It's Hard to Believe Final Fantasy XII Is a PS2 Remaster

I wish I was more excited for this, but FF12 was one of the hardest games for me to slog through the first time around.

I'm excited to give the game a go for the first time.

Did they remaster the story, b/c FFXII didn't have one.

My wife was always impressed by the graphics in this game. A little too brown for my liking but they were really impressive.

Good to see bunny lady back. I realized about half-way thru FFXV that I didn't like it b/c everybody was human. What's the point of making a JRPG if you aren't going to have a race of tiny wizard Vivi or some furry animorphs?

I really loved ff12. Probably one of my favorite FF titles. Heck, I still has an old ps2, ff12, and the strategy guide i break out from time to time. I think I liked this game so much because at that time I was super addicted to EverQuest, and this was the closest u could get to a single player MMO back then.

FFXII: the last pretty good FF game. Its story and characters were nothing to write home about, but the production values were off the charts, the combat system was innovative, and I love how much it opens up later on.

I have the original PS2 disc, but it's one of those games I never got around to playing. I picked it up for collector's purposes on the cheap, and it looks like I can keep it sealed away if I pick this one up later!

I got to the first end of this one, and my house was robbed along with my ps2 and memory card. Tried playing it again a year or two later but just couldn't do it. It's in the bottom of final fantasy games for me. The graphics held up surprisingly well. I'm just not as big of a fan of the mmo style, but maybe I'll give it another shot.

@rjejr What are you smoking, because XII most certainly has a story. People might get the wrong impression if you blatantly lie like that...

@Reanfan7 honestly, it probably has the least memorable final fantasy story for me, along with V. I don't remember most of it. I've played iv, v, vi, vii, viii, x, xii, xiii, xiii-2, and xv. I mean, I'm sure it has a story and I remember like the beginning. But no clue why they travel from one place to the next.

While you can still see some PS2 graphics, this is a pretty darn good remastering job.

Been wanting to try FF12. It'll have to wait after I've finished 7 though, which I'll start tomorrow.

I hated FFXII on PS2, so much so that I never finished it, but its priced nicely so I did pre-order. Good to see that they've put the effort in.

I'm still hoping for that FFXIII trilogy collection Square!

I never finished this game either but it's not because I hated it,I don't even know why I never finished it but I think it looks really good for such an old game and I'm definitely going to pick it up.I'm tempted to get the Steelbook but being overloaded with games I have yet to play already I'm wondering if that's a good idea.

This seems to be one of those love/hate kind of games. I personally loved it and it still remains one my favourite FF games. I haven't played FFXV but I hear the story in that is totally forgettable but the actual journey is what makes it special, I think it's the same for FFXII too. I can't wait to get stuck into that glorious gambit system again.

@Reanfan7 In fairness, ztpayne7 isn't wrong. The story of FFXII is notably bad compared to other Final Fantasy games. So many things were shoehorned in. The development team admitted years later that Square-Enix execs had directly forced a change of the central protagonist from Balthier to Vaan. Vaan and Penelo didn't exist until they were forced in for fears that 'the younger audience' might not understand a more 'mature' story and characters.

Excellent work on the shadows in the character models, but would it hurt if they made some basic re-textures for the ground and the walls?

Hunts were amazing. Weak story and characters though. Villain felt shoe horned in and if I rememer final boss had hardly been mentioned until the point you fight them. Balthier and fran were OK, and the battle system was very unique. Never really felt the star wars vibe many talked about at the time. Will buy to add to my final fantasy collection.

@Reanfan7 The game came out 10 years ago, nobody is getting the wrong idea by reading my 1 sentence post about it, everybody knows the story, or at least the characters, was forgettable and limited, people who played the game at launch can barley remember a thing about it.

"Before we dive into the gameplay, let's talk story. The last several Final Fantasy games put us inside the troubled heads of their heroes. Although Vaan could hold his own in a pretty-boy cat fight, this is not a character-driven tale. It's a sweeping epic in the vein of Star Wars or Lord of the Rings, where the characters are important for what they represent, not what they feel - and the main thrust of the story centers on war and the naked, magic-fueled ambition of man.

Though the tale is epic and the cinemas are excellent, the story is missing the emotional core that drove the previous games - even if their stories made less sense."

http://www.gamesradar.com/final-fantasy-xii-review/

@DVS "Vaan and Penelo didn't exist until they were forced in"

Never read that before but it makes sense. It's still 1 of my favorite monster hunting games, finished the main story in about 40 unremarkable hours, hunted monsters for another 100 while my kids watched, great battle system and graphics but something always felt "off". That would explain it.

I wasn't a huge fan when I tried playing ages ago this at a friends house, but I plan to give it another shot (as long as Stormblood doesn't steal all my free time)

I don't understand why people would give this another go while they hated this 10y ago, or never finished this for not enjoying it.

For me it's a no brainer. Never was a story-driven person, and still ain't. Characters were ok. Some good, some not, as always with FF games. I never played a FF were I liked all of the characters. Battle-system was truly awesome. I really enjoyed tinkering with the gambits. I completed the PS2 version with lots of grinding, max level, best weapons etc. In the end I realised I spend 350h on this game. So can't wait to get my hands on this remaster. Wasn't that long ago I wanted to play it again and was welcomed by news a remaster was in development. Kept my PS2 on the attic and kept busy with other games. Once this game finally arrives it will surely be platted in one playthrough without interference of other games.

Yet again not sure what all the gushing is about it clearly looks like a PS2 game still as expected.

To me this is the pinnacle of FF series. Such a marvelous game!

@rjejr Im not on my own in thinking like this then, i want my jrpg(and my final fantasy) like...fantasy!

@ZurapiiYohane yep, though IIRC the game for NDS was more of a spin-off than an actual sequel.
I've never played it, so I'm just reporting what I read about the game at the time. It was called Revenant Wings, if memory serves me well.

Played through it twice, first time I hated it. Second time I loved it.

The main thing is you don't need to grind and that's what I did on my first play through. You just need to get towards the end of the game and then go back for the hunts.

I think that's why everyone quit during the first playthrough. Also Ivalice is a great world to play through and the Armour designs for the bad guys are brilliant.

From somebody who has played every FF game (main games) i can honestly say that this is one of my favorite games of all time. It was the second game ever that I clocked in over 100 hours, Dragon Quest VIII PS2 was the first, and it was also the first game that I clocked in over 200 hours. On top of that I replayed it because I missed the Zodiac Spear in my first play through. This game was hated because it was the first FF game that broke out of tradition. It was not your traditional turn based RPG and some people hated the idea and never gave it a fair chance. The game is brilliant and I honeslty cannot wait to jump into this game again remasted.

I'll hold off until its $30 like X/X2 is everywhere now.

I'm excited for this...I continued playing it for 3 years on my backwards-compatible PS3 until the PS3 died.

Basch lives!

Don't listen to Ondore's lies!

Wait, this is coming out in Japan the same month as Dragon Quest XI? It's gonna be a bloodbath!

@ZurapiiYohane Yes, FF12 Revenant Wings for DS. It's great!

A bit pricey for me at £39.99 for a remaster but when it's got a discount, it's a purchase for me. Enjoyed it first time round but never finished it. Man, I've had a thing for bunnies ever since...