Customer Ratings & Reviews

Played it multiple times. Everything about Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age seems like it should have been a true classic. It has a lot going for it: a mature story, beautiful graphics that aged gracefully, a strategic combat system and huge world to explore full of side quests. Yet despite of all these desirable qualities, it does not do any of them exceptionally well. The mature story features an intensely stupid protagonist and a cast of very dry personalities. The visuals, while timelessly rendered, gets undercut by level design that is extremely cookie-cutter and the same assets are constantly being reused. The combat and character progression makes the cast interchangeable with no real distinct qualities to speak of while being used while fighting the same pallet swapped enemies for dozens of hours.

When Final Fantasy XII was first released, I was very indifferent on it. I liked it because it was a Final Fantasy game but also disliked the many different things it attempted to do. What I found was a game that I liked somewhat. The Zodiac Age edition is the best version of FF12. Not only does it add a new boss fight, it adds speed options ot battles. The monotonous MMO gameplay was pretty slow when it was first released but you now have the option to speed the game up, which makes battling and grinding insanely easy. It will also help with the hour long optional fights near the end of the game. And with the Switch version, you can do all of this on the go. It's the perfect RPG for long trips. Final Fantasy XII was a good game in 2006. It's a fantastic game in 2020. A must have for Switch RPG owners, even if you gave the original a go a decade and a half ago

Love the heck out of this game and rpgs are perfect on handhelds like the switch.

Great game. As of writing this review, it is full price in the nintendo online shop. So its a great deal for this physical copy

Such a great final fantasy game! 12 Gad really good story! Game looks amazing, music is lovely! This version has nice quality of life improvements!

A beautiful update to an underrated final Fantasy game (briefly available at a price reasonable to those of us who still have the ps2 era game). For those unaware the Final Fantasy series is more like an anthology each numbered game is a new story with new characters and world. Therefore each game can be played with little to no prior experience with the series. Much of the game plays more like an MMO (with intricately programmable party members substituted for other players) than a traditional turn based Final Fantasy. Character customization has been expanded from the original game with a new character license board setup. Each character has a upgrade tree based around their job(class) that grants new job related skills, expands equipable armor and weapons, and stat boosts. This system has been expanded by allowing a secondary job (license board) for each of your party members. This allows you to assign a complimentary job and set of skills to your party members. The graphical update really shines through for me due to having played the original game extensively. Blurry character models and backgrounds are now crisp bringing new life to to the beautiful world of Ivalice and its characters. I can understand some who may not appreciate it as much especially if they have played newer square enix games (in particular Final Fantasy XV or even to a lesser extent the FF XIII trilogy) made initially for newer and more powerful machines from the ground up. This is after all a much older game that has merely received a lovely graphical update. Ultimately if you didn’t care for Final Fantasy XII originally I don’t think enough has changed to alter your opinion. However, if you ever had any fondness for the original game or are completely new to it and the idea of a character driven political thriller in a high concept fantasy world featuring an ensemble cast of playable characters (no chosen one heroes here) then I recommend giving it a chance and I hope it enchants and thrills you as much as it’s dedicated fans.

I heartily recommend this game to anyone who likes RPGs and is looking for a unique take on combat! It's a hybrid of turn-based and real-time elements unlike anything else I've played before. Even other Final Fantasy games don't resemble it! Without spoiling the specifics, I'll say that you get to program your party to perform certain actions under certain conditions, while also retaining the option to manually command them if necessary. Computer geeks will definitely appreciate the If-then style framework of the combat system. There's also a robust character job system that gets explained early on, and it stacks up well against any modern RPG. The story of the game is quite good, but it does have some faults (not going to spoil them) that thankfully don't ruin the overall experience, in my opinion. The most impressive thing it does is give you a real sense of the world and its socio-political turmoil. Towns are lively, and there's a lot of fun text to read from the people while you're exploring. As for the characters, you've got a fairly interesting cast, I'd have to say. They adhere to many classical archetypes, but most of them have cool visual designs and intriguing personalities. All of this is helped by the nicely voice-acted cutscenes this game has. Graphically speaking, this is a PS2-era game remastered for the Switch, so it's not going to be a visual juggernaut in the technical sense. I enjoyed taking in the sights, though! Beautiful artwork goes a long way, and this game has it in spades. Now, let's get to the music! The soundtrack does a great job of fitting the atmosphere of the places you're exploring and fighting in. There's a solid balance between "gritty medieval society" tracks and "upbeat fantasy adventure" tracks. On top of that, this game lets you freely swap between the original PS2 version's soundtrack, the remastered soundtrack, and the original CD soundtrack at any time! To conclude, Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age is a worthy buy for any RPG lover, even one who has never played a Final Fantasy game before.

It's a good game. The combat system's unique and feels like a very mini-RTS in terms of how it functions and flows. Although, I wish there was more customization in how your party AI can function in certain situations. Story is kinda eh (though I haven't finished it yet, I'm like halfway through): but so far it seems like a basic globe-trotting adventure to find the power to face an evil, all-encompassing empire. Voice-acting is hit-or-miss too. Don't think they redid any of it from the original release; some characters are good, some are bad and some are flat and in need of help. Music's good though, but not as memorable as other series' entries in my opinion. All in all, it's a good game, but not for everyone for reasons as stated above. Want more reasons, find another review alone, can't scratch my brain for criticisms here.

Amazing Final Fantasy game! It’s change in battle system may take a bit to get used to, but the systems work together smartly & draw players in with depth that never seems to be fully overwhelming either. The characters & story is superb and is worth the many hours to invest in the great world of Ivalice! It runs well on Switch in handheld & docked modes, and has the quality of life options of boosting battle speed and others like the PS4 version & other recent FF remasters like VII, IX, & X/X-2.

After playing FFXI a ton, I really liked the direction they went with the next single player game in the series. The battle system felt similar, and I just really enjoyed the entire game. Fun to play this portable on the switch after playing it years ago on the PS2.

I owned this game on PS2, but this version has better graphics and I love the option to play with 3 different sound options: The original BGM, the soundtrack version and a new orchestrated option. If you're a fan of the FF series but haven't played this one, I really like that it gets away from the random, turn-based battle engine. Now you can see your foes and decide whether to fight or avoid. Just a fun game overall. The tweaks make it even more fun.

I haven't played a final fantasy game since ps1 and FF7 but I really enjoy the action style combat, great music and story.

You need to play this game! Good story, looks great, and can take it anywhere with your Switch.

Definitely a great game on the switch which is perfect on the switch for portability. Great FF series game.

I needed to free up some space and wanted this game on physical when it was dirt cheap. The game is well worth the buy. I think the new add ons makes this a winner. Music and sound perfect. The only slight issue i had was getting use of camera angle changing with the right analog stick. Graphics are like PS3 graphics in an awesome way too. I say if you are curious about this game get it before the price goes back up.

great game for Japanese role playing games fan. i would recommend

This is by far one of my favorite rpgs available. While this game has been out on older systems for a while this updated version adds lots of quality of life items such as better leveling and faster battles to help save you time if time is an issue. The active battle systems makes battles feel fresh and like you're actually doing something instead of just inputting the same commands over and over. The story is interesting and the game was fun to revisit. Updated graphics and sound are a big plus as well.

This game is really hard to beat when it comes to finding a good quality JRPG. The only other ones I would say that equal to it are Xenoblade and Octopath Traveler. The combat is just like Xenoblade and the story is more on the side of politics then end of the world that we are used to. Absolutely recommend if you are looking for a good long portable JRPG.

This underrated Final Fantasy game is exactly what I needed. The gameplay can take a bit of getting use to, but once you understand the jobs system and combat you are in for a treat. The story as usual is fantastic and the graphics still hold up. Any fan of old school JRPGs should have this in their collection.

I have played this game several times, with the most recent (prior to this) being the Zodiac Age remaster on PC. This game is a very solid, great port both docked and handheld. It is amazing to have such a deep JRPG on the go, given how many hours you normally want to put into those. One of the better Final Fantasies as of late.