When the Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster was released for both PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation 4, many fans were surprised just how well the game had aged, and it left a lot of gamers hoping that Final Fantasy XII would eventually get the same treatment. It wasn't long before fans prayers were answered when Square Enix announced just over a year ago that Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age would be coming to the PlayStation 4.
Surprisingly, despite the demand for the high definition remaster, upon its original release Final Fantasy XII became one of the most divisive titles in the series. Reviews for the game were fantastic but there were many fans who weren’t ready for the politically charged storyline, or they just couldn’t get over watching the story unfold through the eyes of Final Fantasy’s answer to Aladdin in Vaan.
Whatever your stance was on the game back in 2006, it is fair to say that not only has Final Fantasy XII aged well, but it was also way ahead of its time. Additionally, the improvements to the gameplay and the mechanics in this new remaster only help the game solidify its place as one of the best games in the mainline series, thus making The Zodiac Age the absolute definitive version to own.
However, there’s still some issues no matter how minor that hold this classic title back from being a perfect game. Here are 8 of the best and 7 worst things about Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age.
15 🐎 ༒ Best: The Ensemble Cast
One of the things that upset a lot of fans when Final Fantasy XII was first released was the misconception that because you’re playing as Vaan, and seeing💟 the story u❀nfold through his eyes, he's the main character.
What many didn’t realize is that instead of the story focusing on one hero it focused on the entire cast, and Vaan served as a window into the lives and the political intrigue that surrounded these characters. Vaan was a character of 💙humble beginnings caught up in a web of deceit and power plays, that he struggled to come to terms with, and in that sense, he served his purpose well. The real focus is the ensemble cast, all of which have important roles to play and does a fantastic job of fleshing out the fantastically intricate and mature world that is Ivalice.
14 𓄧 Worst: Early Stages May Be Intimidating For New Players ꦡ
Final Fantasy XII’s intricate battle system is something that many players the first time round found quite daunting when they were expecting another turn-based battle system similar to the previous titles in the mainline series. As a result, many gamers 11 years ago didn’t have the patience to see it through. Gamers new to the series or perhaps those who started with Final Fantasy XV which adopted a more action orientated if somewhat simplistic approach in comparison, may find themselves baffled by the Gambit system, the License boards, and Job systems. It's a lot to take in, and Square ༺could have improved the UI for newcomers.
13 Best: Incredible And In-𓂃depthᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ Battle
Those willing to invest the time and patience to get to grips with Final Fantasy XII’s combat system will be rewarded with one of the series most unique and interesting systems the series has to offer. The Gambit system forces the player to become a battle general or even a programmer of sorts that can design how each party member works together in battle. This may sound extremely daunting to some players new to Final Fantasy XII’s mechanics, but it’s surprisinglꦚy masterful in its simplicit⛎y.
Each character can be preprogrammed to capitalize on an enemies vulnerabilities, making sure members of the party’s health stay above 20 percent, replenish their MP and so much. As you work your way through the license board, more Gambit commands for ꩵeach character will be unlocked, al𓆏lowing you to prepare for every challenge and eventuality the game throws at you.
12 Worst: PS4 Pro Suppo𒉰rt
Those looking for a substantial amount of visual options and upgrades on the PS4 Pro may find themselves slightly disappointed. When you consider that the original PlayStation 2 version of Final Fantasy XII ran at a resolution of 512x448 the increase of 9 times the pixel count for base PlayStation 🦩4 users and 16 times more on the PlayStation 4 Pro i🍷t’s a significant boost to an 11-year-old games visuals.
However, despite this increase, the PS4 Pro can still only achieve 1440p output resolution, which is a disappointment when the Kingdom Hearts remasters achieved a native 4K resolution on the Pro and ran at 60 frames per second on both machines. It’s disappointing then that Final Fantasy XII is locked at 30fps on the PS💦4 and PS4 Pro. Additionally, the Pro’s Boost Mode doesn’t seem to make a differe🌸nce to performance either, and there’s no benefit of an HDR option on either machine.
11 𝓰 Best: The Presentation
Final Fantasy XII's fantastic art style stands up well to the test of time. Despite the lack of true PS4 Pro support (yet), both consoles deliver a 🐽massive upgrade to the visual experience over the original.
Players will notice an obvious boost the textures, and improvements to the finer details in character’s outfits and armor sets. Everything just sort of pops and looks exactly like it should due to the use of bump-mapping giving surfaces a more 3D look and appearance where it may have looked flat in the past. Even though Final Fantasy XII still looked good at the end of the PS2’s 🎃life cycle, you have to assume now that the remaster looks much closer to the developer's original vision. Finally, special mention should go to the game's remastered orchestrated soundtrack which sounds absolutely incredible and really adds the epic feel of the game.
10 Worst: Cutscenes Haven't ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚBeen Substantially Improved 🌃
Although the in-game visuals have been beautifully remastered in Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age the upgrades don’t always look like they’ve transferred over into the game’s many cutscenes. Facial details tend to look a bit soft in comparison to the sharp details found in the Kingdom Hearts remasters on the PlayStation 4, and even the cutscenes found Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster — which runs very similarly to FFXII: Zodiac Age — look sharper than those found in this remaster.
The aspect ratio𓆉 in the cutscenes can also suffer noticeably, and letterboxing is used as a crutch. In addition, the cutscenes suffer from obvious lip-synch problems during many pieces of the voiced dialogue.
9 𝕴 Best: Fast ꩵForwarding Grinding
Final Fantasy XII has always been a huge game by any standards, even in the early opening stages, the game forces you to play through a seem⛄ingly endless amount of back to back dungeons. The intention was to give the player a substantial amount of time to work through and get used to the game's many intricacies and details. This is all well and good, but after some time the game can feel like a bit of a time-consuming slog to work through – enter the Fast Forward mode.
The Fast Forward option allows players to increase the speed of the game by x2 or x4 in the options menu. For🐟 those who just want a quick way of grinding through battles, or traverse some of more vast areas in the game can simply get on with enjoying the story.
8 Worst💦: No Fast Travel
The Fast Travel option in Final Fantasy XII is an absolutely brilliant feature that completely addresses the issue fans had with the majority of the games wandering and searching. ꧑As mentioned previously this is an absolutely huge game even co🔯mpared to some of the technologically brilliant open world games that are available today.
So for some players used to the benefits of a fast travel option in modern games may find that working through one huge location just to get to next one a chore fast-forward feature or not. Such a feature could get patched in at a later date, but true enjoyment of Final Fantasy XII has always come from appreciating its𓂃 vast world.
7 Best: You Can Now Assign T𓆏wo Job✅s
The characters in Final Fantasy XII🐭 grow stronger and more skillful by unlocking nodes on the License Board by gaining License Points from defeated enemies on the battlefield. Despite being quite intuitive in the original game, the board was considered quite messy and confusing in its execution where many of the characters could wind up too simಌilar to one another. Thankfully this has been remedied through the implementation of the improved Zodiac Job System.
You can now equip two job classes, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, but with the right choices, you can create an unstoppable team of varied warriors. If you want to make Penelo a Monk and an Archer, so she can be proficient in close and mid range attacks, you can. Or, you could m🃏ake Balthier a Machinist and a Black Mage, the choice is entirely down to the player. These new opﷺtions make a huge difference to the gameplay on almost every level.
6 Worst: No Res𓂃pec Features 𝓀
One of the downsides of the choosing your job classes in Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age is once you make your choices there is absolutely no going back, so beyond restarting the game from scratch every decision you make is final. Making the right choices going forward requires a lot of thought and demands a great deal of patience, especially from those who are used to playing modern RPGs that allow you to respec your character at any point during the game. Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age offers no such luxury, so don’t be surprised if you find yourself deliberating all day and night over who shou𝔉ld do what job.