I have a very sentimental relationship with Final Fantasy XII. Back in high school I did not see the enjoyment in JRPGs and specifically menu-based combat, however I had a friend that basically begged me to play Final Fantasy XII to the point where he lent me his copy back in the PS2 days. Within a day of playing the game I had fallen in love with the combat and would eventually return his copy just to buy my own. This would end up being the start of my favorite genre of games and my introduction to the Final Fantasy series.
With that being said I do remember not being able to follow the story at the age of 15 and even though I did put 70 hours into the game, I was never able to complete the game. Now fast forward to 2020 where not only was the game rereleased for modern day consoles, but Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age held the title for most hours spent on a single game with 180. With some big changes to the initial game Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age has taken the spot as my absolute favorite in the series.
Final Fantasy XII is set in the world of Ivalice following 6 main characters. The story is incredibly political and involves restoring justice back to Ivalice. As much as I love FFXII the story is one of the weaker aspects especially in comparison to the standard of excellence that Final Fantasy is used to exhibiting. As a teenager it was far too difficult to follow personally, however as an adult it was much easier. The politics in the story is so predominant that it can occasionally cause you to lose track of everything. I still really enjoyed the story it is interesting and talks about some important topics, I just think in comparison to the other Final Fantasy games I have played it is the weakest.
In addition, I think the protagonist of Final Fantasy XII is the weakest yet. He is clearly the protagonist because he is the one you end up using in the town areas, however he has so little impact on the story and feels more like a side character. In my opinion, the real main character is Ashe. Ashe is far and away the most integral character in the story and several of the main story points are revolved around her. As far as I am concerned, she should have been the protagonist of the title.
I had mentioned earlier that Final Fantasy XII was centered in the world of Ivalice and this world is beautiful. This was the first open world Final Fantasy game I had played and Ivalice is just stunning. Not only is this world absolutely massive, but literally any type of environment you can think of you can find. A dessert? Yup. A snow area? Yup. A swamp? Yup and there are so many more with even more different types of monsters. I made a point on finding every single pathway in Ivalice and completely explored all the maps. I really enjoyed exploring Final Fantasy XII and honestly is probably the best world for a JRPG.
Final Fantasy XII may not have the strongest story or characters, but where it really shines is the gameplay. My absolute favorite part of said gameplay is the License board. In most JRPG’s each character is stuck wielding the same type of weapon, however this is different for Final Fantasy XII. Essentially every character has the ability of wielding any weapon or skill. However, there is a catch. Not only do you obviously have to own the weapon in question, but the character you want to equip it to must have the license for that weapon unlocked. Licenses are acquired through a giant board by expending license points which are accumulated by defeating enemies. This was my favorite part and what made me defeat every enemy I came across.
Now the one drawback towards the license board was the size. As much as I loved the license board mechanic, the license board was far too small for my liking. I hadn’t even gotten halfway through the game before I had completed the license board for all of my characters. This was really a shame as it was my favorite part of the game and just wished it lasted all the way through.
The next thing I loved about Final Fantasy XII is exclusive to the Zodiac Age version of the game. In the original game, by the time you completed the license board for all the characters each character would have acquired every license for every skill and weapon in the game. The problem with this is that there was no individuality between the characters as each and every character had the same weapons and skills available. This problem has been alleviated in the Zodiac Age. In this version there are 12 jobs based on the Zodiac and each character would be allowed access to 2 of the jobs. Each of these jobs allow for certain weapons and skills. For example, the knight can use swords while the white mage specializes in healing magic. This made it so all 6 of my characters were vastly different. I love this addition because it gives each of my characters a role and they had their own identity and I would adjust my party depending on the situation that arose.
The thing about Final Fantasy XII that makes the combat so addicting is the gambit system. Gambits are essentially situational commands for your partner characters so that they can perform certain actions if the situation occurs without having to manually enter it every time. For example, you can set a gambit that if an ally is below 30% health than that character will cast cure magic on that character or you can set a gambit that a character will attack whoever the party leader is targeting. Each character has a selection of gambits stocks that they can fill and this allows you to ensure that your allies do actions that allow for the best chance of victory. I loved this because not only did it allow for ultimate customization, but it was more like a chess match and I could adjust the gambits for regular enemies and bosses and so much more.
The combat in Final Fantasy XII is pretty different in comparison to typical JRPGs. It is called Active Dimension Battle. This battle system has more in common with MMOs as it is free flowing and although it is menu based it isn’t turn based. I really enjoyed this combat, it was very different, but never slowed down the game and when encountering enemies, you wouldn’t need to go into a battle menu.
Just like with any action game the highlight comes with the bosses. This is especially highlighted with the Esper battles. Espers are essentially Gods in Final Fantasy XII that if defeated will allow access to use these Espers to summon in battle. Although a few of them are built in the story, the majority of these Espers are completely optional. However, this makes exploring the areas incredibly rewarding as finding Espers is not only an incredibly challenging fight, but also having these in your arsenal can really help you. The ultimate reason to find the Espers is the license board. Each class has certain licenses that at first glance seem unreachable, however once you gain an Esper that Espers license will appear on the board bridging the licenses to gain those that seemed unreachable. There is a caveat to this however, once one character grabs the license for the Esper no other character can gain that license. I loved this as I didn’t really think about which Esper I wanted a character to have, but more which licenses I wanted each character to have.
With all the praise I have for this game there is one thing that I absolutely hated and that is something known as Random Number Generator or RNG. So, in most JRPGs if you see a chest it will always hold the same item. This is not the case with FFXII. Although some chests always hold the same item, the majority of the chests have a chance for a great item and a chance for a generic item. This can be extremely frustrating when you are looking for certain items as the good weapons are usually a very low percentage chance. Not only this, but some of the chests only have a certain percentage chance of showing up. So not only do you have to get lucky enough for the chest to show up, but then you need to get even luckier to get the item you are looking for. If you play this game by traditional means it can be extremely frustrating trying to get the best possible items and armor.
PROS
- License Board
- Job System
- Gambit System
- Real time combat mixed with menu based
- Beautiful open world
- Huge weapon selection
- Esper battles
- Huge amount of content
CONS
- RNG
- Weakest protagonist in the franchise
- Story is not the best
- Story hard to follow
- License board is too small
CONSENSUS
Although the story and the protagonists are some of the weakest in the franchise and the RNG can be incredibly frustrating what carries Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age through new heights is the gameplay and it may be the best the series has ever seen.
RATING:
9/10: EXCELLENT
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