#Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age

[tampire]

Zeromus condemns the Judge Magisters

[choormi]

Penelo!

[kermakatti]

Some assorted screenshots of my playthrough of Final Fantasy XII

[steamavatars]

FINAL FANTASY XII THE ZODIAC AGE

[operahousebookworm]

The spouse is playing Final Fantasy XII, and in the course of looking something up for him I, err, read the whole synopsis on the wiki.

Thing is, I tried to play this game when it came out and I gave up around the time we switched to Protagonist #3 and had gotten nothing but textbook Bad High Fantasy Exposition. I was like three hours in and had yet to find someone to glom onto, so I bailed.

So learning how it plays out, I'm struck by how much better it could have been. Because the reveals that the prologue sets up are only a surprise if you've never read a book, and worse, Vaan's presence is so utterly pointless. He's the Macguffin Delivery Service, which could have easily been done by Balthier and Fran. Oh, he's angry at Basch for like a scene and a half, which could have been done by literally anyone else.

Here's how I would redo it:

You start with the wedding, but it's a tutorial you play through as Ashe. (Combat training could be Basch worrying about an assassination attempt and running her through some self-defense drills, so they have a personal relationship.) Give us a chance to care about Dalmasca and see what was lost.

Keep the battle as a cutscene, or make it playable as Basch. Then show the king's murder as it happens, no switcheroo. Put all that narration into actual scenes. Show Ashe learning of her husband's death and Basch's "betrayal," and her faking her own death.

Then do the time skip and juggle equally between Penelo preparing for the fete, Ashe planning her attack, and Balthier and Fran working on their heist. Keeping it equal keeps it from feeling like everything you've played up to this point was for nothing, keeps the pace up, and shows off the then-new feature where the map screen also tells you what you're supposed to be doing. At the party, Penelo crosses paths with the others, wrong place wrong time, and we're off. She bonds somehow with Balthier and/or Fran so they feel motivated to rescue her later.

Literally nothing else has to change from there! All you lose is one annoying teenager and a mushy opening that keeps the player at a distance. And it just requires admitting that your game does have a protagonist, and it's the princess.

Wait, when was this made? 2006?

Oh, right.

[magickshin]

[jmkitsune]

so like ...we're doing another final fantasy game...starting tonight we're streaming FF12 Zodiac Age over on my twitch channel on Monday and Tuesday nights

so if that's your jam, or you just want background noise? come hang out, I promise I'll do my best to be entertaining or at very least accommodating in your background noise needs

[balfiere]

I am as them, now. Am I not?

[megamog]

Final Fantasy XII Week - Day 1: Favourite Character - Balthier

[bluegad]

he is just chillin

[tampire]

Barbie Lives!

[choormi]

Princess Ashe 🤍

[reksigh]

i started ff12

[ff12-ultimania]

Reference: Archadia

Resources extracted from the game: several NPC images in .png format, a town backdrop, and two Solidor banners.

this post is an ultimania special, kupo! join us for 1$!

[salikawood]

Drawings I did during my Zodiac Age playthrough

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[optimus-prinkeps]

Don't think I ever added this painting of Fran. Tested a new tablet out with this piece