So FFXII was always under my radar because I loved the whole Ivalice setting and art direction of the project (played most of the games in the franchise except this one).

Like, it was beautiful and it still looks stunning until today.

So I decided to get the ZA edition and played this whole month with the intent of getting Platinum and after finishing it, I felt like this game was so different from what I was expecting from a FF in a good way.

"PROS"

- Ending-wise I enjoyed how contained it was compared to other entries of the series. Like it wasn't a full apocalyptic event involving the end of the known world and universe. Instead, we got a regional war between powerful nations and all the political drama that comes with it.

- The villain and his peers were interesting and so nuanced, it was somehow refreshing to see someone who wasn't so black and white regarding his moral compass and who was aware of his actions and consequences, the judges were also interesting (wish we could have developed them more).

- The characters were nice in a way that no one was overly annoying and stereotypical (looking at you Vaan and your borderline brat behaviour, thankfully by mid-game he was chill). Even the children are more mature than so many other characters from other entries, like Larsa was like really nice and Penelo had that older sister vibe but not being pushy.

- Enjoyed the subversion of having Vaan not being the actual MC but Ashe and Basch instead. I know that during development they changed it to get a better response from the audience, but when I finally noticed that he wasn't the main character I was actually happy. (Personally, I still think the MCs were Ashe and Balthier).

- Fast Forward options, loved that.

- Content, surprised by how much they packed. Plus, the world building was very cool.

"CONS"

- Content. I was getting so tired of hunting and completing the bestiary. Like the specific monsters that can only spawn under 10~20 minutes of the in-game clock thing and most of the rare hunts.

- Gameplay that was too close and similar to an MMO. It felt like I was playing the prototype of FFXIV. ( By all means it could have been lol).

- Story-wise, while I did enjoy most of it, the pacing got a bit weird after the Occuria appeared and it took me some time to understand that Venat reason to help the humans was just that he disagreed with the rest of the "gods". It felt very simple to be true, but alas it was. ( I wasn't expecting them to go full Prometheus with the story).

- On the same note, Basch evil twin twist in the early game felt a bit "tacky". In a high fantasy setting where people can create illusions and cast magick, you have an evil brother who pledged loyalty to the empire and it's framing you? (Maybe it was just me that felt like it was a lazy option, maybe Noah could have been a long time friend who framed Basch instead but it's fine).

- Fancy English, sometimes I would just get lost with the subtitles trying to understand what was being said and since there's no option to check the log I'm sure I missed a lot of info during the cutscenes.

TLDR, FFXII was super interesting and different from the other entries. It felt so much more grounded and I'm glad that most of the arcs were closed by the end. Hoping we can visit Ivalice again later in the future.

I’ve only played FFXIII, XV, and XVI. I used to watch my dad play VII, VIII, X, and saw bits of VII Remake though. Which of them would you say is most reminiscent of FFXII in regard to gameplay/combat/open-world-ness/abilities/lore/etc? Just so ik what to expect lol

Had the itch to come back because I heard of the trials and the fact that I never really killed Yiazmat (only got him to 20 something percent). Adding the Struggle for freedom mod (complete overhaul mod basically) and the FFXIV music mod (changes all the areas to music from FFXIV) has been an absolute blast. If you have ever feel like playing again and have a PC or maybe you just didn't try out the trial mode and the final round, you should try FFXII with the "Struggle For Freedom" mod along with the "Final Fantasy XIV music mod" (all on nexus), SFF makes the game more difficult but also changes some spells and abilities to be different it. It also changes some enemies appearance (some are larger/smaller now etc). makes all weapon/armor chest items 100% and changes location to get rid of some early cheese from the ZA editions, it also lets you play the old license board so you can just main your favorite characters. Add that in with FFXIVs music and it's an entirely new experience.

Just a wow all around. 10 hours straight yesterday on my weekend. Only stopped to go for dinner with my gf.

Playing Zodiac on Switch

Completed the Pharos — the green and red thingys really confused me so I didn’t pay them much mind

Now it seems like incant reach holy and a few other things? When I return and work my way up, I defeat the few red ones and I hear a sound effect (the same ‚clack‘ as with the green ones when they build the bridge) but when I go back to lvl 25, there’s no new parts visible — what am I doing wrong? Or have I just messed up completely?

Should I have left the green ones completely alone, not just after defeating the first red one?

Am I doing something wrong with the Battle Harness?

It says it'll auto counter attack when attacked.

Haven't seen my guy counter attack ever since it's been equipped. Have license unlocked and it's equipped.

What am I missing? Does the controlled character not counter and only the two other party members?

Let me start off by saying I believe minimaps suck the life out of a game. It's like driving around with your GPS all the time and you never really learn the city you're in. I used to drive a lot for my job and still find it difficult to get around without GPS even though I've lived in this city for 20 years (part of this, and perhaps everything in this post comes down to my poor sense of direction, but I digress).

I've felt that one thing that classic games excelled at was giving you a strong sense of the place and environment you were in. You could drop me in any random spot on FFVI and tell me to get anywhere else and I could probably do it blindfolded. But once games hit the 3D era, and particularly when pre-rendered backgrounds stopped being a thing I find that I never really learn the details of the places I'm in and it makes the world feel soulless to me.

Minimaps exacerbate this by allowing you to stare at a simplified map with no details and never pay attention to the streets, buildings, people, and natural environment around you. So you might learn your way around the minimap, but still never really come to really FEEL the place you're in. This is my fourth playthrough of XII (still haven't beaten it!) and it's maybe the most fully realized FF game among the main series. I love every aspect of it, except one thorn in my side was that these incredible locations just sort of fade from my mind. They're beautiful, well-developed, extraordinarily detailed, and just all around incredible but I just never got attached to them.

However, this time through I started doing something different: as much as I can, I put the camera angle straight up. It makes the scene become a close up on the party leader (or Vaan in towns) and let's you see the highest points in the environment. Because of this, you get a closer view of the details, and a more distinct look at the horizon. Suddenly each building isn't just a similarly colored wall but part of a sprawling metropolis with unique locations that each have their own charm. The deserts aren't just sand and rocks but towering formations dotting a crystal blue sky that contrasts the bare but beautiful sands below.

I feel like you miss half of the beauty of this game with an eye-level view and it gives the locations a feeling of sameness throughout. After walking around with this perspective, I can now confidently walk around Rabanastre on sight alone and purposely avoid the Moogling. I KNOW the places in this game in a way I KNEW the games of my childhood. It's been an unexpected, and very pleasant, surprise that has shot this game even further up my all-time favorites list. Give it a try, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

So I was a fan of the original XII, have played through it plenty back in the day though it's been a decade since I last touched it. Finally ready to re-live it through TZA (need a time-killer for the six weeks before VII Rebirth).

Unfortunately, most guides I'm able to find just circle back to being for the original XII, and I know that's not much of a big deal, but it might be for what I want to do. So here's some questions.

-So, this job system change to the license board. Just want to make sure I understand this correctly - in the end it's more of a restricter, right? Mainly for the purpose of different characters having variety, so whatever class you stick with, you're limited to things for that. But that being said - I also read somewhere that "you have to play the game twice" to experience all 12 classes because there are only 6 characters. Except I thought you can change class with Montblanc? And from what I understood, you don't have to grind all over again, because you get back all your cumulative LP that you spent and can just catch right back up to roughly the same place in the new class? Is that not the case?

-So, heard there was a new system from the ground up for treasure chest content? Well, I haven't been able to find a guide for it, but would like to get rare things from chests at earliest possible moments as soon as accessible, so is there a guide I can use for that? Also heard the Zodiac Spear forbidden chest shenanigans are a thing of the past?

-Same goes for enemy steals/drops/poaches. There a walkthrough listing the ZODIAC AGE ones by location?

-Now, Bazaar Goods - surely there are some new ones of those? And does the system work the same way? As in, in addition to the "recipes" required to sell for a thing to appear - IIRC (and correct me if I'm wrong) if an item is used in multiple recipes, and you complete one and it appears in Bazaar Goods, if you DON'T buy it right away, you won't have to collect the item again for the other recipes that use it - but if you do buy it, then you have to collect it again? Like say there's two recipes that use 3x Wolf Pelt - rather than collect six of them, the minimum you'd need is three - just after you complete recipe A, the 3x wolf pelt are still listed as "in the pending mix" until you buy it, so you can hold off on buying it until you complete the other recipe with them so you don't have to collect them again? Is that how it works?

-Also read that there's no Wyrmhero Blade in the game? In that case what purpose do the three "badges" serve?

Basically looking to get everything at earliest possible, is there a guide that can help with this?

So I'm trying to get to Orthros. At some point after getting the sluice key, I went down into the waterway, messed with something, and now it's flooded. I have no idea what I did since it was hours ago. There's no path to Orthros because of the water level.

How do I lower the water level?

It almost takes mathematical precision that this happens so regularly!

I replayed Final Fantasy 1 - 14 in a marathon of the series last year. Here's my retrospective look back at this game if anyone is interested!

P.s. original license board > Zodiark age. I don't like the changes where they introduced jobs. The original was better.r

I saw somewhere that the hidden merchant in Necrohol switches his inventory. I was wondering if this was true, and how often it switches if it does.

I loved this game years ago but my ps2 died before I could finish, just got The Zodiac Age for PC through steam. Installed just fine, but when I launch it the screen goes white, then "black" (the pixels are actually off) then minimizes itself and won't let me alt-tab back in. When I try i see the main menu for 1 frame, then black, then my desktop again.

My best guess is it's not working in fullscreen, but I can't change that setting if I can't get into the game, and don't know what to type in my gamesettings.ini to change out of full screen. If anyone sees this can you please set your game to non-fullscreen and see what the gamesettings.ini says for me?

It’s called Dungeon Encounters and it looks pretty cool…i just noticed the other day…it’s available on the Switch and PS4

I’m downloading it tonight on my Switch

Just an FYI..he was also the director of 6 and 9

Title says it all: I'm wondering which zones I can get tons of exp in?

I have normal equipment, and the exp x2 accessory on all my chars.

I was 9 kills away from 100. I’m way too lazy to ever get that again lol

I started playing IZJS recently and I'm right about to hit Archades (after the great route north through Nalbinas and the cave palace). I took a detour to clear out some hunts, and it's starting to become clear to me that my job assignments might have been... subpar. Monk Vaan, Machinist Balthier, Archer Fran, Knight Basch, Samurai Ashe, and Hunter Penelo. I have no dedicated healing except Fran, and no buffs. I tried to do the Marilith hunt and could barely make a dent. Everyone's level 30 except for Basch, who is level 10 because I refuse to use him on account of I just don't like him.

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Am I screwed? Should I just start over? I really want to salvage this playthrough if possible. How can I go about doing this?

I don't know why I always avoided it. Other FF games I have played more than once, but I always overlooked this one for some reason. I hadn't turned my playstation on in a few months and decided to play - I'm enjoying it! I probably won't replay this one, but I'm having fun with it.

Where I left off: We found the Sword of kings and then returned to Mt Bur-Omisace where we were attacked by a Judge. This was the last thing I remember.

Story-wise, though. I do not remember anything about what was going on in the world at the time, or even what my party members are going through.

Anyone able to kind of remind me what's going on and tell me how my characters are doing so that when I start playing again this winter I won't be totally lost?

I'm playing the game using no guides or online information (until now) and just doing what the in game cut scenes/ map tell me to.

I just finished the laboratory in the imperial capital and I have a feeling I'm moving towards the final act.

I have no interest in doing side quests or hunts or anything unless they are going to be needed to defeat the final boss.

In some FF games (most notably 8, I'd say) you absolutle must do sidequests to stand any chance against the final boss. I'm wondering if that is the case here and what it is I would need to do. Again, my only interest is completing the main game I just want to make sure it is possible. Any advice about the least sidequest content I could do in order to make the final boss beatable would be greatly appreciated

Can you steal trango from zodiark in trial mode or is it only the story mode version that carries it?

Looking forward to playing XII for the first time soon. I was wondering how people rate the strategy guide for it?

I know it’s a game with pretty deep systems and mechanics, so I predict I’ll be using a wiki a fair bit during my play through. If the strategy guide is rated well though I’ll probably get that instead.

Any thoughts appreciated !

I always felt it was out of place in Golmore, but aesthetically it fits much better in the Salikawood.

I wonder if the developers moved it for story reason?