that are basically impossible to utilize without a guide. There are some spells that are just completely luck-based, you really have no reason to collect most chest blind because 90% of them have basic potions that scale horribly, or like 10 gold. The Bazaar not holding the items you already sold is pretty damn baffling.
-----
Positives:
Balthier, Ashe, and I actually think Penelo are all pretty great. Penelo got sold completely to me by the ending but I think that alone justified her pretty meager role in the plot. Ashe and Balthier are actually just complete characters. They fit under the standard that I expect from this series.
The guest party members are fantastic. Hell, even better than most of your actual party members. Most of them have at least a few scenes that are genuinely impactful, and stay for quite a long time. I think being able to do side-content with them really adds to them feeling like main-stays. I would love to see more games experiment with guest party members like this.
The writing really gets it together in the last 2 dungeons. It feels like it regains the direction that it is periodically messing throughout the game. The definition of a slow-burn.
The ending sequence is fantastic.
The Gambit system and class system are both pretty incredible. I do have a few minor issues here and there, as I think the AI relies too much on gambits sometimes (They will just keep spamming shit if the enemy is immune to it or absorb it, and there's no real gambit around it unless you set a new guide in-battle.) But it's definitely a highlight of the game and you can be pretty exact about what you want the AI to do. It sets up for a ton of really good optimization and it's entertaining to watch builds (the building is super flexable) just absolutely desimate the main story as it is piss easy.
The music and world are both pretty damn solid.
The hunts can be pretty fun, and are a great challenge. I will note a lot of them have really annoying requirements and gimmicks in mid-game that are definitely not fun though. But the late-game and early game ones are pretty great.
----------------------
In-all, pretty good game, but it definitely can overstay it's welcome sometimes.
(I am sorry for my terrible formatting I just write what is in my brain oopsies)
(Negatives)
This game is definitely more story driven than character driven, which is fine, on paper. But the villains aren't on screen nearly long enough to get that point across. It's supposed to be this large scale political drama but it doesn't feel like Vayne himself does much. Cid carries the antagonist super hard.
This game's story feels like a zelda-game at certain points. Get item to help beat bad guys --> get new item to adjust to situation --> get new item to adjust adjust to situation --> finally fight bad guys. It leads to these deadzones in the story because the characters can't hold the story together because of lack of focus towards them.
Basch has a great foundation for a character but it doesn't feel like he gets to do anything until super late into the game. He barely even feels like Ashe's "Knight" because Vaan and Balthier do all the talking for him. Was pretty disappointed in him honestly.
Penelo and Larsa should certainly get more screentime together. They are definitely trying to show the gap between classes but there's only 1 main scene that shows this. I wish there was just something inbetween.
Vaan is alright, but I do agree with the majority, I have absolutely no clue why he is the vocal point of the story. They could of done it with Penelo. She narrates the ending, and builds a connection with a super major character in the story. He actually has enough for a supporting character. He feels quite contrived at times as they were trying to force a supporting character to be a main character. It feels very messy.
The traps are just irritating. I have no clue why this game has an obsession with them. They just make progression 10 times more annoying unless you consistantly float your party. Or remove all of the AIs to make sure you don't want into them.
The dungeons are pretty weak, especially Great Crystal, Pharos. Insanely tedious. Or just mazes.
There's a ton of walking because there isn't some teleport crystals in some points where there definitely should be.
And this is more personal but I think there is a little too much status spam, and bosses that just become immune to certain moves which slow certain battles to a crawl. Since this game doesn't have the Xenoblade mechanic of enemies ignoring you if you're higher leveled.
The chest system is really, really stupid. Along with the Bazaar system, I would put them in the same catagory. Very frustrating and grindy mechanics, that are basically impossible to utilize without a guide. There are some spells that are just completely luck-based, you really have no reason to collect most chest blind because 90% of them have basic potions that scale horribly, or like 10 gold. The Bazaar not holding the items you already sold is pretty damn baffling.
-----
Positives:
Balthier, Ashe, and I actually think Penelo are all pretty great. Penelo got sold completely to me by the ending but I think that alone justified her pretty meager role in the plot. Ashe and Balthier are actually just complete characters. They fit under the standard that I expect from this series.
The guest party members are fantastic. Hell, even better than most of your actual party members. Most of them have at least a few scenes that are genuinely impactful, and stay for quite a long time. I think being able to do side-content with them really adds to them feeling like main-stays. I would love to see more games experiment with guest party members like this.
The writing really gets it together in the last 2 dungeons. It feels like it regains the direction that it is periodically messing throughout the game. The definition of a slow-burn.
The ending sequence is fantastic.
The Gambit system and class system are both pretty incredible. I do have a few minor issues here and there, as I think the AI relies too much on gambits sometimes (They will just keep spamming shit if the enemy is immune to it or absorb it, and there's no real gambit around it unless you set a new guide in-battle.) But it's definitely a highlight of the game and you can be pretty exact about what you want the AI to do. It sets up for a ton of really good optimization and it's entertaining to watch builds (the building is super flexable) just absolutely desimate the main story as it is piss easy.
The music and world are both pretty damn solid.
The hunts can be pretty fun, and are a great challenge. I will note a lot of them have really annoying requirements and gimmicks in mid-game that are definitely not fun though. But the late-game and early game ones are pretty great.
----------------------
In-all, pretty good game, but it definitely can overstay it's welcome sometimes.
(I am sorry for my terrible formatting I just write what is in my brain oopsies)
melhor da franquia
great gameplay with an impersonal story. I found it hard to get attached to the characters but the gameplay was intriguing enough to power through
Absolutely my favourite Final Fantasy game.
The story is a grand game of political chess, and how every rung on the class ladder - and their struggle for supremacy - affects those below them. The environments are sprawling and wonderfully realised, and the soundtrack does NOT get enough love.
The Gambit System is super interesting with the options it opens up, and allows you to optimise as much - or as little - as you wish. The enemies and all the status ailments they can inflict can be really, REALLY annoying, and the last couple of dungeons absolutely suck, but outside of that? This game is well worth your time.
The story is a grand game of political chess, and how every rung on the class ladder - and their struggle for supremacy - affects those below them. The environments are sprawling and wonderfully realised, and the soundtrack does NOT get enough love.
The Gambit System is super interesting with the options it opens up, and allows you to optimise as much - or as little - as you wish. The enemies and all the status ailments they can inflict can be really, REALLY annoying, and the last couple of dungeons absolutely suck, but outside of that? This game is well worth your time.
a must if you're a fan of XII and are looking to play again
if you're new: enjoy one of the last times AAA wasn't interested in making you trip over its every secret
excellent HD work here, with welcome (optional) audio edits as well
quality of life x2 / x4 game speed increases, and faster load times, are essential in bringing the game into the modern era
one of the most unique and compelling battle systems created, even outwith Final Fantasy
trial challenge mode is welcome and super fun
did i mention the battle system
if you're new: enjoy one of the last times AAA wasn't interested in making you trip over its every secret
excellent HD work here, with welcome (optional) audio edits as well
quality of life x2 / x4 game speed increases, and faster load times, are essential in bringing the game into the modern era
one of the most unique and compelling battle systems created, even outwith Final Fantasy
trial challenge mode is welcome and super fun
did i mention the battle system
It is great game, but it could be little more then it is now :)
Zodirac is ASS and it is the only thing I did not beat. All quests are done. Zodirac at 20% hp is just immune to physical and magical damage. I tried non-elemental magic. No use. He will just spam his kill everyone spell. I get that there might be way to kill it but I do not care. Apart from that game is great! It has one of best additional content and I did not even have to grind.
Zodirac is ASS and it is the only thing I did not beat. All quests are done. Zodirac at 20% hp is just immune to physical and magical damage. I tried non-elemental magic. No use. He will just spam his kill everyone spell. I get that there might be way to kill it but I do not care. Apart from that game is great! It has one of best additional content and I did not even have to grind.
This game is criminally under discussed and under valued within the community as it's not only the last major budget entry in the Ivalice sage but also the last time an FF devoted itself to being an ensemble. The game in a lot of ways showcases the direction Square Enix would be going in in the future but also shows semblances of classic final fantasy identity with a sprawling likeable cast compelling strategic gameplay and very compelling etymology and world design The gameplay here is fantastic, showcasing how a full control type game can work within a real time battle system with the usage of the incredibly useful gambit system. Letting you fully control your party throughout the entire thing and never feeling like the game is unfair. The transition from turn based to active is very seamless here as it feels like the series is still maintaining its core identity of strategy and tact over randomness. People say the game sometimes plays itself but this only really applies if your characters are over leveled. If you play the boss fights at the level the game recommends the game still poses a challenge and at times I found myself frantically turning the gambits off because I realized I had one on that benefited the enemies I was fighting. There's still strategy and intensity at play. The second notable thing about every FF's gameplay is the progression and leveling. This series would be the last time we saw a proper job system in a mainline singleplayer entry. Letting you have free control over every characters strengths weaknesses and special abilities. The licenses do not feel difficult to progress here and feel very natural in comparison to some of the other job based games. This game basically offers you total freedom to play anyway you'd like and build your party around how you want to play. It's a perfect RPG gameplay loop. The story of this game is a bit contentious and daring for a final fantasy story. Most FF's of this time pose ethical and psychological conflicts to the player making them built off of their smaller character interactions over grander plot. This game goes in a different direction There's still small character moments here but this game poses some very grand questions in the macroevents of the games plot. What does it mean to be free? Who is the architects of free will? if there is an architect of free will can they truly be affable for all time. The main villain posing himself from the start as a game not as a bloodthirsty or power hungry dictator but as someone who sees the pre established monarchy as the oppressors and chooses to bloody his own hands for the sake of the citizens freedom poses a lot of conflict. Vayne is viewed through the main characters as this evil maniacal tyrant who wants power but when we're shown him we're shown a new side to him, someone manipulated by the grander powers of the universe that genuinely wants to provide freedom for his people. This is in great contrast to one of our main characters Ashe who barely holds back the urge to start a conflict. She wants war for the sake of power unlike Vayne. And her arc to learn to look for peace is very well done and a novel one for Final Fantasy. The core theme of being rejected from your position of status amongst the characters in this game rings truest for Basch, the originally planned main character of the game. I have a big love for the dishonored knight trope and Basch is an epitome on how to do it right. This games story is one of the best in final fantasy in my opinion. The grander plot showing a much stronger maturity and boldness on the part of the writers. Although due to the grandness of it all it does feel like smaller character moments are missing. Wish we had more. All in all I think this is a criminally underrated final fantasy title and does not deserve some of the criticism leveled at it. It's got a fantastic world a fantastic narrative fantastic characters and a fantastic gameplay loop. One of my favorite FF's 9/10
Enjoyed the scenery and battle system. Didn’t care for the characters and story and found Fran quite disturbing.