The Final Fantasy XII Remaster, known as The Zodiac Age, will also be a PS4 exclusive.
Final Fantasy XII isn’t a particularly good Final Fantasy game. Its release marked the tipping point, where the series moved away from its classic Japanese RPG roots into something else entirely, with impressive presentation but a strange hands-off approach to combat. And then Final Fantasy XIII happened; the less said on that, the better.
The twelfth instalment of the venerable series many not be a great Final Fantasy game, then, but that’s not to say it’s without merit. If you’re a fan of BioWare’s roleplaying games, like Dragon Age: Origins, or titles with a tactical bent like X-COM, Pillars of Eternity or old-school Fallout/Wasteland, then chances are you’ll enjoy Final Fantasy XII.
It might seem a little odd then, given how well the aforementioned strategic RPGs play on PC, but the Final Fantasy XII Remaster is going to be a PS4 exclusive. That’s likely to be a hangover from Square Enix’s publisher exclusivity with Sony and PlayStation between Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy XII inclusive, but it’s still a shame.
One of my biggest gripes with Final Fantasy XII on PS2 was the way the game steered you towards pre-defining your party’s tactics with macros – or ‘gambits’ – for every eventuality, to the point that, when you were doing well, you didn’t really get hands on with the combat at all anymore. I can’t help but feel like playing the Final Fantasy XII Remaster on PC with a keyboard and mouse, as strategic RPGs were intended, might encourage a more hands on approach. It is what it is, I suppose.
The Final Fantasy XII Remaster, The Zodiac Age, is at least going to be very pretty. It was picture-book-perfect on the PS2, so should look stonking on PS4 with updated textures and refined models. The game launches on July 11, 2017 in Europe and North America, with the Asian release two days later on July 13, 2017.
