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Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age |OT| You Had One Job!

OmegaDL50

Member
Thinking of making Vaan a monk. He has the fistfighter look. What's a good job to pair that with?

Samurai or Black Mage work well with Monk.

Samurai for a more physical offence oriented built with some White Magic heal support from Monk, or Black Mage to make Monk a more support oriented front line fighter with offense casting ability.
 
What does it mean they say you can't reassign jobs? Once you pick two jobs for a character, that's it for the whole game for them?
 

FDC1

Member
You guys sure there is not even French or Spanish subtitles...?...fully voiced I can understand but no UI or subtitles is surprising...

Of course there are french or spanish subtitles if you buy the game in countries speaking these languages. OP is probably American :p
 
Who wants to start talking about job combinations and esper allocation shall we? ;)
I want to know if you all have any suggestions on the team I'm planning on making.

Group #1
Vaan, Ravager – Shikari/Foebreaker (Zalera, Shemhazai)
Balthier, Gun Mage - Machinist/White Mage (Famfrit, Zodiark)
Fran, Spellsword - Red Battlemage/Bushi (Belias, Cuchulainn, Zeromus, Exodus)

Group #2
Ashe, Paladin – Knight/Time Battlemage (Mateus, Adrammalech, Hashmal)
Basch, Soldier - Uhlan/Archer
Penelo, Wizard - Black Mage/Monk (Chaos, Ultima)

With this setup everyone has access to 3 swiftness and both groups have access to all the breaks. I also tried to keep the jobs consistent with the characters and story. I've also thought about switching Archer and Monk for Penelo and Basch. I love the idea of Penelo being a ranged caster/archer, but giving monk to Basch feels strange to me. I'd feel obligated to give him Chaos which would give him a wide range of spells and for whatever reason I don't really like the idea of Basch casting magic. So this is what I'm settled on right now.

My biggest question is who to give Zalera and Shemhazai to. Zalera gives Vaan +435 hp and it gives Penelo steal/poach. In my group #2 only Basch can steal so would it be worth it to give Penelo an esper just for that? Shemhazai is also difficult for me. It gives Vaan guns 5 and 6 or it gives Fran esuna, cleanse, and shield block 1. What do you all think?

Nice setup. I may do something similar.
 

Burbeting

Banned
Pre-loading the game! FF12 vanilla has always been on the lower end of FF's for me, but I hope Zodiac Age can win me over again! The job system should already fix some of the issues I had with the original.
 
D

Deleted member 57681

Unconfirmed Member
Man I just cannot make up my mind whether I like to optimize my jobs or use them all and go (semi)lore-accurate. I really want to use them all, so I might as well do the latter.
 

OmegaDL50

Member
What does it mean they say you can't reassign jobs? Once you pick two jobs for a character, that's it for the whole game for them?

Yeah you pick one and you're locked into that class. It's not so much a job per say but a ability preset for the whole game.

If you played the original FFXII you know you leveled up abilities and skills via the license board. Well when the International Japan release came out they made 12 individual specialized license boards representing the 12 Zodiac signs and re-released the game as the Zodiac Job System.

This is not like the job class system in FF3 or 5. You pick a role for a character and their development is based entirely around that for the remainder of the game, this re-release adds a second board for everyone along with rebalancing chances to the game to keep make sure the additional role doesn't disrupt the balance.
 

Son Of D

Member
Thanks for making it for me. I had stuff ready but had some personal issues recently.

Great OT. Wasn't the title I had in mind but I like it.
 

Gyoru

Member
Anyone interesting in doing prerelease party planning should check this spreadsheet out:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rBpOmegCizn3KOPwrKvC5yipu9Yfh0IZ6YE-mh_e59g

There are sample parties that use all 12 jobs or are lore friendly distributions along with a bunch of other useful information like starting stats and weapon animation speed.

If you want to make your own edits, go to File -> Make a copy. On your copy of the sheet, you can use the dropdowns under each character's name for job selections.
 

Cornbread78

Member
Isn't that last job selection screen from the fan translation of IZJS?
I believe that the official titles are slightly different: Hunter = Shikari, Samurai = Bushi, Breaker = Foebreaker, and Time/Red Mage = Time/Red Battlemage.

This is the only one I can find online right now:

RYS5663.jpg



Anyone have an early copy they can take a screengrab for us?
 

aett

Member
Yep. In the original Zodiac Job version it was one job for each character for the whole game.

As a veteran of the original IZJS: I highly recommend keeping at least one extra save file fairly early on in the game in case you want to redo your jobs without replaying the entire opening.

Yes, this means playing for a few hours or so without assigning any jobs or points, but it's not bad and it beats doing the entire opening multiple times.

I personally put my extra save file
at the start of the dungeon beneath the prison outside of Rabanastre, when you have Vaan/Balthier/Fran and find Basch.
 

Ourobolus

Banned
I forget if this was answered in one of the old threads (or earlier in this one), but can you have multiple copies of jobs in this version? In IZJS you couldn't have, say, 6 Black Mages, but I vaguely recall you can do so in this version? Or am I mistaken?
 

Bluenoser

Member
I forget if this was answered in one of the old threads (or earlier in this one), but can you have multiple copies of jobs in this version? In IZJS you couldn't have, say, 6 Black Mages, but I vaguely recall you can do so in this version? Or am I mistaken?

Yes, you can assign characters whatever jobs you want, no limitations.

Are zones seamless in the remaster or do they load instantaneously?

Based on the footage I've seen, they load much faster than PS2, but still a brief loading time. (1-3 seconds or so)
 

_Ryo_

Member
Yes, you can assign characters whatever jobs you want, no limitations.



Based on the footage I've seen, they load much faster than PS2, but still a brief loading time. (1-3 seconds or so)

Thanks for the reply! Hmm. sounds good.


BTW I'm 30+ hours into the PS2 version and not even halfway close to finishing, is this normal? I've been doing every single hunt/sidequest available.
 

BigEmil

Junior Member
Wait, the visuals look WAAAAAAAAY better than the PS2 release. No?

Outside of the character models that's been updated not really no, if you compare it to the PS2 version emulated it's not much differences, the game already had alot of high quality textures etc just couldn't see before because of the very low resolution, lots of stuff untouched visually like the environment assets etc
 

Bluenoser

Member
I don't plan on doing that, but man it seems OP to give everyone a different main job the just sub White Mage or something to everyone.

You would think, but you really don't need multiple white mages, so you're actually losing offensive potential by doing something like this.

Also, having all characters able to access all 3 "swiftness" upgrades is critical for end game. 30% reduction in time between attacks.
 

Netto-kun

Member
It's here woho! Still need to wait for another 2 copies of the game + blu-ray OST + Japanese ultimania guide.

Edit: fixing picture later.

Oh wth the in-game text is set to whatever the system I set to.
 

Sapientas

Member
Wow, that thread title.

Already have this installed, but I can't start playing it now or else I'll never finish Persona. I just started Stormblood too...
 
I'm so pissed off now because most of the countries in my region got the game days ago... while mine might not get it till Thursday!!

I'm absolutely bored with NOTHING at all to play or do... and I need this ASAP ;_;

I loved the gameplay back then in 2006 but hated almost everything else, I'm really excited to revisit the game 11 years later to see how I'm going to find it.

Final Fantasy is my favorite series of all time and I finished all the 3D main entries many times except FFXII and the FXIII trilogy.

So yeah, excited :) !
 
Final Fantasy XII was one of my favorite games of all time so I was happy to step in and create the OT. So excited to start playing it!

You guys are welcome to give any feedback regarding the OT! I'm not really happy with it (Was a rush job) so I'll be looking to improve on it.

Also thanks to the GAF users who helped contributed for the FAQ and OT title! :D
 

Bluenoser

Member
Thanks for the reply! Hmm. sounds good.


BTW I'm 30+ hours into the PS2 version and not even halfway close to finishing, is this normal? I've been doing every single hunt/sidequest available.

It's a long game. If you do all of the hunts and sidequests, not to mention build the ultimate weapons and all the rare game, it's well over 100 hours.
 

Ourobolus

Banned
You would think, but you really don't need multiple white mages, so you're actually losing offensive potential by doing something like this.

Also, having all characters able to access all 3 "swiftness" upgrades is critical for end game. 30% reduction in time between attacks.

Yeah, I get that, I just mean having the ability to have all party members with Curaja to cast when needed is a bit nuts. You'd have to switch up the gambits so they all aren't dedicated healers. WM was just an example.
 

Bluenoser

Member
Yeah, I get that, I just mean having the ability to have all party members with Curaja to cast when needed is a bit nuts. You'd have to switch up the gambits so they all aren't dedicated healers. WM was just an example.

That's the great part, you can play any way you want to. If you want to have 6x black mages or 6x healers, you can. Because of the dual job system, they adjusted enemy difficulty though (from what I've read) so it wouldn't be super easy.
 

OmegaDL50

Member
Yeah, I get that, I just mean having the ability to have all party members with Curaja to cast when needed is a bit nuts. You'd have to switch up the gambits so they all aren't dedicated healers. WM was just an example.

This still poses the problem with abilities locked behind Quickenings and Espers.

Characters sharing multiple classes mean only one character would have access to the quickenings and the abilities locked behind them.

These aren't shared either and are locked to that one character. In your example with White Mages, if you had two White Mages only one character could have three quickenings. Or you'd have to divide it where each character only has two. Also manage the Espers as well. All in all it's not really efficient to have multiple characters sharing classes because of locked out abilities instead of a character getting full benefit for that class alone.
 

Ourobolus

Banned
This still poses the problem with abilities locked behind Quickenings and Espers.

Characters sharing multiple classes mean only one character would have access to the quickenings and the abilities locked behind them.

These aren't shared either and are locked to that one character. In your example with White Mages, if you had two White Mages only one character could have three quickenings. Or you'd have to divide it where each character only has two. Also manage the Espers as well. All in all it's not really efficient to have multiple characters sharing classes because of locked out abilities instead of a character getting full benefit for that class alone.

Ah right, forgot about the way the boards worked with two jobs. nvm. Although with the secondary jobs you should theoretically be able to hit everything just fine (since it was possible in IZJS). I was more thinking along the lines of everyone having different primary jobs but having the same secondary.
 

Link_enfant

Member
So, is it confirmed that the original musics are only available in the collector/steelbook editions and not in the regular one?
 

Isotropy

Member
So, is it confirmed that the original musics are only available in the collector/steelbook editions and not in the regular one?

The regular edition contains the new and original soundtracks. The special edition includes the *CD* soundtrack, which is a slightly more advanced version of the PS2 original. Soo, there's three versions of the score overall.
 

Bluenoser

Member
Interesting.

She did the review for USGamer.

I'm conflicted. On one hand the new Zodiac Grid sounds great.

On the other I LOVED making my characters overpowered as hell.

Interesting, but completely false according to everyone else. I'm not sure why she would say this to be honest. If you read her review on US gamer she says this:

Of special note is the Zodiac Job System, which was introduced in the aforementioned International Zodiac Edition, and can now be enjoyed by Americans for the first time (you can also play with the original board if you want)

http://www.usgamer.net/articles/final-fantasy-xii-the-zodiac-age-review

Like what the hell? Maybe she saw something no one else picked up on? All players who got the game early said they were immediately presented with the new board, no option to choose.
 

ObsidianG

Member
Who wants to start talking about job combinations and esper allocation shall we? ;)
I want to know if you all have any suggestions on the team I'm planning on making.

Group #1
Vaan, Ravager – Shikari/Foebreaker (Zalera, Shemhazai)
Balthier, Gun Mage - Machinist/White Mage (Famfrit, Zodiark)
Fran, Spellsword - Red Battlemage/Bushi (Belias, Cuchulainn, Zeromus, Exodus)

Group #2
Ashe, Paladin – Knight/Time Battlemage (Mateus, Adrammalech, Hashmal)
Basch, Soldier - Uhlan/Archer
Penelo, Wizard - Black Mage/Monk (Chaos, Ultima)

With this setup everyone has access to 3 swiftness and both groups have access to all the breaks. I also tried to keep the jobs consistent with the characters and story. I've also thought about switching Archer and Monk for Penelo and Basch. I love the idea of Penelo being a ranged caster/archer, but giving monk to Basch feels strange to me. I'd feel obligated to give him Chaos which would give him a wide range of spells and for whatever reason I don't really like the idea of Basch casting magic. So this is what I'm settled on right now.

My biggest question is who to give Zalera and Shemhazai to. Zalera gives Vaan +435 hp and it gives Penelo steal/poach. In my group #2 only Basch can steal so would it be worth it to give Penelo an esper just for that? Shemhazai is also difficult for me. It gives Vaan guns 5 and 6 or it gives Fran esuna, cleanse, and shield block 1. What do you all think?

That's a really nice setup! I have three setups planned, unfortunately they are not optimized for access to 3x swiftness or Esper considerations :(. My main limitations were that I wanted to have two distinct squads (Vaan/Basch/Penelo and Ashe/Balthier/Fran) as well as somewhat lore friendly job assignments. For my first playthrough, I will be going with

Vaan: Shikari/Breaker (DPS with access to genji gloves)
Bash: Monk/Archer (Can hit flying Targets, plus it fits the reformed soldier style)
Penelo: Red Battlemage/Time Battlemage (Healer & Buffer of Squad #1)

Ashe: Knight/White Mage (A bit redundant, but she will be the tank/healer of Squad #2)
Balthier: Ulhan/Machinist (Can hit flying targets, late game time magic buffs)
Fran: Bushi/Black Mage (A throwback to the god tier samurais in FFT).
 
I wouldn't say that. Maybe you could say certain themes aren't explored fully, and the first half slightly overinflates your hope for the finale. It doesn't shit itself or anything.

Really it's mostly pacing. You can spend so much time doing side stuff Midgame that you're kinda '...wuzzat?' once the plot resumes.

I'd say the plot sort of lacks that world-threatening element present in every FF. Like, I get why Vayne is a villain, but aside from that I never got the overarching threat to the world. I know it's not a requirement, but it's present in every FF before and after it, so it just felt like the stakes were greatly lessened to me. Does that make any sense?
 
Interesting, but completely false according to everyone else. I'm not sure why she would say this to be honest. If you read her review on US gamer she says this:

Of special note is the Zodiac Job System, which was introduced in the aforementioned International Zodiac Edition, and can now be enjoyed by Americans for the first time (you can also play with the original board if you want)

http://www.usgamer.net/articles/final-fantasy-xii-the-zodiac-age-review

Like what the hell? Maybe she saw something no one else picked up on? All players who got the game early said they were immediately presented with the new board, no option to choose.
Who said it was false? I'll be playing mine in 45 minutes so I'll check it out then.

In all honestly, if it was false, it was probably an oversight from trying to finish the game as quickly as possible for the review.
 

Ricker

Member
Of course there are french or spanish subtitles if you buy the game in countries speaking these languages. OP is probably American :p

I hope so otherwise a lot of people would de upset in Canada...this being a worldwide release to boot,should be added to the otherwise good OT ;)
 

_Ryo_

Member
Would much rather play with the old license board. Fuck restrictions, I wanna be what I wanna be, when I wanna be it! haha
 
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