Which is the best version of Final Fantasy XII? FF12 and The Zodiac Age compared across all platforms

This month, Final Fantasy XII celebrated its 20th anniversary. I still consider it one of the best Final Fantasy games out there with the Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age being just a fantastic release in general. Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age is playable on just about everything right now, and to celebrate the original game's anniversary, I revisited it across consoles and PC to see how it feels on modern consoles, PC handhelds, and more. I was originally planning on publishing this last week, but a combination of the Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster ports and Switch 2 Handheld Boost Mode update pushed this feature a bit. 

As with my other Square Enix RPG comparisons like Triangle Strategy, Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake, and others, I will be covering the release timeline, features, visuals, performance, load times, and more for Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age. I will then discuss why I consider a specific version the best and which version you should buy to play depending on your needs. I want to note that while I have access to almost every version of Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age, I do not own the Windows Store PC version. I didn't bother checking that since it is not an Xbox Play Anywhere release. 

Final Fantasy XII and The Zodiac Age release timeline

Before getting to the versions and other differences, Final Fantasy XII has had an interesting release timeline across platforms with new features, ports, and more.

March 2006: Final Fantasy XII debuts in Japan for PlayStation 2.
October 2006: Final Fantasy XII releases in North America for PlayStation 2 with widescreen support, battle and text changes, enemy changes, and more.
February 2007: Final Fantasy XII releases in Europe and Australia for PlayStation 2.
August 2007: Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System releases for PlayStation 2 in Japan with the Zodiac Job system, new game modes, quality of life improvements, UI changes, many battle adjustments, and much more.
July 2017: Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age releases for PS4 bringing the International Zodiac Job System version content to the West for the first time, HD visuals, higher-resolution textures, a new orchestral soundtrack option, faster load times, a new map overlay, auto-save, and more.
February 2018: Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age launches for PC Steam bringing in 60fps support, ultrawide support, a third soundtrack option, new character model physics, boost options, the ability to play new game plus or minus in the beginning, and more. 
April 2019: Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age launches for Xbox One and Nintendo Switch adding even more features like the job reset function, the ability to store three gambit setups, and all prior features. It also featured 60fps support on Xbox One X and retained almost all Steam release additions. 
April 2020: Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age is updated on both PS4 and Steam to bring in the new Xbox One and Switch features like the job reset system, the third soundtrack option on PS4, and more.

Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age feature differences across platforms 

With the timeline out of the way, it is worth noting how Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age differs across platforms. Note that this is only considering the current and most updated versions of the games. Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age on PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch all have the same gameplay features and content with the newest updates. There is no difference outside of visuals and performance that I will cover shortly. 

Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age on PC on the other hand features two boosters to give players (cannot be toggled off or disabled once enabled on a save file) maximum License Points and Gil. In addition to these boosters, New Game Plus and New Game Minus can be accessed from the beginning of the game as opposed to after completing a playthrough.

Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age visual and performance differences across PS5, Switch 2, Xbox, PS4, Switch, Steam Deck, and PC

Despite being a remaster of a PS2 game, Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age has notable differences across console and PC platforms when it comes to visuals and performance. On the console side, Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age launched with PS4 Pro support, It ran at a 1080p 30fps target on base PS4 and 1440p 30fps on PS4 Pro. The PS4 version is considered the base release for Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age. 

When it was brought to PC, it scaled well above that by offering 4K, 60fps, ultrawide support, and more. The PC version does suffer from speed issues when running above 60fps though so you need to ensure the game is capped to 60fps when playing. Beyond that, the PC version had massively faster saving. The PS4 version even on PS5 takes too long to save and load files today. The PC version also features some physics for clothes and other aspects of character models. I learned about this when I watched AustinSV's video on Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age that I've linked below. It is a great video that covers how the PS2 version changed over time and I recommend watching it.

Following the PC release, Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age on Xbox and Switch varies quite a bit on a technical level depending on the console you play it on. When played on Xbox One or One S, Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age is a 1080p experience, but when played on an Xbox One X or Series X, it offers a 60fps experience. Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age on Xbox is the only console version that can run at 60fps right now.

The Switch version was subnative when played on Switch 1 both docked and handheld. According to pixel counts from Digital Foundry, it is 864p docked and 576p portable with a 30fps target. The cuts don't end there though. There is a noticeable reduction to some textures and assets in addition to some cut-scenes and audio to fit the game within a sub 16gb install size. 

As for playing on Switch 2, it is still 864p docked, but playing handheld with the new Switch 2 Handheld Boost Mode setting results in a notable visual upgrade over the vanilla Switch handheld release. It still has a 30fps target, but is notably better-looking than Switch 1. Speaking of playing on Switch 2, Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age's backward compatibility issues have been fixed as of this month.

One last point to cover for visuals and performance is PC handhelds. Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age on Steam Deck OLED is basically a perfect portable experience. It also runs without issues on my ROG Ally, but the Steam Deck OLED with 60fps, native resolution, and the OLED screen delivers a fantastic experience. 

Note: For the comparison above, I used Steam's screenshot functionality on ROG Ally and Steam Deck alongside Switch 2 handheld capture for the Switch 1 version using boost mode on and off. I then cropped and upscaled the images to show the difference, but note that the boost mode enabled version looks better on the device itself than it does in the comparison above because Switch 2 screenshots for Switch 1 games are limited to 720p.

Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age load times across PS5, PS4, Switch 2, Switch, Xbox, Steam Deck, and PC

To test load times, I installed Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age on my PS4 Pro hard drive, the internal SSD on PS5, the internal SSD on Xbox Series X, the SD card on my Switch OLED, the internal storage on my Switch 2, the internal SSD on my Steam Deck OLED, the internal SSD on my Steam Deck LCD (SteamOS preview branch), and the internal SSD on my ROG Ally. I mashed confirm to skip any logos and speed up the process. I did my usual test of not only measuring the time taken to get to the title screen from the dashboard and then loading an early game save across all platforms, but also the time taken to manually save the game to just show how long the PS4 (and PS4 on PS5) version takes. The results below are all in seconds. 

As you can see, the saving time is very long on PS4. It not only has the typical older PS4 save UI issues requiring additional input from the player to save, but it also just takes a lot longer to save and load compared to every other platform. As for the other platforms, Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age is super fast in comparison to load saves and save while in-game. I can't believe this save issue hasn't been addressed all these years later.

Is it worth playing the original Final Fantasy XII over The Zodiac Age?

I don't think so. Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age is one of the best remasters of all time as far as I'm concerned retaining the identity of the original, but bringing in a plethora of quality of life features and gameplay improvements to make an already great game even better. Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age is also the most accessible, scalable, and customizable version of Final Fantasy XII.

Which version of Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age is the best?

Right now, the PC version of Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age is not only the best version of the game out of the box, but it excels with a plethora of great mods available. Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age also has one of the best PC ports a Final Fantasy game has gotten so far and it is only second to Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition. While Final Fantasy XVI is demanding, it at least had some care put into it for the PC platform unlike the Final Fantasy VII remake series games that still suffer from many basic issues on PC. Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age feels like an anomaly for offering great ultrawide support, many added features, and just generally scaling well across PC hardware. 

Beyond the PC version the best version will depend on whether you want 60fps or higher resolution. The PS4 Pro (and when played on PS5) version offers a full 1440p output, but at 30fps and with slow saving. The Xbox version on One X and Series X has 60fps, but at 1080p. This version does save a lot faster though. I don't recommend the Switch version even on Switch 2 if you have access to any PC handheld since the Steam release is just much better across the board. Thanks to handheld boost mode, Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age on Switch is a lot nicer to play on Switch 2 handheld though, but the texture and other visual cuts to this version make it hard to recommend if you have access to PC handhelds and want to play on the go. 

Which version of Final Fantasy XII and The Zodiac Age should you buy to play today?

Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age on PS4 and PS5: If you want to play on your TV and don't care about portable play (unless you stream to a PlayStation Portal or phone), this is the version to get and the best-looking console version. It is unfortunately capped at 30fps even on PS5.
Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age on Xbox: Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age on Xbox has Quick Resume support which is great for a game like this, but it surprisingly is not a Play Anywhere title like Square Enix's other Xbox platform releases. There is a Windows Store version of Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age, but I do not own it to check how it differs from the Steam release. Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age on Xbox also has achievement support. I hope Play Anywhere support is added in the future.
Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age on Steam: Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age on Steam is the best version to play in general across monitors, TVs, and handhelds with more quality of life features than other platforms, a robust mod scene, and with it being perfect on Steam Deck. 
Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age on Switch and Switch 2: Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age on Switch isn't a bad way to play the game at all, it just isn't as good as other platforms thanks to its resolution cuts and 30fps target. The ability to play it on TV and take it on the go seamlessly is a big selling point though, and I recommend it if you play on Switch 2 where the handheld experience is very good now. 
Final Fantasy XII on PS2: I don't recommend playing this version at all with Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age available on every current console and PC.

Hopefully this helped you decide where you should get Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age and if you already own it, got you to revisit one of the best RPGs in ages. I also hope that Square Enix treats different platforms better. This whole thing where it updates some platforms or brings more features to other platforms and still leaves some features exclusive to a single platform isn't the way forward for a true multi-platform approach. We are already seeing some cracks in that approach with how Bravely Default's remaster has been handled, but I digress. I will continue to hope that the PC-exclusive boosts for both Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age and Final Fantasy X & X-2 HD Remaster are eventually added into to the console releases. I would also love to see native PS5, Xbox Series, and Switch 2 versions of Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age since there still are caveats with each console release right now. 

Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age is now available on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC (Steam). If you are planning on buying or playing it soon, make sure to check out our FF12 guides hub here.