作者彙整: Jason Guisao

My uncle bought me Final Fantasy XII for my birthday in 2006. At 10 years old, a lot of the combat mechanics and branching plotlines were confusing. Regardless, I was enamored with the game’s vibrancy: I specifically recall marveling at hair and garments fluttering in desert winds as well as azure sparks flashing from clanging swords and shields. To this day, it remains my favorite Final Fantasy.

The game originally released as a PlayStation 2 exclusive, but in the last two years, a remaster called, Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age has launched on PlayStation 4 and PC with performance enhancements, deeper job customization, and various quality-of-life changes. Now, Square Enix is finally releasing the remaster on Xbox One and Switch at the end of the month. If you’ve never experienced Final Fantasy XII, this is why you should jump at the chance now.

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The Cast 

Like most installments in Square Enix’s beloved series, Final Fantasy XII chronicles the lives of heroes rising against a greater antagonistic force. Where other entries employed moody, often unrelatable caricatures to drive their plots forward (that’s right, I’m talking about everyone’s favorite heroes, Cloud and Squall), Final Fantasy XII is less about individual motivations and more about the sum of its ensemble parts.

Street urchins Vaan and Penelo call the impoverished slums of Rabanastre home. While Penelo attempts to find silver linings in their plight, Vaan looks to the sky with dreams of owning an airship and living freely. After many chance encounters with shady folk, the two youths are flung into a world of political intrigue and clandestine coup d’états. Even so, they learn to find companionship in others: Ashe, a forsaken princess, Basch, an exiled soldier, and Balthier and Fran, wanted bounty hunters. 

Despite their oddball mix, each member of Final Fantasy XII’s main cast shares similar insecurities – cowardice, loneliness, unresolved grief, and doubts of self-worth. Vaan and his ragtag team of outcasts remain some of the greatest characters in Final Fantasy lore because they’re so easy to root for. Despite struggling with personal shortcomings, they continuously discover ways to defy fate. 

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The World

Like Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy XII’s narrative takes place in the Kingdom of Ivalice. Most of the continent is filled with the unexplored ruins of ancient dynasties. But when your party is not traversing every labyrinthine fortress checkered throughout the expansive backdrop, you’re navigating breathtaking metropolises and townships. As Vaan, you start within the cluttered cityscape of Rabanastre, filled with diverse districts including bazaars and palaces. But beyond the opening hours, players discover larger areas with increasingly exotic fauna including waterways with flaming stallions, badlands with roaming tyrannosaurs, and misty jungles with green chocobos. 

Each setting in Final Fantasy XII is aesthetically unique and teeming with secrets. Some areas, like the Skycity of Bhujerba, can only be reached via airship; that’s as simple as purchasing a one-way ticket. Other locations must be discovered on foot, but hubs are small-scale and (in some cases) linear, meaning that traversal is simple. What’s more, Ivalice houses various ethnic groups. For instance, Fran, with her rabbit-like ears and seven-foot stature, is a Viera who hails from Eruyt Village. Other races like the Nu Mou – bipedal canines – are religious nomads. Despite being a cultural melting pot, Ivalice’s racial tensions make intermingling increasingly difficult. To see this negativity reflected in the way strangers react to Fran (and the rest of your human party for even associating with her), makes the game world feel organic and lived-in. 

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The Battle System

Fans of traditional as well as modern Square Enix RPGs will find that Final Fantasy XII displays a healthy mix of turn-based and real-time combat: ATB gauges (or cooldowns) from older games make a welcome return, adding an urgency to attack input and party positioning. And a dynamic camera with real-time action makes battles feel intuitive and streamlined. 

Rather than unlocking nodes on a static skill tree, progression in Final Fantasy XII is an immersive minigame. Upgrades are recorded through job licenses – spaces on a sprawling checkered board that unlock ultimates, weapon and armor sets, and stat augmentations. These licenses correlate with assigned jobs (or classes). Each job has its own board, but some may share licenses that, when purchased, overlap. For example, my Balthier is a White Mage and Machinist. Both job boards have “swiftness” licenses which lessen cooldown timers. By buying one swiftness node on the White Mage board, I can access adjacent abilities on the Machinist board. 

Players can make a plethora of job combinations to stack overlapping skills and take down the game’s most fearsome bosses. With the added benefit of “gambits” – a customizable command system that programs characters to perform important actions like healing low HP allies or attacking specified targets – battles become relaxingly automated, removing the need for frustrating micromanagement. 

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My favorite RPGs always focus on what matters most: character-driven stories with vibrant locations and fun, captivating gameplay. In 2006, Final Fantasy XII met those standards and it continues to be one of my fondest gaming experiences. The Zodiac Age expanded upon on all the features that made the original great. And now that it’ll be available to every console player in a few weeks, I can’t help but be excited to dive into its world once again. If you love intuitive gameplay as well as the age-old “Final Fantasy formula” done right – an eccentric cast of relatable characters, an epic-scale odyssey, and grand boss fights – then Final Fantasy XII is for you!

The Zodiac Age launches for Xbox One and Switch on April 30. If you’re excited about the remaster too, watch our video detailing four things you need to know about the game in preparation for its re-release.

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Red Dead Redemption II garnered critical acclaim for virtually every aspect of its single-player mode. The game’s explorable sandbox has myriad optional activities including deep hunting mechanics, a sizeable list of stranger missions that expand lore, an honor meter with in-game ramifications, and tons of interesting secrets scattered throughout its open-world.

In Red Dead Online (RDO), however, many of these expansive pastimes are absent. After customizing an eerily silent avatar, players load into a less dynamic version of the open world they explored as Arthur Morgan. Despite these frustrations, Rockstar made sure to tag RDO as a beta in order to tweak technical issues based on community responses. It will likely be some time before substantial updates are integrated.

GTA Online (GTAO), Rockstar’s previous foray into multiplayer gameplay, also started slowly, but steadily built up the experience via a multitude of large-scale updates and cooperative expansions – which has kept players satisfied for years. We know Rockstar plans to do the same with RDO, so here are five features we want implemented in future content drops. 

Land Ownership

Making a profit from honest labor, stockpiling said monies, and purchasing a satisfying dwelling is the American dream, isn’t it? Hell, if John Marston could create a respectable life for himself amid the vicious wilderness of West Elizabeth, why can’t we? 

In RDO, currency is already an increasingly difficult resource to earn, and, unfortunately, there aren’t many enticing assets to save for. Living among the wonders of mother nature in a shoddy tent has a weird charm to it, but a lodge with sturdy walls and swept floorboards is the better alternative. In our ideal multiplayer world, players could purchase a plot of land and one of several house blueprints from Cakes Hardwood and Timber in Blackwater (just like you did in the campaign). From there, they could either build it themselves with harvested resources or have it constructed for a suitable price. Finally, with a new catalog section they’d be able to furnish the empty rooms to their heart’s content! 

Allowing players to create a sustainable ranch with a plethora of mini-activities like feeding livestock, harvesting chicken eggs, and transporting hay bales (similar to the duties players undertake during the campaign epilogue) could provide a relaxing experience for those looking to put down their pistols and live honest, hardworking lives.

Small-Time Robberies and Big-Time Heists

You knew this was coming. The definitive GTAO experience isn’t available in RDO. This is particularly frustrating because GTA V is chock-full of legendary heists; you would think that RDO would’ve dropped with at least one. Ultimately, we’d love to partake in exhilarating train and bank robberies like the ones the Van der Linde Gang conduct. Moreover, NPC hold-up options are missing, which is an odd design choice, seeing as how this mechanic is a core part of A.I. interaction in story mode gameplay. 

For those who prefer the structure of civilization (and a high honor meter), Rockstar could release an update focused on becoming lawmen, bringing peace and order to the American frontier. Unique rewards for those who don the sheriff’s badge could include exclusive outfits or weapon attachments. The addition of NPC outlaws with posses to hunt down would help pad out the experience as well. 

Economic Interactivity

Rockstar had plans to add stock markets to GTAO, notably, the BAWSAQ, which players would have actively participated in. The mechanic wouldn’t translate very well to a Wild West setting, but why not let people own or invest in local establishments, like popular saloons or general stores, instead? What about constructing and taxing settlements? Better yet, imagine all the neat clothing that could be designed by players and sold for various prices in the product catalogue! 

While GTA pushes the criminality of its metropolises to the forefront of immersion, the RDR experience is about outlaws trying to escape that lifestyle. In line with land ownership, there should be opportunities to live out Western fantasies nonviolently. People who enjoy the tranquility of hunting and fishing could set up fur trading and taxidermy businesses. Miners or gold prospectors could craft accessories or neat weaponry. And what about those of you that want to live as old fashioned cowboys? Rockstar could create a gameplay loop around exploring the open-world, finding rare mares to break, and selling them to bustling stables or bartering with other players in need of speedy mounts. 

An Epic Multiplayer Campaign

As of right now, RDO only has 10 main quests, and none of them have the same set-piece action of the primary campaign. Mr. Horley vaguely hints at future expansions as you wrap up the final mission, so we hope Rockstar’s multiplayer storytelling continues in the near future. 

Two chapters (like in the campaign) would suffice and could build upon unrevealed moments in the franchise. Wouldn’t it be cool to ride with Javier Escuella after the Van der Linde Gang’s disbandment, or have multiple run-ins with Micah Bell? Rockstar constantly mentions that it wants players to immerse themselves in its multiplayer world, and what better way to do that than integrating a series of fresh, compelling narratives? 

Private Sessions

There’s a savage group of outlaws that patrol the windy deserts east of Tumbleweed, and every time I enter their territory, they riddle me with bullets. I mean, I’m just peaceably exercising my right to collect exotic fish and animals. One time, while trying to escape on horseback, they gunned me down in the streets of some lawless shantytown. I returned with my posse and, even then, we stood no chance. Eventually, I gave up and migrated north to the mainland. 

Rockstar is steadily incorporating an ambitious Hostility System to counteract griefing issues, but private matchmaking or a pacifist mode (which existed in GTAO) would do a better job at quelling frustrations. You could argue that solitary players should stick to the game’s campaign, but a more intimate adventure for friends queuing in duos, trios, or even as a full four-person squad breeds a less disruptive co-op experience. 

While we all wait for future RDO news, study up on these 50 Micro-tips to help you survive the multiplayer worldscape. Also, be sure to check out the Five Ways That Rockstar Has Changed The Video Game Industry.

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Have you ever been distraught after completing an incredible video game? The lights dim and tiny letters start to slowly creep down your screen to the tune of climactic wind instruments. The main story is over, there’s nothing left to do, and you’re feeling an emptiness you haven’t felt since the last game you beat. If only there was more to do and see alongside your beloved cast of main characters! Well brighten up, because we present five titles (new and old) that provide extensive content long after the credits roll! 

This list is spoiler-heavy, so peruse it at your own risk. 

Red Dead Redemption 2

Look, Dutch’s grand “plan” – the one that involves becoming happily drunk ranchers in Tahiti – never happens. Eerily sanguine sunsets, swelling, yet, melancholic folk music, and, the emptiness of the Van der Linde camp indicate one thing: Red Dead Redemption 2’s end is approaching. Or is it?

On horseback, you gallop through the rugged passes of Beaver Hollow to learn Arthur Morgan’s tragic fate. The situation is bleak (or hopeful, depending on your honor meter), and the story seems all but finished. But when the game fades in from black, you are an older and wiser John Marston, searching for a safe dwelling to plant roots, years after the gang disbands. As John, you can re-explore the American frontier, run into old friends in unexpected places, meet new VIPs to complete their “stranger” missions, and explore the vast desert south of Blackwater. If that’s not enough to satiate your desire for a lengthy endgame, then you’ll be happy to hear about the extra 21 missions split between two Epilogue chapters. 

Monster Hunter: World

You’ve roamed verdant prairies and noxious chasms, vanquishing feral wildlife for high-quality gear and consumables. The final boss, Xeno’jiiva, is dead, and the continent’s ecosystem stabilizes. You return to the village of Astera and its celebratory denizens after a lengthy credits sequence. Festivities, however, are short-lived.

The Handler posts a new mission: subdue two Bazelgueses. You find them soaring aimlessly above the half-lit canyons of Wildspire Waste. And without hesitation, both monsters crash into you like falling bomber planes. Their menacing roars fill the landscape, even after your body is carted away.

The post-campaign of Monster Hunter: World is not for the fainthearted. “Tempered” beasts – incredibly strong versions of creatures previously hunted – await. What’s more, you can confront Tempered Elder Dragons, which provide some of the game’s most punishing combat experiences. Of course, high-risk encounters come with equally tantalizing rewards: jewels and streamstones, rare items used to substantially bolster abilities or equipment. Additionally, material drops are randomized, so you’ll likely need to challenge these fearsome foes more than once in order to complete your favorite weapon and armor sets.

These various struggles culminate during the final optional side quest, “The Sapphire Star’s Guidance,” which is only accessible once you’ve reached Hunter Rank (HR) 100. To put this into context, the game’s story missions end around HR 15, so you’ll be busy with tons of fun hunts and loot.  

Nier: Automata

Do you love games with multiple endings? Ending “A” of Nier: Automata occurs after finishing its story for the first time. Of the 26 possible finales (most of which are comedic events triggered by specific choices or actions), B through E are all experienced after multiple campaign playthroughs. If you’re a dedicated completionist, you’ll want to fully optimize the capabilities of every weapon in the game as this unlocks an ending as well. Easy, right?

If that’s too overwhelming for you, don’t worry – just fight your way to ending C and unlock the chapter-select menu. With this, you can hop into any moment during the story to finish missed or neglected side quests. Or, if you’re a masochist, take on the game’s ultimate combat challenge: Emil. This is a two-part boss fight that spans multiple locations. 70 is the recommended level, so you’ll have to spend a lot of time grinding to even stand a chance at prevailing. But, hey, at least you’ll have access to ending Y if you actually defeat him. 

Super Mario Odyssey

After hours of fueling a levitating ship to navigate the greater Mario universe, you gain access to interstellar travel and shoot for the stars. You throw open those tall cathedral doors and crash Bowser’s lame wedding. The day is won, and the illustrious Princess Peach has been freed. But the odyssey is far from over.

Now that Bowser’s menacing grip has been forcibly removed, the colorful cast you’ve encountered along the way merrily roam their homelands. While most of them spout meaningless voice lines, some citizens offer you quests that were previously unattainable. You’ll soon discover that Princess Peach has decided to embark on an epic voyage of her own. Seek her out in each world to slightly increase your power moon count.

Speaking of the elusive relics: if you weren’t already tired of procuring moons, then I’m sorry to inform you that large, out of place, gray cubes can be ruptured to release even more. And although The Mushroom Kingdom is now explorable, other levels are unveiled once certain collectible thresholds are met. For your tireless efforts, “The Dark Side of the Moon” and its “Darker” counterpart are unlocked and offer substantially difficult objectives. Much of the challenge resides in completing these areas without dying or using checkpoints, so keep your wits about you!

New cosmetics and outfits round out a lengthy post-game experience. So, for those of you who haven’t experienced Mario’s latest journey: rejoice, there is much to do!

Pokémon Gold and Silver

Yeah, that’s right, we’re taking a trip down memory lane to simpler, pixelated times. 

Inspired by New Bark Town’s uplifting slogan, you ride “the winds of a new beginning” with your Pokémon friends, besting the eight gym leaders and wayward trainers of the forested Johto Region. After defeating the famed Elite Four, you and your party are etched into the annals of the Hall of Fame. The screen fades out, credits roll, and then…the second arc in your mission to catch ‘em all finally kicks off!

Professor Elm gifts his S.S. Ticket to you, and suddenly the world’s horizons are broadened. The Kanto Region and its respective challenges are merely a ship ride away. With a Pokedex-load of region-specific pocket monsters (including a chance to catch your very own Pikachu!), extra story-based conflicts with Team Rocket, and a conclusively epic battle against your oldest rival, Gold and Silver stand atop Game Freak’s iconic franchise with some of the most extensive gameplay to date.

For a highly relatable deep-dive into why post-campaigns are awesome and necessary, read Joe Juba’s The Joy Of Post-Game Content. 

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Baptiste is on Overwatch’s PTR, and we’ve spent time exploring the healer’s mechanics and features. We’ve compiled a brief dossier, listed some basic tips for you to gain the upper-hand in battle, and outlined the gameplay nuances that he brings to Overwatch. 

Who is he and what can he do?

A war orphan, Jean-Baptiste Augustin enlists in the Haitian military and serves for years as a distinguished combat medic. The Omnic Crisis ends, however, and he is displaced again. He joins the Talon mercenary organization after a stint of unemployment, but their egregious acts of global terrorism deeply alter him. Now an unaffiliated commando and Talon deserter, Baptiste evades pursuers at every turn while assisting people in need. 

On the battlefield, Overwatch’s latest support hero dictates the flow of engagements with high-hopping exo boots, making it easier for him to access raised ledges and floating platforms. The damage output of his three-round-burst rifle is not to be underestimated, but because of recoil, accuracy is important. His firearm is also equipped with a grenade launcher that splash-heals allies, meaning you don’t need to be extremely accurate to keep your friends alive. Cooldown abilities include “regenerative burst” and “immortality field.” The former is an AoE skill that restores a modicum of your health while also medicating nearby friends. The latter activates a floating drone (similar to Mei’s ultimate) that makes the team impervious to death if they stay within the field’s small radius. Finally, Baptiste’s ultimate, “amplification matrix,” places a holographic “visor” that augments the damage and healing capabilities of heroes who shoot through it. At first glance, the visor looks like a shield, but don’t be fooled; enemies can still fire at you from the other side. 

How can you get the most value out of his ability-kit?

Hero 30’s primary fire is hitscan-based, meaning that you’ll likely find clever Baptiste players perched on the high ground. From these superior positions, he can safely neutralize unwary enemies with pinpoint headshots or lob restorative grenades at critically wounded teammates. Since Baptiste’s launcher heals near the point of contact, aim your projectiles at surfaces adjacent to clusters of allies. Unfortunately, those same grenades don’t self-heal, so use regenerative burst conservatively since its 15-second cooldown timer can render you completely vulnerable. Immortality field can help stabilize everyone during crucial team fights, but the drone you cast can be neutralized; don’t be complacent. On maps with various vantage points, like Hollywood and Watchpoint: Gibraltar, Baptiste can create crossfire opportunities to stall pushes or single-handedly deny access routes. He can also link up with other heroes that prefer engaging adversaries from higher altitudes (McCree, Widowmaker, and Ana, to name a few) and strengthen their weapons with his amplification matrix. 

PSA: While eliminating the competition, be mindful of counters like Lucio, Junkrat, and D.Va. These three heroes, if played skillfully, can push your teammates – with their crowd-control ability-kits – out of regenerative burst and immortality field’s small radii. You’ve been forewarned. 

Which team compositions can he accommodate? 

Baptiste thrives as an off-support in lineups that lack high mobility. “Bunker” compositions, which rely on “stacking” (or grouping up on a specified hero) and space negation, are easily supported by his AoE cooldown powers. Once he’s officially released on public servers, expect to see Baptiste in Orisa “deathballs” on Control Point arenas. For players who lament the difficulty spike of Paris’ defense phase, Baptiste is the definitive answer you’ve been waiting for. He’ll also be an instrumental addition to the Bastion-centric “pirate ship” composition on Escort maps. If you feel payload game modes are already insurmountable, imagine a heavily defended Bastion with amplification matrix in front of him. Terrifying, isn’t it? 

Does he evolve the current Overwatch meta?

Alright, you’ve waited long enough. Let’s talk about GOATS: the triple-tank-triple-support meta that has dominated competitive play and displeased most of Overwatch’s fanbase. While you might think that Baptiste is an optimal choice to assist GOATS, you’d be mistaken. The healers that are interspersed in the controversial meta continue to be perfect fits: Lucio speed-boosts his heavy tanks, Zenyatta’s discord orbs enable productive focus-fire, Moira’s spray healing works best with larger hitboxes, Brigitte’s rocket flail or shield stuns can initiate coordinated teamplays, and Ana’s biotic grenade can disrupt the utility of enemy supports. Regenerative burst and immortality field are viable in GOATS teams that successfully stack on their Reinhardt. Amplification matrix, however, won’t benefit a composition that primarily depends on close quarters combat. Sadly, GOATS will likely be around for a long time.

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Are his cosmetics any good?

If anything, this is where Baptiste’s design seems less-inspired. Most of his skins resemble Soldier 76’s “Cyborg” and “Commando.” The legendary outfits that do stand out are pirate-themed. But this is hardly a new direction for costume content since three other characters have their own pirate getups as well. We’ll have to wait and see if Blizzard gifts Baptiste enthusiasts with some cooler cosmetics when future events roll in. 

What’s my take?

He’s game-changing and, yes, you’ve heard similar sentiments in the past. Regardless, let me explain: 

We know that off-healers can pad health bars with well-timed ultimates (i.e., Sound Barrier, Rally, Transcendence), but Baptiste can unleash his immortality field to similar effect every 20 seconds! In a communicative team, this has the potential to fill the win condition for consecutive team fights. That kind of supremacy is only mirrored by the likes of conservative Zarya or aggressive Sombra players. Indeed, the field’s generator is destructible, but clever positioning and angles can prevent complications. The self-sustain of regenerative burst makes him a shoo-in against opportunistic flankers while preserving the vitality of nearby allies. Additionally, discarded damage dealers like Soldier 76 and Torbjörn may make frequent appearances again with the help of amplification matrix. 

Take it from a seasoned flex-support player: This is not a hero you want to underestimate. 

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Baptiste’s release date has not been confirmed but stay tuned for the next Overwatch “Archives” event which, we think, may reveal some important details about his backstory. And if you haven’t purchased a copy of Overwatch, well, you should! The game’s PC retail price dropped earlier this year. 

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