Does Zodiac Age fix a lot of the missable content?

[Ecchi Games]

I only played the original PS2 version and I know you could miss the Zodiac spear if you opened wrong chests, and there were other unique one-of-a-kind items you had to save scum opening their chest because most of the time you'd get garbage instead.

Does the Zodiac Age fix any of these missable items?

Also I know there's some missable quests if you don't do certain things before certain events, like Ktjn the Viera's road to improvement. I'm assuming these are all left alone?

[Furry Wrecking Crew]

Why would they "fix" something that isn't broke? Those are secrets/Easter eggs, not bugs.

[lehipi]

Originally posted by Coelacanth:

I only played the original PS2 version and I know you could miss the Zodiac spear if you opened wrong chests, and there were other unique one-of-a-kind items you had to save scum opening their chest because most of the time you'd get garbage instead.

Does the Zodiac Age fix any of these missable items?

Also I know there's some missable quests if you don't do certain things before certain events, like Ktjn the Viera's road to improvement. I'm assuming these are all left alone?

TZA on PS4: (=the version released here on Steam)
The Zodiac spear is now a reward in the Hunt Club, dependant on who you hand the trophies to. It is also nerfed, and only one (1) job can equip it: Uhlan.
The sidequests are as original, but some gives new rewards (Ktjn do, for instance), and ditto for the Hunts and Elite Hunts quests.
Some equipment chests in the world have been changed/removed, as the number of high level items have been severely restricted (and only few can equip them anyway...).
The Bazaar have been changed a bit regarding the loot you need to sell (the Blood Sword have been completely removed, and is now a regular drop instead).
Some important and/or high level spells, technicks and gambits have been removed from the shops, and are now found in specific, 100% spawnrate chests throughout the game.

[Briggs]

As has been said, though not explicitly, there is nothing to fix because missables are a staple of JRPGs. The idea that you need to pay attention to get everything, or even that you have to choose what you want, is intentional.

Frankly, I find them annoying unless the game has a new game+ feature allowing us to get what we may have missed in a later run (X-2 is the only FF game I can think of that allows this, but a second play through...?).

[Scarlet Crusade]

The Zodiac Spear is not -that- nerfed; it lost nine power, but it's still the most powerful spear. It can be argued, though, that the Vrsabha (formerly Dragon Whisker L on IZJS) is still better. Zodiac Spear will do more damage per hit, but Vrsabha is more likely to combo. Full stats:

Vrsabha: 108 Power, 40% Evade, 10% Combo chance, 50% Disable proc
Zodiac Spear: 141 Power, 8% Evade, 4% Combo chance, 20% Disable proc

And I'd actually recommend not getting Zodiac Spear from the Hunt Club, because if you do, you can't get a second pair of Genji Gloves and a free Ribbon, which is the generally recommended path. You can still get the Zodiac Spear if you want, as it's in a chest in Henne Mines, in the area just before Zodiark, as a 1% chance to appear chest, but if it does appear, it has a 100% chance to contain Zodiac Spear. Repeatable. But you can't get a second pair of Genji Gloves anywhere else, so unless you just don't need a second pair of Genji Gloves, then I'd recommend against.


Kjtn's quest actually doesn't have a time limit. It's just that she has advancement points throughout the story that rush it along faster. If you've passed all those points, you can still talk to her, give your answer, then use a save crystal to teleport to somewhere else that isn't Rabanastre, and then teleport back, and she'll have moved to the next position.

Most missable minor quests are still missable, like the Small Package quest at the beginning of the game in Rabanastre and the quest where you scare off BIggs and Wedge for July and she gives you a Salamand Halcyon later in Archades if you do, but none of these have unique rewards, they just make getting certain things easier.


The only true missables that are in this version of the game are the Genji equipment steals from Gilgamesh, especially the Genji Gloves, which cannot be obtained anywhere else aside from the aforementioned Hunt Club reward, so maximum quantity 2 ever, and the Omega Badge, which is a loot bag on the ground dropped after defeating Omega Mark XII.

You can steal extra copies of Genji Shield, Genji Helm, and Genji Armor in the Trial Mode if you really want them, though. And you can also steal the Wyrmhero Blade in the Trial Mode, making the Omega Badge a pointless item, in a way, but if you want to obtain the Wyrmhero Blade the proper way, then you won't want to miss the Omega Badge.


There's a full list of changes from the original to International Zodiac Job system you can read:
https://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/939426-final-fantasy-xii-international-zodiac-job-system/faqs/49691

It mostly contains everything that you need to know, since The Zodiac Age was based on this version. There are a few more minor differences from IZJS to TZA, but everything that's changed as listed here in this guide is still true in IZJS.

[Vaan]

Originally posted by Krovoc:

The idea that you need to pay attention to get everything, or even that you have to choose what you want, is intentional.

It's near impossible to get missable gear/rare enemies without looking up a guide or getting extremely lucky. Attention is not a factor here, they just wanted to sell strategy guides.

[Briggs]

Originally posted by Vaan:

Originally posted by Krovoc:

The idea that you need to pay attention to get everything, or even that you have to choose what you want, is intentional.

It's near impossible to get missable gear/rare enemies without looking up a guide or getting extremely lucky. Attention is not a factor here, they just wanted to sell strategy guides.

Well, they are doing a terrible job since GameFAQs has been a thing since...The 90's?

[Vaan]

Originally posted by Krovoc:

Originally posted by Vaan:

It's near impossible to get missable gear/rare enemies without looking up a guide or getting extremely lucky. Attention is not a factor here, they just wanted to sell strategy guides.

Well, they are doing a terrible job since GameFAQs has been a thing since...The 90's?

Mostly for pc gamers (mostly). Back then the internet was not as available (even today there are people with access to nothing but terrible datacap plans). There's a reason why trailer dvds, cheat code "bibles" and game console magazines were gigantic back then and have been dying off as the years passed.

[NoLifeDGenerate]

This kind of ♥♥♥♥ is what codebreaker was for on PS2. Hope somebody writes a decent trainer. I won't buy the PS4 version because I don't play FF games without at least some modding.

[Crusta]

Wtf. You don't "fix" missables. Those are there to encourage exploration and replay value.

[Faint]

no but any money some modders will...

[Ecchi Games]

I understand missable content was a "feature" and put there intentionally however it was implemented very poorly in FF:XII for PS2 since you had zero indication that doing arbitrary things would cause you to miss that content, as in the case of the Zodiac Spear. Then there's the low random chance on rare items, which I get to some degree but it's not something you can farm/grind and hope to get through normal gameplay, you HAVE to know what chest it is in, and you HAVE to save before you open that chest, and you HAVE to reload over and over if you hope to have a shot at getting it. It's very crummy system all around.

I don't mind missable content if it's properly flagged somehow in-game that you can miss it or done in a way that doesn't promote save scumming which I'm not a fan of.

So when I ask if they fixed missables I am refering to the way they were poorly implemented, not if they were made unmissable. I mean over half the Espers were missable but they were implemented well into the game that you could find them through normal gameplay.

I do appreciate the informative replies however from some of you about the differences between the original and TZA. :)

[Eltia]

I believe the only missiable items in TZA are the Genji equipment.

[Scarlet Crusade]

Originally posted by Eltia:

I believe the only missiable items in TZA are the Genji equipment.

And Omega Badge, thus the Wyrmhero Blade. But you can get the Wyrmhero Blade and Genji Shield/Helm/Armor from Trial Mode, but Genji Gloves are limited, since they're obtainable only in Trial 100 which cannot be used to pull items from.