A fantastic game just got better.

Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age is an HD remastered version of the original PlayStation 2 game released in 2006. More specifically it's based on the International Zodiac Job System edition previously only released in Japan which balanced out some of the gameplay mechanics among other things to improve the original. This PS4 release with higher quality visuals, remastered orchestra soundtrack and ability to play at X2 and X4 speed is sort of the ultimate release of the game and it is, in my opinion, fantastic.

The story of Final Fantasy XII is a very political one. Set in the world of Ivalice, more precisely the Kingdom of Dalmasca after a war where the Empire of Archadia has invaded and taken over. The characters are an assorted bunch from a pair of orphaned street thieves, a dishonored Knight, a Princess and a couple of sky pirates. They all get brought together for different reasons, some for their honor and duty and others just because they got swept up into events much bigger than themselves in an attempt to free Dalmasca from Archadia's grip. The story isn't a huge world saving quest like many previous Final Fantasy games or other Japanese role playing games in general and I kind of like it for being more grounded in many ways. That's not to say the story doesn't take the player to fantastical places like floating islands or towns full of strange races while fighting fantastical monsters or anything, only that the characters problems and motivations just seem much more realistic than previous games have gone for.

The gameplay on this quest is of course the most important aspect and I thought it was way ahead of it's time when it was released and didn't actually think I would like it, when I finally played it though I loved it. During the parties travels both between cities in the wilds as well as numerous dungeons they will cross paths with many enemies such as wild monsters or Archadian empire troops. During fights or traveling the player can use up to three characters on the field at any one time and as long as they aren't being targeted can be swapped with back up members at anytime. These three members in the field can be swapped between at any point and given orders to attack, use a variety of offensive/defensive and heal items/abilities etc. or they can be set up to automatically perform actions under certain conditions.

This is called the gambit system. Each character has a set amount of slots for these gambits which can be set up to target specific enemies, characters or themselves under a variety of conditions to perform an action. For example "Ally health <60% - use potion" so any ally who drops below 60% health that character will automatically heal them with a potion. It's a simple but effective system where you can assign priorities to which gambit they will use over others in different situations gaining both more slots for these gambits as well as conditions to use them and abilities as the game goes on both from leveling up and shops. It is a system people either love or hate but you can turn them off at any tame should you wish and control characters manually. I liked to set up my gambits and have my party take a boss out running on automatic without me even touching the controller if I've done it right but there is some flexibility if you want.

The big change to the game over the original is each character now take on up to two specific jobs that can't be changed, locking in what skills, weapons and armor they can use for the entire game rather than everyone being a jack of all trades super soldier as in the original. This makes for a much more interesting and strategic game where you have to choose characters jobs very carefully as you can't go back once they take on that job. I also found myself swapping between characters a hell of a lot more to use different skills such as various magic or long ranged attacks etc. How everyone plays will be entirely up to your job choices and it makes the party feel a lot more diverse.

Visually this game is just wonderful. It's obviously still a PlayStation 2 game and that must be taken into account but in many places it looks better than some PS4 games. It was cutting edge at the time of release and with higher detailed models, crisp outlines and better colors it looks much better. There are some blurry undetailed textures here and there for backgrounds compared with the detailed character models but all in all FFXII still looks fantastic thanks to it's great usage of color and design. I seriously love the overall art and atmosphere of FFXII from the normal citizens, the races, buildings, armor etc. It all looks great.

The audio and music are also fantastic. The whole soundtrack was re-recorded, you can switch between it and the original in the menu to see the difference and use whichever you prefer. I personally loved the higher quality new soundtrack, the music is exactly the same otherwise which is no bad thing because the soundtrack is great. A nice mixture of more upbeat tunes such as exploring the city of Rabanastre up to the more epic orchestral boss fights. As for the voice acting, I always loved it in Final Fantasy XII and the voice acting is exactly the same, no re-recordings of that. The cast does a great job of all standing out, from the British skypirate (Balthier is the leading man after all) to the enigmatic Vierra and grizzled sounding Knight, each part is really perfect for each character. The only problem is some of the voice acting sounds like it was recorded through a tin can or a tiny room and comes across as a little echoey, it didn't bother me much, just something I noticed people should be aware of.

Lastly on my standard review list is value. I got the platinum trophy in around 110 hours beating all super bosses, doing all optional hunts and side quests. I was however doing this having played it all before and a lot at x4 speed. For someone new to the game that's not hunting out every little secret or trying to take on the 100 levels of trial mode it's still a solid 40 hours experience which at £30 was good value to me.

In conclusion Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age is a great game. It improves on the original balancing out characters and combat with better visuals, improved music, an ability to speed run through the large open areas. It has a ton of content and is just an all round great game. I can see how some people may be turned off by both the gambit system and the story but it's worth a try as you may end up surprised and loving it like I did eleven years ago.

Recommended.

+ Gambit system is excellent.
+ New job selections make for a more diverse party.
+ Great visuals, color and music.
+ Balthier.

- Voice acting is superb but sounds like it was recorded in a small room. May annoy some people though I was fine with it.

Reviewed on Sep 11, 2021


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