LogFAQs > #964074242

Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age (Switch)

Bought this a year or two ago I believe for the PS4 before selling it again, but a couple years later I rebought it recently on the Switch when it was on sale. I had already beaten Final Fantasy XII vanilla about 12/13 years ago when I borrowed a PS2 from somebody, but for some reason I've been wanting to replay this. This time I got really into it again and especially found it just relaxing to play. Setting up good gambits and letting it play out, explore the large environments and generally the game just being fairly easy was quite chill. The speed up function of the Zodiac Age makes a ridiculous amount of difference, it's so much less tedious to play and this game with the gambit system is perfect for it as well. Because of that, I did more in this version than in the vanilla version actually, getting far more Espers this time around, doing a lot of hunts and sidequests or exploring late game sections of certain areas to obtain equipments and magicks/skills.

The job system generally seems to impress people, but I don't find it too exciting in this one. It's just a nice idea to have the feeling of variety and choice, but most of the differences aside from physical vs. magic are only noticeable late game, and even then it's all about which equipment, magicks and skills you actually find, a lot of which is just based on luck or guide knowledge anyway. It certainly doesn't hurt to have it over the original license boards, but it's not a huge gamechanger. I'm sure there's more depth you could get out of the job system and some of the combinations, but you'd have to dig deep and the game except for maybe two to three bosses (not counting Trial Mode) doesn't require that much effort in optimalization anyway. Magic is definitely better in this version though, I remember I basically avoided Black Magic in the original version, but I've just been Scathing my way through late game this time around.

Overall, the game has a lot of imperfections, but they are somewhat easily forgiven compared to later titles like FFXIII and FFXV. It tried something different, it worked in some ways and didn't in other ways, but it was relaxing, there's tons of exploring and side content even if you have to search very thoroughly for some of it, attempts at differentiating the dungeons with some gimmicks at least and a nice, upbeat vibe even in the heavier moments. The story is fine for what it is, my opinion basically hasn't changed on that. Characters and dialogue are a mixed bag, just like it was before for me. Some games get better with age, some games get worse with age, this one stayed right where it was for me initially but in a more playable and less tedious package with the Zodiac Age.