is a 2006 role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 2 in March 2006. It added elements including an open world; a seamless battle system; a controllable camera; a customizable "gambit" system, which lets the player control the artificial intelligence of characters in battle; a "license" system, which determines what abilities and equipment can be used by characters; and hunting side quests, which allows the player to find and defeat increasingly difficult monsters. Final Fantasy XII also includes elements from previous Final Fantasy games, such as Chocobos and Moogles.
The game takes place in Ivalice, where the empires of Archadia and Rozarria are waging an endless war. The small kingdom of Dalmasca is caught between the warring nations. When it is annexed by Archadia, princess Ashelia creates a resistance movement. During the struggle she meets Vaan, a young adventurer who dreams of becoming a sky pirate in command of an airship. They are joined by a band of allies and rally against the tyranny of the Archadian Empire.
Final Fantasy XII earned several Game of the Year awards and sold over six million copies on the PlayStation 2 by November 2009. In 2007, a sequel, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, was released for the Nintendo DS. An expanded version, Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System, was released that year on the PlayStation 2 in Japan. A high-definition remaster of International Zodiac Job System, The Zodiac Age, was released worldwide for the PlayStation 4 in July 2017, for Windows in February 2018, and for the Nintendo Switch and Xbox One in April 2019.
Gameplay The player directly controls the character from a third-person perspective to interact with people, objects, and enemies. Unlike previous games in the series, the player can also control the camera with the right analog stick, allowing for a 360° view of the surroundings. While in towns and cities, the player may only see from the perspective of Vaan, but any character may be controlled in the field. The world of Final Fantasy XII is rendered to scale relative to the characters in it; instead of a caricature of the character roaming around miniature terrain as seen in the earlier Final Fantasy games, every area is represented proportionally. The player navigates the overworld on foot, Chocobo, or by airship. Players may save their game to a memory card using save crystals or gate crystals, and may use the latter to teleport between gate crystals. An in-game bestiary provides incidental information about the world of Final Fantasy XII.
Final Fantasy XII restructures the system of earning gil, the currency of the Final Fantasy games; instead of gil, most enemies drop "loot" which can be sold at shops. This ties into a new battle mechanic which rewards the player with improved loot for slaying a particular type of enemy multiple times in a row. Selling different types of loot also unlocks a bazaar option in shops, which provides items at a lower cost, or items exclusive to the bazaar.
Battle system
Excluding the massively multiplayer online role-playing game Final Fantasy XI, Final Fantasy XII is the first entry in the main Final Fantasy series not to include random encounters. Instead, enemies are visible in the overworld and the player may choose to fight or avoid them. Battles unfold in real time using the "Active Dimension Battle" (ADB) system. Battles begin when the party comes within range of an aggressive enemy, the party attacks an enemy, or a story event initiates a confrontation. When a character or enemy begins an action, target lines connect characters to other party members or enemies; different colors represent the different types of action. The player may swap to and issue commands to any of the three characters in the party, but guest characters are controlled by AI. Battle commands are initiated through a series of menus, and include Attack, Magicks, Technicks, Mist, Gambits, and Items. The player may switch any active character with an inactive character at any time, unless the active character is targeted by an attack or ability. Characters who are knocked out may also be substituted.
A new feature is the "gambit" system, which allows the player to program each character to perform certain commands in battle in response to specified conditions. Using gambits, the player may set reactions to different stimuli for each character. Each gambit consists of three parts: a target, an action, and a priority. The target specifies which ally or foe to act on and the condition for applying the action. For example, the target "Ally: HP < 70%" causes the character to target any ally whose hit points have fallen below 70%. The action is the command to be performed on the target. The priority determines which gambit to perform when multiple gambits are triggered. These heuristics guide the characters when acting autonomously, though player-directed commands are always given top priority.
In Final Fantasy XII, a mysterious phenomenon known as "Mist" is the key energy which allows characters to cast summoning magic and perform "Quickenings". After defeating an Esper in combat, the player will be able to summon it to the battlefield. Similar to Final Fantasy X, the summoned creatures become active participants in battle, as opposed to the cinematic attacks seen in previous games in the series. Unlike X, however, Espers follow hidden gambits, rather than the player's direct command. The summoner remains an active member in the fight, able to attack and cast support magic, instead of leaving the party or standing idle while the summoned creature fights. An Esper will leave the battle if either the summoner or itself is knocked out, its time limit expires, or it executes its special attack. Some Espers have origins in Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Advance and others are derived from the final bosses of previous Final Fantasy games such as Chaos, the final boss of the first Final Fantasy, and Zeromus, the final boss of Final Fantasy IV.
Final Fantasy XII introduces "Quickenings", a different Limit Break system from those in previous games in the series. Characters learn Quickenings by progressing to specific panels on the License Board. Each character can learn three Quickenings, which are specific to that character. Characters may string together Quickenings into large combo attacks, called Mist Chains, via timed button presses. If a Mist Chain reaches a certain length, a final strike will be initiated at the end of the Quickening cycle, called a Concurrence.
Growth system As in many role-playing games (RPGs), characters "level up" each time they earn a set number of experience points from defeating enemies; each level gained increases the character's statistics and improves performance in battle. Statistics include hit points, the amount of damage a character can receive; strength, the power of the character's physical attacks; and magic, the potency of the character's magical spells.
In addition to leveling up, players may improve their characters via the License Board. The License Board is an array of panels that contain "licenses" which allow a character to perform certain actions. The board is split into the upper part comprising Magick, Technick, Accessory, and Augment (stat increases and other permanent buffs) licenses, and the bottom part with mostly Weapon and Armor licenses. To use a Magick, Technick, or piece of equipment, the character must obtain its corresponding license by spending the required amount of LP (License Points). LP are earned in battle along with the experience points. Like the Sphere Grid in Final Fantasy X, all characters may obtain all licenses on the board, but each Quickening and Esper license may only be activated by a single character.
Plot
Setting
Final Fantasy XII is set within the land of Ivalice during an age when "magic was commonplace" and "airships plied the skies, crowding out the heavens". At this time, magicite, a magic-rich mineral, is commonly used in magic spellsSage Knowledge 12 of 78 (Hybrid Gator Bestiary entry) Magicite - Common name for stones containing magickal power, or as it is commonly manifest, Mist. and in powering airships—a popular form of transportation in Ivalice.Sage Knowledge 14 of 78 (Steeling Bestiary entry) Airships - Currently, they are one of the most popular forms of transportation in Ivalice. Ivalice is divided into three continents:Sage Knowledge 29 of 78 (Sleipnir Bestiary entry)Ivalice - The region consisting of the three continents of Valendia, Ordalia, and Kerwon, blessed throughout with verdant natural landscapes and climatic conditions supporting a great variety of life. Ordalia, Valendia, and Kerwon. Ordalia is located in the western part of Ivalice. The Rozarrian Empire makes its home in the vast inland plains of this continent as the eastern portion of it is largely desert and "jagd"—lawless regions so rich in Mist, the ethereal manifestation of magicite, that airships cannot function.Sage Knowledge 30 of 78 (Urstrix Bestiary entry) Ordalia - Continent on the western edge of Ivalice. The vast plains in the interior are home to the great Rozarrian Empire. To the east of Rozarria, the land is arid and largely desert. Valendia is the home of Imperial Archadia, where lush highlands dot the landscape. Central to the story is Dalmasca, a small kingdom between the two continents and empires. Located in the middle of the Galtean Peninsula of Ordalia, Dalmasca is surrounded by an expanse of desert. The temperate climate of Dalmasca differs from the cold environs of Kerwon to the south and the lush plains of Valendia and Ordalia. During this time, Ivalice is beset by the pending war between the forces of Rozarria and Archadia. Caught between the two powerful Empires, Dalmasca and a number of smaller nations have already been subjugated by Archadia two years before the game begins.
Characters
The six main playable characters in Final Fantasy XII are Vaan (Bobby Edner/Kouhei Takeda), an energetic orphan of Rabanastre who dreams of becoming a sky pirate; Ashe (Kari Wahlgren/Mie Sonozaki), a determined princess of Dalmasca who lost her father and her husband in the Archadian invasion; Basch (Keith Ferguson/Rikiya Koyama), a disgraced knight of Dalmasca charged with treason for slaying the king; Balthier (Gideon Emery/Hiroaki Hirata), a gentlemanly sky pirate who pilots his airship, the Strahl; Fran (Nicole Fantl/Rika Fukami), Balthier's partner and a Viera exile whose knowledge extends to legends and myths; and Penelo (Catherine Taber/Marina Kozawa), Vaan's childhood friend who accompanies him on journeys to "keep an eye on him".
The Archadian Empire is ruled by House Solidor, headed by Emperor Gramis (Roger L. Jackson/Hidekatsu Shibata). The emperor's sons are Vayne (Elijah Alexander/Nobuo Tobita) and Larsa (Johnny McKeown/Yuka Imai), the former a military genius and the main antagonist, and the latter a charismatic seeker of peace. Judge Magisters, upholders of Archadian law, protect House Solidor and execute every command issued by the ruling family. The technological marvels of airships and synthetic nethicite—a form of magicite that absorbs Mist—are thanks to Doctor Cid (John Rafter Lee/Chikao Ōtsuka), a prominent researcher from Archadia. The Resistance against Archadia includes Dalmascan knight Vossler (Nolan North/Masaki Terasoma), an ally of Basch; Marquis Halim Ondore IV (Tom Kane/Akio Nojima), the game's narrator and ruler of the skycity Bhujerba; Reddas (Phil LaMarr/Takayuki Sugo), a sky pirate based in the port at Balfonheim; and the Rozarrian Empire, of which Al-Cid Margrace (David Rasner/Norio Wakamoto) is a prince of the ruling family. The mythos of Final Fantasy XII revolves around a character known as Dynast-King Raithwall, a man who once united Ivalice to create the Galtean Alliance in ages past.
Story