I was holding my copy of FFXII just 24 hours ago...

You only have yourself to blame for this.

And some more info on the PS Blog:

• Remastered 7.1 soundtrack, original OST still available.
• Predictably, this is the International Zodiac Job System version. I sort of wished they kept that ridiculously long subtitle.

Ha, yeah it's still a divisive game I see.

Dammit, I hope this eventually comes out on PC with a good port. Otherwise I may have to finally get a PS4. Between this and Horizon: Zero Dawn which, if it turns out good, I really want to play. The positive thing is that I can get a PS4 Neo or whatever the new model will be called, and won't feel guilty about it because I never owned an original PS4.

@crommi: Well they were already on the MMO-bandwagon back in 2001 with FFXI. By 2006, when this game came out, FFXI was one of their most profitable games ever; and was at the peak of its' player-base. FFXII takes a lot of gameplay and world inspirations from FFXI, so its basically as single-player MMO.

Loved this game. TV died in the middle of playing it back in 06-07, we got a new "720p" tv(snazzy!) and the game looked so bad on it I couldn't continue. I always wanted to try and emulate on the computer but haven't tried and this, this here is how I will finally play this game. Hopefully on pc.

Yep, I wanted this, and I'm glad it's going to PS4. That said, I only got fifteen hours into the original, but enjoyed it. I thought it was superb. I only got a bit further than a part where Vaan kept explaining he was one of the other characters. I can't say how much I liked the story or characters, but I really enjoyed the active gameplay approach it took over the stationary one from the previous FF's, and the art with the world you inhabit was great to me. I liked the designs. The music was pretty good too.

I always felt this game was held back by the hardware of the PS2. I wonder if this remaster will increase the draw distance on enemies, and eliminate the loads between areas. A seamless world would go a long way towards making this game feel more modern.

Love the game and this is cool news but now that they're done remastering non-HD into HD, I wonder how soon we'll start seeing the 4K remasters.

IMO this was the absolute peak of FF gameplay. The story was fine and all, but gameplay wise, this is easily the best game in the series from the leveling system to the gambits you could use to program your characters, pure gold.

Also in terms of graphics, considering how good you can make this look on an emulator with just a resolution bump, some anti-aliasing, and some anisotropic filtering, I'd say that's a pretty reasonable claim. If they actually go the extra distance on this thing and upgrade some of the textures and models it could actually look pretty great.

@kasaioni: 99% certain this will be on PC as well. So far, it's following the same trajectory as FFX/X2 did and that came to Steam recently. If those two PS2 exclusives are able to be released on PC, so will this one.

I would give anything to have this on my Vita.

@kasaioni said:

Well I'm not sure I'd call XI getting on the MMO bandwagon.. at least in what most people think of these days. I'd call it the last MMO before World of Warcraft which then was the bandwagon. I think of it as the great divide.. 11 coming out when it did meant it sort of "died" quickly because everyone jumped on WoW, except it ended up being a under-the-radar success and extremely profitable for SE because all the old-school MMO players probably preferred 11. And 11 is still kind of chugging along to this very day, albeit far from it's peak. Ah man 11 was so great back in the day.

And you reminded my of all the XI-XII stuff. It's really awesome and fascinating seeing how many details 12 took from 11. Like the Hunts / Notorious Monsters. Tons of monster designs and names etc.

Man o man o man o man, I hope this comes to PC! Wonderful news!

I played some of Xii on my fat PS3 and it looked fantastic upscaled. I can only imagine how a full on remaster could be.

@seikenfreak: Well okay, my point was really to say that FFXII was more influenced by FFXI, than it was by the post-WoW MMO world.

And for the record, I know about FFXI; in fact, I'm playing it right now.

@zombiepie said:

Oh, it's not so bad. I think FFXII is one of the best in the entire series. Plus, deep down, you know you like it.

I do hope they keep the option for the original License Grids instead of the International version though. Kind of like how they did the remaster of X. The way the license grids work, I don't want to have to choose a class before I can see what's actually on the grid.

I've never played 12, and was even thinking about getting a copy of it soon, but now I guess I'll just wait. I had been hoping they'd do an HD version (and had been searching Google every month or so to see if there was any news), so I'm happy with this.

Oh but... at around 0:50, it looks like they didn't fix Vaan's weird tire-track abs...

Really would like a Vita version, or at least PC. I suppose I'll take what I can get.

@kasaioni: Ah gotcha. Didn't realize that is what you were saying. I mention the 11 + 12 stuff because a lot of people seem to dismiss 11 but maybe don't realize how "FF" it was or influential.. for 12 at least (and 14 obviously)

Nice to see you're still playing. I was messing around in it a couple months ago. Sort of bounce between that and 14 (new patch tomorrow)

I wonder what the reception will be like in a post Game of Thrones world. It's a more apt comparison than Star Wars, which FF12 usually gets because of the ships. The game is seeping with the world building and politics of FFT, though.

skip the first 50 seconds, it's all pre rendered garbage. The texture work in FF12 is really remarkable adding this style that's almost sculpture like. And it's better to go into a FF game that isn't trying to be modern pop culture instead more fantasy..... with poorly pronounced real world words because it's got a bizarre translation. There have been some amazing emulators showing off this game in 1080p, so yeah, I'd want to come back pay another 60 bucks on this game which I spent over 190 hours just to fight John DiMaggio in probably the reason to play this game for.

@seikenfreak: FFXI is still fun now in my honest opinion. A lot of stuff in solo-able now, but you still need a good Linkshell if you want to have the best things.

Wish they went for FF8 but it's all good. I'll give it a shot.

I wonder how far they'll go with extra content, specifically optional bosses and quests.

This is the one I have been waiting for. FFXII is a damned masterpiece. Flawed, but still very masterpiecey.

Really hope this gets a Steam release, I had gotten it at launch on PS2 but couldn't get into it at the time, I'd like to give it another try.

This is the one where you set up some rules for your characters and the game plays itself for you while you handle the analog sticks. Perhaps one of the most boring games I've ever played personally but I know it has fans.

@zombiepie: you're safe for now... Until they announce a Steam version

I thought that someone (maybe the composer or some designer) alluded to it in an interview at some point so was always hopeful of a remaster. Glad it finally got announced though I'd have preferred if they could have delayed it until E3.

Still my favorite of the numbered series. This may be a good reason to replay it.

But seriously, why was Vaan the main character? Or a major character at all, for that matter? Balthier, Ashe or Basch would have been great lead characters; any one of them.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

@zorak: The writer (he also did tactics ogre and FFT, two games with amazing stories influenced by GoT) meant to have Balthier as the main character but suits were all "this is Japan gotta have teenagers dude."

Pretty much one of the best writers in games that was hamstrung by the higher ups.

I never took Vaan as being the main character. I always thought the world was the main character and Vaan was just the instrument used to navigate it. If I had to pick a main character it would be Ashe. She always felt more of a main character to me than Vaan did.

12 was pretty fucking great though. I can't recommend it enough.

I tend to agree; the adventures of rat-killing in the city early on are painful and I would love to be able to skip them. Love the rest of the game, though.

Those rose tinted glasses will fall off during the first 4-5 hours of fetch quests and dying to rats and desert tomatoes. But... unlike FFX/X-2, this game gets better the more time you spend with it.

@hadoken: I don't remember having much trouble with the beginning of the game so much as with the Mega Bosses in end game.

Really wish this was coming to Xbox one. I believe this was my first FF that I actually sat down and played the hell out of, it pushed me to pick up 10 as well.