Mine is on its way. Status is shipping so I'm not sure if that means it will be posted today or delivered by courier today. Either way, not sure I'll get to play until Thursday evening.

Thinking about getting this. Last decent FF game (apart from FF XIV ARR if you ask me.

Have they fixed that Zodiac Spear shite?

My copy just arrived. Initial impressions - there's a nice holographic sticker for the 30th anniversary of Final Fantasy but it's on the outside of the shrinkwrap so now it'll be lost instead of making the outer cardboard O-ring look nice and shiny. The Steelbook is not endorsed or licensed by Sony! Gasp. Currently 2/10, would not remaster again.

PS4 just went mental and ejected the disc and then kept doing the eject mechanism over and over until I restarted, so seems as good a time as any to give actual initial thoughts.

Opening FMV sequence looked nice. I'm curious as to what assets they were able to access for this as it doesn't look too obviously upscaled - I wonder if they originally rendered in HD to future-proof them or were able to re-render them. Or maybe it's just a nice upscale. Regardless, the FMV scrubs up well.

Graphics hold up well, though the texture work is noticeably dated when viewed up close and unfortunately the camera often chooses to show textures close-up in cutscenes. Still, it's nice to see everything given a chance to breathe and on a more macro level the visuals have dated well.

Content in the opening bit holds up well. Kind of feels a bit before its time - feels like it fits in well with the post-Game of Thrones mediascape. Everything seems very well thought out and put together but it does dump a load of stuff on you quite quickly - I couldn't remember the opening FMV and it only really makes sense now having played the game before and got familiar with the characters and setting. It's interesting that it kicks off with Ashe and Basche's story then immediately veers away to Vaan's. Part of me wonders if some of this opening content might have been better covered in flashback once the characters pop up in the story. I remember the story as not being particularly emotionally engaging and unfortunately the opening is matching my recollections so far - not helped a poorly timed trophy notification during the emotional climax of the opening section.

Nice to be able to play with Japanese voices to mix things up a bit - Vaan's Japanese actor seems like a better fit for the character than the English once. On-screen map is very nice as well.

In the initial section, the reorchestrated soundtrack and updated lighting combine to make everything seem very cinematic and atmospheric. I'm surprised by the impact the updated soundtrack has since the original synths were well-executed - seems like this is going to be a very good way to enjoy the game, providing my PS4 doesn't keep spitting out the disc.

EvilRedEye wrote:

PS4 just went mental and ejected the disc and then kept doing the eject mechanism over and over until I restarted, so seems as good a time as any to give actual initial thoughts.

Opening FMV sequence looked nice. I'm curious as to what assets they were able to access for this as it doesn't look too obviously upscaled - I wonder if they originally rendered in HD to future-proof them or were able to re-render them. Or maybe it's just a nice upscale. Regardless, the FMV scrubs up well.

Graphics hold up well, though the texture work is noticeably dated when viewed up close and unfortunately the camera often chooses to show textures close-up in cutscenes. Still, it's nice to see everything given a chance to breathe and on a more macro level the visuals have dated well.

Content in the opening bit holds up well. Kind of feels a bit before its time - feels like it fits in well with the post-Game of Thrones mediascape. Everything seems very well thought out and put together but it does dump a load of stuff on you quite quickly - I couldn't remember the opening FMV and it only really makes sense now having played the game before and got familiar with the characters and setting. It's interesting that it kicks off with Ashe and Basche's story then immediately veers away to Vaan's. Part of me wonders if some of this opening content might have been better covered in flashback once the characters pop up in the story. I remember the story as not being particularly emotionally engaging and unfortunately the opening is matching my recollections so far - not helped a poorly timed trophy notification during the emotional climax of the opening section.

Nice to be able to play with Japanese voices to mix things up a bit - Vaan's Japanese actor seems like a better fit for the character than the English once. On-screen map is very nice as well.

In the initial section, the reorchestrated soundtrack and updated lighting combine to make everything seem very cinematic and atmospheric. I'm surprised by the impact the updated soundtrack has since the original synths were well-executed - seems like this is going to be a very good way to enjoy the game, providing my PS4 doesn't keep spitting out the disc.

Agree with all of that.

All the Ivalice games have such a subtle, poetic tone. Very slow, very talky and precious little melodrama.

It's aged very well and still feels very fresh.

Ev has decided to spend her overtime money on a £180 PS4, so it looks like i'm back baby! hunting marks is good again! awooo (Vaan howl)

With the new super speedy options, can you just grind out a shed load of marks in short time?

MattyJ wrote:

MattyJ wrote:

With the new super speedy options, can you just grind out a shed load of marks in short time?

I said marks and meant XP/Licence Points.

Once you've got enough gambits to make autopiloting viable and you find the right area for large chains, I'd assume yes.

EvilRedEye wrote:

Loving the option for Japanese voices, Vaan's is sooo much better and given there's a large black area at the bottom for subtitles anyway it all looks natural and classy as fuck.

Agreed. The Japanese voice track and reorchestrated soundtrack makes this a real audiophiliphic pleasure. I also think the game's somewhat "shakespearan" dialogue works better as pure text. So the Japanese voice acting rather adds to the poetry, than takes away.

Something amazingly addictive about tailoring party AI to that depth.

I was going to start on Tearaway tonight. Ah well.

There's a good quote from the Polygon review which I think nails the change created by moving to set jobs:

The Zodiac Age's job system forces each character to choose a job (one to start with, and then a second later in the game) that limits them to a unique license board, which defines what they can do and learn.

In the early sections of playing through the game with these new limitations, I didn't notice much of a difference. But as the difficulty level ramped up and monsters started throwing more and more status-effect causing attacks at me, I realized that Final Fantasy 12: The Zodiac Age was not a game I could play on autopilot. I couldn’t let the if-then magic of my perfectly set up gambits play the game for me. I was going to have to strategize, and plan my parties, and alter my gambits on the fly. I no longer had the convenience of everyone serving as a tank, a healer, and support all at once. Boss battles that I previously knew how to sleepwalk my way through now took my full attention. And after 11 years and 300 some-odd hours, that was thrilling.

I'd argue that the change does alter the early game, too, as I've struggled on a couple of early hunts that I was able to get through before by just using attrition and abusing kiting. Kiting and agro is still there, but you've got to be smarter about it.

Silke wrote:

EvilRedEye wrote:

Loving the option for Japanese voices, Vaan's is sooo much better and given there's a large black area at the bottom for subtitles anyway it all looks natural and classy as fuck.

Agreed. The Japanese voice track and reorchestrated soundtrack makes this a real audiophiliphic pleasure. I also think the game's somewhat "shakespearan" dialogue works better as pure text. So the Japanese voice acting rather adds to the poetry, than takes away.

!!!  Didn't know they had Jap voices this time!! Rejoice!!!!!!

There was one particular dragon that I struggled with that dropped from the sky. Green. Lots of poison. What a fucker. 

On Marks, I gave up on Pylraster, the one-eyed T-Rex outside the Pharos Lighthouse I think. Would've needed lots of grinding to get better but fuck that. 

This time round I'm gonna do lots of hunts and marks as I go along so that I'm readyyyyyy!!!! And also get all the summons or whatever. Like Zodiark

So it was delivered 12:25 today!  Gym first then maybe just maybe I'll have a quick go tonight.

Will show to wife and see if she recognises the game...  I was playing it a heck of a lot in 2006 after we got married and it caused... problems.  She remembers me spending far too much time playing games like Test Drive Unlimited and PGR3 early in our marriage, wonder if she will remember FFXII.