Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age

my favorite star wars game
Great game. Bought it release day for the PS2 and spent many hours ignoring my fiance. Bought it for the Switch when it was released and spent many more hours ignoring my wife. Now that I'm divorced I'll be spending my time enjoying the upgraded graphics on the PC version.

When Final Fantasy XII originally launched in 2006, it was a significant departure from the series’ traditional formula, blending real-time combat with political storytelling and MMO-inspired design. Over a decade later, The Zodiac Age remaster not only updates the visuals for modern platforms but also introduces crucial gameplay refinements—most notably, the Zodiac Job System previously exclusive to Japan.
The result? A reintroduction that finally lets this once-divisive entry shine for what it is: a bold, ambitious RPG that was well ahead of its time.
Set in the richly imagined world of Ivalice, Final Fantasy XII tells a story of war, empire, and rebellion through the eyes of a diverse ensemble cast. While the central protagonist is Vaan, a sky-pirate-wannabe with minimal narrative weight, the real narrative heft comes from characters like Princess Ashe, the grieving leader of a fallen kingdom, and Balthier, a suave sky pirate who steals every scene he's in.
Unlike the more character-driven melodramas of previous FF entries, FFXII's plot leans into political intrigue and mature themes, echoing inspirations like Star Wars and Final Fantasy Tactics. Some may find the story more distant or impersonal compared to entries like FFVII or FFX, but it trades emotion for complexity—and mostly succeeds.
The Gambit system is the beating heart of The Zodiac Age’s gameplay. It allows players to customize their party’s AI behavior down to a granular level, creating a semi-automated, strategic flow that feels more like programming than micromanaging. Combined with the real-time-with-pause combat system, battles become puzzles of efficiency and preparation, especially in tougher late-game hunts and optional bosses.
The Zodiac Job System is a major improvement over the original license board, giving each character distinct roles like White Mage, Knight, or Time Battlemage. This encourages party diversity and specialization, making planning and synergy feel more rewarding than ever before.
The addition of a 2x and 4x speed mode in The Zodiac Age is a game-changer—traversing the vast environments of Ivalice becomes smooth and painless, particularly during grinding sessions.
Graphically, The Zodiac Age is a crisp, respectful upgrade of the PS2 classic. Character models are cleaner, textures are sharper, and lighting has been improved without overhauling the original aesthetic. The art direction still stands tall, particularly in massive cities like Rabanastre and Archades, which feel alive with architecture and ambient world-building.
The soundtrack has been re-recorded with a full orchestra, and players can toggle between the original, reorchestrated, and classic PS2 versions—a small but thoughtful inclusion. Hitoshi Sakimoto’s sweeping score matches the grand, militaristic tone of the narrative perfectly.
The Zodiac Age introduces a Trial Mode, allowing players to tackle 100 escalating battle challenges with their main game party. It’s a fun, tactical diversion that tests both your party builds and your mastery of the Gambit system.
Auto-saving, improved menus, and faster load times help modernize the experience without compromising its core identity.
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age is more than just a polished remaster—it’s a redemption arc. What was once a controversial Final Fantasy has aged gracefully into one of the most mechanically rich and strategically rewarding entries in the franchise. Its story may not appeal to everyone, and Vaan is still a bit of a narrative afterthought, but the mature tone, expansive world, and innovative gameplay make this a must-play for both returning fans and new players curious about the road less traveled in JRPG history.
A tactical masterpiece wrapped in political drama and wrapped in an unforgettable world. The Zodiac Age proves that Final Fantasy XII was never broken—just ahead of its time.
Rating: 9/10

I recently decided that, since I constantly want to replay each individual Final Fantasy game but never seem to think I have time, I’m going to dedicate 2025 to replaying all of the Final Fantasy games in one go. So, this is the first installment of my Final Fantasy retrospective.
I kicked this project off with the most logical game in the series to start with: Final Fantasy XII.
The first (and only) time I’ve played this one was fifteen-ish years ago on the original PS2 hardware. You might think that would make me a prime candidate to compare the Steam/Zodiac Age version with the OG release… but years of obliterating my braincells with mind-altering substances has left me with very few memories of my first playthrough. Seriously, I didn’t remember the second half of the game at all. Basically, this was like playing a brand-new game.
What I do remember from my time with it before was that I liked it. That still holds true after this playthrough. Sure, the story veers into ridiculousness by the end of the game and few of the characters hold a special place in my heart… Nothing has changed about that. But the world of Ivalice is fucking awesome, as always. And the Star-Wars-y tone of the story works better than one might expect. Most importantly, however, this game succeeds in what is arguably the most important aspect that any game can hope to succeed in: it’s a lot of fun to play.
Unlike the offline games that bookend this one (X and XIII), exploration is not only possible but encouraged. Instead of being linear like those others, this is as open-world as one could reasonably expect a Final Fantasy game from this generation to be. The maps are huge and they’re full of hidden areas, secret treasures, and elite monsters.
Thankfully, I still loved the battle system in this one. It’s much different than any other Final Fantasy. And even though this one could most easily be compared to the online games in the series, it’s not really like those, either. Autobattle is the focus of this one so, by the time the player opens up all of the options available to them, it’s more akin to an idle or automation game. The player sets the possible actions of the characters with things called “gambits” (essentially, “if-then” statements) and, if the player did it right, the party gets to work whooping everything’s ass without direct input from the player. Of course, if your gambits are poorly planned, the player gets to sit back and watch their party get their shit pushed in. This might not sound like a lot of fun when I explain it like that but I super-promise that it is.
The fact that it’s still fun is partly due to the quality-of-life improvements that have been made since the original release. (I guess I do remember some stuff about my first playthrough, after all...) The game now autosaves every time the player crosses over a threshold into a new zone. Plus, thanks to a fast-forward feature, the game now runs in double time, so backtracking isn’t as painful as it once was. (And there is an option in the settings to double that speed so that the game runs at quadruple time. I didn’t play like that because of my slow reaction time but the option is available for more sober players.)
Honestly, it was really cool to look back at this one because, while there have been some improvements made to bring it up to speed with modern games, a lot of the features in the game were there in the original version. The fast travel, map system, and hunts all feel right at home with the modern crop of RPGs. There are some features missing (like accessing the fast travel menu from anywhere or pinning the details of a hunt to the HUD) but it was a little unbelievable to see how close Square Enix was to making a game that was up to today’s standards in 2006. What I’m trying to say is that, in terms of gameplay, this game might hold up the best out of all the classic Final Fantasy games.
If you don’t mind that this is one of the weaker games in terms of story, then it is absolutely worth a playthrough. After playing it again, I’m still comfortable with this one falling into my top five favorite Final Fantasy games. Just know that what you’re getting with this one is totally unlike what you’ll get with other early games in the series. But, if you’re looking for another JRPG with modern sensibilities to play but haven’t played this one, give it a shot. You might be pleasantly surprised like I was.

One of the best Final Fantasies in the series. To me the only one that's better is IX.

Had 100+ hours on my old PS2 in 2009/2010. Then it broke and started playing again on PCSX2 in 2011, and my father started playing too on his save file. The game is so good it helped my father stop smoking for 3 months after smoking 20 years 2 packs a day. It is the last game my father finished from start. Had to play it again. Might be my favorite PS2 game. And dont believe Ondore lies!

As you can probably tell by my Playtime, i really really like this game. The original PS2 release allready was my Favorite game, The Zodiarc Age only increased my love for it with some great Quality of Life and fun extra Mechanics.
Storywise id give the game a 7/10, it is VERY Political so its easy to get confused, miss things or simply dont understand things till your 2nd or 3rd time arround, were sadly missing Iconic Villains in this game as Memorable as Seymore from FF10 or Kefka from FF6, tho we still have some very interesting Antagonists that are really well written and fun to meet
Gameplay is a huge hit or miss, for me its a 9/10, 2nd best battle system in the Franchise (right behind FF10-2) but ive also heared a lot of people complain about it beeing "Boring", since you have the choice to setup your team to play the whole game for you without you having to do any battle inputs all game long. While that Statement is true, it takes a lot of practice and Game knowledge to set the Gambits up in a way to achieve that and is a entirely Optional system one can choose to ignore completely and just control your party manually at all times
The World Building is Beautifull, from lively Deserts over mysterious Forrests up to Snow Covered Mountains, the world has a big Variety of scenery and colors, Ivalice in all its glory.
The Game has a lot of interesting Sidequests and Minigames to explore and discover
All in all id Recommend anyone unsure if they want to play this to watch a Video of the Prolog as well as perhaps a Video on the Boss Firemane (roughly 2h into the game, would spoil you some characters but give you a better representation of the fully unlocked battle system)

Cookie Clicker: Final Fantasy Edition

Has the aesthetic of Star Wars and a combat system that plays itself. Most of the characters in the game are bland and uninteresting, with Balthier, Fran, Larsa and Cid being pretty much the only exceptions. The plot feels more like you are witnessing events than partaking in them and it's honestly more about a setting than about the plot itself.

Despite all these issues, I found myself enjoying the game more than I had expected, especially considering how I had given up on Final Fantasy XII when I played the PS2 version a couple of years back. The ability to speed up the game to 4x speed helped, though it does impact the immersion in the world quite a bit.

Playing the game feels more about figuring out the best way to program your party members than it does actually making decisions in combat. That isn't necessarily a bad thing per say, and a comparison can be made to football games vs football management games. Perhaps I enjoyed the Zodiac Age more than I had the original partially due to knowing what I was getting into this time around and not expecting the combat system to be more in line with the earlier titles.

So yeah, despite not really having many concrete positive things to say about the game, I really did have a good time playing it. Not quite sure why.