Author Topic: [FF12] International Zodiac Job System English Patch (v0.22)  (Read 34875 times)

Timber

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This is not mine, but I think it is very worthy of mention, since FFXII International (released in Japan only) really is a big improvement over the original FFXII, and a lot of people don't know about it.
The English patch is by ffgriever and can be found here: http://psx-scene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62222
You MUST own both an English version of FFXII as well as the Japanese International Zodiac Job System version for this to work.
The patch essentially combines data from both games to make an English International version.

If you haven't heard about why you should care about the International version, here is a list of changes:

Turbo button: Press L1 and the game starts skipping frames, emulator-style, to go faster. How fast it goes depends on how much stuff is on the screen. If there are no enemies and you're just travelling it can go as fast as quadruple speed. Looking at videos of the regular version I cringe now when they kill a monster then walk off at the same speed.

Summons and Guests: Directly controllable, and able to be the party leader. You can even change guest's gambits, or order your summons to use their finisher immediately rather than wait for the right conditions. Guests also level up with you so they don't wind up useless if you like to grind like me.

Zodiac Job System: This is my favourite change. Instead of having one giant license board with every single equip and skill on it, it's divided up into 12 smaller boards each representing an FF job and a zodiac sign. This way, nobody in you party can do everything at once and it actually matters who you use again. Another thing is that now there are a lot of "island" spaces on the license boards, and quickenings and espers make bridges to those spaces. That way, it also actually matters who gets espers.

New Quickening Bar: Instead of having quickenings and summons drain your entire MP bar, they now have their own separate limit break bar. Since they don't affect MP anymore now you get way better MP growth to make up for it.

Shops: Some items were shuffled around in when you can buy them, and I think in general stuff is available earlier now. Some spells and techs you can't buy in shops now though; they come from certain treasure chests. Any chest with a spell or a tech is guaranteed to appear and to have the skill. You can also buy every single gambit as soon as you clear Barheim; this especially helps mage classes with the elemental gambits.

Equipment: A lot of weapons and accessories had their abilities changed. Most weapons were tweaked for job balance, while most accessories were given at least two functions. For example the diamond armlet now makes you immune to lightning besides changing chests. Even the primary functions are more useful now though since not every class gets every augment. There were also new ultimate weapons added for most of the weapon types, found in various places. All of them are named after another weapon with an added letter, like the Masamune I or the Aldebaran Y. (also if you line them all up in order they spell out FINALFANTASY)

No Damage Limit: Partly because of all the new high-power weapons, the damage limit was removed on everything. That makes it so that everything other than the Masamune is actually useful in the endgame, and helps make high-level bosses faster. There's a video on YT on someone doing ~420,000 damage by stacking up a ton of buffs with the best gun.

Treasure Chests: Now respawn when you go one screen away, instead of three. With the turbo button this makes farming for stuff from chests way, way easier.

Trial Mode: An endurance test of 100 fights in a row, with no shops for restocking. Beating it unlocks Weak Mode, leading to...

Weak Mode and Strong Mode: Weak Mode starts a new game you never gain experience from anything ever, so it's an enforced low-level challenge. Strong Mode is unlocked after beating the final boss. It starts a new game where everyone starts out at level 90. The GameFAQs guide calls these New Game Plus, but that's not really true since you don't keep any items.
« Last Edit: 2014-07-17 20:50:01 by Covarr »