Final fantasy XII

Story

Final Fantasy XII begins in Dalmasca's capital city of Rabanastre, where the happiness from the union of Princess Ashe of Dalmasca and Prince Rasler of Nabradia is interrupted by the Archadian Empire's invasion of Dalmasca. In the subsequent war, Nabradia and Dalmasca are subjugated by Archadia; among the lives lost is Prince Rasler. The Dalmascan king, Raminas, who is forced to sign a treaty of surrender, is slated to be assassinated.A rescue attempt by Dalmascan knights backfires when Basch, one of the leading knights, kills Raminas and Reks, a young 17-year old knight who was with the knights during the attempt. The treason of Basch, and Ashe's eventual suicide, are announced by Marquis Ondore.

Two years later, Vaan, Reks's younger brother, infiltrates the Rabanastre palace during the dinner to celebrate the appointment of Vayne as Consul, despite Penelo's objection. During the infiltration, Vaan encounters Balthier and Fran, who introduce him to magicite. Their escape attempt backfires when Resistance forces storm the palace, landing them into the sewers where they stumble upon the Resistance leader, Amalia. However, Vaan, Balthier and Fran are captured by the Archadians and detained at the Nalbina Dungeons. In Nalbina, the trio encounters Basch and learns of the existence of his twin, Judge Magister Gabranth, and eventually escape with him. Basch conveys to Vaan that Gabranth had posed as him to blackmail Ondore.While skeptical at first, Vaan finally believes him,and helps Basch reach Bhujerba with the help of Balthier and Fran. They also learn of Penelo's kidnapping by headhunter Ba'Gamnan, who uses her to lure Balthier to him. This brings them to a meeting in Bhujerba with Lamont, a curious boy who is in truth Vayne's younger brother, Larsa. Basch was also able to confront the Marquis, who captures the party to be sent onboard the Archadian airship, Leviathan, headed by Judge Ghis. Ghis took Vaan's magicite - the Dusk Shard - to be sent to Archadia.

On the Leviathan, the party is reunited with Amalia, revealed to be Princess Ashe;^[and Penelo, who had been rescued by Larsa. Escaping the airship and unable to convince the Marquis to prove her royal lineage, Ashe, driven by visions of Rasler, attempts to collect the Dynast-King Raithwall's treasures to prove her royal blood.The Dawn Shard, a form of magicite called deifacted Nethicite obtained from Raithwall's Tomb and seized by Ghis, proves to be fatal as the small stone destroys the Leviathan, Ghis, and his fleet. Now unable to use the Shard, Larsa convinces Ashe to seek Gran Kiltias Anastasis, who lives in Mt. Bur-Omisace, for his approval of her as queen of Dalmasca. Vaan and Penelo travel with the entourage, which includes Basch, Balthier, and Fran. On the way, the party rescues Fran's sister, Mjrn, who was possessed by manufacted (artificial) Nethicite in the process.

The party learns in Mt. Bur-Omisace that not all parties are wishing for war. Larsa, who had been investigating Vayne's connection with the manufacted Nethicite, had made contact with Al-Cid Margrace, a member of the Rozarrian Empire ruling family, to convince the two Empires to cease their war. Their plan to announce Ashe's status as Dalmascan Queen and to persuade Gramis for peace was forestalled with the Emperor's death at the supposed hands of the Archadian Senate Chairman, Gregoroth. With Anastasis' aid, Ashe retrieves the Sword of Kings, which can destroy Nethicite. While she obtains the sword, Anastasis is killed by Judge Bergan and Larsa is brought back to Archadia. After defeating Judge Bergan, Ashe's party travels to Archades and the Draklor Laboratory, where manufacted Nethicite were made by Dr. Cid's research. There, they encounter Reddas; however, Dr. Cid escapes and leaves clues that lead them to Giruvegan,the supposed location of the Sun-Cryst, the source of deifacted Nethicite.While together able to enter Giruvegan, Ashe alone encounters the makers of the Sun-Cryst, the Occuria, receiving the real location of the Sun-Cryst, and the Treaty Blade to cut her own piece of deifacted Nethicite.

The Archadian Empire's might, led by Vayne, was due to Dr. Cid's Nethicite research and the assistance of the Occuria betrayer, Venat.Vayne aims to become the new Dynast-King by using manufacted Nethicite to conquer all of Ivalice.Dr. Cid, revealed to be Balthier's father, was obsessed with researching the Nethicite's power after his own visit to Giruvegan and initial encounter with Venat. Their expansion campaign which led to the Nabudis' destruction and Dalmasca's occupation was made to obtain and study the royal heirlooms - deifacted Nethicite.Gabranth was sent to Giruvegan to ascertain Ashe's intentions for war. With the Occuria's clue to the Sun-Cryst, Ashe travels to the Pharos at Ridorana Cataract, accompanied by Reddas. Finding the Sun-Cryst atop the tower, Ashe resolves to destroy the Sun-Cryst,defeating Gabranth, who admits to killing her father in a attempt to force her to give in to her hate. By then, Cid arrives to chide Gabranth before disposing of him and evoking the full-power of the Sun-Cryst with the Nethicite shards prior to his death. Reddas, intent not to allow history repeat itself like at Nabudis, sacrifices himself to destroy it using the Sword of Kings.

Ashe learns from Al-Cid that an impending war between Archadia and the Resistance group led by Marquis Ondore, who defied the Empire after the Leviathan incident, is about to take place in Rabanastre. The party travels home to find Archadian forces strengthened with the Sky Fortress Bahamut - an enormous, nethicite-fuelled airship armed with incredibly powerful weapons. Infiltrating the sky fortress with the aid of the Resistance, Basch confronts Gabranth, who spews hate towards his twin, yet taken by Basch's loyalty. The party encounters Vayne and Larsa, the latter objecting to Vayne's plot for power; Larsa and Gabranth ally with the party to destroy Vayne after Venat infused its power into him. The war ends with an announcement by Ashe,^[ and with Larsa taking over the Imperial Army. The party escapes Bahamut, now void of its fuel due to the final battle, with Larsa and the body of Gabranth. Balthier and Fran remain onboard the Bahamut, steering it away from Rabanastre to prevent a collision, though contact with them was lost.

One year later, Ashe has become Queen of Dalmasca and her coronation is about to take place in one month's time; Basch replaces Gabranth as Judge Magister due to the latter's request, serving as guardian to Larsa, now Emperor of Archadia. The story ends with Vaan flying his own airship with Penelo after Balthier and Fran return to 'steal' the Strahl. They leave Vaan a message which includes a note to Queen Ashe and also her ring that Balthier took from her earlier in the story, this is then delivered to Ashe. Following this, Vaan and Penelo set out in an airship to visit Balthier and Fran in Bervenia.

Audio

Hitoshi Sakimoto composed most of the game's soundtrack; Nobuo Uematsu, following his departure from Square Enix in 2004, only contributed the theme song.Sakimoto experienced difficulty following in Uematsu's footsteps, but he decided to create a unique soundtrack in his own way."Kiss Me Good-Bye", the theme song for Final Fantasy XII, was performed in both English and Japanese by Angela Aki.Uematsu noted that Aki's style of playing the keyboard while singing reminded him of his childhood idol, Elton John, which was one of the reasons he chose her. The English version of the song was featured in both the Japanese and North American versions of the game. In addition to the theme song, violinist Taro Hakase composed and performed the game's main instrumental theme, Symphonic Poem "Hope".

Two promotional soundtracks were released before the original soundtrack, Symphonic Poem "Hope" and The Best of The Final Fantasy XII Soundtrack, on March 1 and March 15, 2006, respectively. The former contains all the music used in the game's trailer performed by Taro Hakase, including Symphonic Poem "Hope".^[The original soundtrack itself was released in Japan on May 31, 2006.It consists of 4 CDs with 100 tracks, and includes promotional tracks not in the final version of the game.The CD single for "Kiss Me Good-Bye" was released on the March 15, 2006. A limited edition was also released, featuring a DVD containing the music video for "Kiss Me Good-Bye". Tofu Records has released an abridged version of the original soundtrack, which contains 31 songs, including "Kiss Me Good-Bye".