Fainaru fantajî XII
Tags: revenge, murder, violence

Plot synopsis:
=== 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 spells and in powering airships—a popular form of transportation in Ivalice. Ivalice is divided into three continents: 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. 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, an energetic orphan of Rabanastre who dreams of becoming a sky pirate; Ashe, a determined princess of Dalmasca who lost her father and her husband in the Archadian invasion; Basch, a disgraced knight of Dalmasca charged with treason for slaying the king; Balthier, a gentlemanly sky pirate who pilots his airship, the Strahl; Fran, Balthier's partner and a Viera exile whose knowledge extends to legends and myths; and Penelo, 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. The emperor's sons are Vayne and Larsa, the former a military genius 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, a prominent researcher from Archadia. The Resistance against Archadia includes Dalmascan knight Vossler, an ally of Basch; Marquis Halim Ondore IV, the game's narrator and ruler of the skycity Bhujerba; Reddas, a sky pirate based in the port at Balfonheim; and the Rozarrian Empire, of which Al-Cid Margrace 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 ===
In Dalmasca's capital city of Rabanastre, Princess Ashe of Dalmasca and Prince Rasler of Nabradia have just wed, as the Archadian Empire invades the two countries. Rasler is killed in the war, the city of Nabudis is destroyed in a single explosion, and the Dalmascan king Raminas is assassinated moments after signing a treaty of surrender. Marquis Ondore announces that the assassin was Dalmascan captain Basch, who has been sentenced to death, and that Princess Ashe has committed suicide.
Two years later, Vaan, a Rabanastre street urchin, ignores his friend Penelo's objections and infiltrates the palace during a dinner celebrating the appointment of Archadian prince Vayne Solidor as consul. In the treasury he finds a piece of magicite, a powerful magical crystal. He is discovered by Balthier and Fran, a pair of sky pirates looking for the magicite. The three escape as Dalmascan Resistance forces assault the palace, and in the sewers they meet the Resistance leader, Amalia, before being captured by Archadian forces. Detained in the Nalbina dungeons, they meet Basch, who was imprisoned but not killed, and who states his twin brother Gabranth was the one to kill the king. The four escape together with the help of Penelo, and flee to the floating city of Bhujerba.
In Bhujerba, they meet Lamont, a curious boy who is Vayne's younger brother, Larsa, in disguise. Basch confronts the Marquis over his lies, but the party is captured and detained aboard the Archadian airship Leviathan, headed by Judge Ghis. On the Leviathan, the party is reunited with Amalia, who is revealed to be Princess Ashe. Ghis takes the magicite, which is revealed to be a royal Dalmascan artifact, "deifacted nethicite", from Vaan to send to Archadia. The party escapes the airship, but as Ashe had planned to use the magicite as proof that she was the princess, the group makes plans to collect another of the pieces of nethicite, the Dawn Shard. They do so, but are again captured by Ghis; when he tries to use the Dawn Shard in the Leviathan rather than the "manufacted" magicite it normally uses, his entire airship fleet is destroyed in a mirror of the destruction of Nabudis, and the party flees again.
The party encounters Larsa, who seeks a peace treaty between Dalmasca and the empire. Convinced, Ashe and the group go to Mt. Bur-Omisace to seek the Gran Kiltias Anastasis, Ivalice's religious leader, and beg his approval of her as queen of Dalmasca. There, they also meet Al-Cid Margrace, a member of the Rozarrian Empire ruling family, who is seeking to avert a war between Rozarria and Archadia and is in talks with Larsa. Their plans are curtailed when Anastasis is killed by Archadia, and soon afterwards the Archadian emperor Gramis dies and Vayne ascends the throne.
After retrieving the Sword of Kings, which can destroy nethicite, the party journeys to Archadia to retrieve Larsa, who has been taken. There they discover Doctor Cid, who created manufacted magicite, and who directs them to go to Giruvegan as it is the source of nethicite. In Giruvegan, only Ashe can enter the final area, where she encounters the makers of nethicite, the immortal Occuria, who "pull the strings of history"; they give her the Treaty Blade to cut new pieces of nethicite from the Sun-cryst, the source of all nethicite and its power. She learns that Venat, one of the Occuria, has defected to put the "reins of History back in the hands of Man", controlling Vayne and Cid and leading the latter to create manufacted magicite to reduce the relative power of the Occuria. Archadia's expansion campaign was a front to capture the existing shards of nethicite.
Ashe and the party journey to Pharos tower, the location of the Sun-cryst, where she decides not to take her revenge by following the Occuria's wishes, but instead destroy the Sun-cryst. The party defeats Gabranth, who reveals that he killed King Raminas, and then the party also defeats Cid, before destroying the crystal. The group later learns from Al-Cid that the Dalmascan Resistance, led by Ondore, is about to fight Archadia in Rabanastre, but the Archadian forces now include the Sky Fortress Bahamut, powered by the Mist released by the destruction of the Sun-Cryst. They infiltrate the Bahamut, and find Larsa attempting to dissuade his brother Vayne from his plans for war to no avail. They defeat Vayne and Venat, and Ashe and Larsa announce the end of the conflict to the battlefield. Larsa becomes the Archadian emperor and Ashe the Queen of Dalmasca; Basch replaces his brother Gabranth as Larsa's protector; Vaan and Penelo fly an airship to meet Balthier and Fran for another adventure.

Review: Final Fantasy XII is a really great game with a lot of extras to keep you busy for a long time.
Any fan of World of Warcraft or other MMORPGs will adapt to this game in two seconds, as it's basically the same fighting system.I found the weakest link was the story, which is odd because Final Fantasy is known for great stories.
You will find yourself broke often because everything - weapons, armor, magic, Gambits, technicks, EVERYTHING - costs a lot of money.But those are actually minor grievances once you start playing the game.
There are great bosses, the Judge Magisters are cool and intimidating, the voice acting is superb, the cutscenes are excellent, the graphics push to the PS2 to its limit, there are tons of different weapons and spells, the cities are large and sprawling with life, and Gambits - if you like 'em - can be mastered to perfection.All in all, a great game and a great addition to the series.
This is one game, especially in the Final Fantasy series that one will not want to miss..
Currently a little over than 60 hours into the game (with all characters at level 40), I'd say that "Final Fantasy XII" ("FFXII") ranks as perhaps one of the best video games I have ever played (not that I've played a lot).Maintaining everything from previous installments that contributed to this franchise's incredible success, "FFXII" contains excellent graphics, gameplay and story.
Two years later, in a desire to set out for revenge, she unites with street urchin (and playing character for most of the game) Vaan, sky pirate Balthier, the initially enigmatic Basch, the ex-Viera (a race of rabbit-like wood-dwellers) Fran, and the perky Penelo.
Together, they embark on a journey across the snowy mountains of Paramina Rift to the white beaches of Phon Coast in an effort to restore peace in Dalmasca.As with all the narratology of "Final Fantasy" installments, characters are given enough history to give the player a little more connection with them.
(I agree with the previous comment of another user that Ashe has the best backstory which is why I often use her as the party leader.) While not necessarily attaining the lofty bars "Final Fantasy VII" and, to some extent, "Final Fantasy X" ("FFX") has reached as far as characters are concerned, "FFXII" more than makes up with a better storyline (the nature of which I understand may reduce the appeal to some) and excellent visuals.
Music-wise, the score is good although there are certain stretches I half-expect "FFXs"'s battle theme, as well as "Final Fantasy X-2"'s "Yuna's Ballad" and "Eternity of Lightwaves," would play.
For instance, with the right gambit, license, weapons and/or armor, a character can both be an effective healer and a decent attacker."FFXII" is, needless to say, a great game that should satisfy fans as well as casual gamers alike.
For many years, the Final Fantasy series lived on turn-based random battles.
Well, once people tried the demo and the critics praised the game all that changed and the game sold massive numbers.FFXII is a fitting final bow to PS2 role-playing and gives us a glimpse of what the PS3 or the Wii will offer in the future.The battle engine here is flawless and is better than any Western RPG.
Similar to MMORPGs like Final Fantasy XI, your party wanders the land looking for battles to fight.
This is a much simpler way than Final Fantasy X's difficult-to-love Sphere Grid.The Gambit system, which allows you to micromanage your CPU mates, is very good and offers many different options that you can manipulate.
The music is stellar as always, although I did miss hearing the Final Fantasy victory music; only playing at the end of certain boss battles.The voice-acting is superb, better than Final Fantasy X's.
Like Dragon Quest VIII, it's a simple plot that expands as you go through the game.Where the game really shines is due to the sheer fun of running around and leveling up.
You'll look forward to these battles and getting those main characters like Vaan, Balthier and that sexy Viera Fran to Level 99.
And of course, there are tons of secrets.All in all, this is a tremendous game in the Final Fantasy series and one of the best ever made along with FFVI and FFIX.
It took me a bit to get a handle on it, but in the end it was okay and I was able to totally destroy the final boss of the game.
Also, be sure to make good use of the gambits as that is how I finally won the game.
Also with the time you spend walking places and leveling you forget stuff and characters that will be important later become forgotten as they are not seen for long stretches.
Still the character's are likable enough and the beginning part of the game is rather good, cut some time off of it and it would be great...the layout of the land is excellent though as this world is very detailed..
I have played every single Final Fantasy game this includes spin offs such as dirge of Cerberus and Ergheiz anything by square really heck I even played the Bouncer and Vagrant Story.As a hardcore final fantasy fan I was excited when I heard 12 was coming out I remember going out that week and buying it for 60$.
Then the combat system started and at first it wasn't so bad it was just a huge leap from what Final Fantasy games were before.
As I played more and more the battle system seemed to need me less and less to the point where i could set the controller down and go get food or read a book and I would be leveling up.The problem, with the game is not the story itself by the characters in it.
The epic story, interesting characters and dynamic battle system always leave me wanting more.
Probably 1/4 of that 185 hours was storyline.I still remember the feeling of waiting for the game to come out, staying in my room playing 10 and 8, just thinking and wondering what the game was going to be like, then I got it and was thrown into a world of war and peace and kings and queens.
The storyline was well thought out but It could of been better I believe.Square Enix also had the time to make huge and extremely hard bosses.
Took me 5 hours to beat.Well there you have it, reasons the game had gotten the best rank of the FInal Fantays series, all in a couple paragraphs..
The in-game graphics was also just amazing, few times i was not sure if it is FMV or in-game.I have a mixed feeling about Gambit battle system.
3 fires = 3 points, 1 firaga = 1 point, which is more logical to use?) Unfortunately, after some time i've realized, that the most optimal thing to do is to train the characters in a same way (axes and heavy armor), plus some chars could inherit armor from each-other, no need to buy 3 different types of armor if you low on Gil. I've heard it was fixed in FFXII international (different class specialties)Music.
FF 10 was a good game and very innovative in its own way with the use of voice actors, but the sphere system was very confusing at first it took too long to understand the how it worked but once it was understood it was a very powerful tool.
FF 11 was a bit better but I did not like the idea of it being and MMORPG.With that out of the way I move on to FF 12, the much needed revival of the Final Fantasy series.
What convinced me to pick up this game (more than it being a Final Fantasy) was a review of it I saw on X-Play on G4.
This game is the revival that I have been longing for in the Final Fantasy series; any gamer who loves the series needs this game.
Another think that I loved about the game was that Yoshitaka Amano is back on with the Final Fantasy crew (Welcome Back!!!).
For those who don't know Yoshitaka Amano has been director of character design for all of the Final Fantasy's except for 11 and 10-2 I believe, but he was back on for this one.
I like the story line for this one because it is different, which is what the FF series needed, in that it isn't a win or the world ends; it's more political but still very in-depth and interesting as each character has a defined back-story and their own purpose for joining the quest against the empire.The only think that I really didn't like was in the beginning it seemed like I was just playing a little between movie sequences, but that soon changed and more game time was alloted and less movies.Over all this is a must have for Final Fantasy fanatics and hard core gamers alike or if you just love awesome games..
Also another main character is Vaan who is not as rich,powerful, and wonderful as Ashe is, and also because he is a poor, stealing orphan trying very hard to make his dream a reality of becoming a famous Sky Pirate of Ivalice.
It's sort of like the sphere grid in Final Fantasy X, except you use it so you are able to use your new and really sweet weapons.
Although the license board does have a few annoying disadvantages, it's still original and new 9/10 Overall: This isn't the best Final Fantasy game in the whole series, yet never the less it should still be in your top three.
The characters are well described, the game play is new and original, and the storyline is excellent 10/10.
Worst of all final fantasy games!
The story starts off with a striking bang, the first 10 hours of the game are highly entertaining because of this, but soon after all of the main characters are in your party, the excitement ends.
Though the characters' long-winded speeches sound quite pretty, their overall lack of content and coherency makes them very boring.There's just nothing in the story to make the player want to smile.
Unfortunately, though, in Final Fantasy XII, the characters spend almost the entire game wandering around like silent unresponsive zombies, making no effort to interact with their environments.
The only other flaw that prevents me from givin' this game the whole 10 is because of its storyline, (which I thought was probably one of the worst of the series'), and occasional feeling of tediousness.But aside from that, it hooked me as soon as I started playin' it.I was addicted to its new gameplay; in my opinion, it felt far more realistic and enjoyable than the game's many predecessors, unless, that is, you'd rather not have such a realistic feel.I also thought the new license board system was great; but what constantly concerned me was the fact that, in the end, the characters would end up all being the same, instead of the diverse character classes that were available to the player in previous Final Fantasy games.Nevertheless, despite the somewhat 'bad' storyline and plot, the visuals and in-depth gameplay caught my interest, and overall I enjoyed it..
Many have waited in anticipation on how it will turn out and when it did, news spread like wildfire about it's amazing battle system, refreshing plot and the characters themselves.
Now, after 70+ hours of gameplay, wondering (read:lost) the massive world of Ivalice and watching the characters interact, I'm beginning to wonder if we are playing the same game.Don't get me wrong, when I first started this game, I was drooling all over the DVD cover, refuse to sleep, eat (I showered, however) or even move myself from my room, sparing only fifteen minutes of sun so that I don't die of the lack of vitamin D.
Kicking out the old random battles, ATB, enemies on one side and characters on another whacking each other while waiting for their turn, you get to actually kick enemies' butt in Real Time.
VA aside, the characters suffered in terms of development.While they have a strong start and seem to tease you for more, the writers decided to drop the storyline half-way through and focus on the battle system.
I mean it's not a bad thing, but when you're side-tracked by the Mark Hunts mini-game and arrive at one place wondering where you're suppose to go next and forgetting the reason WHY you need to go there in the first place, then you have a problem.
They wasted a chance here to move Final Fantasy away from the usual sappy-story-pseudo-philosophical genre that it had done for the last few games.
I can imagine the developers of FF-XII having this discussion before they started designing: "This is a fantasy game.
And without the incomparable Nobuo Uematsu composing the music (as he did for Final Fantasy 1 through 10) the game was missing a lot of heart.That's not to say that it wasn't a lot of fun.
Even basics like what the Elemental Magic icons meant were missing (c.f. the comprehensive Help in FF-VIII).In summary, it looks good, plays well, but really needed an infusion of personality in the main characters to be a real winner..
Good game, but Final Fantasy is supposed to be GREAT.
FFXII introduces Ashe a fifth or sixth of the way through, and suddenly she is the linchpin of all the adventures after we have dedicated a significant percentage of storyline to Vaan's development.There is nothing wrong with having Ashe be the main character; just don't set us up with one character, then supplant him, and put in extras like Fran, Balthier and (especially) Basch to pick up the slack here and there with little pieces of Dialogue.The biggest problem with this game is the plot.
There are so many things going on in this game that it forgets to develop the main story line, and before you know it, the game is over.
In FFXII though, we are deprived of perhaps a rich and beautiful civilization, certainly on terms with the less-than-inspirational-looking Arcadia (it was good looking, but I expected better.) We travel far West to the Tomb of Wraithwall, we hear about Rozarria, and we see their people, but we don't get to see their land.sounds like the project had major plot changes that might have contributed to the waitleaving us with something less than desired.
Since the way you move on the map is FFX style (no world map area), the main progression should move in a more predictable pattern.Good game, but it could have been great.
I thought to myself, 'Wow, I can't wait to get started!' The beginning of the game places you right in the middle of the fighting during the 'prologue' of the story line.
It's a nice way to get the player used to the new battle system and all the features that come with Final Fantasy XII, while keeping you in the middle of the action.Once you are finished with the prologue, you control the character Vaan.
As usual with a Final Fantasy you must run around and do little, trivial tasks to get used to the game, no problem there.
Finally you get to a boss or a town you are supposed to, but unfortunately it has been so long since the last time you saw a video or even heard from the characters that you most likely forgot what is going on.
I don't know if anyone else had any sort of problem with this but no matter how loud I turned my TV up, I could not seem to understand the characters completely.The fifth large problem with this game(yes I know there is a lot!) is the overall plot itself.
If you have ever played the beginning Final Fantasy games many of those had that same plot.
At first I was not against this as I believed that this classic plot could be told better and have a greater overall effect, but it didn't.Lastly, my sixth and final complaint includes the bosses of this game.
I must say that they are much harder than any other bosses of any other Final Fantasy I have ever played.
I have always believed that Final Fantasy bosses needed to be tougher, but this?!
I'm an avid Final Fantasy fan and have played everything from 1 up to 12 (excluding 11).It's important to note that the game doesn't follow the general battle system that most FF games would.
It takes some getting used to, and I wouldn't say it's my favorite combat system of any Final Fantasy, but it's very innovative and fits well enough with the graphics and storyline.The characters come with a set-up not unlike FFX, where a board exists for each person to level skills and magicks.
The character layout is very detailed and unique, just like the new combat system.The story, as always, is quite ingenious and keeps you hooked as you play along.
The quality of his acting AND of his voice seems subpar, and because he is the "main character" of the game it still disappoints me to this day.
Cut her voice out and I would have loved it.Battle System:100% in the right direction.The turn-based system of 10 and the other FF's is the most boring way to play a game EVER.That is one of the main reasons I'll never touch FF10 again or any FF before it.
The battles and monsters are on the same screen as your characters and with REAL-TIME!
Even though I liked this story way better than X it did suffer from being extremely boring at times.
If you are looking for the most ugly, mismatched clothes in the history of video games then look NO FURTHER than the Final Fantasy series.