Unfortunately, these additions are always accompanied by losses, and Xbox Game Pass is losing some real heavy hitters this month. Several major games are leaving the service on February 15, including Control, Code Vein, The Medium, and Final Fantasy 12 The Zodiac Age. Game Pass subscribers definitely want to jump on all of these titles before they leave the service for good. JRPG fans will want to pick up Final Fantasy 12, especially if they haven’t tried it before — or if they have a save file going. Final Fantasy 12 is a massive game, so those who could potentially develop an interest in playing it will want to try it sooner rather than later.
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Final Fantasy 12 is Unique Among Mainline Final Fantasy’s
Upon starting Final Fantasy 12, players are taken to the fictional world of Ivalice, a fantasy setting popularized by Final Fantasy Tactics. As with its Ivalice peers, FF12 focuses on bands of mercenaries and criminals while wars and political machinations rage in the background. The story is regularly compared to Star Wars, and it’s often observed that protagonists Vaan and Penelo’s character arcs end too early, but the strength of the setting and the supporting cast still shines through. Players are able to explore Final Fantasy’s biggest and most interconnected world, with even the initial few areas presenting a scope greater than even the open-world Final Fantasy games.
Final Fantasy 12 keeps players busy during their travels, as there is no shortage of monsters to fight. Battles are fought with enemies wandering the overworld, and they use a modified form of the ATB system. Players only control one character directly, but they are encouraged to build up their gambits throughout the game as a form of rudimentary AI programming.
A well-constructed party can autopilot through a lot of fights without any worries. It will take a lot of time to acquire more diverse gambits and learn how to use them, but it’s a system worth experimenting with. Players had best be ready for fights, because Final Fantasy 12 offers an enormous number of side quests with many unique and powerful enemies. Progressing through these can be as satisfying as playing the game itself, and the experience is only improved by the Zodiac Age re-release.
Improvements Offered by The Zodiac Age
The version of Final Fantasy 12 available on modern systems is the updated International Zodiac Job System version exclusively released in Japan. The Zodiac Age adds a number of gameplay improvements on top of what’s in that release. One of the most notable ones from the remaster are the enhancements to battle speed. Because battles can potentially become automated, and there are a lot of encounters in Final Fantasy 12’s huge areas, players may want to use a speed-up function similar to what can be found in many emulators. The Zodiac Age allows players to crank the game up to 4x speed, which should be more than enough to keep the action engaging.
The main draws of the International Zodiac Job System were its playable summons and guest characters, updated magic and equipment, and the redone progression system. Playable summons are a nice feature to have after their prominence in Final Fantasy 10, but the new license boards and jobs change the entire game. Now, instead of every character progressing through one large license board, characters can be assigned classic Final Fantasy jobs, each with their own unique license board.
The Zodiac Age ups the number of jobs characters can take to two, allowing the six-man party to take all twelve jobs. This increases replay ability to staggering levels, and allows players to exercise full creativity and control over the gameplay. For Xbox Game Pass subscribers who are interested in RPGs allowing minute customization, Final Fantasy 12 The Zodiac Age may be exactly what they’re looking for.
Final Fantasy 12: The Zodiac Age was released in 2017 and is playable on the PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One.
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