Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, a revised version of the fantastic 12th mainline entry in Square’s seminal role-playing game series, launched for PlayStation 4 in 2017, PC in 2018, and now, as of Tuesday, it’s out on Switch and Xbox One. The Switch version marks the game’s first appearance on a handheld console, and it’s a good one. It runs at a stable 30 frames-per-second in portable mode, and looks solid if a little blurry. (It’s also a beast at draining battery, like some sort of weird medieval energy vampire.) Show The Switch and Xbox One versions of Final Fantasy XII also come with two key new features: License board resets, allowing you to swap your characters’ classes (in previous iterations of the game they were permanent), and Gambit sets, allowing you to set up three different scripts for each character, rotating between them whenever you want. That last one is especially pivotal. Gambits, rudimentary if-then statements you can equip to your party (like “if one character is at below 50% health, use a Cure spell”), are the pulsing heart of Final Fantasy XII’s combat. Experimenting with different Gambit combos is the best way to take down some of the game’s more interesting and powerful bosses, but there had always been a layer of tedium to the process. If you were fighting a weird boss that kept turning invisible and you wanted to swap in new Gambits to beat him, you’d have to remember to go back to your basic setup afterwards. Now, you can just swap between sets you’ve created. What all this means is that the Switch and Xbox One now have the superior versions of Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age. Again, though, that does suck for anyone who bought it on PS4 or PC in the past year or two. I asked a Square Enix representative yesterday if these new features are coming to PS4 and PC, but they didn’t respond. Given Square’s long and storied history of fucking up Final Fantasy ports, I’m not optimistic. When I was younger, Square Enix released Final Fantasy XII and the size of the game overwhelmed me. Sadly, I never completed the game and it would sit on my shelf for years after. However, returning to the game as an adult proved to be beneficial because I actually understood the game’s political undertones and character growth within its high-volume of events and dialog. It’s a huge game with a lot to offer that I admit I wasn’t ready for. Now, Square Enix is bringing the series back to new platforms, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One with the release of Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age. Until this release, the game has been exclusive to PlayStation platforms so dedicated console fans can now experience the game for themselves. Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age is experienced through the eyes of an orphan named Vaan. Following the loss of his brother, his city, Rabanastre, has just been invaded by the Archadian Empire and Dalmascan’s King has signed a treaty for surrender. Being that this is a quick recap, I’d hate to spoil everything that happens during the opening of the game. Anyway, Vaan is more or less a thief who does odd jobs to earn a living, but with the drive to steal from the Empire and give back to the city. While on a mission to steal a treasure, Vaan finds what he came for just as a Sky Pirate Balthier was about to take it. Their fates intertwine and lead them on an adventure larger than they ever imaged. The theme of fate comes up again and again in Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age as the characters end up running into each other, most of the time after they’ve been captured. It’s interesting to witness how the characters work together, especially because they don’t totally trust one another. However, their bonds grow over the course of the game, which is important as you near the final missions in the game. Vaan is an interesting main protagonist and it’s nice seeing him learn to look up to the other characters and learn things from them over the course of the game. He’s very emotional and impulsive, but that doesn’t seem to hinder his dedication to helping out the people around him and keeping a cool head during important moments.  The tone of the game is kept pretty serious, which is rare for the Final Fantasy serious that usually has a good balance between comical and serious moments. The political themes in the game are kind of hard to follow since it seems that every scene a new high council member is introduced and we can’t forget the group of antagonists which includes five judges appointed by the Empire. Suffice to say, this game is huge, with a large list of characters that can each be given a deep dive feature of who they are and their backstory. Although the game has so much information to give the player, it does so slowly over the course of the game, which is beneficial, but an additional playthrough wouldn’t hurt to understand everything. The battle system in the game borrows very much of what was popular around the time the game released (World of Warcraft). The turn-based battle system fans have grown used to is gone and in its place is a real-time system that has players approach enemies on the map and choose an action. During the action choice, time is stopped for players to make a decision but choosing attack will consecutively charge for an attack action throughout the entire battle unless an item or skill is needed. Using this battle system also means that only one character can be controlled at a time. To make this work, the game introduces a system known as “Gambits”. Here, you can choose how you want your party member to approach combat. Assigning characters when to use items and which skills to use against which enemies are all things that are possible with Gambits. Over time, more Gambit slots will be unlocked and different targets will become available to make this a pretty good system overall that I really don’t have any complaints with. The main thing is that this is a crucial feature in Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age that needs to be understood completely if you wish to get far in this game. Other features include job classes for each character. This allows characters to learn additional skills and equip additional weapons and armor. Now, this means each player’s experience with the game can potentially be different depending on which job classes they choose for their characters. The system opens up the door for some interesting combinations of job classes, but it requires the player to battle a lot and earn job points to unlock skills and equipment licenses. Also, this version of the game lets players fast forward during gameplay, which was extremely helpful given the size of the game’s large world. Using the speed up feature doesn’t affect the events or CGI scenes, which I liked. This feature made monster hunts and other side quests less time consuming given that you could easily speed through them. Being that this is the HD version of the game, I think this game just proves how beautiful Final Fantasy XII was for its time. The game looks absolutely gorgeous in HD and I’d have to say that this has a lot to do with the art direction of the characters who take on a more graphic novel-like design. Furthermore, each city visited in the game feels so alive as you explore the many different areas. The dungeons in the game share this large theme by featuring additional routes and gimmicks that make them all unique. I’d also like to add that Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age’s soundtrack only features great music. Each song makes it feel like you are on an adventure. Similarly, the audio quality in the game is kept high, I didn’t even mind the time Vaan runs around the city yelling things at citizens to stir up the rumor mill, you know what I’m talking about. Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age is an amazing game that might be best approached by players who are well acquainted with the RPG genre. The game’s story involves some pretty adult themes overall, but it still knows how to have fun at the appropriate times. What Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age does best is how it gives the player the opportunity to go on a huge adventure that evolves over time because of the fate of the main characters. Each character in the game plays a necessary role in what makes this story so good, but the heavy nature of the story might be too much to keep the attention of casual players. I had a great time running through dungeons and learning more about these characters and the world while commuting in the real world. Playing this game as an adult meant that I have missed out on such a grand adventure as a kid but on the other hand, I don’t think I would have understood it as well. Playing Final Fantasy XII on Nintendo Switch just so happens to be the best way to experience the game if you’re looking for the most accessible version of this definitive release. This post may contain Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate Noisy Pixel earns from qualifying purchases. Is Final Fantasy Zodiac Age switch worth it?A perfect remaster for a perfect game! This game is already amazing and the gambit system is already one of the series best, but this somehow perfects it even more! <3. An excellent game. Characters are not all kids for once. Is Final Fantasy The Zodiac Age a good game?Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age took one of the best games ever created and made it even better. The addictive gameplay, sophisticated story, and enormous yet immersive world have never been more enjoyable. In the end, this is one must-have remake. Is Final Fantasy 12 Zodiac Age hard?The game is generally regarded to be fairly easy overall, it's just some spots that can occasionally give people trouble because they're not quite used to things. It'll get better with practice! one thing I am gratefully for, is that it auto saves in every area. If I had to go back to my previous save each time…. How many hours is Final Fantasy 12 Zodiac Age?Powered by IGN Wiki Guides. |
