rb if looking at ashe’s face when she stares at rasler’s ‘ghost’ in raithwall’s makes u cry everytiem
Étiquette : final fantasy XII
DUMB FFXII QUESTION
I am paranoid about using Google and spoiling something juicy…
But why is it called “Zodiac Age”? (as if to differentiate it somehow from just being FF12?)
Is it significantly different from the OG that was released on PS? Is it because of the license-board thing??
Well story-wise the 2006 version and the Zodiac Age is strictly the same. What’s different mainly are the jobs.
In the original game, each character had the same licence board and you could specialized them the way you wanted and they could all become anything lmao Most players thought it was a shame. In 2007 an “International Zodiac Job system” was released on PS2 (it’s called international but it was released in Japan only lol). Here the jobs you know were introduced. However, you could choose only one job per character and you couldn’t change. I’ve seen a Youtuber giving only the Knight job to the 6 of them and he quickly understood his mistake lmao.
Now with The Zodiac Age we can give two jobs ! We can’t change during the game but with 12 jobs and 6 characters you can enjoy all of the gameplay, or choose to ignore the weakest jobs !
As in why the name “the Zodiac Age” I don’t know the exact explanation, but the Espers linked to the zodiac are actually a big part of the lore, even if it can be easily missed if you don’t read the bestiary entries or completely miss the optional areas.
Hope it clarifies things =)
can you explain that complaint? I never understood the issue with it. Like why wouldn’t i want my characters to do everything? i always ended up starting certani characters one way and progressing them as far as i could before i just started leveling up like crazy later on.
Idk really I wasn’t familiar with the fandom at all at the moment =(
I remember reading that the characters end up masters in everything, with no real weaknesses. The characters do have different characteristics (I think Basch has more strenght while Penelo was a good white mage for example) but you could play with the same 3 characters all the time it didn’t matter much because all of them had access to white/black magic and any weapon.
Also, FFXII received hard critics from players in general (or mostly from the occidental side ? Idk) because it was quite innovative with the licence board and the gambit system. I’ve read tons of comments from ~nostalgic~ players complaining about that (I personally think they’re stupid but whatever).
But you can choose which licence to give them or not and you can specialized them yourself ! I guess it’s more work ? lmao It’s the same with gambits. I saw people complaining you have nothing to do during battles with the gambits on. But you can choose not to use them (like I do, barely).
Either you like strategy and spend time in the menu to set up everything, adapt to each bosses etc, or you don’t like it you don’t use gambits and some bosses are really challenging.
I went a bit off topic sorry, but jobs are a traditional part of a J-rpg and Final Fantasy, I can understand somehow that players were missing it ! From my personal experience and from my tumblr friends’, we got attached to certain jobs for a special character. My Black Mage!Ashe is super powerful and it gives a nice feeling I wouldn’t have known on the PS2 version !
Overall, I think the PS2 version actually gave the players the choice to do what they want (jobs or gambits) but players didn’t understand it really ? If a Zodiac Job system was released only one year later in Japan, it means Square Enix received enough comments from the Japanese players to make a change. The Job system let the characters be more special and you get more attached to them somehow. Your party is more unique.
Thanks for asking !!!
–
You know what? I’m through with it. I’m through running.
– It’s time
to end this—
cut my ties to the past.
[344/?]
Vaan – of a brighter disposition and optimistic outlook – coming to terms with his grief and deciding to no longer run away from his past while standing under the night sky, and Balthier – of a shuttered disposition and cynical outlook – coming to terms with what it really means to be a leading man and deciding to no longer run away from his past while under the sunny sky, further adds to the both timelessly classic and romantically tragic sun-moon( /shooting star) dichotomy of the BalVaan ship. In this essay I will
Hmm…I always interpreted Balthier breaking away from his past, while Vaan embraced his, came to peace with his. Maybe I just saw things funny.
Balthier does embrace his past because he saves the day by being a machinist like his father – we watch him change a fuse, just like he showed Vaan in Barheim at the beginning. Many characters are running from their pasts, but all of them confront it as the story goes on.
I’m not sure how Balthier being a machinist has anything to do with accepting his past. I mean, he was a machinist and pilot already. It may be something they have in common but Balthier never denied his passion for mechanics.
The parallel between Vaan and Balthier is nice though !
–
You know what? I’m through with it. I’m through running.
– It’s time
to end this—
cut my ties to the past.
[344/?]
Vaan – of a brighter disposition and optimistic outlook – coming to terms with his grief and deciding to no longer run away from his past while standing under the night sky, and Balthier – of a shuttered disposition and cynical outlook – coming to terms with what it really means to be a leading man and deciding to no longer run away from his past while under the sunny sky, further adds to the both timelessly classic and romantically tragic sun-moon( /shooting star) dichotomy of the BalVaan ship. In this essay I will
Hmm…I always interpreted Balthier breaking away from his past, while Vaan embraced his, came to peace with his. Maybe I just saw things funny.
I think you got a point ! Clearly Vaan accepts what happened two years ago and he is ready to live with it.
It’s more difficult to analyze Balthier because who he was in Archades is up to our subjective understanding of the character.
Him running away from Archades was his way to say No to his father. Like, he was physically away from him, but still highly ashamed and confused. He doesn’t want to face him. And he doesn’t want anyone to know who he was. He may live however he wants with Fran, but he avoids anything linked to Archadia and his father. He does say something like “if I knew what the stone was I wouldn’t have been so desperate to get my hands on it”
When he is finally ready to do so, he can show to Cid “this is who I am”. Not a Judge, not a puppet, I am Balthier. Of course Balthier’s feelings are still mixed, he still cares about his father, but he decides not to let his past guide his actions.
–
You know what? I’m through with it. I’m through running.
– It’s time
to end this—
cut my ties to the past.
[344/?]
Vaan – of a brighter disposition and optimistic outlook – coming to terms with his grief and deciding to no longer run away from his past while standing under the night sky, and Balthier – of a shuttered disposition and cynical outlook – coming to terms with what it really means to be a leading man and deciding to no longer run away from his past while under the sunny sky, further adds to the both timelessly classic and romantically tragic sun-moon( /shooting star) dichotomy of the BalVaan ship. In this essay I will
I’ll repeat myself but I just love how Vaan is the sunny personality but confess all of this in the intimacy of the night, while Balthier with his moon personality does it under a bright sunlight.
But both do it discreetly to Ashe and they both help her grow step by step
DUMB FFXII QUESTION
I am paranoid about using Google and spoiling something juicy…
But why is it called “Zodiac Age”? (as if to differentiate it somehow from just being FF12?)
Is it significantly different from the OG that was released on PS? Is it because of the license-board thing??
Well story-wise the 2006 version and the Zodiac Age is strictly the same. What’s different mainly are the jobs.
In the original game, each character had the same licence board and you could specialized them the way you wanted and they could all become anything lmao Most players thought it was a shame. In 2007 an “International Zodiac Job system” was released on PS2 (it’s called international but it was released in Japan only lol). Here the jobs you know were introduced. However, you could choose only one job per character and you couldn’t change. I’ve seen a Youtuber giving only the Knight job to the 6 of them and he quickly understood his mistake lmao.
Now with The Zodiac Age we can give two jobs ! We can’t change during the game but with 12 jobs and 6 characters you can enjoy all of the gameplay, or choose to ignore the weakest jobs !
As in why the name “the Zodiac Age” I don’t know the exact explanation, but the Espers linked to the zodiac are actually a big part of the lore, even if it can be easily missed if you don’t read the bestiary entries or completely miss the optional areas.
Hope it clarifies things =)
Serious meta
I love Final Fantasy XII and one more reason I’ve found during my new game is how politically engaged it actually is. I will get in a serious mood with this meta.
Final fantasy XII is a Japanese game, created by Japanese people. And here you have a whole city (almost a kingdom), Nabudis, completely wiped of the map by one single blast. An entire population killed, erased in a second. It’s hard not to compare it to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Nabradia becomes Deadlands, infertile lands, infected by the myst, the same way radiations can infect land, food, water and people. In the game we have to fight zombies, who are canonically previous inhabitants of the city.
[spoilers ahead] One great approach of the game is how Vayne, the “villain” of the game may be right, wanting to get rid of “Gods” and let human beings be free.
However, his lust for the stones is wrong. The stones are the equivalent of a nuclear weapon. If we think about it, if we think of our own real world, Ashe’s choice is vital, decisive, and it really is a point of no return.
She has the equivalent of a nuclear weapon in her hands, and she decides not to use it.
Final fantasy XII &co 