HD version?

[rowe]

I'll take a high def version of XII, the International Zodiac Job System (IZJS) version. Sure, why not add some Revenant Wings in there, too, as a fun little addition. (I think it's better to keep it on handhelds, though.)

Thoughts on this? Any new additions/changes you'd like to see?

 

[Sheechiibii]

I'd love this. The Zodiac Job System sounds pretty awesome. And I don't own a hand-held or I would have played Revenant Wings. So I'd love for them to do what they did with X and somehow put them together though I know that's very unlikely. I would want updated graphics purely to fix whatever went wrong with Vaan's abs to be honest, because how on earth did they even happen?

 

[AuronX]

Honestly I'd be more excited about FFXII in HD than FFX. I love both, but XII was about as close to the perfect JRPG as I've seen. Great balance of classic and modern gameplay, some of the best graphics the PS2 ever saw, a wonderful English script, a huge open world that's actually not overwhelming, and an interesting cast of characters. The story is a little sparse, but the rest is entertaining enough that it never bothered me. If SE had tossed in a romance subplot on par with FFX's it would have been perfect. So yes please, SE, make this happen...and a little faster than FFX HD, if you don't mind.

 

[greenyxi]

I don't think one is necessary at all. Putting aside the fact that it's an awful game, as Kirito roughly said, the game's graphics still hold up brilliantly well today. It would be interesting to see what all the fuss is about with the zodiac job system though, but I'd also like to see an alternative battle system added; traditional turn based, if that would work for FF12. I remember they did this for some other FF game...can't quite remember which.

They could also, y'know, add a few cutscenes that make the characters more interesting. Chuck a bit more depth in, y'know?

Also, an alternative soundtrack in the style of FFX Remaster. One that's less Star Warsy and generic.

Maybe another character too in the party. An interesting one with some good background story.

And some more variety to the world. A bit of snow here, some thunder there, some fire somewheres. As much as I love deserts (I don't really), they can get incredibly boring after the first couple of areas.

 

[Linnaete]

Yes, there should be a FFXII HD. And yes, it should damn well be the IZJS definitive edition.

In fact, despite the laughably lengthy amount of time they've been working on FFX and FFX-2 HD, I'm sure if they have the brainpower and capacity to, Square can sit down and produce a FFXII HD before FFXVI even sees a release date. It will also be the most exciting game they'll have produced in a while. It shouldn't take up that much in the way of manpower and resources, otherwise we should be crying foul about the pointlessness of FFX and FFX-2 HD.

And I'll say this again: I am glad there is no explicit romance storyline going on throughout the story. I see no reason why the storyline needs one. A variety of relationships between male and female characters can exist without having overt romantic tints to it. What FFXII needed, if they had to keep Vaan in the storyline, is to weave him in deeper into the underlying thread about Ashe's indecision whether to take revenge, or stay her blade. Give Vaan a more important role in diplomatically foiling that side of her who really, really wants to drop a magical atom bomb on Archadia, and in extension, foil the Occurians' strings. If Vaan is supposed to be the players' surrogate in a way as the ordinary street-lad protagonist, at least do something significant with him. But I concede that if Vaan was anymore important than he is, people will start calling him Luke Skywalker for real or something...

 

[AuronX]

I highly doubt SE would go back and modify those kinds of things, as interesting as many of these suggestions would be. Decent graphics or not, the engine is still based on old technology, and messing around with the storyline and such would require major modifications on the source code level...which would probably mean we'd see FFXII HD release about the same time as Final Fantasy XX.

You know what the sick thing is? Those 'conversions' of PS2 games that are on PSN? Those are PS2 ISO's running in an emulator. Someone reverse engineered it towards the beginning of the year and figured it out first-hand, and even ran FFXII unmodified on their PS3 to prove it. That tells me that any company with the licensing rights to a PS2 game could have it available as a PS2 Classic on PSN within a day, and only one guy on the job. Why the heck doesn't SE just put FFXII on there like it is? Why didn't they just put FFX and X-2 on there years ago? Or if I'm being really crazy, why can't we just run PS2 discs in our PS3's? I'd happily settle for either solution, since I don't have a PS2 anymore but I'd still love to play FFXII.

I repeat my earlier statement: hurry up with this one, SE.

 

[Linnaete]

Hmm...

The plausible reasoning going around is that both big names mentioned are composers and won't be as technically minded as others will be, so "remake" is probably interpreted and registered the same way as "remaster" in their layman vocabulary.

Hitoshi Sakimoto, by the way, is the main composer of FFXII's OST.

Yeah, take this with an entire mountain of salt for the time being.

 

[rowe]

Hitoshi Sakimoto, by the way, is the main composer of FFXII's OST.

In which he did an amazing job. I could only imagine the score for a possible remastered version.

I think this one is my favorite track in the game. I'd be curious to see what could be done with it:

 

[rowe]

Now that we're getting an official HD remaster, what is everyone excited for?

As for me:

• Trial Mode, with the 100 battles. I remember reading a while ago that you'd be able to face off against all five Judges.
• Hopefully an updated OST, with the option to switch between it and the old version of it.
• No damage cap, like in the IZJS version.

 

[ZaXo Ken'Ichi]

Now that we're getting an official HD remaster, what is everyone excited for?

As for me:

• Trial Mode, with the 100 battles. I remember reading a while ago that you'd be able to face off against all five Judges.
• Hopefully an updated OST, with the option to switch between it and the old version of it.
• No damage cap, like in the IZJS version.

It does indeed come with an updated OST, and I believe it's confirmed to have the original version as well.

I'm mostly just hoping that it also comes with the systems from the original game as well. I've been dying to play the ZJS version for a loooong time now. But I also want to be able to play with unrestricted jobs too, like the original. They gave us the two Sphere Grid versions in X-HD, which makes me think it will be included. But I don't know if that was originally in X International; if it was, then they included it because it was part of X International, not because they thought it was a good idea. On the flip side, there was no way to fix the broken Final Mix Synthesis system in KH1.5 HD, which sucked, and did nothing but introduce mountains of un-fun grinding to an otherwise marvelously paced game. I don't know what to think about whether they'll include the original version of the License Board or not. But I really hope they do, so that I can feel confident that it's the ultimate package.

 

[rowe]

It does indeed come with an updated OST, and I believe it's confirmed to have the original version as well.

I'm mostly just hoping that it also comes with the systems from the original game as well. I've been dying to play the ZJS version for a loooong time now. But I also want to be able to play with unrestricted jobs too, like the original. They gave us the two Sphere Grid versions in X-HD, which makes me think it will be included. But I don't know if that was originally in X International; if it was, then they included it because it was part of X International, not because they thought it was a good idea. On the flip side, there was no way to fix the broken Final Mix Synthesis system in KH1.5 HD, which sucked, and did nothing but introduce mountains of un-fun grinding to an otherwise marvelously paced game. I don't know what to think about whether they'll include the original version of the License Board or not. But I really hope they do, so that I can feel confident that it's the ultimate package.

Oh awesome, I'm glad to hear about the OST. This game has an amazing track, so I'm curious to hear the remastered tracks.

Also, I wonder if, like IZJS, there will be more flexibility with controlling guest characters, and more types of gambits to use. (Larsa with his auto-potion awesomeness, anyone? I'd like to tweak some more cool gambit setups for him. )

 

[greenyxi]

It does indeed come with an updated OST, and I believe it's confirmed to have the original version as well.

This is amazing. I thought the original OST was really dull, so this might be a nice improvement.

I'm mostly just hoping that it also comes with the systems from the original game as well. I've been dying to play the ZJS version for a loooong time now. But I also want to be able to play with unrestricted jobs too, like the original. They gave us the two Sphere Grid versions in X-HD, which makes me think it will be included. But I don't know if that was originally in X International; if it was, then they included it because it was part of X International, not because they thought it was a good idea. On the flip side, there was no way to fix the broken Final Mix Synthesis system in KH1.5 HD, which sucked, and did nothing but introduce mountains of un-fun grinding to an otherwise marvelously paced game. I don't know what to think about whether they'll include the original version of the License Board or not. But I really hope they do, so that I can feel confident that it's the ultimate package.

Both sphere grids were indeed available in the UK (International) version of FFX .

I think a job system will improve this game so much. Of course, a nice new roster of party members would make the story worth paying attention to, but I won't be greedy .

 

[ZaXo Ken'Ichi]

Also, I wonder if, like IZJS, there will be more flexibility with controlling guest characters, and more types of gambits to use. (Larsa with his auto-potion awesomeness, anyone? I'd like to tweak some more cool gambit setups for him. )

I don't think there will be any more flexibility, Gambits, etc. than IZJS. This literally is just a port of that version of the game for the most part. I can't imagine that they'd continue to tweak it too much outside of modifying the functional systems like adding checkpoints, the ability to speed the game up, etc.

 

[rowe]

I don't think there will be any more flexibility, Gambits, etc. than IZJS. This literally is just a port of that version of the game for the most part. I can't imagine that they'd continue to tweak it too much outside of modifying the functional systems like adding checkpoints, the ability to speed the game up, etc.

Nah, I'd rather they didn't further tweak anything. I'd simply love having absolutely everything IZJS had to offer.

On a side note, I'm curious to try out the fabled Weak Mode. Sounds like a welcome challenge.

 

[ZaXo Ken'Ichi]

Nah, I'd rather they didn't further tweak anything. I'd simply love having absolutely everything IZJS had to offer.

On a side note, I'm curious to try out the fabled Weak Mode. Sounds like a welcome challenge.

Yeah, Weak Mode
(or New Game Minus as I've always called it) has always been the thing about the ZJS version that I've been the most excited to try. I didn't realize until researching for my review earlier this year, but Defense is a static stat in XII, which only changes based on what equipment you have on. And that's actually why Weak Mode works, is because it relies on players getting insanely good equipment early on, ensuring that the damage you take is mostly survivable, even at level 1. That, and it requires clever traversal of the License Board, making things like the HP boosts a priority. Not sure how the job system effects that, but it'll be interesting to see.

 

[rowe]

Am I right saying summons and Quickenings will use Mist Charges instead of MP now, or is that just for Quickenings?

It especially makes sense for the latter, seeing as they're a whole different beast from magical abilities.

 

[Setzer Gabbiani]

Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age has several modern advancement, a reconstructed battle system and a revamped job system. With newly implemented trophies and share functions, as well as stark visual and sound improvement in true HD, players will experience a grand adventure that spans the world of Ivalice in a entirely fresh and improved way. It includes several all-new enhanced game features such as: The Zodiac Job System which improves the character level system, Trial Mode which allows you to fight monsters and enemies up to 100 consecutive battles, and the Speed Mode. It also comes with HD capabilities including characters and movie scenes fully remastered in high definition. A 7.1 surround sound, high definition voicing and a newly recorded background music utilizing the current generation of sound production.

A modern advancement including trophies support and share functionalities, auto-save and quicker loading time.

 

[ZaXo Ken'Ichi]

Am I right saying summons and Quickenings will use Mist Charges instead of MP now, or is that just for Quickenings?

It especially makes sense for the latter, seeing as they're a whole different beast from magical abilities.

Mist Charges? They separated Mist abilities from MP in the ZJS version? That's news to me.

 

[rowe]

Mist Charges? They separated Mist abilities from MP in the ZJS version? That's news to me.

Ah, yes, I found the information. Just so I know that I'm not crazy. But I guess it's just Quickenings that have their own Mist Charge gauge.

From the FF Wikia:

In the International Zodiac Job System version, Quickenings no longer use MP, but have their own Mist Charge gauge, similar to Revenant Wings. The mechanics remain the same but a character who is afflicted with Silence can still use Quickening since it no longer draws from the user's MP.

 

[ZaXo Ken'Ichi]

Hmm. That's interesting. I must have missed that, because I didn't notice anything different about the UI. Regardless, I hope it does indeed essentially work like it did before (minus being able to use Mist abilities while Silenced now). I wonder how Mist charges are gained, and how quickly they go up. The Wiki probably says I suppose.