Review - Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age

“Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age” is a JRPG released on the PS4 in 2017. As a remake of the twelfth entry in a series, “Zodiac Age” (as I’ll call it) has quite a few comparisons and a storied history of developments and release.

Story - 8/10

As is par for the course with Final Fantasy games, Zodiac Age is very political in nature. There are some inter-kingdom disputes that have resulted in a war, which has impacted people from all walks of life. The main party consists of several of these people, each of which has some particular relationship with this conflict between regions.

The entire cast has a complex background that affects their interactions in very reasonably human ways. They are relatable, they are understandable, and they often encounter conflicts that seem so lifelike. The characters show personal growth, they come together as an effective team, and work together to conquer evil. It’s fairly cliche as JRPGs come, but it isn’t hackneyed or boring. A familiar story done well is still a good story.

While there are an enormous amount of side quests and optional content (people joke that Zodiac Age is a single player MMORPG), even just the main quest is fairly lengthy. I played the game for something north of 140 hours, but even just the main story campaign is probably around 80 hours for most players. It’s a lot. I wouldn’t say that it should have ended sooner, but I also wasn’t mad that it was over. It’s like many books that I’ve read where it really did take quite a bit of time to fully unpack the story and wrap everything up, but there’s just so much content that it does feel long in the tooth at points.

Several people mention replaying Zodiac Age on New Game Minus mode, just for more of a challenge. By the time I finished, I was more than happy leaving the game in the past. It wasn’t particularly difficult, but it also wasn’t so easy that I needed a bigger challenge to hold my interest. One pass completely through was perfectly adequate for me.

General Gameplay - 8/10

Navigation in Zodiac Age is great. From the very beginning, you have the option to play the game at x2 or x4 speed, which drastically improves traversal time if you’re simply trying to get from one area to another. You’re hoofing it everywhere during the early part of the game, but you eventually unlock both an airship and special save crystals that can be teleported between at the cost of a consumable island. By the late game when you’re popping around to different areas and the consumable items are so easy to come by, getting around is just so much easier, and I really appreciate that I’m not forced to spend many minutes walking across such a huge map, just to pick up one task or item.

Inventory and ability management is great. Every single menu is sortable, usually by several different modes, and finding something in particular is simple. Furthermore, you can shift items around manually, if you want particular favorite items at the top. The best menuing design is the one that gets out of the players way and allows them to just experience the game. Zodiac Age achieves exactly that.

Optional content such as rare game monsters and marks really give Zodiac Age that option to be nearly as long or as short as you want. You can rush through the story without ever doing a single optional mark or esper, you can sprinkle them in as you encounter them, or you can save them all up for some late game cleanup. Having such a large body of optional content is great for squeezing extra life out of a game for those that really enjoyed it.

One important note, Zodiac Age is a remaster of a JP specific update to the original Final Fantasy XII. There are a few differences that make Zodiac Age special. In particular, the licensing system (the way your characters learn new abilities and increase their stats) is markedly different from the original. In vanilla Final Fantasy XII, every single character could get every single license, and thus could perform any action. You didn’t have to have a dedicated healer, mage, physical attacker, or any other role. They could all do everything. In contrast, Zodiac Age does force characters into roles of the player’s choosing. You don’t get access to any license board until you choose a role for the character. This limits you to some specific abilities, items, and stat improvements. This does limit what each character can do, but it’s pretty easy to build a functional party as long as you didn’t select something like Archer for everyone.

I wanted to give general gameplay a 9 or 10, but as I really thought about the full game, there were several segments that I just couldn’t let pass without docking some points. In particular, the Great Crystal area at the end is just terrible. There is no viewable map for the area, and the entire region is composed of probably 50 or so nearly identical looking platforms with paths between them that are invisible until you step on them. The only discernible differences are the occasional waystones and gates that are numbered with some cryptic roman numerals. Even with an online map, the region is nearly impossible to navigate and tremendously frustrating. I can’t see why anyone thought this was a good idea to include, even with the intention of conveying confusion and frustration. It just isn’t fun to play, and that segment really did no favors for the game.

Combat - 10/10

The combat of Zodiac Age is absolutely the most compelling facet of the game for me. I love some turn-based RPGs and those will never get old, but Zodiac Age and its gambit system are just so novel and interesting, I couldn’t help but get hooked.

In short, it’s basically programming. Every “gambit” consists of a target and an action. The targets generally consist of three categories: enemy, ally, and self. More specifically, there are target options for status effects, HP and MP levels, weaknesses, and more. Actions are basically anything that your character has access to perform in battle, namely attacks, techniks, magic, and items. Every character can unlock multiple gambit slots, and the gambits are ordered, such that the first applicable gambit in the list is what action the character automatically performs.

You can manually select actions in much the same way as a traditional RPG, but WHY WOULD YOU? The gambit system is so flexible, and it allows you to basically put the game on autopilot. Encounters are not random, you engage with enemies as you get within their aggression range as you walk around. If you have gambits configured to attack, your party will automatically engage with enemies without the press of a single button.

The real beauty of the system is the trial and error nature, and how you put your gambit setup through its paces by way of combat. You absolutely will mess up gambits on occasion. Your healer will obsessively heal when nobody actually needs it. You will have important buffs too far down the list and get destroyed when you no longer have the positive status effects. You’ll bombard enemies with attacks when they are immune to your particular weapons or abilities. As you encounter problems, you’ll adjust the gambits to accommodate that issue and see if your characters can get back on track. It’s just such a fun system, and I’ve never seen anything like it in any other game I’ve played. Gambits are absolutely the deciding factor of whether someone will enjoy Zodiac Age.

Difficulty - 4/10

The standard difficulty of Zodiac Age is the only option available at the beginning. Some complain that this is far too easy, and complain that the game isn’t challenging enough to be enjoyable. Admittedly, it is much easier than many other JRPGs and even specifically Final Fantasy games. However, I think this makes it much more forgiving when learning the gambit system. The combat is such a stark contrast from anything most players have experienced before, it only seems fair to make the game a little easier.

If you really want a challenge, the game does offer New Game Minus where your characters gain no experience. Unfortunately, this is gated behind the “trial mode,” which I found difficult even at maximum level with absurdly overpowered gear. I suppose if you’re the type of person that would be interested in New Game Minus, that isn’t such a huge requirement. For me, I’m perfectly fine with the difficulty as it is.

Graphics - 7/10

Zodiac Age, at least in comparison to its original precursor, does look really good. The different areas of the game all look drastically different, and I think they’re all very well designed. Coastal areas have plenty of bright sunshine and vibrant water. Dungeons are dark and oppressive. I wouldn’t say that the game is particularly beautiful, but the graphics are at least good enough that it doesn’t take away from the game at all.

One gripe is that several of the enemy monster models are reused. The bat enemy looks the same, no matter which version you’re fighting. Same with the snake, the giant frog, the skeleton, etc. I think there’s still enough variety that it isn’t a huge problem. There are still plenty of different flavors of enemy in each area, but by the end of the game, you’ve already seen most of the models a couple of times.

Music - 7/10

Similar to the graphics, the music of Zodiac Age is good if not particularly memorable or impressive. The opening theme is great, but it’s also the same theme as… basically every other Final Fantasy game. Audio is fitting for each area, but I’m not going out of my way to listen to the soundtrack again outside of playing the game. It is appropriate, but not much more.

My Take

The Good

The gambit system is just so interesting, and it really serves to highlight what a unique game Zodiac Age is. It isn’t my favorite JRPG, but it is very fun, the combat is just so novel and new. Where the RPG genre has a habit of becoming repetitive and boring, Zodiac Age was a much needed refresher.

The Bad

Because the gambit system is so integral to the combat, it’s really difficult to engage in combat like a traditional RPG. Sure, you can turn off gambits and select actions manually, but it’s just so clunky and time consuming to do that. Trying to play through the entire game like that is going to drastically slow the pace, and I don’t think the experience will be nearly as good.

The Ugly

Once again, the gambit system. Personally, I love it. I’ve talked with several people, however, that hated it. As a software engineer, it makes perfect sense that I would like a scripting-based combat that I can toy with the order and specific configuration. Some people would just rather spam a single button or do something more engaging like with an action RPG. If you don’t love the gambit system, you’re probably going to hate it, and thus probably not enjoy the rest of the game either.

Overall - 8/10

“Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age” is a very good game, and the gambit system gives a very unique approach to combat. Despite some segments that can be frustrating or confusing, the game as a whole is very well made. If you like JRPGs and you can grasp the gambit system well enough to at least be functional with it, Zodiac Age is definitely worth checking out.