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Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age - 2017 Spring Trailer

aadiboy

Member
There are new weapons now more powerful then Tournesol.

Yes it has break damage limit. You can deal 50k in one hit. Old version had 9999 cap.
He was talking about the Wyrmhero Blade, which is more of a trophy than the actual strongest weapon of the game.
 
I find it more interesting personally. It's not hard to read either, at least for me.

I don't have a problem with Persona 5's localization but some of the sentence structure in the game had me scratching my head if I was reading it right. Weird how that can happen even if the game isn't attempting some fancy speak.

I don't find it difficult to interpret. I just find it tiresome how it keeps tripping over itself and robbing dialogue of any kind of engaging flow. And it's not like it adds an interesting sub-rosa layer of meaning. Shakespeare this ain't. It's just stylistic window dressing.

That said, I'll still take FF XII's localization over P5's, for sure!
 
Everytime I see cutscenes from this game it's a pleasure... the dialogue is like silk that never wears.

Judge Bergan and Marquis Ondore in particular I think I'll never tire of watching their words dance.
I absolutely love that the trailer begins with the sound of Ashe breathing. So true to the game.
Yeah the game used gasps of breath or darting eyes to pretty great effect.

A lot of the parallel development of Ashe and Vaan's similar delusions of grander as coping mechanism are portrayed by just quickened breaths or gritted teeth.
esEo2hWo.gif

The cutscene directors did wonders with emotion nuance.

Ashe and Vaan in particular at the Ridorana Cataract is probably one of the most important, but it serves so much of the charm of the story, too, like the Balthier 'ah' above or the way Vaan is caught staring at Fran but then darts his eyes ... and those eyes dart and then hold once he gains his composure.

It's really well done and I think the game doesn't get enough credit for its cutscene directing. Even the way the game often uses Vaan, Penelo, and Larsa as background symbolism. Engaged in jokes or play in the background, they serve as a symbol of 'what they're fighting for' against the foreground of Basch and Ashe discussing that precise thing -- what they're fighting for. The same symbolism is used with Ashe and Balthier at Phon Coast.

It sort of helps justify Vaan and Penelo, too, as storytelling vehicles for Ashe's story and her main personal conflict 'what she's fighting for.' And, how she also uses that to delusion to cope with her loss of her husband, the same way Vaan uses his sky pirate delusions of grandeur to cope with the loss of his brother. Which then in turn, when Vaan finally realizes he's been using his delusions of grandeur as a coping mechanism at Ridorana, that's when Ashe realizes it, too. It's Ashe's story but Vaan helps her rather critically through it.
 
Just played the demo at GameStop. It was fun! But it took some getting used to. Also I got lost. But that's what makes it special!

I can't wait!
 

aadiboy

Member
It's really well done and I think the game doesn't get enough credit for its cutscene directing. Even the way the game often uses Vaan, Penelo, and Larsa as background symbolism. Engaged in jokes or play in the background, they serve as a symbol of 'what they're fighting for' against the foreground of Basch and Ashe discussing that precise thing -- what they're fighting for. The same symbolism is used with Ashe and Balthier at Phon Coast.
Oh wow...I never realized that. That symbolism is pretty amazing.

Also, I would say Vaan had a similar sincere conversation with Ashe way earlier in the game, at Jahara. He opens up about how he dreamed of becoming sky pirate because he felt so hopeless and alone after his brother died. From that scene we gain insight into Vaan's thoughts and reason for joining the party

Honestly, I feel like people who fault the game's storyline or cast either didn't pay attention or are parroting what others have said. Claims of Vaan "having no purpose" ring hollow when you actually, you know, play the game. Every character has a purpose, whether big or small.
 

duckroll

Member
It's really well done and I think the game doesn't get enough credit for its cutscene directing.

Jun Akiyama is the greatest event director at Square Enix and I think people who pay attention to that stuff give him tons of credit. I mean... we're talking about the guy who made Vagrant Story look the way it does.

There's also a huge gulf in direction quality between the realtime cutscenes in FFXII and the CG FMV (done by Visualworks).
 

MartyStu

Member
Oh wow...I never realized that. That symbolism is pretty amazing.

Also, I would say Vaan had a similar sincere conversation with Ashe way earlier in the game, at Jahara. He opens up about how he dreamed of becoming sky pirate because he felt so hopeless and alone after his brother died. From that scene we gain insight into Vaan's thoughts and reason for joining the party

Honestly, I feel like people who fault the game's storyline or cast either didn't pay attention or are parroting what others have said. Claims of Vaan "having no purpose" ring hollow when you actually, you know, play the game. Every character has a purpose, whether big or small.

No, these criticisms actually DO have grounds. The issues are just not as egregious as some detractors suggest. Especially since people miss many of the nuances that mitigate some of the larger blunders.
 

Jennipeg

Member
No, these criticisms actually DO have grounds. The issues are just not as egregious as some detractors suggest. Especially since people miss many of the nuances that mitigate some of the larger blunders.

Yeah I agree, I love the story and characters in XII, but I don't see much point in Vaan. I don't hate the kid, he's just there. I feel like the themes of loss and ambition are better realised in the other characters. It makes Vaan feel a bit redundant, and at times he is just muscling in on Ashe's story arc. The whole 'you see him too' with
Rasler
annoyed me, that is Ashe's thing, why does Vaan have to be involved in any of that? Its probably a bigger issue for me because he is supposed to be the main character. If he was just a side character like Penelo, I wouldn't have much to say about him. I like Penelo's relationship with Larsa, thats fine for a minor character.
 

Valonquar

Member
The biggest complaint I had with FFXII is you don't really ever go after the Occuria that were the ones pulling the strings. You have that one scene up in the heavens, and then never go back.
 
Jun Akiyama is the greatest event director at Square Enix and I think people who pay attention to that stuff give him tons of credit. I mean... we're talking about the guy who made Vagrant Story look the way it does.

There's also a huge gulf in direction quality between the realtime cutscenes in FFXII and the CG FMV (done by Visualworks).
Yeah. He also did fantastic work on Final Fantasy Tactics (which got a lot of storytelling accomplished with VERY blunt tools) and the original Kingdom Hearts.

I'd really love to see him get some more high-profile work on FF or KH again soon. He's brilliant.

The biggest complaint I had with FFXII is you don't really ever go after the Occuria that were the ones pulling the strings. You have that one scene up in the heavens, and then never go back.

You destroy the source of their power and their sole means of influence over history (because Venat, who's basically the Lucifer figure, manipulates you into it). At the end of the game, the false-god Occuria are done for and humanity is free (from them, anyway).
 

Foxxsoxx

Member
Really getting hyped reading about all of the great changes to the game.

- Zodiac Job System - Check
- Camera Control Issue Fixed - Check

If they would only make it so that the party leader was the person I controlled in each citiy instead of Vaan, this would be the greatest remaster of all time for me.

Right?

I don't mind Vaan being in the story but I sure as hell don't want to play as him the entirety of the game Q_Q
 

Squire

Banned
So now that we know you get two classes per character and you can use multiples of the same class, anyone have build ideas/tips?
 

Sillverrr

Member
Enjoy reading your impressions, but I hate watching trailers for anything more than a month out. This game was an astounding technical achievement on PS2. Just look at it through a PC emulator; gorgeous. Can't wait for the proper remaster.
 
So now that we know you get two classes per character and you can use multiples of the same class, anyone have build ideas/tips?

We don't really know what's going to work best in practice, but the early consensus seems to be that crossing Red Mage or Breaker with literally any other class will be tremendously good.
 

Jennipeg

Member
Yeah. He also did fantastic work on Final Fantasy Tactics (which got a lot of storytelling accomplished with VERY blunt tools) and the original Kingdom Hearts.

I'd really love to see him get some more high-profile work on FF or KH again soon. He's brilliant.



You destroy the source of their power and their sole means of influence over history (because Venat, who's basically the Lucifer figure, manipulates you into it). At the end of the game, the false-god Occuria are done for and humanity is free (from them, anyway).

This is because
we destroyed the sun cryst
isn't it? So they still exist, but are powerless for the time being. I guess they could devise another plan in a few hundred years.

Since XII came out, I've played a few games with similar themes, and they always defeat those pesky Gods. I actually like that it doesn't happen that way in XII.

I'm listening to the soundtrack while I work, and I forgot how good it is.
 

Rad-

Member
So now that we know you get two classes per character and you can use multiples of the same class, anyone have build ideas/tips?

Considering how useful magic will be this time around a combo of (for example)

White Mage - ???
Black Mage - ???
Red Mage - ???

will make the game easy peasy. ??? can be nearly anything as long as you have breaks because as the name says they break the game (they work against optional bosses).
 

LordKasual

Banned
Jun Akiyama is the greatest event director at Square Enix and I think people who pay attention to that stuff give him tons of credit.

I wish he'd do literally every game.

12's cutscenes were rewards in ways that no other FF game's cutscenes have been in a long time
 
My headcanon for the town sections was, Vaan was like the mule the others would send around the towns to buy supplies and do errands, while the rest chill out at an inn or something.
 
It had one, two technically.

Really the biggest unexplored event in Ivalice lore is when The Lucavi betray the Occuria and go to war with them but that would just be another prequel

It's not 100% clear that the gods the Lucavi/Espers rebelled against were the Occuria or something else, honestly. But yeah, I'd seriously love to see that, and I'd love to see what's up with the 'scions of light' corresponding to each of the dark scions/Lucavi - especially to find out who the scion of darkness is that corresponds to Ultima, the fallen angel and former scion of light.
 

Squire

Banned
Considering how useful magic will be this time around a combo of (for example)

White Mage - ???
Black Mage - ???
Red Mage - ???

will make the game easy peasy. ??? can be nearly anything as long as you have breaks because as the name says they break the game (they work against optional bosses).

Wait, what? It's literally called "Breaker" because it's a broken class?

I wish he'd do literally every game.

12's cutscenes were rewards in ways that no other FF game's cutscenes have been in a long time

Best event director. It's crazy he isn't the standard.

I've wanted a "proper" FFXII-2 for so damn long.

I'm not really one for the "the next FF should be like this old FF" line of thought, but I've always felt if there was one that set a strong template for how to handle the series going forward, it was XII.
 

shark sandwich

tenuously links anime, pedophile and incels
Wait, what? It's literally called "Breaker" because it's a broken class?
.
I don't know about broken, but definitely one of the best classes. Huge (albeit random) damage, all breaks, shields, and good ranged attacks with the hand bombs. I used Monk/Samurai/Breaker as my 3 physical fighters in IZJS, and Breaker was the clear leader in damage dealing ability and overall usefulness.
 

aadiboy

Member
If there's any FF that deserves a true, full-blown sequel, it's XII. There's so much left to do in Ivalice, so many new places to explore and plot points to cover. Compare that with X, where you literally can't squeeze anything more out of Spira, but they decided to make X-2 anyway.
 

Slater

Banned
Best event director. It's crazy he isn't the standard.

I'll never understand how Nomura is capable of making secret movies and trailers on Kojima's level, good enough to spawn a culty fanbase for a character who literally never did anything, and yet without Akiyama KH cut scenes have all been substandard sense after 1.

Makes no sense.
 

Squire

Banned
I don't know about broken, but definitely one of the best classes. Huge (albeit random) damage, all breaks, shields, and good ranged attacks with the hand bombs. I used Monk/Samurai/Breaker as my 3 physical fighters in IZJS, and Breaker was the clear leader in damage dealing ability and overall usefulness.

Ah, I understand. I really want to make Ashe a Samurai. Perhaps Basch will be my Breaker?

If there's any FF that deserves a true, full-blown sequel, it's XII. There's so much left to do in Ivalice, so many new places to explore and plot points to cover. Compare that with X, where you literally can't squeeze anything more out of Spira, but they decided to make X-2 anyway.

To be fair, this was also years before XII even came out.

They really should use Ivalice for another game of some sort though.

I'll never understand how Nomura is capable of making secret movies and trailers on Kojima's level, good enough to spawn a culty fanbase for a character who literally never did anything, and yet without Akiyama KH cut scenes have all been substandard sense after 1.

Makes no sense.

Yeah, it's a really weird. Toriyama is an even better comparison. Guy got to direct a mainline FF + sequels, while we hardly even hear from Akiyama.

And yet, Akiyama is better at everything Toriyama does lol
 

Allard

Member
If there's any FF that deserves a true, full-blown sequel, it's XII. There's so much left to do in Ivalice, so many new places to explore and plot points to cover. Compare that with X, where you literally can't squeeze anything more out of Spira, but they decided to make X-2 anyway.

Probably the closest thing to a sequel/expansion for Ivalice is coming later this year in FFXIV, although we got no idea just how extensive it is going to be. Matsuno is directing 3 story raids based on returning to Ivalice and the director of the game Yoshida hinted it was likely more then a simple homage (but also seemed to hint that it might take more from FFT then FFXII :p). If that gets decent press and FFXII remaster gets decent sales it might convince SE to give Matsuno another shot at making another Ivalice game proper.
 

shark sandwich

tenuously links anime, pedophile and incels
Ah, I understand. I really want to make Ashe a Samurai. Perhaps Basch will be my Breaker?
I did exactly this. But to be honest I was really disappointed with Samurai. She was pretty good at doing melee damage (but not as good as Breaker), and pretty much useless at everything else. Shades of Black <<< Hand Bombs for ranged damage. And she has little to offer in terms of support abilities or tanking.

Maybe in Zodiac Age you can pair Samurai with a job that gives her some more utility.

Personally I'm planning to main:
Time Mage/Monk: time magic, high speed, light or heavy armor, some white magic, physical breaks, ranged and melee weapons

Knight/Archer: high speed, magic breaks, light or heavy armor, some white magic, shields, melee and ranged weapons, all item lores

Red Mage/Black Mage: oil, ardor, fire-boosting staff

Also thinking of doing White Mage/Hunter to make a drain-based tank.
 

Squire

Banned
I did exactly this. But to be honest I was really disappointed with Samurai. She was pretty good at doing melee damage (but not as good as Breaker), and pretty much useless at everything else. Shades of Black <<< Hand Bombs for ranged damage. And she has little to offer in terms of support abilities or tanking.

Maybe in Zodiac Age you can pair Samurai with a job that gives her some more utility.

Personally I'm planning to main:
Time Mage/Monk: time magic, high speed, light or heavy armor, some white magic, physical breaks, ranged and melee weapons

Knight/Archer: high speed, magic breaks, light or heavy armor, some white magic, shields, melee and ranged weapons, all item lores

Red Mage/Black Mage: oil, ardor, fire-boosting staff

Also thinking of doing White Mage/Hunter to make a drain-based tank.

This stuff almost makes my head spin. @.@

I haven't played this game since launch and I've never played the IZJS version st all.
 

shark sandwich

tenuously links anime, pedophile and incels
This stuff almost makes my head spin. @.@

I haven't played this game since launch and I've never played the IZJS version st all.
My favorite part of RPGs is toying with character and party builds and coming up with borderline game-breaking combos :) But just about any combo will be viable so you can certainly go with whatever sounds the coolest.
 

Rad-

Member
Ah, I understand. I really want to make Ashe a Samurai. Perhaps Basch will be my Breaker?

If you want to optimize jobs then Basch actually makes the worst Breaker because of his low VIT stat (Breaker weapons use VIT in damage calculations). Now does this really matter? Not really because the damage difference won't be game changing. But just a tip if you want to min/max a bit.
 

AndersK

Member
It makes me mad that bows use STR as status. The game needs a DEX status.

Yeah, it's always felt weird. And the fact that Fran and Balthier are the worst (arguably) at bows and guns due to an inherent animation delay. Penelo shoots faster, as does anyone else.
 

shark sandwich

tenuously links anime, pedophile and incels
I previously said that Samurai was a disappointment in IZJS. But I'm thinking Samurai + Monk could be the most powerful combo in Zodiac Age.

Katanas are based on both magic and physical attack. Samurai gets 14 magic lores but only 8 battle lores. Monk gets a whopping 16 battle lores. So he would greatly increase Samurai's damage potential.

Meanwhile Monk can unlock all the best White magic, but has zero magic lores and wears light armor. With all of Samurai's magic lores + mystic armor, he can be almost as good as dedicated white Mage in terms of healing ability.
 
Voice sound better at least...but I'm not sure by how much.

edit: The Japanese voice acting has much better audio quality. Welp, I guess nobody at Squeenix gave a fuck about properly storing the original English audio tapes or whatever.

The original English dialogue was poorly recorded and that can never be fixed at this point without finding everyone and re-recording it.

I'll just use the JP dialogue anyways, it's how I originally played through the game back in the day as an imported title. Without being able to read a word of Japanese. I still don't know how I finished the entire game that way to this day.
 

shark sandwich

tenuously links anime, pedophile and incels
To be fair I did not do the harder optional hunts, but my IZJS team had samurai Ashe and she did a ton of damage. Very good character.
I had Ashe as Samurai and Basch as Breaker. Basch was doing more damage, plus had better defense, more HP, great evasion thanks to shields, and much better ranged damage (with hand bombs vs samurai's shades of black). Plus all the breaks of course.

I chose monk/Samurai/breaker as my 3 physical fighters, and breaker was easily the best IMO.
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
I had Ashe as Samurai and Basch as Breaker. Basch was doing more damage, plus had better defense, more HP, great evasion thanks to shields, and much better ranged damage (with hand bombs vs samurai's shades of black). Plus all the breaks of course.

I chose monk/Samurai/breaker as my 3 physical fighters, and breaker was easily the best IMO.

I had Basche as knight. I'll give Breaker a chance for zodiac age.
 

Godcannon

Member
That moment you realize you did everything except beat the secret boss, and that you pre-ordered the steelbook a few weeks ago.

Aw yiss.
 

shark sandwich

tenuously links anime, pedophile and incels
I had Basche as knight. I'll give Breaker a chance for zodiac age.
Breaker is pretty badass. I'm trying to think of what to pair it with. Maybe Time Mage for easier 3x swiftness, poach, steal, time magic + green magic. Or maybe Hunter if you want to use ninja swords with genji equipment (they have even better combo rates than Katanas in IZJS IIRC).
 
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