Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age (2017, Playstation 4) Review

THE EPIC THAT OPENED UP A FRANCHISE

Also for: Nintendo Switch, Windows, Windows Apps, Xbox One

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Although a long time has passed, I remember the Final Fantasy XII-hype back in 2006 quite well. After the irritating decision to turn Final Fantasy XI into an online multiplayer RPG, the FFXII release was expected to become a sort of return to form for Square Enix. It was the first single-player entry released since I discovered the series myself, after playing Final Fantasy X and realizing it had unexpectedly become one of my favorite games of the PS2-era.

In other words, Final Fantasy XII was burdened by a lot of expectations, both from myself and the community. Did it deliver and does it hold up? Well, for as long as the game focuses on the surprisingly mature political intrigue and character development, it did and it still does. It is an excellent adventurous RPG for quite some time, with some remarkable world-building and open areas to explore.

But the problems still remain, although some have been rectified through this remaster, titled Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age. The main flaw is that the long-running story's second half relies upon a formulaic MacGuffin hunt that is very disappointing and, quite frankly, boring, especially as it comes at the cost of everything that made it so good up till then. The game still has a solid core of exploration and enough smooth combat mechanics to make it a fine JRPG, but the opening half promised so much more.

The game starts with a cinematic and brief tutorial that blew me away upon release, due to its technical achievements as well as the sophisticated narrative. Taking place in the world of Ivalice, the opening of the story details the fall of Dalmasca, a small country situated right between two great empires; Archadia in the east, and Rozarria in the west.

The Dalmascan capital, Rabanastre, celebrates a royal wedding between the lady Ashe and her betrothed lord Rasler, just as a small, neighboring country falls to the might of an Archadian invasion. It's only a matter of time before the eastern empire will devour Dalmasca as well. The kingdom prepares for an imminent war.

That is exactly what happens soon thereafter, with a lot of lives lost in the tragedy. The newlywed lord Rasler falls in battle, and king Raminas of Dalmasca is murdered by a trusted captain of the guard. In sorrow of her fallen kingdom, lady Ashe ends her own life. Some of these events we witness through the eyes of the young soldier named Reks, who ends up with a similar fate. The rest is told to us by a narrator - Dalmasca is no more, swallowed by the empire of Archadia.

Events like these are unusually grim for a Final Fantasy-game, a series that up until this point often bordered much closer to fairytales for a younger audience, and had little to do with politics and moral ambiguity. Final Fantasy XII introduced the franchise to a potentially older gamer base, or spoke to the ones that grew up with the series and found themselves with more mature and refined sensibilities.

Cut to a couple of years later, and we assume the role of the petty burglar Vaan in the city of Rabanastre, the desert capital. He is the younger brother of the murdered Reks, and leads us through the early segments of the game, where we get acquainted with the combat mechanics and the world of Ivalice. Back in 2006, I had never gotten such a free rein to explore a Final Fantasy world, with huge maps, crowded cities, many biomes and a great sense of discovery wherever I looked.

And with Vaan's introduction, the story becomes like an appealing homage to Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope for a while. Like Luke Skywalker, Vaan starts out as a naive youngster looking to the airships in the skies; he wants to become a sky pirate someday. He hates the empire, and hopes to avenge his older brother, Reks, who got killed in the introduction. 

The story is good as long as this inspiration lasts, throwing in quite a number of scenes depicting clashes of personalities and political intrigue. Every side, both aggressor and the oppressed, is given the benefit of the doubt. The dialogue is written in an eloquent manner to emphasize the drama and maturity, evoking the spirit of old British playwrights, and brought to life by its fine voice cast.

Dalmasca is surrounded by dunes, and the initial story quests let you explore the brown-beige scorching landscape, full of rocks and crags. The game introduces a long-running chain of hunting quests that spans the entire game, where you search for different marks, collect trophies and deliver them back to the quest giver in the city. The Dalmascan dunes are huge, surrounding the city like a crown through interconnected maps. Exploring them reveals a plethora of different enemies and treasures, some of which are not meant for low-level characters, giving you an incentive to come back later.

And all throughout the game, this design philosophy remains. It is the most open Final Fantasy-game I've yet seen, and I love that aspect of it. Every map keeps branching out in all directions, with fast-travel markers and secret areas in most locations. Some are home to reclusive, tough optional bosses that only appear under special circumstances, like weather, seasonal shifts or specific party setups, and will reward you with unique items, spells, weapons and pieces of armor.

The combat is intriguing, as it is built upon an inventive Gambit-system, a very basic and intuitive programming language for artificial intelligence. It takes place in real-time, with all enemies visible in the world, and you drift in and out of combat seamlessly. You can program each party member's AI to act on their own accord, issuing automatic responses to most - if not all - situations on the battlefield. If someone gets poisoned, for instance, you can have your healer throw them an antidote. If an enemy is sensitive to fire, you can have your black mage pepper it with powerful fire magic, and so on.

This may sound like a nuiscance to set up, given that you have six characters to control and switch in and out of your adventuring party. But it is an extremely worthwhile time investment as it makes all encounters pass in the blink of an eye, especially since you can combine it with the remaster's option to speed up combat. You may also take back control at any time, for instance to cast a magic spell, summon a powerful Esper to help out, or unleash a powerful Quickening attack chain to quickly defeat tough bosses.

Vaan soon crosses paths with new companions, most of which are better suited to bear the role of protagonist than the inexperienced kid (he and his childhood friend Penelo eventually become the C3PO and R2D2 of the story). My favorites are Balthier (Han Solo), the sky pirate who becomes a role-model for Vaan, and his companion Fran (a gender-swapped Chewbacca), the slender woman with rabbit ears.

Balthier himself actually insists that he is the hero of this story, although it probably should belong to a later "recruit", whom I will not spoil. All significant characters have some sort of family issue to deal with, be it brother, father or sister, but their struggles mainly exist to propel the plot in a certain direction rather than develop them as characters. On occasion, guest characters join your ranks, expanding your usual party of three active members to four, which is a great opportunity to tackle more difficult sidequests and hunts ahead of time.

Unfortunately, as the story progresses, it gradually veers away from the inspired, character-driven storytelling in favor of formulaic crystal hunting, a trope that often burdens the entire franchise with completely forgettable stories. This is where the narrative starts to lose me, as all character development simply vanishes. The resulting story devolves into a haze; a tired old struggle between good and bad, of ancient magic and "nethicite", all of which feels completely arbitrary. All the while, memories of the earlier, more nuanced scenes linger with the promise of something much better.

Instead, you have to delve into the RPG character progression for some substance on that front. The Zodiac Age replaces the original's flawed licence board with a more intricate job system. Every character is allowed two different jobs - a.k.a. character classes - from a selection of twelve, opening up an amazing number of character builds.

As I had to make these seemingly irreversible choices (they are not), I felt a little anxious for a while, afraid of creating useless characters that would struggle towards the endgame. But as soon as I changed my disposition, and chose to view the system as a possibility, it was a delight to see the roads to powerful spells, abilities, and weapon- and armor licences open up. I acquired items that sped up grinding for license points, and raced through the job skills in quick succession. In want of written character progression, this system at least gave me a decent substitute.

Final Fantasy XII may not be the best representation of a classic Final Fantasy game, and the gambit system might be a major hurdle for players with limited JRPG-experience. But for old fans tired of repeating the same old formula, this represents a fine first step in a new direction. It keeps the trademark story tropes; Chocobos, a character named Cid, airships, and quite a few monster designs and names. Even as it arguably hurts the story, the significance of crystals remains intact. It maintains that Final Fantasy magic, although some of it is losing its edge.

The soundtrack might not hold as many memorable melodies as we're used to, but the atmosphere it establishes is spot-on. Delicately orchestrated versions of the classic Final Fantasy themes opens up the experience, and puts the player in the right mindset. And the visuals, although technically impaired by the system it was designed for in 2006, are spot-on, creating a rich universe around the characters. Square Enix has some of the finest world designers in the business.

Ivalice is full of ancient history and lore, yet alive and vibrant in the present. And for the first time in the series, I feel like I really can explore every nook and cranny of it. People around the cities and settlements speak of world events, hinting of an even bigger picture than the one we can perceive. Different hunting sidequests bring you to parts you'd never have thought to visit otherwise, and the details in the lore section tell of ancient stories that shape a mythology of their own.

My perception of Final Fantasy XII remains intact. It sets out as the promise of a masterpiece but ends up feeling like a snub. The production was plagued by indecision; the game's director changed halfway through, and the intended protagonist was changed several times. This is apparent throughout the game. With nuanced villains eventually turning out black and flawed heroes turning out white, you can only wonder what happened to the grey areas. Luckily, the world of Ivalice is so colorful it distracts from many of these concerns, but not enough to deem them inconsequential.

But still, for all the unique systems and the polished presentation, it deserves to be recognized as a brave step away from the traditions that threatened to run the entire series into the ground. Final Fantasy XII took it upon itself to open up the franchise, allowing the evolution of open world design to seep into the brand. And so, the series still remains, still struggling a bit, but with no end in sight. We might owe quite a bit of it to the innovations presented in Final Fantasy XII. At least it gave us A New Hope.