Square Enix announced an HD Remaster of Final Fantasy XII today. Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age will be a PlayStation 4-exclusive, set to arrive in 2017. As a remaster of the PlayStation 2 original, Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age will feature overhauled visuals.

Higher baseline image quality with a  likely 1080p framebuffer is a given, but going beyond this, The Zodiac Age will feature improved, higher-poly character models, enhanced environment, as well as added detail in cutscenes. The remaster will feature support for upto 7.1 surround sound audio output. Higher quality voice over work will be available in both English and Japanese. Even the game’s score is set to receive an overhaul, with the entire musical score apparently “re-recorded.” Players will have the option of switching between the original music and the re-recorded version.

The Zodiac Age remaster comes at an interesting time, with Final Fantasy XV arriving in September and the much-awaited Final Fantasy VII Remake possibly releasing some time next year. What do you think about the Final Fantasy XII remaster? Let us know!

Arguably one of the best Final Fantasy games of all time, Final Fantasy XII has never gotten the love that it truly deserved, for multiple reasons- the game launched in 2006 after a protracted development cycle and by then, all attention had already shifted to the PlayStation 3 and the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII. The game’s radical changes to the series formula polarized fans, and it took the release of Final Fantasy XIII, and its absolute mucking up of series conventions for Final Fantasy XII to be viewed in a favorable light.

When Final Fantasy X was announced for an HD re-release (an excellent remaster that released earlier this year for the PS3 and PS Vita), there were fans that held out in the hope that the same treatment would be extended to Final Fantasy XII, aided by Square Enix’s own sly promises that an HD remaster for Final Fantasy XII was coming up. And now, it seems like the game may be due for an E3 announcement.

GameSkinny is citing an anonymous tipster who believes Square Enix is readying up an FF12 HD announcement within the next month, if not at E3 outright. Apparently, the source has a good track record, as among many other things, he confirmed that Final Fantasy Versus XIII would be renamed Final Fantasy XV.

Square Enix would be remiss to not capitalize on XII’s cult popularity, especially given how successful a venture FFX HD seems to have been for them. Whether or not they do that, however, remains to be seen.

“We’d love a Vita version of Final Fantasy 12…I am also hoping that this HD remaster will open up some great possibilities in the future.”

As for why he chose the Vita specifically, Kitase stated, “The gaming scene has changed quite a bit from 10 years ago and today’s younger generation who grew up with smart devices now carry these devices around with them to play games whenever and wherever they want, not just when they go outside but also at home, wherever they may be in the house as well. Even when they are in the toilet!

“One of the appealing things about the PS Vita is that it allows for this kind of play style. In addition to that, another advantage is that it has a wonderful LCD display that can hold up to the PS3 in terms of graphical quality.”

Does this bring us one step closer to Final Fantasy VII HD? One could hope. Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster will release by Q4 2013 for PS3 and PS Vita.

Speaking to RPG Site, Final Fantasy developer Yoshinori Kitase stated “If they do well, I think this will pave the way for more of the previous games to remade in an HD sort of quality.”

When asked which game he’d like to see remastered in HD, Kitase stated, “I mean, if we HAD to single out one of the vast number of Final Fantasy titles which we could make in HD, it would have to be Final Fantasy XII. I was not involved in the project, though, so we can’t really comment on that.

“What I can say though is that I hope the remastering of X and X-2 will trigger similar projects for more of the past games.”

Does that mean hopes for a Final Fantasy VII remake still remain alive?