Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age

 PC
User Score
8.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 311 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 253 out of 311
  2. Mixed: 26 out of 311
  3. Negative: 32 out of 311

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. philzlz
    Dec 31, 2018
    6
    Zodiac Age is a remaster of the 2006 released PlayStation 3 game Final Fantasy XII featuring a new job class system. The game takes place in the war torn land of Ivalice, where the kingdom of Dalmasca finds itself between the two fighting empires of Archadia and Rozarria. You control Vaahn and lead a resistance movement to stop the Archadian Empire.

    One of the weaker entries of the    Zodiac Age is a remaster of the 2006 released PlayStation 3 game Final Fantasy XII featuring a new job class system. The game takes place in the war torn land of Ivalice, where the kingdom of Dalmasca finds itself between the two fighting empires of Archadia and Rozarria. You control Vaahn and lead a resistance movement to stop the Archadian Empire.

    One of the weaker entries of the Final Fantasy saga due to its weak story. Combat mechanics don't hold up nowadays, but with the option to speed fighting up it becomes bearable. Towards the end, the game starts to drag and the weak cast of main characters disappoint.

    A good PC port of the game with 4k support and 60 fps.    … Expand
  2. kuehnau
    Feb 4, 2018
    5
    Final Fantasy XII is out for PC now, with improved visuals, new mechnics, and other options to try and justify charging $40.00 for a 12 year old game that you can get brand-new for $15.00 on Amazon for the PS2.

    I never played this when it first came out. To be honest, I was starting to move away from Square by the end of the PS1 era of their RPGs. And their new ones on the PS2 never    Final Fantasy XII is out for PC now, with improved visuals, new mechnics, and other options to try and justify charging $40.00 for a 12 year old game that you can get brand-new for $15.00 on Amazon for the PS2.

    I never played this when it first came out. To be honest, I was starting to move away from Square by the end of the PS1 era of their RPGs. And their new ones on the PS2 never really grabbed my attention. I grew up with and loved some of their classic games, like Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger, but as the years went on, Square seemed to move further and further away from the kind of game development that caused me to fall in love with them in the first place.

    After seeing some pretty good reviews for Final Fantasy XII online and the reviews on here, I decided to give it a chance and see how it held up. Visually it is a beautiful game and Sqaure did a good job remastering the graphics of the game. For all intents and purposes, their OST for the game is fine too. It's not going to blow anyone's mind, but the music is "good enough".

    That's about all the good stuff I have to say about this game, unfortunately.

    The writing feels half hearted, it's another basic story they have going on, that has been retold since they started doing RPGs in the late 80's and early 90's. Character behavior is weird, a lot of times someone will do something, without really ever being able to justify it.

    Vaan, one of the main characters is basically an orphan and lives off the streets, stealing from people and working odd jobs for friends. At some point he gets it into his head to break into the royal palace, bypass a ton of security and steal "something" from the palace. He doesn't even know what it is he's looking for, he's just looking for something, anything to steal. It makes no sense.

    Speaking of characters, none of them are likeable in any capacity. For me, they were all just kind of there. All of them have about as much character and depth as a puddle of rain water and show about as much. They are just talking heads, there to drive the narrative forward, unfortunately they fail to grab my attention in any sort of meaningful way.

    It's nice that Sqaure introduced a system to play the game, without having to worry much about the actual mechnics, they have a normal, easy and hardmode you can start off with. And easy mode, (new game plus) starts you off with characters all at level 90. This would actually be more impressive if Final Fantasy XII were a game you could enjoy just for the narrative, but it's not. Starting off in new game plus is just going to make the game that much more boring.

    XII has a basic concept of a leveling system in place, which has been a standard since Final Fantasy 1. The issue is they keep fouling it up by trying to get fancy or "unique" with how it's all handled. Their job system is like a poor mix of Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy X and it's completely garbage. What's the point of even having a job system if you are going to lock players into one or two roles?

    The combat is just a mess. It's like a mix of the classic Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy 10 and Final Fantasy Online. All the fights are bascially "live", but still has a weird turned base feeling to it. Other party members will run around and do whatever based on their "gambit" system. You can also command each party member, but to be completely honest, the whole thing is such a mess, it's so chaotic, it's just easier and less frustrating to let the computer do what it wants to do.

    I'm pushing to play the game right now, just so I can justify the money spent on this title, but there's no way I could recommend it to anyone, especially at the current asking price.    … Expand
  3. ultraviper
    Apr 2, 2022
    6
    Not a terrible game. It was fine. but I wouldn't recommend it to others. The gameplay is basically auto-battles where you have to program your own team's AI using rudimentary if-then statements which this game calls "gambits." Between the auto-attacking, the long walks through generic landscapes between plot points, and the sparse story, it sometimes feels more like a MMO than a singleNot a terrible game. It was fine. but I wouldn't recommend it to others. The gameplay is basically auto-battles where you have to program your own team's AI using rudimentary if-then statements which this game calls "gambits." Between the auto-attacking, the long walks through generic landscapes between plot points, and the sparse story, it sometimes feels more like a MMO than a single player Final Fantasy game. Most of the playable characters in your group might as well have been NPCs with as little backstory and character development they have. Sometimes NPCs do join your group temporarily, that have more backstory and development than the actual characters do. There are 6 main characters in total, and 4 of them could be removed without affecting the story a single bit.… Expand
  4. delaware80
    Feb 28, 2022
    6
    FF XII ZA is a nice FF game: great battle system, interesting characters and a good balance between gameplay and cut scenes. But FF 13-1 (more cinematic drama and better gameplay), FF 15 (more interesting side quests and better gameplay), FF VII Remake Intergrade have been more engaging.
  5. shw079
    Feb 15, 2022
    6
    Many people seem to like this game but for me I like X much more. The things I dislike the most are the obscure trading system and running back and forth on the map without instant transportation. The story feels weak and is not my liking either.
  6. Crimson9
    Dec 12, 2022
    6
    FFXII is a very strange game. I started playing the Final Fantasy's all recently, and FF 12 was the first that didnt really catch my attention and keep me interested the entire way through. The game design seems is very different, but some changes from FFX need to be appreciated. The world is far less linear, and the gambit system is truly exceptional. Moving away from a turn based combatFFXII is a very strange game. I started playing the Final Fantasy's all recently, and FF 12 was the first that didnt really catch my attention and keep me interested the entire way through. The game design seems is very different, but some changes from FFX need to be appreciated. The world is far less linear, and the gambit system is truly exceptional. Moving away from a turn based combat system was a brave decision, but with introductions like gambit systems, it almost seems worth it.

    Almost. The reality is that while designing your gambits is great, the actual combat becomes uninvolved. The entire game, from traversal to quests to combat, generally feels like an MMORPG that has no other players in it. Additionally, I personally feel like the level design, characters, and plot all declined here. Its the first game without director Sakaguchi, and you can feel his loss.    … Expand
  7. Spered
    Feb 28, 2023
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The last of the FF I played, after the XII I was unable to continue.
    FF12 is not one of the best FF but it's a good game, too bad that the series has changed completely.

    - Very anonymous characters, this is the biggest flaw of the game. Secondary characters that you will forget after a few weeks, especially the judges. The main ones are remembered, but not for their history or their character, simply because they are used for so many hours.

    - Protagonist who is not the protagonist. It is not an objective defect but a subjective one. It may be nice that the protagonist is a simple inhabitant (like us) and that he finds himself involved in certain events with "famous" characters. Obviously in this way the protagonist loses his place of protagonist and becomes a secondary one, while the main ones become the protagonists, especially true in the case of Balthier, the true protagonist of the story. It's just not something I appreciate, but it's not necessarily a bad thing.

    - The game world is amazing, especially Rabanastre, I still remember the first time I saw her on PS2, really amazing.
    Great disappointment instead for Arcadia, linear and not very explorable.

    - The combat system will seem awful at first, but after you get the hang of it and get used to it, I can assure you that it will become nice. Sure, I still prefer the good old turn-based system.

    - The story is very original, but it is also one of the most boring.

    - The best part of the game are the challenges, Battles with espers, wanted, bosses and the 100 floors. In addition to these challenges, there are various nice things, such as rare monsters (but some are badly thought out, not so much because they are strong, but because you necessarily need a guide to make them appear).    … Expand
  8. ReviewsAreBS
    Feb 15, 2023
    7
    The combat system is extremely innovative and encourages you to write your own combat ‘program’. With a clever choice of gambits, you can essentially make the game play itself (with the exception of harder bosses). This remaster adds a fast-forward ability, so you can skip all the tedious backtracking and grind that the original had.

    And fooling around with the job system probably    The combat system is extremely innovative and encourages you to write your own combat ‘program’. With a clever choice of gambits, you can essentially make the game play itself (with the exception of harder bosses). This remaster adds a fast-forward ability, so you can skip all the tedious backtracking and grind that the original had.

    And fooling around with the job system probably added about 10 hours to my playtime. It’s great fun to challenge yourself to use all 12 jobs.

    Main negatives are the plain level design and cliched plot. Without them, the game would’ve been 9/10.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

34
#34 Best PC Game of 2018
76
#76 Most Discussed PC Game of 2018
98
#98 Most Shared PC Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 13 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 13
  3. Negative: 0 out of 13
  1. Cubed3
    Sep 24, 2018
    60
    Final Fantasy XII is a good game that broke a lot of ground upon release, as an RPG, as a work of fantasy, and as a Final Fantasy entry. With that said, The Zodiac Age feels like a bare-minimum up-port, with little besides the textures being improved. Fans of the original adventure will probably love it, and fans of the series who never played it should give it a try, but on its own two legs in the present day, it doesn't offer much that other RPGs don't do while looking and feeling much better in today's technological landscape.
    Read full review
  2. Worth Playing
    May 29, 2018
    85
    Overall, The Zodiac Age is a game that genre fans will absolutely love.
    Read full review
  3. DarkStation
    Mar 21, 2018
    80
    The remaster might have some flaws that could have been prevented with just a little bit of effort. Despite that, Final Fantasy XII is still solid and just as fun as we remember it. Some aspects might be a bit too easy now, but perhaps the New Game Minus mode will encourage players to challenge themselves for a new kind of experience. All in all, I didn't regret playing the game again, but I also feel that there could have been a little bit more love put into it.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »