W~Post

Going to do what I did with FFXV here:

Pros:
  • I'm loving the Zodiac Job system, it gives more focus to just about everything in the game. From characters now feeling distinct from each other, to the challenge of the game kind of being dictated by which classes you start, to shops finally giving you access to great weapons you normally wouldn't have at this point in the game. It's actually just been pretty thrilling to have that extra layer of tension from your choices finally mattering.
  • The remixed OST has been pretty interesting and I'm honestly surprised how well I remembered the original soundtrack because it's very noticeable which tracks have changed. So far the new tracks are pretty snazzy but Sakimoto is a pretty damn good composer.
  • The gameplay balance has been fixed in some interesting ways. You get early access to late game accessories like Firefly and Diamond Armlet, but all the items in the early sections have been switched around and with the exception of enemy drops staying the same, it feels like the devs removed a few early game breakers from the starting areas. I started Vaan as a Shikari which is a blend of Thief and Ninja but Ninja blades are still a long ways off and unlike the original, daggers are surprisingly rare. So it's been interesting to watch Vaan have to rely on support abilities like Battle Lores or his natural levels to compensate for his lack of decent weapons. Speaking of which...
  • Thank god the stats for the party have been modified to make everyone a bit more balanced. Vaan is no longer the "Master of All" in stats gain and Fran now sports the highest vitality making her much more useful. I initially based my ideas on what classes each character would get based on the old stat knowledge but now I need to rethink some things.
  • The fast forward feature is insane and makes this the fastest battle system in the series.
  • I'm still amazed at how early and how much there is to do before the plot really kicks off. I have three Mark Hunts completed, got access to the Sunstone making quest, already tripped over two other quest lines involving Ktjn the Viera and Jovy the Seeq. I also completed half of the Patient in the Desert Quest and I just got back to Rabanastre after wandering through the Barheim Passage. In a lot of ways, I feel like XII's quests are better integrated and more varied than the game that came afterwards.


Cons:
  • For an HD Remaster, I'm not noticing much. Granted, visual clarity is something I usually never notice, nor does it bother me. I think the colors look more vibrant but overall the HD treatment doesn't seem to be improving a game that I felt was pretty good looking to begin with.
  • At the moment, the ability to "control" Guest character's Gambits is pretty irrelevant. I know it will change once the real guest characters pop up but at the moment "Amelia" and "Broken Basch" have not exactly shown to me why this was a feature that needed to be implemented.
  • Despite how much stuff unlocks so early in the game, I'm surprised how long it takes to open up Gambits. Was a bit annoyed making Penelo a White Mage only to quickly discover I needed to switch to her as the party leader in order to make any use of it.
  • I'm still hesitant about the idea of making all of the gambits available from the beginning. Some of them are pretty game breaking like the ones that let you use magic to exploit enemy weaknesses if they have them. We'll have to see how this turns out.
  • Zodiac Ages doesn't fix one of my gripes with XII which is the cluttered battle menu screen. I know this is largely just a programming shortcut to make everyone use the same menu, but it's annoying having Vaan and Balthier using pure melee classes with access to Techniks and I still have to bypass four blacked out magic options they can't use to get to them. Would have preferred a cleaner menu screen.