[PS2] Final Fantasy XII

Japan Release: March 16th, 2006
North American Release: October 31st, 2006
Europe: February 23rd, 2007

As war looms on the horizon, the might Archadian Empire begins a campaign to subjugate its neighbors.
The small kingdom of Dalmasca shares their fate, and it is here that our tale begins.

Two years after the fall of Dalmasca, the citizens are without guiddance and direction.
In the captial city of Rabanastre, the people gather and await the appointment of the new consul from Archadia.

To Vaan, a young man living on the streets of Rabanastre, the Empire is a hated enemy who took the life of his brother, the only family he had left. In an effort to exact revenge, Vaan hatches a plot to break into the palace and steal from the occupying Imperials.
In the events that follow, Vaan gets rather more than he bargained for when he runs into Princess Ashe, sole surviving heir to the Dalmascan thrown.

Together, the two will embark on an incredible journey through Ivalice, tracing the mysteries behind the Archadian Empire's invasion.
They choices they make will determine the very fate of the world.

The Cast of Final Fantasy XII


Vaan
"A boy who would be a sky pirate."
17 years old. Hume Race.
Living in the Rabanastre slums, Vaan maintains an air of hope even under the oppressive rule of the Empire. But he longs for more: a life without borders or authority. He dreams of one day becoming a sky pirate, free to go where he will.

Ashe
"A princess. When all is lost, she builds it anew."
19 years old. Hume Race.
The only child of King Raminas and sole heir to the Dalmascan throne, Ashe is believed dead following the invasion. She meets Vaan and the others under the most unlikely of circumstances. Ashe knows all too well she lacks the power to right the wrongs committed against her and her kingdom, but she will not allow herself to admit defeat.

Penelo
"A girl who wants peace."
17 years old. Hume Race.
Like Vaan, Penelo calls Rabanastre's Lowtown home. She watches over Vaan, trying to keep him from getting into too much trouble. Though she lost her family in the war with the Empire, Penelo is ever cheerful, making her way by doing odd jobs in and around the city. She enjoys the light side of life, but Penelo is not alotogether unfamiliar with battle.

While she remains untested in a true fight, her brothers, who belonged to the Order, taught her the fundamentals of combat. Penelo believes that in perseverance, there is hope.

Basch
"A loyal knight who becomes a traitor."
36 years old. Hume Race.
A captain in the Order of the Knights of Dalmasca, Basch achieves reknown as a gallant and brave hero credited with countless victories on the battlefield. He is a man of justice who cannot abide inequity. Unlike the other captains chosen from the aristocracy, Basch is of common blood and enjoys the love of the people, until he inexplicably murders the King on the eve of a treaty-signing with Archadia. He is led away in chains.

What could drive so loyal a man to slay his oathsworn liege?

Balthier
"He flies the skies of Ivalice. The sky pirate."
22 years old. Hume Race.
He would describe himself as a noble thief, stealing only from those who deserve it. He goes where he pleases, swearing fealty to no one. While roaming the skies of Ivalice with Fran, his viera partner, he still makes time to charm the ladies with his silver tongue and put wrongs to right-grinning all the while.

Fran
"She wields any weapon with ease."
Age Unknown. Viera Race.
A viera warrior, Fran is as much at ease with a sword as she is with her bare hands. Her proficiency with a blade is matched only by that with a wrench, as she also handles the maintenance of Balthier's airship, the Strahl. The lifespan of the viera is far greater than that of humes, and many secrets lie hidden in her long history. Yet, the divide of race does nothing to diminish the bond of trust between her and Balthier.

Vossler
Age Unknown. Hume Race.
A member of the Order of Knights for Dalmasca, Vossler fought alongside Basch during the Archadian invasion of Dalmasca. Vossler now acts as protecter of Princess Ashe, the only living heir to the throne of Dalmasca.

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Emperor Gramis
Age Unknown. Hume Race
Ruler of the Archadia Empire which invaded and now rules Dalmasca and other regions in Ivalice. Little information is known about Gramis at this time.

Vayne
27 years old. Hume Race.
Vayne Carudas Solidor is the eldest son of Emperor Gramis and next in line to the throne. Though he wields a considerable amount of authority, Vayne does not abuse his power; rather, he maintains that the welfare of the people is his foremost concern and tries hard to foster a positive relationship with the conquered Dalmascans.

Larsa
12 years old. Hume Race.
Larsa Ferrinas Solidor is the younger brother of Vayne and the 4th son of the Solidor family. It is said that he is second in line to throne of Arcadia after Vayne. He holds great respect to his brother and father, and wishes to be recognized like them.

The Judges
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The Archadian Judges are the supreme enforcers of Archadian law in the world of Ivalice. Each wields extraordinary legal power in his or her own right over lower-ranked Archadian officers. In addition to functioning as legal administrators, they are also charged with the task of guarding the royal family.

• Judge Master Gabranth: The leader of the Judges. Seems to have some history with Basch and also has a close relationship with Vayne.
• Judge Ghis: Responsible for guarding the young prince Larsa and supervising his actions.
• Judge Drace: The only female Judge. She, too, is charged with guarding Larsa but also acts as his personal advisor and makes it her goal to secure his future and help him develop to his fullest potential.
• Judge Zargabaath: A strictly military man who absolute loyalty to both the Empire and the emperor.
• Judge Bergan: The most autocratic of all the Judges in both word and deed. He answers to Lord Vayne and is an outspoken advocate of turning Dalmasca into a complete military dictatorship under Archadian rule.

NPCs & The Races of Ivalice

Humes are the dominant race in Ivalice, representing about 40% of the population. Obviously, Humes have a great cultural diversity depending on their origins. They tend to get along fine with races of equal intelligence like Viera, but extend domination on the less bright species, which are often used for menial labour, like the Bangaa and the Seeq.


The slender Viera have a longer life expectancy than humes, and can be either dark-skinned (Rava Viera) or light-skinned (Veena Viera). Viera tended to stick to their woods until the hume wars threatened their homelands about 25 years ago. Since then, the Viera have more or less reluctantly started getting involved in hume affairs. The offspring of mixed Rava and Veena origins were the fastest to adapt, while the pure-blood have tried to retire to more remote forests.


The nimble Moogles are also among the smarter races. They are well integrated into the Hume society, while still having their own capitol. Their small size gave them advantages working on machinery, a task the race excells in. Of course, not all of them are techies, and they hold a variety of professions. They also tend to make excellent mages.


The Bangaa come in four major varieties depending on their scales' colours. The live a bit longer thane humes, and their overall lizard-evolved toughness makes them fit for soldiering roles. Humes, however, tend to limit their advancement opportunities. Finally, the race isn't really fit for magic except the most basic spells - there are exceptions, though: a handful of Bangaa have mastered advanced and Bangaa-specific spells.

The barbaric, pig-faced Seeq are a tough and brutal race, mostly used as cannon-fodder, prison wardens or any other position where agressive strength is required. Severely lacking intelligence, they barely speak the Hume language, and are generally considered as the scum of society.

Links
Official Final Fantasy XII Website [English]
Official Final Fantasy XII Website [Japanese]
FinalFantasy12.org [Japanese Fansite. Updated Frequently]
Final Fantasy XII.Net [English Fansite]
GAF's 'Official Final Fantasy 12 NA' Thread]
GAF's 'Official Final Fantasy XII (JPN)' Thread

Reviews
40/40 Perfect Score (Japanese version)
Famitsu

8.5|9.0|9.5 - Gold Awarded & Game Of The Month
"A daring departure for role-playing's grandest franchise"
Electronic Gaming Monthly

10 out of 10 - Game Of The Month
"A fantastic PS2 send off. To date, it's the best Final Fantasy on the Playstation"
Official Playstation Magazine

9.2 | 9.5
Edge Magazine

10 out of 10
PLAY Magazine

92.5 out of 100 - Game Of The Month
"Where this game shines the brightest is in the new path is blazes, not the traditions it revisits"
Game Informer

9.5 - Genius & Incredible
1UP.com & IGN.com

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I can't wait to play this! the ost looks awesome. I'm going through it in jap, who else?!

This game looks absolutely amazing. Been waiting for this for so long now, i can't wait for it to actualy arrive in Japan, let alone America or Europe. It's seemed like an age since FFX arrived on our shores, lets hope this will at least compete with FFX. X-2 doesn't count in my eyes

Ahhh, at least this game is coming! Phew, It was time! Cant wait to play it. Looks awesome and the box art for the OST is great! Btw, It seems the OST will contain around 100 tracks but Sakimoto said he composed 130 musical pieces for the game, so I wonder if we will get a second OST release? Maybe 'ala' FFIX?

Originally Posted by Raijin

Ahhh, at least this game is coming! Phew, It was time! Cant wait to play it. Looks awesome and the box art for the OST is great! Btw, It seems the OST will contain around 100 tracks but Sakimoto said he composed 130 musical pieces for the game, so I wonder if we will get a second OST release? Maybe 'ala' FFIX?

Well there's over 100 tracks plus additional music that never made it into the game too that's on the OST.



Some new scans from V-Jump provided by duckroll at GAF:


Some other information from the scans includes..

• MP is regained as you walk.
• Gate Crystals act as save points.
• You can use 'Teleport Stones' to transport between each Gate Crystal locations.
• Mogxi (Mog Taxi) can warp you around the city capitals for a price, not on the World Map, for a price but considering how large the cities are supposed to be in FFXII it might be wise to pay the fee if you want to cut down on travelling.

Here are some of the location and town names as seen on the world map scan..

Spoiler:

Top continent = Valentia, Left continent = Ordalia, Bottom continent = Jagd.
Top city = The Imperial City of Archades, Right floating city = The Skycity of Bhujerba.
Middle stuff from top to bottom, left to right = The Nalbina Fortress, Gramsize Waterway, The Dalmasca Eastsand, The Dalmasca Westsand, The Royal City of Rabanastre, The Giza Plains.

10 minute walkthrough of the Rabanastre from Famitsu Wave ripped by duckroll and hosted by BlimBlim from GAF. Your best bet is to go with the torrent:
http://www.gamesmediamirror.com/leech_2238_1_en.html

New scans here:
http://www.jeux-france.com/news14727...-d-images.html

Holy crap. The packaging of the OST alone might persuade me to purchase it.

Speaking of the music, the PV for Kiss Me Good-Bye was recently aired. The single version of the song, however, is in Japanese, not English. The version of the PV that was aired wasn't even the full version of the PV; there's no way that Kiss Me Good-Bye can be only a little under four minutes long, Japanese or not.

It's a great indication of what the English version might sound like, though. Enjoy.

http://s41.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3...12MXKS6846B2YR

definitely getting the game and soundtrack ^_^ perhaps the strategy guide as well...
i've been waiting for this game for sooooooooooo soooooooooo long.....
*sighs* can't believe it may almost be out...^_^V

The OST package looks nice.

I can't wait for the game to come out here, it reminds of FFIX a little bit.

Symphonic Poem "Hope" High Quality Video:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Y5IKSIEV

Credits go to DrewFields88 for uploading.

FFXII 10 Minute gameplay video:

http://www.ffxii.us/news/022806.php

Check out this excellent TV commercial for the FFXII drink, "Potion"...
http://www.suntory.co.jp/softdrink/FF/index.html

Originally Posted by Jagged

Symphonic Poem "Hope" High Quality Video:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Y5IKSIEV

Credits go to DrewFields88 for uploading.

I'm in love with Symphonic Poem "Hope" after watching that trailer. I remember I heard the last part of the trailer in a previous trailer and hoped that it would be from Symphonic Poem "Hope." I guess I was right.

That Potion commercial is hilarious. Its comical nature multiplies for me since I recognize the actor in the commercial.

So the project is finally nearing completion. So many delays. I'm just hopefully that within this year, I can finally play it. It will be interesting how different this game will be from previous FFs.

Originally Posted by Shoeless

So the project is finally nearing completion. So many delays. I'm just hopefully that within this year, I can finally play it. It will be interesting how different this game will be from previous FFs.

Well the Japanese version is officially done. There can be no more delays and Japanese gamers only need to look forward to March 16th.

Alexander O' Smith is heading the NA localisation effort so fingers crossed if all things go well then hopefully we'll see a US release on or before August.

I am definitely glad to finally see the light at the end of a very long tunnel with this game. While some will snicker they are replicating the gameplay experience offline of FFXI it still will be an amazing experience to actually experience the lore and scope of the world Matsuano has crafted. I can only hope the battle system will be much more refined as far as the camaras and action itself than from the demo in DQVIII. Only element I am not that excited about.

Wait, didn't Smith do the localization for Vagrant Story?

Strangely enough, I'm not all that excited about FFXII.

When I first heard about it, I was totally hyped. This was only a year or so after I'd finished my last Final Fantasy game -- I discovered the series about a year before that and swallowed them all down in rapid succession. The fact that the game takes place in Ivalice kinda bugs me; I don't think it'll take away from the story much, but it feels like a locale rehash. I've been to Ivalice already; take me somewhere else. (I think FFX-2 and the FFVII spin-offs have made me bitter towards 'unplanned' Square sequels now. =p)

Honestly, though, the graphics are fantastic, and I'm sure the music, story, and gameplay are all top-notch. I'm not super-hyped about it, but I have high expectations. After all, I AM going to buy this game right when it comes out. =p

Originally Posted by Metal Sphere

Wait, didn't Smith do the localization for Vagrant Story?

Yes, he did.