Final Fantasy XII

Final Fantasy XII is the twelfth installment in the main Final Fantasy series and is part of the Ivalice Alliance. The game was released on March 16, 2006 in Japan, October 31, 2006 in North America, and February 23, 2007 in Europe and Australia.

Final Fantasy XII was re-released in Japan as an International Version titled Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System, which modifies the game's character development system by introducing jobs. It has not been released outside of Asia.

A PlayStation 4 HD remaster, titled Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, was announced on June 6, 2016. It is based on the International version, and will be released in July.

Final Fantasy XII spawned a direct sequel, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, for the Nintendo DS.

Gameplay
Like most of the other games in the series, the player characters will level, gain skills, cast magick, use summons, Limit Breaks, and fight monsters, but there are some great differences in the gameplay from the previous games in the series.

Character development
To gain levels, the player must defeat enemies in the field to earn Experience Points (EXP). Only alive and active party members receive EXP. If there are multiple active characters in the party, the amount of experience will be divided evenly. Boss battles give no EXP, but do still give License Points (LP) used to purchase licenses on the License Board to learn new abilities and become able to equip new types of equipment.

Unlike with EXP, even reserve party members receive LP from battles. An individual character's ability to use Technicks, Magicks, accessories, Augments, weapons, armor and accessories is governed by licenses. Like the Sphere Grid in Final Fantasy X, but less linear, the player has control over each character's individual development.

In the Zodiac Job System version what abilities a character can learn and what equipment they can use is dictated by their job. Once the player chooses a job for a character, it cannot be changed.

Magick
To use magick the player must buy the individual spells from a Magick Shop or a merchant (or find them from treasures in the Zodiac Job System version), and purchase the corresponding skill on the License Board. The use of magick requires MP (Mist Points), which can be restored through movement, the use of an item—such as an Ether—or by activating a Save Crystal.

Effect Capacity dictates how many magick spells and other special abilities can be executed simultaneously; all of the most powerful magicks use all of the effect capacity, meaning when the player casts the game's most powerful magicks other actions are queued until the spell animation has finished.

Summons/Espers


Summons, called Espers, are obtained through finding and defeating them, unlocking their license on the board. There are thirteen Espers, five found through the storyline, and the other eight lurking in hidden areas.

Each Esper can be purchased on the License Board after the player has defeated them. Only one character can purchase any specific Esper, and that Esper is linked to that character, removing its license from the other characters' License Boards. When the character summons the Esper, it replaces the other two party members. The Esper will briefly remain and fight as long as the summoner remains conscious.

Once the time is up, the Esper will unleash a special attack, given that the requirements for it are met, and disappear. The summon uses up a full segment of the MP bar for each rank the Esper has. For example the Esper Belias is a Rank I Summon and will use up one segment of the MP bar, while Zodiark, a Rank III Esper, will use up all three segments.

In the Zodiac Job System version Espers have a small role in further governing what skills characters can learn by opening new paths in the License Board. The MP bar system has been dropped and using Quickenings and summoning Espers uses a different gauge. The Espers are controllable in the Zodiac Job System version, and the player can unleash their special attack at will.

Quickenings/Concurrences
The Limit Breaks in Final Fantasy XII are known as Mist Quickenings in the English version, and Mist Knacks in the Japanese version. Each Quickening is available on the License Board for purchase by any character. Once a character has purchased a Quickening, that space is removed from all other characters' boards. Each character can purchase up to three Quickenings.

There are eighteen Quickenings on the board. When a character uses a Quickening, one segment of their MP is used up. Upon purchasing the second Quickening the character's MP bar doubles and is segmented in two, and after a third segment is added it triples the available base MP. Each Quickening takes 50 LP to learn regardless of its rank.

Quickenings can be used during battle as long as the character has enough MP and is not incapacitated by status ailments. Quickenings can be chained: when used, all active party members who have learned Quickenings of their own will join in on the chain as long as they are not KO'd, under X-Zone, or afflicted with either Stop, Stone, Disable, Confusion, Silence (status), or Berserk. During the chain, the player can randomly get the Mist Charge command which restores the party member's MP. The chain-building is restricted by the time limit and luck, as the available Quickenings are drawn up randomly. Normal Quickening attacks only damage the target enemy, but the player can create a specific combination of Quickenings to open a Concurrence, which deals heavy damage to the target and all targets nearby.

In the International Zodiac Job System version, Quickening no longer uses MP, but has a gauge that functions closer to how Limit Breaks work in other games in the series. This meter can be filled up slowly by participating in battle, or fully by using a Elixir/Megalixir, or activating a Save Crystal. Each job has four Quickening licenses costing 50, 75, 100, and 125 LP. Once three Quickening licenses have been activated, the remaining one will disappear from the board of that character.

Battle
Final Fantasy XII uses a battle system called Active Dimension Battle (ADB). The way the battle system operates is similar to the one in Final Fantasy XI as there are no random encounters. Monsters move freely across the land and battles are conducted on the field map without transition. Enemies rarely surprise the party, although flying creatures attack from a higher elevation, and other creatures will spring out of the water or ground to attack. Docile monsters can become hostile if the party provokes them, such as by casting magick in their vicinity, or if the player attacks other creatures of the same genus.

Combat can be controlled manually or programmed via the use of gambits. The gambit system is slightly similar to the Macro system in Final Fantasy XI; the player can create a list of commands and dependencies to be carried out automatically by the characters to simplify the combat system. All commands relate to the character itself, the character's allies, or the enemies on screen.

Player can choose between Wait mode (default) and Active. In the Wait mode time freezes when the player is choosing the commands, but only one action can be executed at a time. If the game config is set on Active, multiple actions can be executed simultaneously, as long as the Effect Capacity is not saturated. The player controls one character at the time, called the party leader, but the player can change party leader at any time. If the party leader is KO'd or otherwise incapacitated, the game prompts the player to choose another leader. The player can have up to three party members at any one time, and the rest are kept in the reserve party.

Similar to Final Fantasy X, reserve members can be swapped in any time, unless the character is currently being targeted by an attack or spell, or if the character is performing an action. Final Fantasy XII allows the player to swap fallen allies, meaning the player will only get a Game Over once all party members in both active and reserve parties are dead.

Because battles take place on the fields, the Escape command works differently than in most other games in the series; to escape the player must run away, which can be aided by holding the to stop all character actions (although using this feature makes the characters unable to evade enemy attacks). Some enemies stop pursuing the player characters once they have moved far enough away, but some are more persistent and can only be thrown off by zoning out. Boss battles take place in closed arenas and cannot be escaped from.

Battle Chain
A Battle Chain is initiated when a party defeats two or more of the same type of enemy in a row. The Battle Chain Level will increase as a party continues to consecutively defeat enemies of the same type.

As the Chain Level increases with each battle, enemies will begin to drop rarer and multiples of items, and with higher levels, activate healing and buffs on the player's party. If the player kills an enemy of a different type, enters a settlement (any area where only Vaan is controllable) or touches a Save Crystal, the chain will break and the Chain Level is reset to 0.

Traps
Traps are littered across the landscape and when stepped on deal damage and/or inflict the party with status ailments. Traps are normally invisible, but appear as glowing red circles if a party member is under Libra. Traps can be avoided by using Float or the Steel Poleyns accessory that makes the party invulnerable against traps. Some traps benefit the party by granting positive status effects and/or healing the party's HP.

Treasures
Unlike in other single-player games in the series, the treasures in Final Fantasy XII are most often randomly spawning containing random treasures. The treasures can be re-spawned by zoning two zones out. Treasures can contain gil, gambits, equipment or items, and there is a small chance of receiving rare treasure with the Diamond Armlet equipped.

The game's regular version also has so called "forbidden chests" that, when claimed, prevent the player from obtaining the game's ultimate spear, the Zodiac Spear, in Necrohol of Nabudis. This feature was removed in the International version.

Weather and terrain
The area's weather and terrain affect the accuracy of ranged weapons and the damage dealt by elemental attacks. In stormy weather crossbows' and bows' accuracy is reduced, and, for example, in rainy weather Lightning damage is boosted while Fire damage is reduced. While terrain is mostly fixed, apart from the Giza Plains that shifts between dry and wet season, weather is often random, depending on what possible weather effects are available for the area.

Setting
The map of Ivalice does not cover the entire world. It shows the area once under the control of the Dynast King Raithwall, but now mostly under the control of the Archadian and Rozarrian Empires.

On the map are the sovereign nation states of Dalmasca, Archadia, Bhujerba and the area once controlled by the Kingdom of Nabradia including Nalbina Fortress. Ancient temples remain from ages past, like the Stilshrine of Miriam, Mt Bur-Omisace and the Tomb of Raithwall, as well as villages of indigenous people like the garif and the viera. Between the civilized locations are the zones populated by monsters that vary in terrain even within the same area.

The Archadian and Rozarrian Empires compete in terms of military and political influence. The Archadian Empire is governed by the ruling family House Solidor, with an Imperial Senate, but the Senate has little power. This has caused the Archadian Judges to serve the Emperor directly. The Judge Magisters command the Archadian Army, Archadian Imperial Fleets, Archadian Security and Police as well as the Archadian Intelligence. Judge Magisters are feared and respected for their passion for the Empire and the defense of House Solidor. The small kingdoms of Dalmasca and Nabradia between the two empires thus find their existence endangered. Bhujerba is a skycity that pledges neutrality, built on a sky continent made airborne by the magicite in its soil.

Characters
Final Fantasy XII has a cast of six main characters that, once formed, never changes. Three guest characters (not including Hunt-allies) join the party during the story, and the player plays a different character during the prologue. According to the developers, there is no main character, as the game is "about numerous people, not just one person".


 * Main cast
 * Vaan is a street urchin and an orphan who lives on the streets of Rabanastre with his friend Penelo. He dreams of becoming a sky pirate in command of an airship and to travel the world.
 * Penelo is Vaan's closest friend, an orphan who lost her family during a war between Dalmasca and Archadia. She dreams of being a dancer, and learned martial arts from her late elder brothers who were soldiers during the war. She joins the party along with Vaan to help prevent another war.
 * Balthier, real name Ffamran mied Bunansa, is a sky pirate on the run from his past. He refers to himself as the "leading man".
 * Fran is Balthier's friend and partner and a viera. Like Balthier, she is trying to shake off the past. She rarely speaks, but she usually has words of wisdom to offer.
 * Basch fon Ronsenburg is a disgraced knight who wants to protect his surrogate homeland of Dalmasca.
 * Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca is the Princess of Dalmasca who does everything in her power to rebuild her fallen kingdom. She was married to Lord Rasler, Prince of Nabradia, and although their marriage was politically motivated, they nevertheless were in love.


 * Temporary playable character
 * Reks is Vaan's older brother, who fought in the Order of the Knights of Dalmasca.


 * Guests
 * Larsa Ferrinas Solidor/Lamont the youngest member of House Solidor, the ruling family of Archadian Empire. He seeks to bring peace to the world.
 * Vossler York Azelas used to fight alongside Basch in the Dalmascan army, but after the war started the rebellion together with the Princess. He looks after Ashe as her closest ally.
 * Reddas is a sky pirate from the Balfonheim. He seeks to stop the Empire from using nethicite to prevent the events of Battle of Nabudis from ever happening again.

Story
Princess Ashe of the kingdom of Dalmasca married Prince Rasler of the neighboring kingdom of Nabradia to strengthen both kingdoms against Imperial oppression of the mighty Empires Archadia and Rozarria. When Archadia invaded Nabradia Rasler led the Dalmascan troops to war and was killed. King Raminas was ready to sign a peace treaty, but was murdered in a conspiracy concocted by Vayne Carudas Solidor—the heir to the throne of Archadia—and Judge Gabranth. After Ashe was announced to have committed suicide the kingdom became an occupied state to Archadia.

Two years later a street thief Vaan infiltrates the royal palace. He joins two sky pirates as a Dalmascan Resistance faction attacks the palace to remove the new Consul from power: Vayne. The trio is captured and during their imprisonment runs into the alleged king-slayer and notorious traitor Basch fon Ronsenburg, though he swears he was framed. As the party heads to save Vaan's friend Penelo from a gang of bounty hunters they discover a potential ally in Vayne's younger brother, Larsa, and learn that Vayne is plotting behind the Emperor's back to his own ends. They find Princess Ashe alive and save her from the Empire, and Vaan, Penelo, Balthier, Fran and Basch join her on her quest to win back Dalmasca's sovereignty.

During their travels they learn that the Empire is after the magickal stones of unimaginable power known as nethicite. They learn the pieces of deifacted nethicite were granted to mankind by the shadowy immortals who deem themselves the Gods of Ivalice: Occuria. A rogue Occurian has lent its support to Archadia to overthrow the rest of the Occuria's rule, who have backed the descendants of Dynast-King Raithwall, and who now want Ashe to be their new Dynast-King. During the ensuing political turmoil Vayne becomes Emperor and Ashe's uncle of the supposedly neutral Skycity of Bhujerba assembles a Resistance army to free Ivalice in a response to Vayne's bid for world domination. Ashe must decide whether to wield the power granted to her by the "Gods" to free her kingdom, or whether to put faith in mankind being able to govern themselves free from Occuria's manipulations.

Ashe puts her faith in the allegiance she has wrought with Larsa who has instilled in her the belief the nations of Ivalice can co-exist peacefully. She casts aside the power the Occuria are offering, and sets out to kill Vayne and Venat as the war erupts in the air space above her homeland. As Larsa inherits the throne from the fallen Vayne and proposes peace, Ashe is recognized as the rightful ruler of Dalmasca, and peace returns to Ivalice.

Themes
The prominent theme in Final Fantasy XII is coping in the face of loss of family. Vaan lost his parents, and then his brother Reks in the war between Dalmasca and Archadia at the hands of Gabranth, thus giving Vaan an animosity towards the Archadian Empire. Like Vaan, Penelo lost her family to the war leading her to fear the Empire. Her view slowly changes as her friendship with Larsa develops, a member of the Empire's ruling family.

Ashe lost her husband, father, and kingdom to the Archadian Empire, and avenging them is her main motivation. Ashe's quest for revenge is used by the Occuria, who send a false apparition of her late husband Rasler to spur her thirst for revenge to use her to achieve their own ends. Ashe learns that exacting revenge is not something Rasler would have wanted her to do, and it will not bring him or her father back.

The theme of freedom is strong in Final Fantasy XII. Basch is physically imprisoned and breaks free with the party's help, but later comments the past can bind a man as strong as chains. Multiple characters seek to escape their past, only to find they must face it sooner or later. Fran leaves the woods to gain her freedom of the viera's traditionally restrictive lifestyle, but in doing so is permanently cut off from her family.

Balthier escapes an unbearable situation with his father by renouncing his identity, only to find he must confront his father's madness to move on. Vaan tries to obtain his freedom through becoming a sky pirate to explore the world as he pleases, but realizes it's his attempt to evade his problems. Ashe wishes to reclaim her throne and kingdom, and be free from the Empire's rule once and for all, but first has to overcome her hatred for the Empire and the role it played in robbing her of her loved ones and the downfall of the Dalmascan kingdom.

Like with much of the games set in Ivalice, Final Fantasy XII has deconstructive elements regarding religion and theism on the social and human condition. The gods of Ivalice are revealed to be mere living beings, and even the truths of Raithwall are shown to be their machinations to enact their own plans. Although Man is shown to be allowed his own fate, free from the gods—as depicted with Archadia—should mankind undertake one of evil with this freedom it leads to tyranny and dominance over others. Kiltia is shown as a religion in modest balance and order.

The nethicite alludes to the crystals, a recurring motif in the Final Fantasy series where crystals are the embodiment of divine and magical power. In Final Fantasy XII Archadia, an enemy Empire, steals pieces of deifacted nethicite from the kingdoms of the world to gain power. The same story arc has been used in the series numerous times, although Final Fantasy XII subverts the theme in that being "chosen" to wield the power of the crystal is something the player party must fight against: Dr Cid and his machinations, as well as the influence of the Occuria. When Ashe becomes chosen to wield the power of the nethicite by the Occuria, she ultimately rejects it.

Development
Developed from 2001 to 2006, Final Fantasy XII cost approximately 4 billion Japanese yen (35 million USD) to produce with a crew of more than one hundred people. Yasumi Matsuno, originally announced as both producer and director, bowed out of both roles midway. The official reason given for his departure was health concerns. On February 25, 2010, Matsuno spoke out on his departure from the Final Fantasy XII project on his Twitter page, stating that while he had been sick, he had nevertheless let down the Square Enix staff, shareholders, and fans who had been looking forward to the game.

In Matsuno's place, Hiroyuki Ito and Hiroshi Minagawa took over directorial duties, with Akitoshi Kawazu assuming the role of the executive producer. Matsuno remains credited for "Original Work/Scenario Plot/Supervision". Hitoshi Sakimoto composed the game's music while Nobuo Uematsu contributed a single composition—the vocal theme, "Kiss Me Good-Bye", performed by Angela Aki. Renowned violinist Taro Hakase provided performances for "Symphonic Poem "Hope", which served as a promotional theme along with "Kiss Me Good-Bye".

The executive producer, Akitoshi Kawazu, has said in an interview that back in 2000 when Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XII were announced as being in the planning stages, Final Fantasy X was announced as an offline game while the games Final Fantasy XI onwards would be online games. During the development of Final Fantasy XII that changed, but, just from the early planning stages the team intended Final Fantasy XII to be a different experience from Final Fantasy X.

In early stages of development the main character was to be "big and tough", but as development continued and targeting demographics were considered, he became more youthful. With the casting of voice actor Kohei Takeda, who also did motion capture for the part, he became less so and more "active, upbeat, bright and positive".

Hiroyuki Ito was in charge of creating the battle system and his motivation for the gambit system was to create a "single-player online game" where the player would have independently acting party members who would still act the way the player wanted them to. The gambit system works on the same basic programming algorithms used for the monsters in the SNES Final Fantasy games.

The driving design philosophy behind the game was to have players exploring a world. The same way that walking around a town there are people standing around, the developers wanted there to be the same experience when going through a desert with monsters roaming about. Since that was the type of gameplay the developers wanted to provide to the players, a real-time battle system that got rid of random encounters was chosen.

Final Fantasy XII was initially planned to have a job system but the idea was scrapped when the developers thought it might be too confusing to players, so the idea was condensed into a License Board system. However, players did not respond to the License Board system as anticipated, and the team returned to their previous idea of using a job system in the Zodiac Job System version. One intended theme for the gameplay was to add a feeling of finality and destiny, where the player may or may not end up with the best results.

This is reflected with the random treasure chests, as well as perhaps the fact that the game's ultimate weapon is easily missed. The developers did not intend players to unlock every license for every character, but plan different paths for each. In retrospect these ideas did not end up working as planned, as many players kept trying at the same treasures until they got the item they wanted, and many players unlocked all licenses in order, essentially making the player characters clones of each other. Some of these ideas were rectified in the Zodiac Job System version.

Almost an entire year before the North American release, the game's playable demo was included along with the North American release of Dragon Quest VIII. Changes to the game's North American version include the addition of widescreen 16:9 support, and additional scenes and content that were left out of the Japanese version, due to rating issues.

Akitoshi Kawazu, the game's executive producer, has later admitted he thought the game is not perfect. The team received fan feedback after the game was released in Japan, and there were players who felt the story wasn't up to the series' standards. Kawazu said it is because of the way the games are made, the story itself is decided early on and the process of getting that realized makes it difficult to change along the way. Kawazu noted there are things he personally would have liked to change, but, practically speaking, they couldn't. Many players have compared the story of Final Fantasy XII to that of Star Wars, but that wasn't a conscious decision during development. The goal was to create an easy-to-understand plot one could grasp immediately.

The logo of Final Fantasy XII features Judge Gabranth in blue and purple, with a peach-colored brushstroke on the right. During the time Amano created the logo illustration there was a bit of a distance between his office and the Square Enix office, and he drew up another piece while the Square representative was on the way to pick up the pieces; the one drawn within that hour was the one that ended up being chosen. Amano used Japanese-style ink that was kind of like watercolor, leaving brush marks that led to the the touch and style of that particular piece. Amano has described the forward-thinking brush effect as something that can only come about spontaneously, and said that logos don't necessarily come about following the request.

Localization
From the dialogue to the flavor text to the menus, everything was translated by two people: Alexander O. Smith and Joseph Reeder. Smith had previously worked on the localization for Vagrant Story as well as several other Final Fantasy installments, including Final Fantasy X. The voice overs were directed by Jack Fletcher, who had previously directed the voice overs for other Final Fantasy games.

The game about halfway complete when the localization process started in earnest, taking two years to complete. By the time localization started the original director Matsuno was already out of the picture and thus has no influence on the localization. Smith was tasked with writing the script around the lip movements animated for the Japanese version, but the game would still have the same audio file length restriction that had been a problem with Final Fantasy X, where the audio files must be the same length in both Japanese and English. However, the English voice work is smoother in Final Fantasy XII because Smith was prepared for this being an issue, and had the Japanese developers add couple seconds of blank sound to every scene to allow for some wiggle room.

The voice script was slightly smaller than the one in Final Fantasy X, but the non-voiced was large. Writing the voiced script took 9 months and was still only 10% of the total text; translating the rest of the game took 5 months. Because the game was still in active development, new text kept arriving during the work, but because the English version had as much time to be translated as the Japanese script had time to be written, the localized version could be polished.

Dialogue was translated first as it requires more time to get right, and helps set the tone for the world. The movie and scenario dialogue tends to be completed first in the Japanese version due to recording schedules, and similarly needs to be done first in the English for recording. The recording proceeded during the middle of the project, after which the translators returned to finish the rest of the text.

While the medieval tone comes from the original game, the localizers could decide on the specific accents the characters would use and voice models were used to guide the writing: Vaan was Leonardo DiCaprio from the Titanic, Balthier was Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings and Fran was the Icelandic singer Bjork. While everyone in the Japanese version speaks with unaccented, standard Japanese, the translators have explained that it doesn't make sense in the context of a global story to use the same accent of English everywhere.

Since the Japanese text lacked specific accents, the localizers had to derive them from the Ivalician mannerisms and culture. Thus the viera became Icelandic to give their speech an alien quality. To avoid stereotypical Indian accents for Bhujerba, a Sri Lankan accent was chosen. Following the "rule of Star Wars" the Empire is British and the rebels American.

While Japanese games are often comfortable breaking immersion to deliver in-game information, this aspect was to be "Westernized". For example, in one place in Rabanastre where Vaan encounters a chocobo vendor, the Japanese had the vendor explain the yellow birds are chocobos that can be ridden. As Vaan, a street-wise orphan, would know what a chocobo is, the English version instead has the vendor lamenting that some guy rode off on one of his chocobos without paying, to deliver the same information more fluidly. Other differences include the Victorian-styled bestiary that reads more like a biology text book in Japanese, and using metered verse with an unusual rhyme scheme for the speech of the godlike Occurians.

The voice recording was done in Los Angeles under the direction of Jack Fletcher in eight weeks. Smith and Reeder sent descriptions to Fletcher who did casting and voice direction, and sent the translators options fro which they picked from. The development team had a final check and veto power, but never disagreed with the translators' choices. The localization team argued for nine to ten weeks to finish and ended up recording from morning to eve with many nighttime sessions.

The translators did not want to use the "go-to anime voice actors", especially for the Judges who wear masks and thus didn't need the voice actors to be able to match the lip animations. Stage actors were auditioned for the parts, many of whom had never done voice acting before. The localization team valued great character actors, like John DiMaggio, and have actual young actors as the voices for kids, like Larsa, rather than use adult women for the child parts as is common in Japan.

The voice recording for Final Fantasy XII has been compared to doing a play or a film script, being different from a regular JRPG voice recording. Ivalice was to be a classical sort of world with Shakespearean and Greek influences, and the cut scenes were both relationship- and action-oriented, and key to the story. As with almost all games, the script wasn't released ahead of time and all the actors knew were the character names and a few lines of description. Fletcher as the voice director guided the actors in the game world in filling in backstory and setting and helped make the localization from Japanese to English. In games and often in regular animation, actors record individually. The team had dialogue already recorded the other actors could follow, never did a "cast record."

The English voice work for Final Fantasy XII has been highly acclaimed and both Smith and Reeder identify it as the highpoint of their careers, with Fletcher naming it his favorite game he's worked on due to the story and the characters.

Original
In North America, the game was available in two versions—the standalone game with a suggested retail price of $49.99 and a "Collector's Edition" for an additional $10. The Collector's Edition is an exclusive title offered only by GameStop or EB Games. This edition includes the original game packaged in a steelbook case, along with a special bonus disc, which contains Final Fantasy XII developer interviews, an art gallery, four U.S. and Japanese trailers, and a "History of Final Fantasy" featurette, which gives brief chronicles on all released and upcoming Final Fantasy games.

International Zodiac Job System
Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System was released on August 9, 2007 in Japan as part of both Final Fantasy 20th anniversary and Ivalice Alliance campaigns. It is the first game where Hiroyuki Ito has been credited as both producer and director.

Ito didn't want the game to get an "International" title, for how different the game was going to be from the other International versions of Final Fantasy games, published previously; Ito wanted to call the game "Final Fantasy XII Annex". However, they ended up going with "Zodiac Job System". Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System was made by a small group of programmers, with only five main people working on it toward the end of the project. The small team brought on some limitations on what could be achieved, as Ito would have wanted bigger changes to the game than what could be done with the resources he had available.

The game includes a new take on the License Board system, with twelve boards instead of one, each corresponding to a different zodiac sign and job. The number of jobs was set at twelve as Final Fantasy XII is the twelfth main installment to the series, and because there are twelve zodiac signs, a recurring theme in Ivalice games. The game already had fifteen different types of weapons in place, and the jobs were planned around the idea of what kind of weapon would belong to what kind of job.

The Active Dimension Battle (ADB) system was tweaked; guests and espers were made fully controllable, while pressing the activates a Turbo mode, greatly increasing the game's speed. This mode had existed as a debug function in the original for doing Q&A, but was included as a new mechanic in Zodiac Job System as per Hiroyuki Ito's suggestion. The game features English voices and the widescreen 16:9 ratio support of the North American version, as well as a bonus disc based on the one initially released with the North American version. A new mode allows the player to hunt monsters and Espers in several series of small maps, to gain items and gil.

Below is a list of the new features:
 * The Zodiac Job System – There are now twelve License Boards, each one representing a job. Once a character chooses a job it cannot be changed. Isolated licenses can be accessed by unlocking Espers and Quickenings.
 * Trial Mode – The party must fight through 100 stages, each one containing stronger monsters. Completing this mode unlocks New Game+: Weak Mode.
 * Controllable guests – Guests can now be controlled, their gambits can be edited, and they can level up. Their equipment cannot be removed.
 * Controllable Espers – Espers can be controlled once summoned, and their gambits can be edited. The player can use their ultimate attack at will.
 * Turbo Speed Mode – Holding down speeds up the game, making exploring the world and engaging in battles faster. The music and cutscenes still play at normal speed.
 * Gambit changes – There are 16 new gambits. All the gambits can be bought upon leaving Barheim Passage.
 * Stat growth changes – Each character's stat growth has been altered slightly.
 * Item changes – New items have been added, and some of their effects have been slightly changed.
 * Enemy changes – Enemies have been changed slightly, plus new enemies have been added. A battle against all five Judge Magisters is also included.
 * Magick changes – Water and Watera are renamed to Aqua and Aquara. Many spells have been re-categorized; Bravery and Faith are now White Magick for example. Cure and all tier 1 Black Magick elemental spells have an area of effect (same as their higher tier counterparts) instead of targeting a single unit. Not all magick can be bought, and some must be found in treasure chests.
 * Equipment changes – New weapons have been added, like the Excalipoor, while others have been slightly changed. Armor and accessories have also been slightly changed. Some weapons have different elemental alignments.
 * Shop listings – Some shops have had their inventory changed.
 * Hunt reward changes - Rewards for defeating Marks have slightly changed.
 * Mist Knack (Quickening) changes – They no longer take up MP. Instead, they have their own separate gauge.
 * MP changes – Since Mist Knacks do not use MP, obtaining Mist Knacks does not increase MP. Instead, characters simply get more MP as they level up. Max MP is determined by the character's job.
 * New Game+ – Two New Game+ modes are available. Strong Mode, where all characters begin at level 90, and Weak Mode, where all characters begin at level 1 and never level up. Nothing carries over into these new save files.
 * Treasure respawns – Treasures now respawn by just moving one screen away.
 * Treasure item changes - Some items inside coffers have been switched around, added, or removed.
 * Break damage limit – There is no damage limit anymore. If a character does more than 9,999 damage, the game will show it. Against weak enemies, it is possible to achieve over 100,000 HP of damage with a single attack. This gives the strongest magick spells greater potency to rival melee attack with high hit combo.

Also, unlike Final Fantasy X-2 International, which supported old Final Fantasy X-2 save files, Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System does not support save files from the regular Final Fantasy XII.

Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System has only been released in Japanese, but there is a fan project that translates it to English using the English data of the official US release. It requires both the original Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System game and the original US release. Translation for other languages can be done using official European releases instead of the US release. 

During the Distant Worlds concert in Pittsburgh in August 2015, conductor Arnie Roth mentioned a Final Fantasy XII "remake" was in development, yet no such game had officially been announced by Square Enix. The next day, Roth redacted the "remake" part of his statement, apologizing for the error. A remaster of the game, based on the International Zodiac Job System version, was announced on June 6, 2016 for all major regions.

Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age
Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age, the PlayStation 4 port was announced on June 6, 2016. This version is based on the International Zodiac Job System version. It will have remastered graphics with high resolution textures and lighting effects. The auto-save function will be implemented, and support up to 7.1 ch surrounded stereo mode. The original people responsible for the localization return for the English version, Alexander O. Smith and Joseph Reeder. The original game's directors Yasumi Matsuno and Akitoshi Kawazu are not involved in Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age, but are given progress reports as needed, although the core the team that worked on the original have returned to work on the remake. On September 16, 2016, Square Enix released a trailer featuring story events and gameplay at the Tokyo Game Show.

When Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster came out and became successful, the developers of Final Fantasy XII thought they should bring their game back as well, and the core members of the original development team were brought together even if it was difficult to find the time as everyone was on different projects. When the original Final Fantasy XII was created, it was made relatively high spec with the idea to create an HD version of it sometime in the future. The major difference between the original and The Zodiac Age is that Hiroyuki Ito is not directing; he lets the younger staff work on the battle design, although he is still overseeing it. Ito wanted The Zodiac Age to be easier to explore and easier to play, and thus the staff tried to accommodate those wishes when making changes to the game.


 * List of changes
 * Visual improvements
 * High-resolution upgrades for backgrounds, character models, and all 2D parts including fonts
 * High-resolution upgrades for movie scenes
 * Introduction of current generation visual expression
 * Sound improvements
 * 7.1ch surround support (the PS2 hardware was only able to handle a quasi-surround sound, Pro Logic II, but the PS4 can produce the audio in 7.1 for discrete surround sound).
 * High-quality voice support
 * English and Japanese voices (switch between them in the game configuration)
 * Original and newly re-recorded soundtrack (switch between them in the game configuration)
 * Usability improvements
 * Shorter load times
 * Auto-save functionality
 * Improved high-speed mode and improved play time operability during high-speed mode
 * An overlay map.
 * Ability to invert both the X and Y camera axes
 * Game balance
 * The game balance has been overhauled to make it easier.

Staff

 * Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age

Reception
Final Fantasy XII sold more than 1,764,000 copies in its first week in Japan, and the total number of copies sold was over 2,150,000 after five weeks of release. In North America, Final Fantasy XII shipped approximately 1.5 million copies in its first week. As of March 2007, the game has shipped over 5.2 million copies worldwide and is the fourth best-selling PlayStation 2 game of 2006.

Final Fantasy XII is the first game in the series to get a perfect score from Famitsu Weekly magazine. It was named best PlayStation 2 game by numerous video game publications and websites, including GameSpot, GameSpy, and IGN. Both Edge Magazine and Famitsu awarded it Game of the Year 2006. Final Fantasy XII also received nominations in the categories "Game of the Year", "Best Role-Playing Game", "Best Story", "Best Art Direction", "Best Character Design", and "Best Original Score" from awarding bodies, such as the Interactive Achievement Awards, Game Developers Choice Awards, BAFTA Video Games Awards, Spike Video Game Awards, Golden Joystick Awards, and the Satellite Awards. The game was awarded the "Double Platinum Prize" at the PlayStation Awards 2006, which was held on 25 July 2006.

At the Japan Game Awards 2006 held on 22 September 2006, Ito accepted the "Grand Award" and "Award for Excellence" for Final Fantasy XII. He thanked the development team and playerbase, and said that the team was grateful for the awards as they could not possibly think about the game's reception during its creation.

In July 2007, Edge Magazine placed Final Fantasy XII 8th in their list "EDGE’S TOP 100 GAMES OF ALL TIME". It was the highest ranking Final Fantasy game, and the only one to appear in the top 10. In March 2009, Edge Magazine placed the game 25th in their list "The 100 Best Games To Play Today". As with their former list, Final Fantasy XII was the highest ranking Final Fantasy game. In the 2009 issue of the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition, the game placed 8th in the list "The Top 50 Games of All Time". It was the highest ranking Final Fantasy game, and the only one to appear in the top 10. The list was decided on by "a crack team of industry experts", and games were ranked on their initial impact, lasting legacy, and how fun they were to play.

Manga
The story of Final Fantasy XII has been released as a manga in Japan. The manga version expands on the storyline seen in the game and adds new events and characters.

Allusions
Final Fantasy XII contains many references to the games developed by the same team, or based on the same world. For instance, a moogle named Montblanc runs a clan in Final Fantasy XII, and previously appeared as a main character in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Similarly, the player can acquire the Riskbreaker clan rank, a reference to the game Vagrant Story.

The names of the Archadian airships are taken from previous summons from the series, while all of the Resistance airships are named for previously appeared characters. The only airship with an original name is the party's airship, the Strahl.

Trivia

 * Final Fantasy XII is only the second main series Final Fantasy game where Cid is biologically related to one of the main members of the party—the other being Final Fantasy X. This is also the first game where Cid is an antagonist.
 * Actor Sir Patrick Stewart narrated the television commercial for the European and Australian versions of the game.
 * Veteran voice actor Corey Burton narrated a commercial for the American version of the game.
 * Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of the Final Fantasy series, didn't play the game through to completion because he was disappointed by the departure of the original producer and director, Yasumi Matsuno. However, he later stated that the target lines used in the game were what inspired the creation of the target lines used in his game The Last Story.
 * When The Zodiac Age version was posted to the Japanese e-Store, the said "XV" on the case spine rather than "XII".