So did anyone end up with FF XII the Zodiac Age?

[Tanooki]

It was the last decent item I got with a 20% knockoff from Amazon awhile back. Sadly my week has been tiring busy crap so it still only sits in the system understarted. Outside of monthly pay or lose it MMO trash it was the only game of the main line I hadn't touched and I've been very curious about it.

 

Is anyone else playing this or looking to, and is it your first time too? I liked the preview I saw of the no random battles, that was a big plus.

[digdugnate]

i kinda touched on this in another thread, but i picked FFXII up for my wife's birthday. she absolutely loves it on the Switch and has shown me some of the gameplay- it looks pretty good! I think she's sunk 5-6 hours into it.

 

she has fond memories of playing FFXII all night while taking care of our not-sleeping infant daughter in 2006, lol.

[Tanooki]

I wish I had such a good start, I think I kind of semi-screwed myself so I'm going to have to go reset my licenses and grind a little as I'm getting manhandled after going into job #2 after the tomato. I wish the game had some kind of lock on auto camera fo what you attack since it fakes live combat while still being turn based.

[digdugnate]

I wish I had such a good start, I think I kind of semi-screwed myself so I'm going to have to go reset my licenses and grind a little as I'm getting manhandled after going into job #2 after the tomato. I wish the game had some kind of lock on auto camera fo what you attack since it fakes live combat while still being turn based.

my wife just nodded emphatically about the camera, lol.

 

On a different note, I just started over my FFX game after 52 hours in because I realized I missed a bunch of stuff. Yeah- I could bang my head against the final boss but why do so unnecessarily when I could just play through and get the items the first time?

[Tanooki]

I'll never play FF10 again, I tried once, but then I realized I forgot something that put me off it years earlier, very very late in the game they change how to play against bosses. You go from being able to use a myriad of characters and various possible attack strategies for like 85% of the entire game, and then when you hit that back end of a field with a stone golem boss before the zanarkand area it turns into a sadists Simon Says match. You must attack with this person, this skill, this order, or it whips out some horrid hits. A great way to sell strategy guides and take a fun experience and make it infuriating, especially if the random player hit with this doesn't happen to have the right party and sphere system upgrades in place because then it's stuck for hours in grinders hell unable to progress.

[digdugnate]

i absolutely agree. my other beef is 'unskippable cut scenes'- if you're having trouble with a boss, the last thing you want to do is watch the 10 minute movie EVERY TIME you fight it lol

[Lord Thag]

I picked it up. This was one of the few Final Fantasy games I've liked. It reminds me of Phantasy Star IV a bit where you can program your team to act/respond through macros. That, combined with being able to actually see all the enemies and your party being able to auto fight them, well, it removed my main objection to these jrpg games: the endless, tedious, random combat grinding. I hate it. And XII made it bearable, and allowed me to enjoy the story. Unfortunately, back in the day, my PS2 died before I completed it.

Looking forward to playing through it on the switch.

[Tanooki]

I'm coming to realize that. I got about 4-5 hours into it so far, finally have a working team and gambits too. I recently was in that sewer space and then got arrested but I'm working my way out and popped a save game by some little merchant in the underground. I'll try and do a little shortly but it's getting late.

[digdugnate]

i actually still have my PS2 FFXII BradyGames guide so I might use that when I play through. I remember having some troubles with the sewer part, but that's been a long time ago.

[Tanooki]

i actually still have my PS2 FFXII BradyGames guide so I might use that when I play through. I remember having some troubles with the sewer part, but that's been a long time ago.

I've been keeping an eye out for that at half price books locally but with no luck for weeks now as I knew the game was going to arrive. I know it's not 100% the same as Zodiac Age but the primary information and especially the printed color maps are all I really want anyway. I don't need it to tell me everything to do, I just don't want to waste the limited time I have going to places I have little to no use for if it will save me the headache.

[digdugnate]

yup! and as near as i can tell the Hunt info is still pertinent along with some of the monster level info. My wife says so far that there's still useful stuff in the guide.

 

One thing worth noting is that there's an item called the Zodiac Spear that's now easier to get. Before there were certain chests that you couldn't open at different parts in the game to get it.

 

Who thought that was a good idea? :/

[PeteE]

One thing worth noting is that there's an item called the Zodiac Spear that's now easier to get. Before there were certain chests that you couldn't open at different parts in the game to get it.

 

Who thought that was a good idea? :/

The strategy guide publisher certainly did.

[Tanooki]

You got that right, I saw something about that spear being easier but wrote off easier since it wasn't my problem. What blows though is the ZA version of the guide is out of print and with the re-release of it the price is into scumbag territory with the posted BINs on ebay I noticed. I'll handle the original guide just fine for maps.

 

Square was and still is since the PS2 era notorious for doing bad stuff to their FF games and others I've noticed to seemingly sell off $30 guide books. FF10 was a great example because up until the end of that prairie before Zanarkand you have this big golem boss at the back end where things went bad. Before that like a classic FF game you could slug it out and use various strategies to take down a boss. That Golem though if you didn't use the right swapped in players with the sphere system set to a specific set a skills it would effectively kick your ass into an unwinnable fight which was Simon says like swift death or a slow grind into running out of the ability to recover. The guide I checked at a store confirmed that, later scans reminded me of it too. Games since then they did the same garbage, even bastardized re-releases like FF4 on the DS which infuriated me (series favorite) where even some random monsters in deeper dungeons would one shot kill you as will any boss if you don't attack using the right person, right skill, and at the right timed moment. There's no fun in that, and clearly a way to sell paper guides. Enix even after going into Square-Enix has had the class not to do that with Dragon Quest. So knowing I can't trust Square, I'll get a FF12 guide so I don't end up getting furious over time wasting.

[boxpressed]

Is there any difference between the PS4 and Switch versions? I also have a Vita and can do remote play with the PS4, but the experience is not great.

[digdugnate]

as near as I can tell the PS4 and Switch versions of FFXII are identical (which the exception of what the buttons are labelled. )

[Tanooki]

That's what I've been seeing too as there's no advantage really between the two other than I would imagine how you want your experience. They probably even being optical in one case should load up more or less in about the same general time space, so it would come down to what do you find more comfortable, and would you like it to be portable at any time.

[boxpressed]

Thanks for the advice. I'll probably pay double for the Switch version then. It's convenient to grind when you're not parked in front of the TV.

[Tanooki]

I've gone between playing either way so far depending on my mood at the the time and it visually appears seamless considering the TV is 1080 and the handheld mode with the far smaller panel at 720 doesn't look worse for it.