Track this topic | Email this topic | Print this topic

Hey friends!

So I recently got bit by the FF12 bug and picked up The Zodiac Age for my Switch.
For me, 12 is glorious to begin with, despite the hated license system. I'm glad to find that the revamp came with cleaned up systems, job boards to make licenses easier along side a beautiful remastering of the graphics.

As for the story itself: I love it. I'm not a Tactics person due to sucking at strategy but being pulled into the world of Ivalice with a mainline title like this made me feel a little less of a fringe fan.

As a whole, I greatly enjoy the characters, save for the blank slate that is Vaan. Although
, I do have to say that Cid via Trevor Goodchild (Aeon Flux cartoon) is the best bit.

Lets talk about it!

This post has been edited by St Khael on 28th April 2020 01:01

--------------------

Check out the Magicite Menagerie!

Retro gaming cosplayer with a focus on Terra Branford.

I played the original version of XII in 2017 and loved it. Last year I picked up Zodiac Age, and started playing it. I got as far as Archades, but then I started playing FFXIV, and, well, there went all my time.

I know people who hate Vaan but I don't mind him too much. I adore Balthier, though. Gideon Emery is a fantastic voice actor! He voiced Urianger in FFXIV:A Realm Reborn, too, so that was fun for me (if a bit weird to hear Balthier's voice saying "doth" and "thine"). I was sad when they recasted voice actors for Heavensward...

...But this is supposed to be about XII, not XIV. I've heard that they rebalanced the game when the made TZA, and I think it shows because there were some early bosses who gave me fits in the original, but that I had minimal issue with in TZA.

I am not sure how I feel about the job system in TZA. I actually liked the original license board system quite a bit for its flexibility (this is no surprise, since I'm a big fan of FFV and FFXI for the flexibility with their job systems). I felt a lot more constrained with ZA's license board. Though on the plus side, because the battles are rebalanced you didn't need everyone to have healing spells. It's been long enough since I messed around with TZA that I can't say for sure that I disliked the new job system, though I do recall at times wishing I had the original license board.

The gambit system is a lot of fun, and quite powerful, though sometimes it felt like I was watching the game play itself because early on, at least, it didn't need much input from me.

Perhaps I will try playing again soon! Right now I'm attempting to play Bravely Default so that comes first, but maybe afterward I'll go back to FfXII.

--------------------

Watch me play games on Twitch!
Schedule:
Mondays: Final Fantasy XIV
Saturdays: Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail Side Quests & Shenanigans

I have stuff to add to this thread! I've been watching a friend stream Zodiac Age, so I'm more familiar with it now.

Up above I said that I thought TZA's license boards were less flexible. I'll walk that back a bit. I didn't realize you could assign a job to more than one person. For some reason I got the impression that it was one person to each job, so that you used all twelve jobs in the end.

I do think I was right about the game being rebalanced, as my friend hasn't had too much issue with boss fights. But there is a huge difference in how he and I play: he has mastered quickening chains. I never understood how they worked, so I rarely used quickening when I played, relying instead on smart use of gambits to help beat bosses. So maybe it's the fact that he quickened everything that makes the fights easy for him, I dunno.

I had no issue wrapping my brain around gambits, possibly because I have a degree in math and computer science. My friend, on the other hand, has had issues with getting gambits to work properly for him. He set up one: "When enemy's HP is greater than 3000, cast Protect", thinking it would cast Protect on his party members. Nope! It was casting it on the boss! He also was fond of the Healing Rod, thinking that it cast Regen on its wielder when they got hit. It doesn't - it casts regen on the target being struck. So he was protecting and regenning enemies, and even so he still managed to win fights on the first try.

Anyway, some stream viewers spoke up and explained things to him, so he's doing a better job with gambits now, and Is using the proper gear. It's been fun watching him play, though I am sad I missed the stream with the Mandragora fight and Phon Coast, as those are some of my favorite areas.

--------------------

Watch me play games on Twitch!
Schedule:
Mondays: Final Fantasy XIV
Saturdays: Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail Side Quests & Shenanigans

I just played it for the first time over the last few months and I enjoyed it very much - did most of the extra content. I was always a little doubtful I would like the gambit system but it ended up being not too bad. I wouldn't go as far as to call it my favorite as I definitely enjoyed 6 & 9 more so still but it was a solid FF game! Vaan, Balthier and Penelo were my main team.

I got very good at quickenings and the gambit system. My husband however...is finding no reason to open up his lisence boards until he finds weapons available to him that requires the lisences. Luckily after many nights of frustration he decided to listen to me after I asked for the controller and opened up the boards to give him battle lores and a ton of magic boosts. He has bowed to my prowess.

He does however, refuse to use gambits on Vaan. It's fine he can play how he wants but being the brat that I am I do show him my frustration which I think he finds funny. He's having a lot more fun with the game since I showed him how to make the most of it and he agrees that Larsa is Baby.

I'm slowly working my way through another round of the game myself and I love how good this game makes me feel. I find it very relaxing.


--------------------

Check out the Magicite Menagerie!

Retro gaming cosplayer with a focus on Terra Branford.

Despite buying in on Steam a couple years ago, I only started playing this a couple months ago. The changes they made to the license system, with all the different jobs, are great. I've noticed only a few other changes, though; aside from the new license system, and having to play on kb/m, the game feels largely the same as the ol' PS2 version to me, which is fine.

I actually try to use gambits as sparingly as possible, no matter what game uses this kind of mechanic. I like to micromanage what my chars do so that turns and resources don't get wasted.

--------------------

Console RPG Cliches

So, Hubs beat the game and he loved it to pieces. It's not his favorite (he is still very correctly a diehard fan of 4) but he did have a great time. He mastered the quickenings but shied away from gambits and summons. He loves to have full control in a game so I can see why.

We do have one question however: Why do most gamers hate Penelo? She's level headed, brings in the godsend that is Larsa and is a powerful mage. She's nearly unstoppable when you put work into her on any magic related path on the lisence board.

As a character, she's a lovely person who seems to be the one keeping these full tilt heroes in check. I have a good friend who cosplays the character and she gets a lot of hate at cons over it. I just don't get it. Can anyone shine some light on this?

--------------------

Check out the Magicite Menagerie!

Retro gaming cosplayer with a focus on Terra Branford.

Quote (St Khael @ 16th October 2020 06:02)

We do have one question however: Why do most gamers hate Penelo? She's level headed, brings in the godsend that is Larsa and is a powerful mage. She's nearly unstoppable when you put work into her on any magic related path on the lisence board.

As a character, she's a lovely person who seems to be the one keeping these full tilt heroes in check. I have a good friend who cosplays the character and she gets a lot of hate at cons over it. I just don't get it. Can anyone shine some light on this?

Apologies for the thread necromancy (you can see how often I actually look at what's been posted), and ditto on the apologies for not having a good answer to this question. I don't get it either. I actually really like Penelo (though it'd be nice if we actually got more of her, which actually might help flesh her out), for all the reasons you point to.

Vaan, on the other hand, annoys me to (almost) no end. (He was the one that got added into the story later, right? He definitely feels tacked on to me, and all the other characters grab my attention much better than he does.)

I haven't heard too much Penelo hate. That's not to say it isn't there, but in my circles, most folks I know like her.

Vaan certainly does get hate, though. I don't mind him myself, though he does make me cringe at times, like

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

when he asks Fran just how old she is. NO, VAAN, NO!!!

Since I last posted in this thread, I have since played the entirety of Zodiac Age on stream a while ago. I learned how to do quickening chains, huzzah! Still not great at them, but at least I managed them. I still missed playing with the gambits as much as I did the with the original game, I think, but over all my initial impression of FFXII:ZA has changed, and I liked it a lot. I'd probably choose to play that version again, when I do replay sometime in the future.

--------------------

Watch me play games on Twitch!
Schedule:
Mondays: Final Fantasy XIV
Saturdays: Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail Side Quests & Shenanigans

Quote (AltheaValara @ 12th July 2023 14:52)

Since I last posted in this thread, I have since played the entirety of Zodiac Age on stream a while ago. I learned how to do quickening chains, huzzah! Still not great at them, but at least I managed them. I still missed playing with the gambits as much as I did the with the original game, I think, but over all my initial impression of FFXII:ZA has changed, and I liked it a lot. I'd probably choose to play that version again, when I do replay sometime in the future.

I made a concerted effort [spent about an hour randomly] trying to learn the quickenings, but I just can't get the hang of them. (I also don't love that the quickenings feel tacked on, and I've started to notice that I really want ALL character abilities to make sense in terms of the characters's experiences in the world.)

And, yeah, I like gambits [and wish we'd gotten them in the original Ivalice game, FFTactics], though, for the same reason I don't like the quickenings, it feels weird that you have to pick them up from shops.

After finally playing FF Tactics on stream and absolutely adoring it: I agree, the quickenings feel tacked on. After experiencing the construction of the first game it does feel like an afterthought on the part of the dev team.. I enjoy that Tactics happens 1,200-1,300 years or so (common fan theory??) before XII and we get a lot of expansion on the world but it gives me horrible concerns about what happened to the Bangaa and the Viera in the interim. In the aftermath of Tactics, however, I do appreciate the XII system upgrades a lot more especially in regard to The Zodiac Age.

--------------------

Check out the Magicite Menagerie!

Retro gaming cosplayer with a focus on Terra Branford.

Quote (St Khael @ 14th July 2023 09:10)

After finally playing FF Tactics on stream and absolutely adoring it: I agree, the quickenings feel tacked on. After experiencing the construction of the first game it does feel like an afterthought on the part of the dev team.. I enjoy that Tactics happens 1,200-1,300 years or so (common fan theory??) before XII and we get a lot of expansion on the world but it gives me horrible concerns about what happened to the Bangaa and the Viera in the interim. In the aftermath of Tactics, however, I do appreciate the XII system upgrades a lot more especially in regard to The Zodiac Age.

Two things:

1) I thought FFT took place AFTER FFXII--hence why we don't see any non-hume sapient species in FFT.

2) I'd love to check out your FFT stream!

Quote (Kane @ 14th July 2023 22:55)

Two things:

1) I thought FFT took place AFTER FFXII--hence why we don't see any non-hume sapient species in FFT.

2) I'd love to check out your FFT stream!

Snap, I didn't realize that I had typed it backwards. Yes, that is exactly what I meant. Thank you so much for catching that. I feel silly now. I did say that I was concerned about the Viera and Bangaa so I feel like I got there but goofed and typed the wrong word. I had read something about St. Ajora coming to exist in the same century that XII and now I'm wondering if Ajora is the reason we don't have any non-humes. I really want more of that story. Again, thank you for the typo catch.

As for my Tactics stream, I didn't save it unfortunately. I never save them because I'm kind of a mess on stream. I'm usually in cosplay and that makes up for it a bit but Terra Branford plays Tactics was definitely a mess. I was afraid of the game for a long time due to my complete lack of strategic capability. It came as a shock when I beat it.

Tactics Advance has been hyped to me but it doesn't sound very much like an Ivalice story. I want very badly to play more in the world of Ivalice so I might pick it up. A friend also said that Vagrant Story was connected but I know nothing about it.

Dang, now I want to play XII again just talking about all of this.

--------------------

Check out the Magicite Menagerie!

Retro gaming cosplayer with a focus on Terra Branford.

Quote (St Khael @ 16th July 2023 08:41)

As for my Tactics stream, I didn't save it unfortunately. I never save them because I'm kind of a mess on stream. I'm usually in cosplay and that makes up for it a bit but Terra Branford plays Tactics was definitely a mess. I was afraid of the game for a long time due to my complete lack of strategic capability. It came as a shock when I beat it.

Tactics Advance has been hyped to me but it doesn't sound very much like an Ivalice story. I want very badly to play more in the world of Ivalice so I might pick it up. A friend also said that Vagrant Story was connected but I know nothing about it.

Dang, now I want to play XII again just talking about all of this.

It's too bad you didn't save it, but I get the self-consciousness angle. Aside from a couple noticeable difficulty spikes, FFT is a perfectly beatable game; the problem is that a couple of those spikes come early on, so plenty of people bounce off it. Glad to hear you didn't.

Speaking of bouncing off games, I bounced off Tactics Advance for much the same reason. It just didn't feel like Tactics in any meaningful way.

As for Vagrant Story, my understanding is that the creator didn't think of it as part of Ivalice; that is, the easter eggs that connect them were just easter eggs. I don't remember where I heard that though, so I suppose I could be mistaken.

(And, yeah, replaying FFXII sounds like a fun idea now that I'm thinking of it again. I'm actually replaying FFIX right now, alongside a couple friends, so we can encourage another friend to play through it for the first time. Maybe I'll pitch FFXII thereafter.)

Huh, do you really believe it is not considered part of Ivalice by the creator, and any connections are merely easter eggs?

Quote (Kane @ 19th July 2023 02:24)

As for Vagrant Story, my understanding is that the creator didn't think of it as part of Ivalice; that is, the easter eggs that connect them were just easter eggs. I don't remember where I heard that though, so I suppose I could be mistaken.

(And, yeah, replaying FFXII sounds like a fun idea now that I'm thinking of it again. I'm actually replaying FFIX right now, alongside a couple friends, so we can encourage another friend to play through it for the first time. Maybe I'll pitch FFXII thereafter.)

My husband just started playing IX for the first time and he adores it so far. It's kind of odd that he'd never played it because his first and favorite is IV and the feel of IX is really taking him back to that. He's trying to get me to agree to cosplaying Zidane and Garnet so I'll finally make her big gown. But if I do that, I'll always go overboard like I always do.

Yeah, Vagrant Story is kind of a gray area. I did a bit of forum hopping (gamefaqs mostly) around the internet and it keeps coming back that Ivalice and the place Vagrant story happens are separate landmasses in the same world. Think Lodoss and Alecrast if that helps (if you're an anime fan). I don't know the comparison however and since Legend of Legaia came up on the new game dice roll on stream I can't investigate further.

In regards to the difficulty spikes in Tactics- yes they did knock me on my face However apparently I beat the hardest spike first time by accident??? I had Ramza set to Lancer/Dragoon for my first shot at Wiegraf and problem solved. The kite+ jump=survival equation works every time in that regard. The stream had been in near panic mode the session before and leading up to that fight and then...didn't know how to handle it, I guess?

Which leads me into another topic about The Zodiac Age. I do love the job class system they added to streamline the license board, but is raises the question as to why the choice was made to not give the Uhlan the Jump ability. I am a Dragoon fan forever and always- Kain Highwind represent!- and it was a disappointment to not see it. I could posit that the class addition was an after thought to just group handheld reach weapons together rather than put any kind of thought into it despite the prevalence of Lancers in Tactics. I absolutely adore the concept of a license board as a form of a skill tree and while I know zero to nothing about programming especially in game design, it doesn't seem like adding an additional license would be that difficult especially after breaking it all up into job classes Not really a complaint, more of a curiosity..

--------------------

Check out the Magicite Menagerie!

Retro gaming cosplayer with a focus on Terra Branford.