Yes, you read that right. XII, not XIII. To make a really long story short, Square Enix has produced a number of Piano Collections albums over the years, celebrating each title in the Final Fantasy series. Until this year, the only titles missing out on this treatment were Final Fantasy I, II, III, and XII. PIANO OPERA I / II / III (reviewed here) solved the problem for the first three games, and to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the franchise, they're finally finishing what they started with Piano Collections Final Fantasy XII.

The soundtrack, composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto, was very much under appreciated, so I'm glad it's getting some love. While all the details aren't in, you can bet that Casey Ormond, who worked on the Valkyria Chronicles Piano Pieces album with Sakimoto, will be back on board, and I'm hoping they'll feature my favorite song from the game, "Eruyt Village."

Because they're releasing the piano album, and the original Final Fantasy XII soundtrack was released on the Aniplex record label rather than Square Enix's internal label, they're also re-releasing the 4-disc soundtrack as well. You can get the combo at CD Japan if you don't have the OST, or you can pick up either one separately (Piano Collections and OST).

Are you surprised to see Final Fantasy XII getting any kind of attention at this point? Will you be checking out the Piano Collections album? Now all we need is Piano Collections Final Fantasy XIII-2 (hey, X-2 got one)!

Legacy Comments (will be imported soon)

Stealth

i love 12

Shredator

I was hoping for an HD remake. XII is my favorite story wise. It kept the tween angst to a minimum.
Plus it was Frantastic! Teehee

HEL105

Yeah XII was a great game. I love the piano collection albums, a lot of time the rearrangements are even better than the originals. And the X-2 piano collection was pretty fantastic, now that Jayson mentions it. It's the only one I have on my phone so I can access it whenever.

CheeseDawg

Aw, and here I thought maybe it was an HD up-do. I didn't give XII a fair shake when I still had my PS2, and I'd love a chance to correct that mistake.

Epic-Kx

Motherfucking Balthier.

ViewFinder

Only if I could have version of this game without Vaan. It would be so much better.

molamolacolacake

Balthier was awesome. This reminds me I need to crack out my ps2 and finally finish FFXII.

Smackybutts

Weird that arrange albums are coming out so late after the game's release. I would have spent some jizz points on an HD remake. Vaan and Penelo still remain my favorite plucky lesbian duo in an RPG.

Mindkiller89

A HD do-up makes perfect sense because it would mean that the awesome Zodiac edition would finally get a US/EU release. Almost every problem that XII had was fixed by that game other than the anticlimactic ending. IZJS is the best thing to come out of FF.

But yay, piano collections are cool as well I suppose.

ManateeAdvocate

It pleases me greatly to see some XII love here. Hands down my favorite FF of all time. You read that right. Excellent story, excellent characters, excellent voice work, excellent score, excellent gameplay. Never understood all the hate for it coupled with all the love for VII and X. Anyways, I'll be picking up this piano collection.

yenner

@Epic-Kx
I second this.

Tom Gunz

XII was a great game, my favorite of the series.

Jaguarnaut

Er, was hoping you'd say something like an HD remake.... maybe in another couple of years?

Hawaii Jeff

bah! i was hoping you were announcing FF12-HD.

i regret playing and loving it and then got distracted and never finished it.

SCORPIONSERKEN

The art direction and soundtrack of this game is so fucking sublime that give a lot of game's of this gen a run for their money. (Eryut Village, i'm looking at you)

The only complaint i have is the little interaction between characters. I mean, after playing this game for more than 200 hours it would have been nice to have some quest's that flesh them more or more banter between them... but hey, still a badass game.

Shinta

This will be neat, but I listened to XII's OST recently, and I don't think it was unappreciated for no reason. It's largely a bland OST, either because of the compositions or the arrangement. Sakimoto is awesome though, and I still like his distinctive style.

My favorite song from XII is Giza Plains, which I don't see translating to solo piano that well.

tekbunny

@stealth

Well, it IS your favorite age. Zing!

While I could never get into 12, at least it wasn't the abomination 13 was.

sadmachine

I'M CAPTAIN BASCH!

turingnpc

I'd love another console outing in Ivalice, and that headline got my hopes up a little, but i'll take a piano collection, too.

BrowneyeWinkin

XII was a nice outing but could have been a lot better if Square didn't scare off Matsuno and then shoehorn in the insufferable Vaan and Penello.

Also @Tek

Toxtle

For a sec I thought it was a re-release. I feel like I'm one of the few people who thought FF12 was the best one so far.

PrinceHeir

i want Final Fantasy XII International HD Edition :P

Captain Highwind

Those battle themes and that ending theme are gonna be boss.

Steven Hansen

HD release of the game, please!

Will try to pick this up, too, though.

Monkey Bomb

Final Fantasy cycle in full effect in these comments.

I can't wait until FF15 comes out so people can finally realize how great 13 really is and start claiming it has always been their favorite just as the ex-universally hated 12 is being treated now.

Justin Sharpe

Game set in Ivalice, only play as humans and one vera. wtf square... anywas nice music so hope this goes well

Watts

I liked XII up till the point where I couldn't stand Vaan and his voice actor anymore. It also pissed me off when I found out Balthiar was originally supposed to be the main character.

BoomingEchoes

Well its about time they do something for it.. I know people are fond of it, but it seems like its such a red headed stepchild compared to pretty much every other game in the series... Pretty much being locked in the closet by its parents because its a dirty evil ginger.

I blame when they finally released it, at the ass end of last generation, and then the fact that they put so much time into the Crysillis engine (or whatever they call it) for XIII , as the reasons for this.

lewness

Oh God, I want to hear the intro music on piano. To Shibuya Tower Records!

Gamescook

The music fit the game, but I greatly hesitate to say it had a strong enough melody to translate well to piano.

AlucardsQuest

I guess someone has to love how terrible the series has gotten... other than SpoonyOne since he makes his money off of bashing them (and deservedly so).