Final Fantasy fans will be excited to hear what Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age director and producer have to say about the future of the series. In a conversation with the European media, they were open to the idea of developing more games set in the world of Ivalice, as long as this PS4 remaster is well received. Ivalice is the setting of a number of Final Fantasy spinoff games such as the Final Fantasy Tactics series, and Crystal Defenders, and it was visited for the first time by a mainline entry in the original Final Fantasy XII.
The conversation took place between The Zodiac Age director Takashi Katano, producer Hiroaki Kato, and fansites Finaland, FF World and FF Dream. They seemed very pleased with the project now that it’s reaching its end. They consider the original Final Fantasy XII a massive PS2 production that in many ways it was ahead of its time, especially in terms of gameplay mechanics and graphic power. The Zodiac Age is meant as a way to re-introduce the game to a new generation that is more used to this style of gameplay, by presenting all the additions that were missing from the Western release and a few updates that have been added for this version.
The addition that has attracted the biggest reaction is the possibility of choosing two job classes for each character. They see this as the perfect balance instead of letting players change of job at any point in the game, since they consider each class to be well balanced, assuring that there are no “weak” classes and that all of them allow players to complete the game. Introducing fixed job classes also give players the chance to play multiple times the game and make it feel a whole different experience each time.
Other new features include a Trial Mode in which players have to fight 100 waves of enemies, each one stronger than the previous one. With all these additions, the effort on reworking textures and facial expressions, and the re-recording of the soundtrack, the team consider that there is no need nor time to create additional DLC content or including material from the sequel released on Nintendo DS Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings.
As for the future, after the release they will study the feedback from the fans. They say that new game set in Ivalice is a real possibility, as long as The Zodiac Age is well received: “If people like it, there’s a good chance something could happen.” Asked about a PC version, the producer said that they have optimized the development for PS4, and for now they are happy keeping the game there.
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age will releas for PS4 on July 11th.
