FFXII: The Zodiac Age changes and additions: what's new in this Ivalice remaster?

KyanMehwulfe said:
Early on probably feels like it's mostly just about weapon and armor types, or magic types.

It is mostly about that later, too, but also about how many Augments you get. e.g. Battle Lore up to 9 or up to 15.

The big differentiation now comes from the secondary Job, and sort of mix-matching those things... Do you want your Machinist or Shikari to get access to Mystic Armor, for example, so you can wear robes that match the element of your weapon. Or, do you want to make sure you get up to at least Battle Lore 12 or 13 instead of just Battle Lore 6. Do you want your Red Mage, who gets Ardor, to get access to a Flame Staff, or do you want to use Red Mage to give your Foebreaker access to Lordly Robes.

Sort of turned the game into an [optional*] min-maxing theorycrafter. *I say optional because it's mostly not required, and is mostly to either perfect your endgame or for the Trials and especially the NewGame+ Weak Mode.
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Ah! Ok, yeah that actually makes a whole lot of sense, and after looking up various class combos, I can see who obsessive it can get for those that want a very specific type of build. Definitely not a min/maxer so for me that stuff probably won't matter all that much, but I am excited to unlock the second license board for everybody.

Also, I must say that the 2x and 4x toggle is a GODSEND. Makes grinding super easy, and fun at 4x, since at that point you're just running around the map and quickly killing things for LP. And map traversal I found 2x to be the sweet spot, since you get better control of your character. I tried exploring at 4x and navigating through narrow corridors or up staircases is a nightmare.
 
One thing I never got - what's up with the off-centre cutscenes in XII? With the big black bar at the bottom and the thin one at the top? And why is it still in the remaster?

I feel like somebody suggested it was to give a place for the subtitles, but that makes absolutely zero sense, and I've never seen any other game do it...
 
Isotropy said:
One thing I never got - what's up with the off-centre cutscenes in XII? With the big black bar at the bottom and the thin one at the top? And why is it still in the remaster?

I feel like somebody suggested it was to give a place for the subtitles, but that makes absolutely zero sense, and I've never seen any other game do it...
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its for the subtitles, yes. and i've seen it done before, yes. for subtitle clarity.

Although i think i remember the original spilling over the black line anyway when there were more lines of text at a time so .. lol
 
Isotropy said:
One thing I never got - what's up with the off-centre cutscenes in XII? With the big black bar at the bottom and the thin one at the top? And why is it still in the remaster?

I feel like somebody suggested it was to give a place for the subtitles, but that makes absolutely zero sense, and I've never seen any other game do it...
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MGS2 and MGS3 also had this lopsided letterbox format, the remasters let you choose fullscreen 16:9 for cutscenes.
 
Blitzhex said:
Oh, no. It's in 1080p in the first pic and 4k in the second pic here, restarted the game between screenshots. Smaller file size one is 1080.
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Thanks for these images, can you set screenshots to 1080p and switch between 1080p output and 4K display output? Might be easier to see if supersampling is in there
 
Going to do something different from my usual Panelo and Fran as healers, Basch and Ashe as tanks this time. Will still use Ashe the most though <3
 
duckroll said:
I have been trying to investigate this for a while now and I believe this is a really weird misunderstanding/poorly communicated extra feature. The game includes a toggle between the re-recorded new orchestrated arrangement soundtrack (with new tracks) and the old original game soundtrack. This is not DLC in any way.

What seems to be offered as a preorder incentive though, is a DLC that allows you to use the original soundtrack as custom soundtrack in the game. Presumably replacing the BGM with whatever other track you want. In fact, the Japanese site lists the DLC as "Custom BGM Product Code".
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The "DLC" adds a third selectable soundtrack to the game which is the original PS2 CD soundtrack. The "original" which is already included in the base game is how the music sounds like when run on the PS2 sound chip. The wording in the English/Japanese product descriptions are kind of...bad.

Kato did a short explanation and showed it during the second Japanese live stream.

https://youtu.be/rPtkNFv2aeI?t=3907 (timestamp around 1:05:30 if link doesn't work)

Edit: spellings etc
 
Netto-kun said:
The "DLC" adds a third selectable soundtrack to the game which is the original PS2 CD soundtrack. The original which is already included in the base game is how the music sounds like when run on the PS2 chip. The wording in the production English/Japanese descriptions are kind of...bad.

Kato did a short explanation and showed it during the second Japanese live stream.

https://youtu.be/rPtkNFv2aeI?t=3907 (timestamp around 1:05:30 if link doesn't work)
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Whoa. What vendor is that preorder bonus for?
 
Netto-kun said:
The "DLC" adds a third selectable soundtrack to the game which is the original PS2 CD soundtrack. The "original" which is already included in the base game is how the music sounds like when run on the PS2 sound chip. The wording in the production English/Japanese descriptions are kind of...bad.

Kato did a short explanation and showed it during the second Japanese live stream.

https://youtu.be/rPtkNFv2aeI?t=3907 (timestamp around 1:05:30 if link doesn't work)
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PS2 CD? You mean the original orchestra soundtrack or?
 
FlutterPuffs said:
PS2 CD? You mean the original orchestra soundtrack or?
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Sorry, bad wording from me (I kind of did it automatically because TZA is getting its own CD/blu-ray soundtrack). Yes, I am talking about the original soundtrack that was released on CD.

Basically:
BocoDragon said:
Yeah, the PS2 sounded like an approximation of the CD version using lower-quality samples.

It does make sense that you'd want the original 2006 version, but the best version, not the PS2 approximation. Or vice verca.
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No downsampling

Liabe Brave said:
Thanks for the shots! I'd like to give you better news, but I'm pretty sure there's no downsampling. Also, the high-res version seems to be rendering at 1440p; I got a couple larger counts as well, but nothing cleanly divisible. The relatively slight difference between 1080p and 1440p often leads to this difficulty, so I wouldn't put much confidence in the slight variability of my results. The lower number is much more likely.
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Fuck you Square Enix
 
I forgot this game was coming out and that I had pre-ordered it already. I am super stoked. I never beat FFXII, and I lost my save files on my PS3 when it broke. I was only about 30 hours into it. Sounds like this is going to be the best version to play.
 
Berordn said:
How in the world is auto saving a casual feature. It's a quality of life change moreso than anything.
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Seriously. I don't understand these types of gripes.

I lost an hour of progress in Persona 5 the other day because one of the Palaces I was in had a huge stretch between save points, and I got some bad luck RNG with the combat, and they killed my leader. An autosave function would have been greatly appreciated then. That actually happened a few times during my playthrough. My game time is limited, so I hate having to redo an hour's worth of progress because of a lack of auto save or even manual saving anywhere. I adored Persona 5, but I wouldn't have complained if Atlus decided to implement at the least an auto-save functionality when you enter a new area at least.
 
MistaBowaa said:
Is the Steelbook version supposed to be the same price as regular? My Amazon order (US) shows $53 after tax. It doesn't look like they applied the Prime preorder discount.

Is this the same for everyone else? My Prime hasn't lapsed in the 10+ years I've had it.
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TheChocoboCadet said:
I could have sworn when I pre-ordered the steelbook it applied the discount, but I just checked and it says $49.99 in the open orders section. There's no reason the discount shouldn't apply. I'd keep my eye on that and maybe contact customer service if they end up charging full price.
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Meowster said:
My steelbook order on Amazon is the same prize and my Prime is still current.
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Just chatted with an Amazon rep via Chat Support and they're having someone from the Promo and Marketing team adjust the price down by 20%. If anyone else didn't get the Amazon Pre-Order discount applied, I recommend you give them a shout before your item ships.
 
Netto-kun said:
The "DLC" adds a third selectable soundtrack to the game which is the original PS2 CD soundtrack. The "original" which is already included in the base game is how the music sounds like when run on the PS2 sound chip. The wording in the English/Japanese product descriptions are kind of...bad.

Kato did a short explanation and showed it during the second Japanese live stream.

https://youtu.be/rPtkNFv2aeI?t=3907 (timestamp around 1:05:30 if link doesn't work)

Edit: spellings etc
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks so much for the clarification. This is definitely very poorly communicated by S-E. :)
 
Preordered mine on PSN store since I'm not a fan of steelbooks. Hopefully the preorder theme will be something more than a simple picture with no background music.
 
You know, for such a big event franchise in my life, there are just some Final Fantasy's that just completely go off the radar for me.
 
I won't be using the fast forward much, but it will be nice for getting those holy crystals in nabudis, that shit can take hours
 
kromeo said:
I won't be using the fast forward much, but it will be nice for getting those holy crystals in nabudis, that shit can take hours
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You know, I thought that too, but damn it's such a huge QOL improvement. I always tell myself, "Now I'll explore this area without using the fast forward" But as soon as battles start happening, I turn that right back on.
 
the IZJS changes sound like they will fix exactly what I took umbrage with in the first game; the license board.

So when you pick your jobs now, are certain characters more predisposed to be better at any of the jobs, or are you pretty much just picking at random and then similar for the second jobs to make sure you have all 12 covered?
 
I heard this has 3D models in the bestiary, is that new or have those been im IZJS already?
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Is that a new change?
 
RedlineRonin said:
the IZJS changes sound like they will fix exactly what I took umbrage with in the first game; the license board.

So when you pick your jobs now, are certain characters more predisposed to be better at any of the jobs, or are you pretty much just picking at random and then similar for the second jobs to make sure you have all 12 covered?
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From what I've been reading, there are characters that are suited better for certain jobs. For example, Balthier is a good white mage of all things, and Ashe is apparently a great Bushi. Here is a useful link that gives you good class combos
 
Listonosh said:
From what I've been reading, there are characters that are suited better for certain jobs. For example, Balthier is a good white mage of all things, and Ashe is apparently a great Bushi. Here is a useful link that gives you good class combos
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Cool, thanks for sharing.

After a quick skim, it looks like this will 100% address what I didn't like about the game the first go round.

Now, to patiently wait for the PC port.....
 
Clown_im_OP said:
Fran sucks at everything :(
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Hah! I decided to do Archer/Red Mage for her. I just couldn't picture her not using her bow. Even though I made Balthier my white mage, which is still super weird, he's going to be Machinist when I get the second job, so at least he'll have access to guns.

But in the end, like someone explained to me earlier, you only really have to carefully plan out character and class combos if you're planning on min/maxing, which is something I just don't personally have time or patience for. I think you can still play the game any way you want with any character/class combo and still be fine.
 
Good to remember these two parts of the GameFAQs thread:

- These jobs were all originally designed to stand on their own. So there is really no such thing as a bad combination, just a sub-optimal one. Even the worst combos will be very strong.
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and (on which characters to give which jobs):

Overall though, the [base stat] differences aren't that huge. So you can certainly just pick whomever looks coolest with a given weapon.
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So yeah, no need to stress it. If you want some tips without outright getting "spoiled" on the best job combinations, read the "general considerations" part of the third post.

I'm trying to decide whether I want to do one blind main quest playthrough without looking at guides at all and then a 100%-ish run with perfect job combinations and a guide at hand at all times, or just do the latter right away. I've played IZJS a lot already anyway, it's not like it's really that much of a new experience for me.
 
Base stat differences aren't big but combo speeds can vary noticeably. Combo heavy weapons are Katana, Ninja Sword and Pole so the following only applies to these weapons. The best Hammer is also okay in comboing.

Basch works well with every combo heavy weapon. Balthier goes with everything else except Poles. Ashe is even worse with Poles and not really great with anything combo heavy except Hammers. Penelo is bad with everything else except Ninja Swords where she is actually the fastest. Vaan is about average-ish with everything except Hammers where he is the second slowest. Fran is the quickest with Poles but not great with anything else.

This youtube video can be helpful if you want to compare combo speeds and also see which character has the best animations with certain weapons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pJn96BXo8Y If you want to see how much it can affect then for example check Penelo's combo animation with Axes and Hammers and then watch Basch's combo animation with the same weapon type. Quite the difference in speed.

Ashe used to be considered the best Bushi but she isn't. Slow combo speed and now in TZA Cure has been nerfed to be single target only. In IZJS it was AoE so it made Ashe's innate Cure a lot better.

Fran sucks at everything :(
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Fran makes a very good Monk/Bushi (for example). Best combo speed with Poles, use Genji Gloves to boost combo chance higher, can still achieve 99 STR and 99 MAG with end game armors, Focus + Adrenaline, max swiftness licenses, can cast self Bravery, end game heals. Physical powerhouse with some supportive White Magic.
 
Rad- said:
Fran makes a very good Monk/Bushi (for example). Best combo speed with Poles, use Genji Gloves to boost combo chance higher, can still achieve 99 STR and 99 MAG with end game armors, Focus + Adrenaline, max swiftness licenses, can cast self Bravery, end game heals. Physical powerhouse with some supportive White Magic.
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I retract my statement. But man these decisions are gonna be tough lol.


The SE EU-store shipped my Collector's Edition, should arrive on release day. I was having second thoughts about these obscenely overpriced pieces of plastic, but by now hype has reached max level again.
tattoo-spell-check-8uuu2g.jpg
 
So obviously the music has been remastered as well, but...
I may be one of the few people in the universe who prefers the original composition.

Although, I'm pretty bummed because I wanted the game digitally but only the steelbook version comes with the in-game PS2 OST option.
Would anybody give/sell their code to me??
 
RetroReid said:
So obviously the music has been remastered as well, but...
I may be one of the few people in the universe who prefers the original composition.

Although, I'm pretty bummed because I wanted the game digitally but only the steelbook version comes with the in-game PS2 OST option.
Would anybody give/sell their code to me??
Click to expand...

Wait, what? Is that true?
 
So it's only different if I didn't played the the Zodiac Job version.
It wasn't clear at first so I was expecting a 3rd version.
 
I wasn't a fan of the FFX HD OST, but in this case it's a massive upgrade imo. Sakimoto's style is absolutely perfect for live orchestras.
 
RetroReid said:
So obviously the music has been remastered as well, but...
I may be one of the few people in the universe who prefers the original composition.

Although, I'm pretty bummed because I wanted the game digitally but only the steelbook version comes with the in-game PS2 OST option.
Would anybody give/sell their code to me??
Click to expand...

All versions come with the music form the ps2 release, the steelbook comes with the option to use the music from the soundtrack CD
 
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