Producer for Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age hints at improving Zodiac Jobs system

In a recent interview with Siliconera, Producer Hiroaki Kato (Ivalice Alliance, Madworld, Dissidia) hinted a few things during the interview. Namely that the new Final Fantasy XII: Zodiace Age may see some expansion and other improvements to the games job system. While he never specifies any specific changes, he does go onto to talk about Executive Producer Hiroyuki Ito's usual desire to tinker with the gameplay mechanics first when thinking about changes they would do to Ivalice.

So what changes would you like to see?

It's hard for me to say for sure exactly what I would like to see, considering I've never had the chance to play the IZJS version. All I do hope for is something that is well-balanced and feels fresh to me as someone who's only played the base game.

Just let us switch jobs, that's all I want. Having to choose one and be stuck with it does not appeal to me.

The changing jobs mid-game thing would be good. It doesn't prevent those who want to play 'classic' IZJS from doing so (they can just stick with their first choice) and allows a degree of tactical role shifting. Assuming that you're refunded your LP if you switch up. Or you can level up multiple boards at the same time. Hmm.

Glad that they're going to tweak some elements, though!

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Originally Posted by Yar

It's hard for me to say for sure exactly what I would like to see, considering I've never had the chance to play the IZJS version. All I do hope for is something that is well-balanced and feels fresh to me as someone who's only played the base game.

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Ditto!

I got the impression they were probably going to add to the boards, maybe a few new spells or abilities. It will be interesting to see what they do.

It's been a while since I've played, but this is the excuse I need to play again!

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I got the impression they were probably going to add to the boards, maybe a few new spells or abilities.

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I doubt it. I think the improvements they're working on are more concerned with the groundwork; allowing for job changes sounds like a legitimate possibility at this point (I'm still against it personally).

As for what changes I'd like to see, well it's mostly minor gripes. Take Reverse out of the game, replace it with Zombie. Make it impossible for characters to switch equipment during battle, except maybe FFX style where they use up a turn to do so. Don't make Ethers/Elixirs/Save Crystals restore your Mist Gauge. Make Wither/Addle/Expose/Shear have an upper limit or only last for a certain amount of time. Remove Dark Energies from the game and nerf Meteorite D a bit (20k max damage). Remove Wither, Arise and Renew from the Monk's license board, maybe add Shear instead. Nerf motes, either make them not as strong as the actual spells or make them weaker (i.e. Haste Mote instead of Hastega Mote). Change 'rare poach' (5%) into 'unlikely poach' (20-25%) to make it an actually viable alternative for farming rare treasures. Increase chance to get a rare item with Diamond Armlet from 5% to 20%. Nerf Berserk by decreasing the speed boost characters get from it. Allow the player to do the Trial Mode in smaller portions across their playthrough instead of having to do everything at once. Make main game Yiazmat the same as Trial Mode Yiazmat. Make Drace use Curaga/Curaja/Renew on party members in Reverse/Zombie. Remove the invisible equipment - Seitengrat, Trango Tower, Gendarme - from the regular game and instead make them only obtainable in Strong Mode. And for god's sake remove the 99 cap on stats, it seriously harms end/postgame min-maxing.

I would love if you could pick two jobs for each. That way it could be kind of like FFV, FFT, etc where you can use abilities from two jobs and see how well they work. You'd have to balance how much to invest in one job vs the other, or maybe you want one to be your main and just take some highlights from the other, etc. So it would still allow for some strategy and customization and variety while also being more "locked in". I doubt that's what will happen but I would love it if was!

If it allows you to change jobs mid-game, isn't that kind of getting back to an equivalent setup of the original western release?

No Randy.

I honestly just wanna try the Zodiac Job System as it was. We get changing jobs often, so I think it's more interesting and fresh to have an imposed limitation on that.

If you don't want to change them, then just pick one and stick to it. Adding the option of changeable jobs has no downsides.

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Originally Posted by Randy

If it allows you to change jobs mid-game, isn't that kind of getting back to an equivalent setup of the original western release?

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Not if you only get the benefit of the active board.

In the original, you could do anything and everything, all at once.

Letting you choose would be like most games with the job system: You have to choose a specialty, but can adjust it for certain fights or just to experiment.

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Originally Posted by Elpizo

If you don't want to change them, then just pick one and stick to it. Adding the option of changeable jobs has no downsides.

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It has the downside that the entire game would again have to be rebalanced to acommodate changing jobs, thereby not making sticking to one job simply an option.