Skip to content
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age proves that once again, I find myself reviewing a remaster, and once again I find it being a game I had never played.
Interestingly, I was 90% sure this was an online game and that was the reason why… I even switched it on, expecting it to be. Turns out I was wrong. Also, it turns out that my original trepidation about playing another remaster was incredibly wrong because I am going to spend the next few hundred words telling you why you need to own this game.
Final Fantasy is one of the biggest gaming franchises about and has released so many games that you could never get round to completing them all – mainly because each one takes a good 40 hours to finish. However, some of them just need to be played: Final Fantasy 2, 5, 7, 9… and now 12 has just been added to that list.
I was pleasantly surprised that FF12 is not only not online, but also has an absolutely compelling story, and one which I will not ruin for you, but will leave you constantly wanting to find out more. It’s a story which is more real-life than any other Final Fantasy I had played. It focuses on betrayal, misuse of power and love. This is something we can actually get enthused by and I found myself falling in love with the story. It just feels that a lot of modern games try and come up with rubbish for a confusing storyline which doesn’t make sense at all. What Final Fantasy XII delivers is one you can believe and I wish I’d played this when I was younger. Saying that, I talked to a few mates and barely any of them had played it either. This could be because it came only a few months before the PS3 was released, which diverted everyone’s attention.
Off I went into my adventure – into the land of deceit, lies and betrayal. There is a king who is killed, someone is called a traitor and the world goes in to turmoil. Add in a little boy who seems often to find trouble, and whose brother was killed during the slaughter of the previous king, and not all is what it seems. The boy gets caught up and becomes the centre stage for what is yet to unfold. Fittingly, the story reminded me of Game of Thrones, which was perfect as I started playing this just when the first episode of the new season was out.
Gone are the days where you can pick up an RPG and understand the gameplay straight away. Most important is the fighting mechanics – this is an area which has turned me off so many games. I am constantly hunting for another game which offers me the gameplay of Final Fantasy VII or even Golden Sun, but I haven’t come across this in my experience of all the games I’ve played, and that’s a lot. FF12 doesn’t disappoint in this avenue. It took a few hours to realise the fighting mechanics were quite clever. The tutorial does an adequate job in explaining them, if you don’t get the jist from me. Like with the hundreds of hours spent on FF7, during most fights I would just attack with my weapon and heal when needed. This is what I do also in FF12 and I have no shame – slaying foes, saving MP, high in HP, killing plenty – that’s my motto!
There are two ways of fighting: gambits on or gambits off. You’ll normally fight with three characters in your party, but if you have a guest member (special guest performance), you’ll have four. Most of the time, you don’t have control of the latter, either – much like it would be in show business. Pick which type of fighter your character will be (right at the start) and these range from white mages to Bushi and even machinists. Each class has different abilities in which they specialise, and you need to think carefully before you choose.
Gambits are a set of commands which determine and organise before your fight which your allies will follow whilst in battle. Not only can you set the command, but you also set who they are aiming at and the order. I have my white mage’s first priority as cure – any ally – once health is lower than 40 percent. Then her second option is set to apply slow to the group leader. For one of my attacking outlets, I may get them to attack group leader and perform a technique if needed. This all sounds confusing, but after I got my head round it, I found this being one of the few battle systems that I enjoy. Saying that, if you want complete control, you can do this by turning gambits off.
Go to page 2 for more thoughts on the game.
I have been a video game player since 1993 and a music fan since I can remember. I studied Film and Journalism at university and ended up becoming a Primary School teacher. Video games changed my life and sent me on the right track and have stayed with me ever since.