Square Enix is officially celebrating the Final Fantasy franchise’s 30th anniversary in 2017 today, and during the event’s opening ceremony in Tokyo, Japan, they confirmed when an anticipated remaster will finally make it to the public’s hands. Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, a PlayStation 4-exclusive remaster of 2006’s beloved PlayStation 2 RPG, Final Fantasy XII, will release here in the West on July 11th, 2017, and will hit Japan a couple of days later, on July 13th.
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age will update the original experience by touching up the graphics in native 1080p HD resolution, enhancing the soundtrack with more detailed audio composition in 7.1 surround sound, speeding up load times, and adding automatic game saving. The remaster will also add in the ability to increase game speed overall, a new ‘Trial Mode’ to further test players’ combat capabilities, and a new ‘Zodiac Job System’ that will allow players to more deeply customize the capabilities of the game’s six playable characters, utilizing a series of diverse License Boards inspired by the signs of the Zodiac as well as the ‘Job’ classes from several classic Final Fantasy titles. Previously, the Zodiac Job System was exclusive to a special ‘International’ edition of Final Fantasy XII’s original PlayStation 2 build, which was ultimately only made available in Japan.
Final Fantasy XII takes place in the politically tense continent of Ivalice, a setting previously featured in strategy-RPG offshoot, Final Fantasy Tactics. Players assume control of an ensemble of six heroes as they struggle against the machinations of a corrupt empire seeking to gain total control over Ivalice. We recently delivered hands-on impressions of the updated PlayStation 4 remaster from a Square Enix Media Summit as well, where we claimed that Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age appears to be primarily designed for people that already love Final Fantasy XII, but the new gameplay enhancements and updated presentation have helped the experience effectively stand the test of time on PlayStation 4.
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