Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age Story Trailer Shows Amazing Visual Updates

Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age is coming on July 11 for PlayStation 4, and today Square Enix [...]

By Matthew Hayes

Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age is coming on July 11 for PlayStation 4, and today Square Enix producer Hiroaki Kato took to the PlayStation Blog to st out a length post about all of the hard work that went into this remaster. You won't believe it. Before we get to that, though, take a moment to watch this gorgeous new story trailer released today, which will set the stage in Final Fantasy's most beautiful world of Ivalice. Watch above.

When Final Fantasy XII released on the PS2 back in 2006, it was considered an audio-visual masterpiece. The game pushed the PS2's hardware capabilities to their utmost limits, and fans were blown away by the presentation and visual direction. Square Enix could have just slapped a coat of up-rezzed paint on this game and called it a day -- and likely would have succeeded that way -- but instead they went above and beyond to make this remaster something truly special. And boy does it look incredible.

"The core members from the original development team got together this time to develop Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age, but the first thing that we thought was to not only improve visual and sound expression, but also to reconstruct the game design itself so that the players can experience a new Final Fantasy XII as a modern game," Kato said.

"We created this game as a new game for PS4 by devising multiple mechanics based on the Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System that was only released in Japan in 2007. It featured a more comfortable gameplay experience for our players, including changes to the growth system and the battle design where different strategies can be used compared to the original Final Fantasy XII. I'm sure that this experience will surpass the memories of those who played the original Final Fantasy XII. For those playing for the first time, this will be an experience like never before."

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(Photo: Square Enix)

He goes on to describe improvements made to enhance the visuals, which makes them appear vibrant and modern even on 4K screens.

"When creating the HD version of the visuals, we were careful to preserve the unique graphical texture of Akihiko Yoshida's character illustrations while enhancing the expressiveness with modern technology. And so, not only did we increase the resolution of the character models, but we have also strived to improve the textures such as the skin, hair, cloth, leather, metal, and any other material."

There is so much more information in the full post linked above, which goes over specific gameplay changes, the gambit system, and altered job system. It's well-worth a read. For those of you disappointed in Final Fantasy XV's story and pacing, Final Fantasy XII may be the perfect summer RPG to give you that sweeping narrative adventure you've been craving. Keep an eye on it, and stay tuned for our full review.

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