‘Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age’ Square-Enix’s Second Attempt to Fix a Troubled Game – Fandom (blog)

While 2006s Final Fantasy XII sold incredibly well, this PlayStation 2 game didnt enter the world under the most fortunate of circumstances. For one, it released smack-dab between the respective launches of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, giving it no choice but to immediately feel dated. Andperhaps more importantlyFinal Fantasy XII faced some serious production problems: citing health issues, its original director departed, leaving another creative talent to deliver what could only be a compromised vision.

Thankfully, the story of Final Fantasy XII doesnt end there. On July 11, Square-Enix will releaseFinal Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, which seeks to address the problems of the original gameall while bringing its production values up to the HD standard that became the norm 10 years ago. And while the games vision has no choice but to be compromised, this new version could stand as the best compromise FFXII has ever seen.

In traditional Japanese RPG fashion, Final Fantasy XII received a refurbishment of sorts in 2007 with the International Zodiac Job System edition. Most "international" editions typically graft on additional bosses and other small doses of content, but this improvedversion amounts to a significantreworking of the game's guts. Through the "license board" system, the original game allows every party member to master each available skillif you have enough license points, that ismeaning each character can end up feeling exactly the same by the end. After all, why bother specializing in any particular set of skills when you're empowered to go beyond specific roles?

To make party members feel more unique, International Zodiac Job System asks players to choose a specific jobout of some very familiar Final Fantasy classesfor each of them at the outset. This reworking does a great job of making the characters feel more unique, as each job features its own license board with a specific arrangement of abilities tailored to that particular role. The major downside, though, comes in how you're permanently locked into a job once you've made your decisionmeaning you could be stuck with a less-than-ideal party if you don'tdo a ton of research ahead of time. 10 years ago, Square-Enix tried their best, but they simply traded one problem for another.

The Zodiac Age approaches Final Fantasy XII's central issue in a slightly more thoughtful way than the International Zodiac Job System edition. Yes, you still choose one job per character, but, early on in the game, you'll also gain access to the "license board plus," which allows each party member to take on an additional job simultaneously. This means you'll still have the chance to make each character fill a unique role, but you won't be completely hamstrung if said role doesn't live up to your expectations. We don't yet know how this new take on the job system will play out over the course of FFXII's incredibly long journey, but right nowthis change seems like it could be for the better.

The job system doesn't stand as the only thing being changed in The Zodiac Age, as Square-Enix will be including some other minor additions to make this version feel definitive. The Zodiac Age now features an optional transparent overlay map that sits right on top of the actionmeaning you won't have to keep expanding your traditional mini-map to get your bearings. And, along with including a fully remastered soundtrack, The Zodiac Age will also feature eight new songs by the original game's team of composers. If you enjoyed Final Fantasy XII's stellar soundtrack, this should come as extremely good news.

If anything, it's nice to see Square-Enix isn't content to simply "HD-ify" one of the two previously-existing editions of Final Fantasy XII. On the surface, The Zodiac Age's addition of a second job per character may seem minor, but it amounts to an incredible amount of work on Square-Enix's partwork they didn't necessarily have to do. And with any luck, their efforts could end up making The Zodiac Age Final Fantasy XII's definitive edition when it launches for the PlayStation 4 this July 11.

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'Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age' Square-Enix's Second Attempt to Fix a Troubled Game - Fandom (blog)