This game completely blew me away. I had never heard anything about it beforehand, so I had no real expectations going into it, but wow, this game is nothing short of a masterpiece. In this review, I’m going to give my thoughts on why I believe this.

First up, I want to talk about the highlight of this game, which would definitely be the world. Ff12 is set in Ivalice, and this country/nation or whatever you want to call it is nothing short of breathtaking. The area design in this game is truly impressive, and the art style complements these designs perfectly, making this entire game gorgeous, especially considering this was originally a PS2 game. Nearly every area is a treat to look at, and I get excited whenever I arrive at a new location. Not only is the world beautiful, but it also feels HUGE. I’ll be bringing this up a lot, but the fact that this was all on the PS2 astonishes me because some of these areas are just massive in size, and it really makes you feel like you’re on an adventure and aren’t just going through virtual rooms. I also find it extremely cool that if you want to go from one side of the map to another, you can totally do that because every single thing is connected in this game, making it feel so much more alive. Ff12 has such an expansive and beautiful world that’s so easy to fall in love with.

As for the plot, I think it is VERY strong, especially in the first half. I think the political aspects of this game are done very well, and while not as unique or innovative as some of the other Final Fantasy plots, I think it is a much neater and tighter story than what you’ll see in Ff7, for example. While that may not be for everyone, I thought it was a very nice change of pace for once. I absolutely love this narrative; the characters and plot are always moving forward, and it just really helps you feel a sense of adventure and urgency as well. This story also deals with some pretty deep themes, like loss and revenge, which I think are handled pretty well in this game.

Moving on to the characters, I’m slightly mixed on them because while I think they’re all very enjoyable characters who all get their moments to shine, I did feel as if they were a little underutilized throughout the game. Compared to games like Ff9, for example, it didn’t really feel as if the cast is really present outside of cutscenes, which kinda sucks because in cutscenes they are extremely entertaining, and honestly, I wish we just got more of them. Ashe, Balthier, Vaan, and Fran are all extremely likable, and the fact that my only big complaint is that I didn’t get enough of them is a pretty good thing, I’d say.

Next, I want to talk about the level design and the actual combat in the game because, unlike previous turn-based Ff games, Ff12 changes things up and transitions into a more active turn-based, NPC-controlling system. I’m not gonna get into specifics about how this works exactly. If you want to know, play the game, but all you need to know is that this system is a blast. The combat is so satisfying and rewarding, and it also requires skill, proper planning, and sometimes even quick reactions to win some of the more difficult fights in-game. There’s also this board thing, which basically lets you pick out the different abilities, stats, and weapons you get in-game, and I absolutely love this. It’s so much fun filling out my character’s boards and altering what and what not I want them to learn. Apparently, some people preferred the OG version where you can give any character any board they want, but I honestly prefer this version where you only get two boards for each character. This makes it so that I have to be more careful and calculating with what I want my characters to learn. As for the level design, well, it’s not that great. A lot of the levels can just essentially be big themed rooms with no puzzles or anything, and even when there are puzzles, they’re not necessarily all that special. I do, however, believe the gameplay and pretty areas make up for the lack in actual level design.

Finally, I want to talk about some of the more technical stuff, i.e., the music, voice acting, the FMVs, and any other things like that. First up, I’m gonna cover the music, and god, this OST is incredible. I don’t know much about music, but from what I hear, this OST has tons of woodwind instruments, which gives the entire game such a joyful and cheery atmosphere while being extremely atmospheric if it has to be. I absolutely adore this soundtrack, with some of my favorites being Respite, Discarded Power, and Cerobi Steppe. Now let me talk about the English voice acting real quick, and omg, people weren’t kidding when they said this is one of the greatest localizations in JRPG history because holy shit, this voice cast gives it their 100%. If this game’s beautiful world didn’t immerse me, I’m sure the voice acting would because it’s just that good, and I say that as someone who plays the vast majority of his JRPGs in Japanese, including Persona. I almost fprgot this but I wanted to give quick mention to the speed up options in this game which makes breezing through monsters and areas you’ve already gone through so much more manageable. Also, final little bit, but the FMVs are as sick as ever. I won’t spoil anything, but the last hour of the game is FMV heaven, holy shit.

All in all, Ff12 is one of the greatest games I’ve ever played, and it is now my favorite Final Fantasy game, surpassing 7. I will be buying the game off Amazon, and I intend to replay it on my PS2 since it’s literally leaving PS+ the day I’m writing this review.

I’ve always been interested in FF12 aesthetically and it has been on my list for quite some time - now that it’s leaving PS Plus I had enough motivation to prioritize it and see it through fully to completion. I enjoyed my time with it greatly for the most part and am glad I finally played it.

Many people will talk about 12’s gameplay as if it’s a black sheep in the series, but having played other entries before and after, and both MMOs, I actually think it’s the gameplay is extremely fitting for where Final Fantasy was at when it released. It truly feels like a single-player evolved version of Final Fantasy 11 but with a stronger cast, less required busywork, and a solid trust system. If you approach this game with that understanding, I think it’s quite enjoyable and has considerable depth. A lot of what became Final Fantasy 14 (particularly ARR and later) also shows through in this game, which makes sense considering the large overlap in the development teams.

The gambit system is daunting at first, but quickly makes sense when you consider it as an assisted gameplay function. The easiest one to understand is attacking: this game would be quite tedious if you had to hit attack constantly, so you can set a gambit to hit attack every time your cooldown ends. You might want to automatically resurrect a character when they die. Automatically heal when you are below 30% of your HP. From this perspective, thinking of it less like “programming a character entirely” and more like “what do I want it to do by default with me still interjecting regularly” makes it easier to build a gambit system for yourself. The system is limited, but can be used effectively to avoid overly needing to micromanage your team while letting them do a considerable range of actions. Coming from more recent Final Fantasy entries, I actually appreciated the very wide range of status effects and vulnerabilities, which felt much more like earlier entries in the series in a good way. The gambit system can also be used to deal with many of these status effects automatically, and ultimately, these statuses can be used to break the game which is always a fun learning moment in any FF.

The plot is mostly fine: you’re a team of sky pirates and orphans helping a princess in exile get her kingdom back with her retainer. That focus is pretty clear from near the start of the game. The playable and non-playable characters have interesting connections and, other than Penelo who makes hanging around Vaan her entire personality (but makes a great healer!), everyone else seems to have an interesting backgrounds and driving factors. I found Vaan a little grating at times, and Ashe a little more passive and opinionless than I’d have liked, but overall was interested in the overarching narrative. Without spoiling much, the villains are layered and often sympathetic in some ways, which I think some people found dampening but after reflecting I found it kind of interesting. It sort of feels like not a ton gets resolved at the end but I think enough does that the basic plot feels complete and the main objectives feel satisfied, which honestly doesn’t even happen in most modern games now.

I previously attempted finishing this game on the Switch version, and remember struggling due to a lack of money and gear. Part of that is due to the importance of stealing in this game - if you’re not getting loot constantly and completing hunts, you aren’t making the most of your time in Ivalice. Loot is the primary way to make money early in the game, and selling loot earns you gil for buying new gear. Having a character set to Steal automatically for any full health enemy meant I had a very regular stream of loot incoming, so I never was stressed for money. Hunts also give good rewards, and eventually offer you the opportunity to get a specific set of accessories that ROCKET how much money you earn. At that point you can basically buy anything you want at any time.

While I never played the original, the Zodiac Age changes make this game much better than I would have imagined the original being. There is a 4X speed mode, which I used more than I expected to get through some of the grinding in the game. Without it I easily would have spent well over 100 hours playing, and probably wouldn’t have looked for some of the rarer gear as much. The licence board is very well done, and lets you try a lot of combinations of jobs and espers to build a set of 6 characters that work the way you like. These licences also lock different armor and weapons behind jobs, and because characters can have two jobs, you can make combinations of gears and abilities as well. The loot system in the newer version uses a lot of chests with random chances at providing different gear, which is fine for the most part, but also means some fairly critical skills are behind random chest spawns. This isn’t common enough to truly bug me, but felt a little odd.

I think this would only impact you if you went for a full 100% playthrough, as do most of the more tedious parts of the game. Someone who is mostly just hitting plot beats with light side content I think can have a satisfying journey - because of all the side content I did I felt exceptionally overleveled for the final boss, so it’s not necessary to overly grind to finish the game.

I had one main gripe with the game - the licence board is buggy and sometimes crashes when you open it. A few times I opened it directly after beating an Esper with the goal of getting the licence on my board, and the game crashed before I could auto save. This has apparently been an issue for years in the final update of the game and it should have been fixed by now. Smaller gripes are the plot being kind of whatever at times, and a little bit of tedium in some of the side content.

Generally, I think the game is fun and would recommend it. A solid JRPG with complex gameplay and layered decision making, wrapped in an MMO-like casing.

This is honestly one of my all-time favorite games.

This is one of the many "Final Fantasy: Star Wars" entries into the series. The story has a lot of exposition explaining the political conflict between warring countries, and that can be really heavy at first, but they are just setting the scene so you understand why all the characters are doing what they do.

The world has a ton of variety (once you leave the desert) such as vast forests, underground mines, snow covered mountains, cursed ruins and more! The soundtrack is great as well!. Balthier and Fran are probably my favorite pair of FF characters from any game in the series.

This game gets a lot of hate because of it's weird combat system, but I love it. I tinker a bit with programming as a hobby, so the Gambit system being one big if/else statement made immediate sense to me, and I loved being able to program how my party members would react to any given situation.

Another thing I really enjoyed about XII is they replaced the need to mindlessly level grind throughout the game with a series of Hunt side quests. As you journey through the world, a few major towns have job boards in them, where petitioners have posted monsters that are causing them trouble. This is all completely optional, but if you decided to do them, there are so many cool monsters! The final hunt took me just under 4 hours to beat. It was wild.

This is honestly one of those games that is on my list when people ask me "If you could only play one game for the rest of your life, what would it be?"

The reputation of Final Fantasy's music indeed precedes itself. The series has been hailed as a prime example of masterful composing and emotive arrangements. A majority of acclaim is due to Nobuo Uematsu, composer behind the first nine games in the series and his influence and prowess is undeniable. But come his stepping down as lead composer, he would assist with Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy XI and later depart from Square in 2004. With this, a new wave of individual composers would take up the mantle for future games, and with Final Fantasy XII, Hitoshi Sakamoto would create one of the finest video game soundtracks.

What really gives the music of Final Fantasy XII its unique identity in comparison to the rest of the series is based on Sakamoto's previous work in the world of Ivalice. Going as far back as Final Fantasy Tactics, the sonic pallet has remained lush and atmospheric, emphasising the space in which these pieces are heard.

I absolutely adore the serenity of "The Cerobi Steppe", with its twinkling harp plucks and woodwind ensemble as well as intensity of "Nalbina Dungeons" as Vaan and gang sneak their way out of the underground prison. Sakamoto does his best with ambient pieces for zone themes, each area having distinct tone to enahance the gameplay and immersion. The Dalmasca Estersand, Phon Coast and Ozmone Plain would seem as grand and illustrious without their respective soundtracks.

Not to mention the character themes doing a fabulous job at capturing each character's essence , with the highlight being "Ashe's Theme", which evolves its meaning along with her journey to power.
Sakamoto has crafted a immaculate soundtrack worthy of a Final Fantasy.

💫HIGHLIGHTS💫: THE ARCADIAN EMPIRE - NALBINA DUNGEONS - ENDING MOVIE - THE CEROBI STEPPE - TCHITA UPLANDS

👑🏴‍☠️🛫

ENG:
Spectacular story, great characters and good gameplay. It isn't a 5 star because of some personal points, like ways of earing gil, how high (price) some equipaments can around early/mid-game (or even late), the "final dungeon" and some more. However, if you are an intermediate/veterean FF fan, you'll enjoy it (like I did)

BR:
História espetacular, ótimos personagens e uma gameplay boa. Só não é um 5 estrelas por causa de certos pontos pessoais, como as formas de ganhar gil, o quão caro os equipamentos podem ser no early/mid-game (até mesmo no late), a "dungeon" final e etc. Porém, se você é um fã intermediário/veterano de FF, você vai curtir (que nem eu).

Esse jogo é muito bom, ele é viciante e envolvente até um certo ponto.

Não curti muito as License Board, além da maior parte ser apenas licenças de equipamentos e o que beneficia o personagem é tudo passiva, senti como se a party não tivesse uma real identidade da classe, foi uma sensação de que a party era composta pelo: "bate seco com escudo e espada", "bate seco com espada grande" e o "bate seco com arco que cura em area".

A história que me interessou desde o começo pareceu que no meio do jogo perdeu o ritmo, só te joga dungeon atrás de dungeon e acaba, isso prejudicou tambem o desenvolvimento dos personagens, o final também é bem apressado.

O protagonista é uma decepção.

O loop de gameplay é divertida, as caças são um grande ponto positivo que com certeza eu vou continuar jogando pra fazer todas, as boss fights também são divertidas.

nota: Balthier e o Botão L1 são os verdadeiros protagonistas

Think this would fall at a 7.5-7.9 for me! Not amazing, but far more charming than it gets credit for.

- Presentation is incredible for a PS2 era game. The music is lovely, as is the deeply immersive world of Ivalice. Art direction was a huge plus and kept me captivated for a hefty playtime.

- 70+ hours in and I still can't decide if the battle system is more dynamic than it is repetitive or vice versa. I found MMO style combat REALLY boring growing up (everyone hacks at one monster at different tempos until it fades away unceremoniously), but this one felt much livelier than I expected. Though still a little droning to watch over long periods of time, it was deeply engrossing experience once I got momentum with finding more frequent equipment upgrades. The meshing of battles with traveling the overworld---no "random encounter" interruptions this time around---feels like a largely welcome change for smoothing out the pace of exploration. I DO think the really high level Hunts (i.e. Fafnir) should've had separate music tracks so that you're not waging epic battles accompanied by the same melancholy piano track as you'd get with regular world traversal, but that's getting pretty picky. I'll have to play more early entries to gauge just how much I miss the turn-based format in comparison. On another note, I rarely saw any advantage to using summons/Espers over Quickenings, but maybe I was playing it wrong.

- Coming off of playing IX, the story here doesn't hit quite the same high for me. Reading up on how the main character was meant to be Basch does make a lotta sense in context; with Vaan and Penelo added in, the focus of the story comes off as diluted overall and I would've liked a more central theme to guide the games many twists and turns throughout. IX was about death, coming to terms with your own mortality, and embracing friends as family when you have none to go back to, so what's XII about? Something to do with brotherhood (Basch) and some exploration of "breaking from your family lineage" (Ashe, Balthier, Fran), plus some Star Wars prequel-y political intrigue and some rejection of religion thrown in, I guess. These are all concepts that I really dig, but would've liked less of them if it meant sharper focus on the rest.
I didn't feel particularly connected to any of the cast except in a handful of emotional moments, though those moments were really, really well done. And so is the voice acting!

"I am simply myself. No more and no less. And I want only to be free."

É impressionante como Final Fantasy consegue se reinventar a cada título, todos com mecânicas e execuções completamente diferentes. O desse caso, um RPG imperial com exploração em um semi mundo aberto em 2006, é audacioso, e único.
Com sua temática politica onde o império controla as cidades, no totalitarismo, seguido de uma guerra fria e direta entre seus países, exerce um lado muito diferente a série, muito disso advindo de Star Wars, é impressionante o quanto esse jogo se inspira nos filmes, não só na presença do império, como visualmente nas naves e seus embates, como até em seus personagens, Balthier carrega uma função muito similar ao Han Solo. Me impressiona sua execução de diálogos ter muito dessa vibe Shakespeariana, muito se parece uma peça teatral, e sua narrativa, que apesar de passar por suas quedas de ritmo, segue uma execução diferente, de mais foco na realização pessoal textual de cada personagem do que uma temática geral. Mas sim, há presença de temas, o principal sendo a aceitação do luto, e claro, a liberdade das amarras do império. Eu sempre fico fascinado com o World Building da série, todos os jogos me prendem no mundo de forma a ficar curioso com o que irá acontecer com seus personagens.

Seus personagens contribuem positivamente para tal, a Ashe tem conflitos muito bons de como tratar de sua inimizade aos reinos, se devera ter ódio e vingança ou não, o Balthier carrega sendo o mais carismático (e um dos melhores da série), Basch com seu tema de lealdade, e a Fran com um dos subtextos da obra, que é esse valor do natural em comparação ao manufaturado, além de eu amar a parceria dela com o Balthier. E sobre o Vaan? É um caso peculiar, eu gosto desse crescimento dele de perceber que mentia em seus propósitos para se enturmar a situação, e como cada vez mais ele se parece com um pirata, mas sim, ele apenas serve como uma visão de fora do conflito para identificação do jogador, e a Penelo é basicamente o mesmo, só que mais falha. E junto de tudo isso, a interação de todos como um grupo é ótima, tanto no humor quanto no plot, gosto como se trabalha vários núcleos menores e também um maior de todos juntos.

Uma crítica muito específica quanto ao jogo é a utilização das cutscenes em CG, no FF10 há utilizações tão boas, e nesse jogo me incomoda como elas só são usadas para expressar a grandiosidade dos lugares, naves e outros, e pouco usada em momentos chaves da história, muitos momentos teriam mais impacto se usado corretamente.

Sua história unicamente não é o suficiente para carregar toda a experiencia, e por isso temos um dos maiores brilhos do jogo, sua jogabilidade. Seu maior destaque, o sistema de gambits, é prazeroso planejar suas situações com "if's" nas batalhas, quase como uma programação de computador, e aos que dizem que automatiza o combate de maneira tediosa, eu discordo, o jogo balanceia o suficiente para sua estratégia não ser inteiramente nos gambits mas sim intervir sempre em momentos chave, principalmente em boss battles. Você montar sua estratégia contra o inimigo, e ver ela funcionando ao seu controle é muito bom, e sempre que necessário, ligar e desligar gambits e agir por você mesmo. Minha única crítica vai ao sistema de Esper, fica mais como uma opção "for fun", porque não há situação que seja mais útil do que jogar normalmente, o mesmo quase pode ser dito dos Awakenings, mas eles tem seus momentos de utilidade, além de terem lindas animações. É irônico o quando poder acelerar nesse port do PC coincide para uma melhor experiência, por conta dos mundos enormes e a automação do combate.

"Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age" improves upon the original game with its revamped class system, offering players more depth and strategic options. The graphics have been enhanced, and the increased frame rate of 60fps makes for a more enjoyable experience, especially in 2024.

Additionally, the soundtrack has been reworked, although this may be an acquired taste for some players. Personally, I prefer the modernized soundtrack, which adds a fresh twist to the game's audio experience.

Overall, "Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age" is a solid remaster that enhances the original game in several key areas. However, while it offers improvements, it may not be enough to sway those who were not fans of the original release.

What’s better than a game where you walk around and press one button? A game where you walk around and press no buttons!

I played this game back in 2006 when it first released and I really enjoyed it, then a power outage happened while I was saving and it was my only save file. I never had only one save file ever again and that’s a pretty big impact on me. I bring this up because this game is a massive time investment and I was very much not willing to get back into the mix, 60 hours down the drain. Zodiac age completely and absolutely fixes this. The game comes with a 2x/4x speed up mode that completely trivializes all the leveling and walkin around you have to do. Very much like the speed up mode on emulators, it makes the game accessible in a way it previously was not. I was able to beat this game in around 30 hours because of this feature.

Now I will actually talk about the game itself, like I said at the start. You essentially just setup menus and actions before you start combat and let the game play itself. It feels like a miracle that this game is fun. But the environment, story, characters, leveling system, license board, gambits, hunts all combine together to make this very enjoyable experience.


It was very cathartic to come back to this game and beat it. That’s all I got to say. Good times

I won't ever think about this again it just had zero impact.

one positive I will give it is I love an integrated series of maps with lots of little nooks and crannies to double back on and explore as you level up. more of that please.

it's also funny how XVI just stole this whole game's deal but added a nonsense somber tone on top of it. least this is trying to be fun!

There's a lot I like about this game. The gambits system is cool, graphically it's leaps and bounds ahead of the previous titles (in particular is the facial animation. I'm not sure I've seen another game use micro expressions as well as this game) and the characters are nuanced and endearing.

However, the gambits system (while interesting) turns the combat into a complete bore. It's neat setting up your gambits and seeing it all play out once or twice... but then it just becomes a monotonous bore. I shouldn't get to a boss fight and think 'ah, I can just leave this running while I look at my phone, or grab a drink, or use the toilet'. It wasn't until the very last boss that actually forced me to rethink the tactics that had gotten me through 90% of the game (and even that was only because I ran out of Phoenix Downs).

I also found the story to be quite underwhelming. It lacks any sort of momentum until the final couple of hours. Also there's hardly any comradery building between the party members. My favourite moments were the times Vaan / Penelo were sharing some light hearted moments with the team but I could count on a single hand how many times that occurs.

Ultimately it's very ambition, and I appreciate that it does have it's fans, but for me this ranks towards the bottom of the mainline Final Fantasy games.

It’s always saddened me that FFXII isn’t talked about very often. It’s one of my favourite FF games and maybe one of my favourite RPGs.

The zodiac job system offers a dizzying degree of customisation, greatly rewarding those willing to plunge into its depths. A lot of people seem to dislike the more passive combat, but when you finally figure out good builds and gambit loadouts to compliment those builds, watching your strategy succeed is so satisfying.

The Ivalice setting is as well realised as it always is. The writing is far more subdued than typical FFs and features another great localisation by Alexander O. Smith. I’ve seen a lot of people say it’s boring; I love it, personally. I can’t deny it does get much weaker towards the end; its development troubles end up being quite apparent. And I do agree that Vaan and Penelo are bad.

Love Hitoshi Sakimoto’s cinematic soundtrack. Love the detailed towns. Love the voice acting. Love the cutscene direction (much like Vagrant Story, a game developed by a lot of the same key players as FFXII, it has better cutscene direction than most FF games). Love this game.