Final Fantasy XII, a role-playing video game released by Square Enix in 2006, revolves around the attempt to liberate the kingdom of Dalmasca from the Archadian Empire. The story is told through the eyes of Vaan, an orphan who wishes to be a sky pirate, and other characters he encounters throughout his adventure. The visuals of the characters were designed by Akihiko Yoshida, while their stories were created by Daisuke Watanabe. The characters were designed to look and behave unlike any that had existed in the Final Fantasy series before them. Their stories were written to create a script where neither side was truly right or wrong, but instead had different opinions and interpretations of the events occurring in the game.
There are six main playable characters in Final Fantasy XII; Vaan, an energetic orphan of Rabanastre who dreams of becoming a sky pirate; Ashe, a determined princess of Dalmasca who lost 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 in journeys to keep an eye on him. There are also several "Guest" characters, who temporarily join the main party at various points in the plotline, such as Larsa, the young prince of Archadia, Vossler, a member of the resistance against the Archadian Empire, and Reddas, a disillusioned former Magistrate of Archadia. Other major characters who influence the plot of the game but are not playable characters include Vayne, the eldest prince of Archadia and main antagonist of the story, Gabranth, the twin brother of Basch, and Cid, a brilliant scientist and father to Balthier.
The characters in the game have been the basis of several pieces of merchandise produced by Square Enix, such as statues, action figures, and jewelry. They have been subject to mixed reviews; some reviews have applauded the characters' dialogue and relationships to each other, while others dismissed the story and characters as uninteresting. Critiques of the voice acting for the characters has also been mixed, with different reviews either praising or criticizing both the acting and the technical quality of the recordings.
Cast creation and influences Final Fantasy XIIs characters were designed by Akihiko Yoshida. It was his first involvement in a main-series Final Fantasy game, though he worked as the character designer for Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story, both of which were set in the same game world as XII, Ivalice. Comments have been made about the similarity between Yoshida's creations and those of Tetsuya Nomura, the character designer for Final Fantasy VII, VIII, X, and XIII. Yoshida feels this connection is sparked by the style of color used by both artists, which involves a color consistency between the characters and the environments. In an interview included in a bonus disc of the collector's edition of the game, he states that he created the design of the characters after reading all of the design documents on their history and beliefs. He tried to create designs and clothing that did not exist anywhere in real life and had never been seen before, designing for example the armor for the Judges on a combination of historical armor, mountain bike gear, and futuristic ideas."Final Fantasy XII Developer Interviews".
The story of the characters was created by scenario writer Daisuke Watanabe. In the bonus disc interview, he states that he endeavored to create characters that were neither fully good nor evil, adding flaws such as selfishness to the heroes and virtues such as kindness to the villains, in an attempt to make them more realistic. He also said he tried to create a scenario in which neither side was truly right or wrong, but instead just had different interpretations of the events in the game. He tried to convey the emotions of the characters through their lines, the acting of the voice actors, and in the facial expressions of the in-game models. Alexander O. Smith, the English translator for the game, included accents to the characters for the English version of the game to add a layer of depth to the game by having characters from different areas of Ivalice sound different. He based these accents off the extensive notes made by game designer Yasumi Matsuno on the backgrounds of the characters. Smith chose voice actors for the project who had stage and film acting experience, in an attempt to avoid the common problem of "flat" reading he felt was prevalent in video game voice acting.
The designers have stated that non-human characters and races feature a prominent role in the game, which was influenced by an interest in history among the developers. Comparing the non-human races in Final Fantasy IX with those of XII, the developers have stated that the former were modeled after humans, while the latter were fundamentally different in terms of biological characteristics. These non-human races include Bangaa, Viera, Seeq, and Moogles. In the game, humans are referred to as Humes. Some of the races in the game that first appeared in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, such as Bangaa, were originally designed for Final Fantasy XII.
When asked why the main character, Vaan, was so effeminate, the development team explained that their previous game, Vagrant Story, which featured a "strong man in his prime" as the protagonist had been unsuccessful and unpopular; the change regarding Final Fantasy XII from a "big and tough" protagonist to a more effeminate one was thus decided after targeting demographics were considered. The game's art director Hideo Minaba has said that Vaan is not comparable to any previous protagonist of the series, which he explained as partially a result of the game using a different character designer than previous ones. The geography of Ivalice, particularly Dalmasca, had an influence in the character's initial designs. When asked about the characters' revealing clothing, Yoshida commented that "Dalmasca is supposed to have a hot climate", and that the idea of the characters revealing skin was his.
Playable characters Vaan
is the main protagonist of Final Fantasy XII. He is a 17-year-old orphaned Hume street urchin who lost his parents to a plague when he was 12 years old. His only brother, Reks, died two years before the start of the game during the Archadian invasion of Dalmasca. He makes a living as Migelo's assistant, running various errands for him while pickpocketing from Archadian soldiers, claiming to take back what is Dalmasca's. He is a cheerful and energetic boy who dreams of someday becoming a sky pirate in command of his own airship. He trains to meet this goal by killing large dire rats in the sewers of Rabanastre on a daily basis, for which Dalan gave him the nickname "Vaan Ratsbane". Despite nominally being the main protagonist, as the player starts the game controlling him, most of the game focuses on the world's events and conflicts and Ashe, with his character used as a narrative device to allow the player to follow the events as an outside observer. Over the course of the game, Vaan comes to understand he spent his time running from his problems and blaming the Archadian empire for them, rather than moving on with his life after his brother and parents' deaths. By the end of the game, Vaan is a sky pirate traveling the world with Penelo.
During the events of Revenant Wings, Vaan becomes captain of the Airship Galbana and uses it to travel to Lemures, meeting old friends while making new ones. He is given the title of the "leading man" which Balthier formerly held, and other characters suggest a teacher/student relationship between them, though Balthier denies this. In the aftermath, Vaan and Penelo, who are now a couple, leave Rabanastre to have their own adventure, sporting a shirt over his outfit by the time of Final Fantasy Tactics A2.
The recent Vagrant Story, which featured a rugged and tough protagonist, was deemed a commercial failure. Therefore, Vaan was designed to be effeminate and placed in the main role, as the developers believed the public would be more interested in a teenager. He would have been even more effeminate if Kouhei Takeda had not been cast for his voice acting and motion capture, and Vaan became more "active, upbeat, bright and positive" than originally planned. He was designed by character designer Akihiko Yoshida to look Asian. Vaan is voiced in Final Fantasy XII by Bobby Edner in English and by Kouhei Takeda in Japanese. Vaan has also appeared in other video games; despite having been created for Final Fantasy XII, he was first introduced in the 2004 crossover board game Itadaki Street Special for the PlayStation 2. He also appears in Itadaki Street Portable and Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, both for the PlayStation Portable. In Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, Bobby Edner reprises his role in English; however, Takeda was unable to reprise his role as Vaan and was replaced by Kensho Ono in Japanese.
Ashe , also known as Ashe, is a 19-year-old Hume princess fighting to liberate her kingdom, Dalmasca, from the Archadian Empire. She is the only living child of King Raminas and the sole heir to the throne,Square Enix Co.: Final Fantasy XII Australasia instruction manual (2006). Square Enix Co., 12. and married Rasler Heios Nabradia shortly before Archadia's invasion of Dalmasca. Following their marriage, he died in battle defending Nalbina Fortress on the border of his home state of Nabradia, making her a widow. While many believed their marriage was driven by politics, she spent the two years following his death in mourning and continued to wear her wedding ring.
She was thought to have committed suicide, but took on the alias , to serve as the leader of the Resistance before joining the group. Her desire for revenge against Archadia for the horrors its army committed on her people was manipulated by the Occuria to reinforce their rule over Ivalice. Over the course of the story, the Occuria create an image of Rasler to guide Ashe where they need her to go. In their encounter, the Occuria offer her nethicite to rule as another Dynast-King and conquer Ivalice in their stead; she rejects their offer. Ashe acknowledges Larsa's intention to stop the war and makes her way to Vayne in the Sky Fortress Bahamut to end it. A year after the Bahamut's crash, Ashe is crowned Queen of Dalmasca and rejoins her friends in fighting the mysterious Judge of Wings in Revenant Wings. She is also featured in the rhythm game Theatrhythm Final Fantasy as a subcharacter representing Final Fantasy XII.
Akihiko Yoshida has stated that Ashe's physical features were designed with the intent of making her look vaguely French, saying that "the base of her bone structure is a French person's. We were given orders from the start to not make her look like an Asian. But we modified her a bit to look more like a Japanese for the sake of the Japanese audience, and also since a character that looks completely French makes some of the CG expressions difficult". Ashe is voiced by Kari Wahlgren in English and Mie Sonozaki in Japanese. Despite having been created for Final Fantasy XII, she was first introduced in Itadaki Street Special. She also appears in Itadaki Street Portable and was set to appear in Fortress, as revealed in concept art for the game. Another version of Ashe appears within the backstory of Final Fantasy XIV, where she is the twin sister of Rasler instead of his wife.
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