History Videogame / FinalFantasyXII

** Getting those Loot items only comes after spawning the enemy that has them, because a lot of enemies, particularly Rare Game, only spawn under specific conditions in one single area. These include certain weather conditions, having a party member at critical HP, killing all enemies in the area then leaving and returning, being in the area for a period of time, defeating a certain number of enemies in the area, ''not'' killing any enemies in the area before you get to their spawn point, and having the game's minute timer between two particular values when you enter the area.

** Getting those Loot items only comes after spawning the enemy that has them, because a lot of enemies, particularly Rare Game, only spawn under specific conditions in one single area. These conditions include certain weather conditions, having a party member at critical HP, killing all enemies in the area then leaving and returning, being in the area for a period of time, defeating a certain number of enemies in the area, ''not'' killing any enemies in the area before you get to their spawn point, and having the game's minute timer between two particular values when you enter the area.

* GuideDangIt: The game has a slew of optional content that you will never know even ''exists'', much less how to access them. The Clan Primer and NPC conversations can give vague hints to some of them, but not enough for you to actually figure out what you have to do.

** In keeping with the game's ''many'' commonalities with ''Franchise/StarWars'', the Urutan-Yensa are Jawas.

* SpannerInTheWorks: Despite his status as the DecoyProtagonist, ''Vaan'' of all people manages to undermine the Occuria's plans. [[spoiler: His ability to see Reks, as Ashe saw Rasler, implies that the Occuria would use him were Ashe to turn aside from their plan for her. Instead, he overcomes the illusions, refuses to take revenge on behalf of his brother, and ultimately may have been the role model Ashe needed to reject the Occuria.]]

%%* Change Vs Status Quo: The overarching conflict of the game is between the Occuria, who have manipulated historical events to their own ends, and the rebel Occuria Venat, who allies with the ambitious prince Vayne Solidor and scientist Cid Bunansa in order to break the Occuria's hold over history. In order to maintain the status quo, the Occuria attempt to mold Princess Ashe of Dalmasca into becoming another Dynast-King. [[spoiler:She ultimately defies them and [[TakeAThirdOption takes a third option]], bringing down Venat and Vayne but also letting Ivalice chart its own course.]]
--> '''Dr. Cid''': The reins of history, back in the hands of Man.

** Following the prologue, Reks's brother Vaan serves as the main character for the first act of the story. While Vaan doesn't die, he gets shoved into the background almost immediately after Ashe, the "real" main character, joins the party, and he doesn't say or do anything particularly significant for the rest of the game. This is despite him having been the focus up to this point, and [[MagneticHero his actions having been solely responsible for bringing all of the heroes together in the first place]]. The sudden shift in focus can be quite jarring.

%%* EliteMooks: All over the place.

%%* FreeRotatingCamera

* ChangeVsStatusQuo: The overarching conflict of the game is between the Occuria, who have manipulated historical events to their own ends, and the rebel Occuria Venat, who allies with the ambitious prince Vayne Solidor and scientist Cid Bunansa in order to break the Occuria's hold over history. In order to maintain the status quo, the Occuria attempt to mold Princess Ashe of Dalmasca into becoming another Dynast-King. [[spoiler:She ultimately defies them and [[TakeAThirdOption takes a third option]], bringing down Venat and Vayne but also letting Ivalice chart its own course.]]

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'': The overarching conflict of the game is between the Occuria, who have manipulated historical events to their own ends, and the rebel Occuria Venat, who allies with the ambitious prince Vayne Solidor and scientist Cid Bunansa in order to break the Occuria's hold over history. In order to maintain the status quo, the Occuria attempt to mold Princess Ashe of Dalmasca into becoming another Dynast-King. [[spoiler:She ultimately defies them and [[TakeAThirdOption takes a third option]], bringing down Venat and Vayne but also letting Ivalice chart its own course.]]

** The Zodiac Spear, the most powerful weapon in the game, is found in a treasure pot in the Necrohol of Nabudis, but ''only'' if you avoid opening four otherwise completely innocuous chests throughout the rest of the game; there are no hints of this nor an explanation for why opening these chests causes the Spear not to spawn. The only other way to get it is in a specific pot in another area, that has ''one in a hundred chance'' of holding the Spear, on top of a 10% chance of the chest appearing in the first place. The ''Zodiac'' releases remove the spear from here, and in turn places it in a treasure chest that has a 1% chance of appearing, but guarantees the spear, along with the possibility of getting it from Hunt Club along with Zodiac Escutcheon.

** The Zodiac Spear, the most powerful weapon in the game, is found in a treasure pot in the Necrohol of Nabudis, but ''only'' if you avoid opening four otherwise completely innocuous chests throughout the rest of the game; there are not hints to this nor an explanation for why opening these chests causes the Spear not to spawn. The only other way to get it is in a specific pot in another area, that has ''one in a hundred chance'' of holding the Spear, on top of a 10% chance of the chest appearing in the first place. The ''Zodiac'' releases remove the spear from here, and in turn places it in a treasure chest that has a 1% chance of appearing, but guarantees the spear, along with the possibility of getting it from Hunt Club along with Zodiac Escutcheon.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

%%* BonusDungeon: Again, many.

** The best example of an InfinityPlusOneSword in this game has to be the Wyrmhero Blade, which can only be acquired by beating two incredibly hard {{Bonus Boss}}es (Yiazmat and Omega Mk. XII) and trading in the rewards you get for them (along with another reward you get by [[GuideDangIt punching a statue of a dragon after completing a certain hunt]]. It grants the wielder permanent Bravery and Faith status and has ''no license requirement'', meaning you can equip it as soon as you get it. Unfortunately, it's so slow that it ends up being more of a BraggingRightsReward. ''The Zodiac Age'' version allows you to get it in Trial Mode rather early (with a bit of patience) and since this game features job system, the non-requirement of license is extremely important, as it means you can give it to your mage for permanent Faith buff and not be bothered by its charge time.

* ItsAllUpstairsFromHere: The Pharos. It goes downstairs as well for another BonusDungeon.

** The name of one of the {{Bonus Boss}}es is Omega Mk. ''XII''. Simple, but gets the point.

** The International version removes the Necrohol Zodiac Spear chest mechanic from the game, mainly due to balance purposes (your jobs make tend to make you a lot stronger for most of the game now that you're focused). If you talk to an NPC next to the first jar to avoid, he says along the lines of "you can go ahead and grab this treasure here, ''that thing'' can no longer be obtained that way."

* {{Technophobia}}: The Viera choose to remain in their forests sheltered from the outside world, thereby shunning technological advances that could harm nature.

** [[DoubleSubversion Subverted]] with the ''Zodiac'' editions, where you can bring these items into Trial Mode, where you'll have to beat these bosses all over again.

** In the Zodiac editions, the two most powerful weapons in the game are the Great Trango (1H sword) and the Seitengrat (bow) (which have the added bonus of being invisible when used) are ''ridiculously'' difficult to get without a guide.

* HeavyEquipmentClass: The ''International Zodiac Job System'' edition gives four of its twelve classes access to all versions of Heavy Armor, these classes being the Knight, Uhlan, Foebreaker and Time Battlemage. But while the former three classes are well suited to front-line combat, the Time Battlemage's specialty with crossbows and time magic makes the latter better suited from fighting at a distance.

** The best example of an InfinityPlusOneSword in this game has to be the Wyrmhero Blade, which can only be acquired by beating two incredibly hard {{Bonus Boss}}es (Yiazmat and Omega Mk. XII) and trading in the rewards you get for them (along with another reward you get by [[GuideDangIt punching a statue of a dragon after completing a certain hunt]]. It grants the wielder permanent Bravery and Faith status and has ''no license requirement'', meaning you can equip it as soon as you get it. Unfortunately, it's so slow that it ends up being more of a BraggingRightsReward. ''Zodiac Age'' version allows you to get it in Trial Mode rather early (with a bit of patience) and since this game features job system, the non-requirement of license is extremely important, as it means you can give it to your mage for permanent Faith buff and not be bothered by its charge time.

* LevelLimiter: The Firefly accessory prevents the user from gaining experience. The New Game Minus mode in the Zodiac edition prevents the player from gaining levels.

* PointBuildSystem: The License Grid, which was the same for all six characters and thus led to a certain amount of homogeniety within characters. The Japan-only international version gives you the option of switching to a ClassAndLevelSystem for your License Grids. ''The Zodiac Age'' not only gives you the class system from the International edition, but also allows you to pick a second class for each character.

* SacrificialRevivalSpell: The game has the [[UselessUsefulSpell Revive Technick]], but you don't get it until long after you got the basic Revive spell, and it is also on the market next to the more useful Arise spell. It becomes more useful in the ''Zodiac'' editions, when every class can learn most technicks including Revive, but not all classes can learn Raise or Arise.

-->'''Seeq Owner''': [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments I'll never look at a pom-pom the same way again]].
** There is also the entire happy bunny genus, even such dangerous ones as mus (who are naturally hostile) and their king, Fury.

* {{Realpolitik}}: Pretty much the core theme of the game. The Archadean Empire is not on a war of conquest for glory or power, [[spoiler:at least not ''only'' for those things, but because it is surrounded by nations who are the puppets of the Occuria. The twisted scheme to force a total surrender on Rabanastre -- they couldn't comb the city for nethicite otherwise. Their quest for nethicite, again not for selfish reasons -- nethicite is the tool used by the Occuria to manipulate humanity, and the only means Archades can fight back. Vayne is actually ''completely honest'' about accepting Rabanastre's hatred of him - he ''knows'' he's temporarily reduced them to slaves in his quest to free the world from the Occuria, and accepts that he'll be remembered as a monster for it. Anything as long as the Occuria are defeated, because that's the only way his nation will be safe.]] The numberless people who suffer and die due to this are regrettable but disposable. Likewise, [[spoiler:Archades suffers no punishment for its taking over of Rabanastre and for all of the suffering it caused, simply because, even though its leader was removed from power, the country itself is still quite powerful]].

* RegeneratingMana: Walking around restores MP.

* GlobalCurrencyException: You'll be needing those chops if you want to get somewhere in Archades.
* GlowingEyelightsOfUndeath: Skeletons and Deathscythes have these.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: A lot of monsters have these in any number of different colors. Adrammelech briefly sports this as his boss fight starts. In addition, the second form of the final boss has them at certain points
* GodOfEvil: Debatable. [[spoiler:Venat, the heretic is seems more "evil" in action,]] but could also be considered a WellIntentionedExtremist. Also subverted in that the Occuria don't refer to themselves as "gods", whereas everybody else does, but they do have BlueAndOrangeMorality along with some questionable actions (like wanting [[spoiler:Venat]] dead simply because they suggested humans could rule themselves. It's entirely possible that there's something(s) much bigger out there in the ''XII'' world than them, or perhaps not.
* {{Golem}}: The ones in this game appear to be {{Magitek}} robots.

** ...Except the good guys are monarchist, and the bad guys, while still called an 'Empire', actually have democratically elected leaders... Well, it's a [[SubvertedTrope little more complex than that]]: Dalmasca had a House of Commons that still exists (albeit with little power) under Archadian rule, and if you listen to [=NPCs=] in Archadia, you will learn that the senate is controlled by the wealthiest families of the Empire. The greatest irony about the Empire is that the ruling House Solidor rose to power by taking control of the army and making sure that it remained a ''meritocratic'' institution. The brilliance is that while there is a clear social divide in Archadia, the game drops subtle hints that show that the Archadian army allows people from different social background to work together and that people from unprivileged origins can rise to the top of the hierarchy (a feat nearly impossible in the civilian society), thus explaining why Vayne is popular and why Larsa is pretty certain for most of the game that his family holds the moral high ground.

* GameplayProtagonistStoryProtagonist: Vaan is considered the game's protagonist for marketing purposes, is the first full-time party member you get control of, and is the one you control while in cities. However, the story takes a more ensemble approach, with Princess Ashe generally controlling the party's overall actions once she joins. This is {{lampshaded}} by Vaan when the party is once asked why each of them is on thier journey. By Vaan's own admittance:

* PowerWalk: The five Judges in the opening cinematic.

* CameraScrew: The Zodiac version of the game lets you control Espers like a playable character. Unfortunately, the camera does not adjust for an Esper's massive size and is stuck on the default camera settings used for the normal sized human characters.

* MultiMeleeMaster: The entire cast has twelve different melee weapon types to choose from: [[CoolSword Swords]], Axes, [[DropTheHammer Hammers]] [[CarryABigStick Maces]], [[DeviousDaggers Daggers]], [[{{BFS}} Great Swords]], [[KatanasAreJustBetter Katanas]], [[ReverseGrip Ninja Swords]], [[BladeOnAStick Spears]], Poles, [[MagicWand Rods]], and [[MagicStaff Staves]]. Each character can wield them with near equal efficiency largely only dictated by the characters stats.

* MrFanservice: Let us start with the main cast. There is Vaan and his lack of a shirt. Balthier is considered quite attractive too--though he's fully clothed, those clothes are very tight. Then there is Basch, who despite being rougher and quite a bit older than the previous two is undeniably still meant to be pleasing in the eyes. You don't like his hairstyle or sideburns? See his twin, Gabranth. [[spoiler: Plus, in the ending, Basch ends up impersonating Gabranth. Among other things, he has to adopt his hairstyle and shave those burns.]]