[Arazlam’s Chronicles] the Zodiac System

The Zodiac Age

Hello there! So yeah, I probably owe all you readers an elaboration of what I have hinted at last week. I mentioned I learned a great deal about astrology in the past. Now to put things straight now: that does not mean I am some gullible new age hippie, give me more credit than that. It merely means that I know enough about this subject to point out where fiction aligns with relative reality.

Relative, of course, because astrology is either a proto- or a pseudoscience (likely both, but that is not relevant here). Like alchemy did for modern chemistry, astrology gave way for modern astronomy to come into existence and even a rational mind like mine has to accept the fact that if it wasn’t for people’s desire to have their fate told to them, we would now possibly not even know what lies beyond the Asteroid Belt. So we do owe it some credit, at least that little bit. That said, like alchemy¹, western astrology is a great source for creating fictional realms. I should know, I’ve used it myself several times. It is a bountiful source of mythology to build upon.

I won’t claim to know the reason why Yasumi Matsuno has used this. Perhaps he had an interest in it the way I had, and came to the same conclusion that it is a great source to build from. There is no reference to it in any of the interviews I have had the opportunity to read, so guessing exactly what drove him to use this concept is just that: guessing. Speculation. And I don’t like that.

Twelve²

What we do know is that the original FFT has a system with zodiac signs, while the original FFXII did not – at least not until the release of the International Zodiac System and later, with The Zodiac Age, lodging it completely into the zodiac theme that seems to unify Ivalice somehow, since the emergence of the Ivalice Alliance.

There are of course the stones as well. Each bearing a sign of the zodiac. But that is really where any resemblance with astrology ends. Well, not really any. there is one interesting thing that the game takes into account and uses as a system: synastry. In short: some believe that certain signs work better with certain other signs. In FFT:WOTL, this is called sign compatibility, and below there is a list of how it works.

Interesting is that it does follow what your daily horoscopes would tell you: squared³ signs would have poor synastry, trining⁴ signs would have good synastry, and opposing signs… well… I’ll be honest here, I find it pretty funny that they would say that with same genders, would have the worst synastry, while opposing genders would have the best. I just had to crossreference this with the canon shippings (Agrias and Mustadio, Delita and Ovelia, Beowulf and Reis), but true to real life, their signs don’t match up in this list. Then again, you could argue that Delita’s and Ovelia’s relationship wasn’t the healthiest to begin with, but the one heavily hinted at between Mustadio and Agrias is pretty innocent and adorable and I will have no one tell me otherwise!⁵

 

Now, why is this a mechanic?

How does it work on the field then, one might ask? Well, if you haven’t been bored to sleep by Darlavon’s tutorial, he does tell us that this compatibility chart influences the success rate of our actions. For example, Phoenix Down is always successful, as it is an item to be used by anyone, but when a White Mage needs to revive a unit, you need to check their compatibility for the success of their spells. A female sagittarius White Mage will have trouble reviving or healing a virgo ally, for example, but she’d be in real trouble if her female gemini companion is KO’d. The reviving spells may fail altogether and your female gemini unit may be turned into a crystal before you can revive them, because you have used up all your turns. Now, if that unit were to be a male gemini, your female sagittarius White Mage should have absolutely no trouble reviving them and even add some HP to the footing. An aries ally will always be generously treated by your sagittarius White Mage.

With regards to enemies, this works in the same way. Both in physical as in magical offense, the signs of your units as well as your enemies influence the success rate of your actions, not counting the items. Skills which work with a percentage (the Orator’s skills, or the Thief’s skills, for example) will also have their success rate influenced by the compatibility. Below is the general rate with which the success of your actions is multiplied, depending on the synastry between the signs:

Best compatibility: the affected variable is multiplied by 1.5
Good compatibility: the affected variable is multiplied by 1.25
Bad compatibility: the affected variable is multiplied by .75
Worst compatibility: the affected variable is multiplied by .5

Now there is something to be said about Bravery and Faith too, with regards of skill/spell success, but that is for another topic. The zodiac compatibility system is quite interesting and complex in and of itself, making any battle more dynamic than a standard elemental affinity often found in RPGs (which, incidentally, is not prominenty showcased in this game), but the question you are asking yourself now is probably “but do we have to pay attention to this compatibility thing?”

The answer is “no”, you don’t. It would make things easier, but as we RPGamers are probably conditioned to understand how elemental affinity works, it is pretty difficult to overturn all that and start working with this zodiac compatibility system instead. You don’t need to do that. I’ll be honest, even though I like this mechanic and the extra dimension it gives to the battles, I never even pay attention to it myself. Instead, I equip my units with either the Items ability or the Auto-potion ability so that the success of healing actions can be at least ensured. The latter, though, is connected to Bravery, so it will not always activate. But more on that in a later blog.

The next blog will continue with the Zodiac theme, with some background on the Lucavi. Who are they? What are they? Where are they? Why are they? How do the espers in FFXII connect to the Lucavi in FFT:WOTL? All this in next week’s installment!

Until then!

¹think of, for example, the manga and anime Fullmetal Alchemist, but also the Alchemist Code – a mobile free-to-play game actually quite like FFT in gameplay, which I’m not advertising because I’m still pretty cross about the fact that I can no longer play it here because of some national issue with loot boxes. Call me petty. But I still think it’s a great game and I merely hate the fact that I can’t play it anymore, not the game itself.

²the number 12 is something that occurs often. It is a number rooted deep in astrology, with the zodiac as accepted in it being 12 signs of equal distribution, mainly following the duodecimal system rather than the decimal system. There is a theory that our brains are naturally wired to use a duodecimal system more easily than we are able to use the decimal system, which might explain why this system was more prominent in ancient civilisations, suggesting that its use in astrology has nothing to do with equal divisions of zodiac signs (as the latter are merely a figment of our imagination as the stars that make up these signs have no actual connection with one another in distance or magnitude, apart from the fact that from a twodimensional plane, they appeared to be close enough together to form some remote semblance of the creature they’re supposed to represent within the 30° portion of the zodiac wheel they had been assigned to – and even that is stretched to the limit of its definition), but rather that this twelvefold division was just a natural one, and everything else was filled in afterwards.

source: Wiki duodecimal system

Probably the best known anime/manga in existence that borrow from western astrology are Saint Seiya and Sailor Moon. As for Final Fantasy: FFXIV seems to rely heavily on the duodecimal system, suggesting there are twelve deities, among other things.

³this, like the word synastry, is the “official” term used in astrology. On the zodiac wheel, the signs involved, when connected to one another, will form the corners of a square. Hence square. This is also how this position is known in astrology: any signs connected in this way are supposed to work together poorly, even contradict one another or work against one another.

⁴this, like the word synastry, is the “official” term used in astrology. On the zodiac wheel, the signs involved, when connected to one another, will form the corners of a triangle. Hence, trine. See, the word triangle can be extrapolated from that term somewhere. This is also how this position is known in astrology: any signs connected in this way are supposed to work well together, they are always of the same element, suggesting that all three signs of the same element could complement one another and come to a “perfect”, full kind of element.

This is delving into meta-astrology here, completely into the realm of mythology now, and it even sounds a bit like alchemy. That said, both have some links to one another too, but I’ll spare you that elaboration – if you hadn’t noticed yet, I could talk about alchemy too until the end of days, though my knowledge on it is a bit rustier than my astrology knowledge… Ok, ok, I had some obscure interests as a young one, alright?

⁵I’m team Mustagrias, if that hadn’t been obvious yet 😉

sources:
Some factiods about FFT