Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings is a game in the Ivalice Alliance and an adventure based on Final Fantasy XII for the Nintendo DS. It chronicles a period of time in which Vaan and Penelo, two of the main characters from Final Fantasy XII, are sky pirates.

As stated in the Ultimania guide, the game was originally planned as a title unrelated to Final Fantasy XII, but Square Enix executives decided to make it a Final Fantasy XII sequel during development. Although inheriting the Final Fantasy XII title, Yokoyama downplayed its link to its PlayStation 2 predecessor, saying - "It is not accurate to call this a sequel. We want people to view it as the latest FF game. This is not FFXII-2."

Story
Set one year after the events of Final Fantasy XII, on the Sky Continent of Lemurés, Vaan and Penelo are treasure-hunting in unknown ruins, and find the Cache of Glabados, which includes an airship and a piece of auracite. Upon boarding said derelict, it takes them to the sky continent, where they meet the aegyl, Llyud. Defying his race's traditions, he accepts their help and requests their assistance in stopping the sky pirates from defiling Lemurés.

Thousands of years ago, a man called Feolthanos was the chief of the aegyl when they still lived in Ivalice. Feolthanos took a viera wife and started a family; their descendants eventually being called "Feol Viera". He revolted against the Occuria, and took the aegyl to Lemurés, using the Auraliths to create a barrier around Lemurés to keep the Occuria out while trapping the aegyl within. The barrier was maintained until about a year prior to the game when a massive amount of Mist from the Sun-Cryst was released upon Ivalice.

Feolthanos leaves the Cache of Glabados, along with a book as a gift for his family (who did not have wings), in the hopes that one day they would use them to come to him in Lemurés. The Cache is actually three shards of auracite, which each serve as a beacon to call the Galbana, an airship built by Feolthanos, which picks up the one who finds the Cache and brings them to Lemurés.

Vaan and his friends foil Feolthanos's plan by taking command of the Galbana and using it to explore Lemurés, where Llyud tells them of the mass of sky pirates invading the Purvama in search of treasure. At the site of beautiful Auralith at the Fane of Tehp Qul, Vaan's party comes face-to-face with the Judge of Wings, a person completely clad in armor, who seeks to destroy the Auraliths. Though the Judge is temporarily defeated, she manages to shatter the great Skystone and abscond with its power.

After fruitless leads from the sky pirate Rikken, Tomaj locates the Judge at the Yapih Caverns, who has begun a ritual at the caves' fiery Skystone. Vaan's party encounters Ba'Gamnan's henchmen in the caverns, but a berserked Ba'Gamnan knocks them out, and the party fights and defeats him. However, he kidnaps Filo; but with the help of Rikken, they defeat Ba'Gamnan once again, and free his captive. They confront the Judge, only to flee when she summons Bahamut, who breaks the Muruc Cahuac Skysea into pieces.

Bahamut's wrath sends the Galbana into a crash-landing at Tswarra, Isle of the Lost, where the protagonists find a wounded man by the name of Velis. After nursing him back to health, Penelo is able to discover Velis's true nature as Mydia's dead lover, the Feol Viera behind the Judge of Wings's faceless helm. The Judge herself appears on the deserted island, changes Velis into a terrible Yarhi, and orders him to attack Vaan's party. Though Penelo refuses to hurt her friend, the rest of the crew fight, and though the Judge escapes once again, Llyud deals the finishing blow to Velis, ending his warped life.

The Galbana repaired, Vaan and company meet up with Fran at Arda, Heaven's Pillar, after rescuing her from the tireless Ba'Gamnan. The viera leads them to the Ymir Qul Underground, where Balthier and the Judge of Wings await next to the second Auralith. The Judge and her cohort, Mateus, are defeated and leave the area, but Balthier intends to carry out his plan to destroy the Auralith. Despite Vaan's efforts, Balthier and Fran succeed, and the release of energy from the Skystone sends Vaan, Penelo, Llyud, Filo, and Kytes to Lesrekta, Isle of Illusions.

Lesrekta serves as a test for Vaan's true feelings towards his friends. After being separated from one another throughout the misty island, the five reunite after Penelo expresses her wish for Vaan to return. A voice calls them to Illusion's Home, where Velis's spirit lingers. He begs them to send him onto the next life properly, and explains Mydia's true existence as Feolthanos's puppet. After his defeat, Velis pleads with Vaan to save Mydia from Feolthanos's clutches, and turns himself into the godblade Anastasia. Velis's passing also prompts Vaan and his friends' return to the real world, upon the Galbana.

After Balthier explains he destroyed the Auralith to protect the Aegyl souls within from Feolthanos, he and Fran join the party, which promptly meets up with Queen Ashe and Basch on the new Dreadnought Leviathan.

Descending to Ivalice, Vaan and company follow several leads on the Judge, until they meet her at the Feol Warren, the secluded home of the Feol Viera. Mydia kills the penultimate members of her own race, with the intent to give them, in death, escape from Feolthanos's will. Vaan's party defeats Mydia for the final time, and as she dies, she tells them of her loss of Velis and the attempt to bring him back to life, which led only to the giving of herself to Feolthanos in the false hope he would resurrect her fallen love.

Mydia's spirit leads the Galbana to Eternity's March, the gateway to the Feolthanos's fortress, the Keep of Forgotten Time. Here, the party learns the history of the aegyl and their unending struggle against the Yarhi, who were created from their ancestors' departed souls in order to fuel Feolthanos's need for anima. The aegyl god serves as the final Auralith, a leech that drained his people's souls and continues the perpetual cycle of aegyl suffering. Feolthanos had been forced to commit this act by the Occuria, in vengeance for leading his people to the skies of Lemurés.

After Feolthanos's defeat, he is freed of his eternal bonds and dies, and the Auraliths' power dies with him. The Purvama of Lemurés, no longer supported by the anima of its countless aegyl inhabitants, falls from the sky, and Llyud bids farewell to his friends in order to lead his race to a new home. The Galbana flies off of its own accord above the disintegrating islands of Lemurés, as its former commanders return to Ivalice aboard the Strahl.

Characters


Unlike Final Fantasy XII, Revenant Wings has a large cast of over twelve characters. The game also introduces a new race, the aegyl, a race of hume-like people with wings on their backs.

Playable Characters

 * Vaan
 * Penelo
 * Llyud
 * Balthier
 * Fran
 * Kytes
 * Filo
 * Ashe
 * Basch
 * Ba'Gamnan (temporary)

Non-Playable Characters

 * Feolthanos
 * Judge of Wings
 * Cu Sith
 * Larsa Ferrinas Solidor
 * Nono
 * Tomaj
 * Velis
 * Gijuk
 * Rinok
 * Bwagi
 * Rikken
 * Elza
 * Raz
 * Namingway

Locations
Though the game starts on the Glabados Ruins, it is set on the Sky Continent of Lemurés. Revenant Wings explores the floating continent in detail allowing the player explore a whole host of new areas. When Basch and Ashe join, the team goes to mainland Ivalice to investigate some old locations from Final Fantasy XII, along with some new continents.

Gameplay
Revenant Wings features gameplay similar to its predecessor. However, it has a simpler gambit system, with only one gambit per character, possibly to accommodate the Nintendo DS, but also to make it easier to play.

The Stylus
Revenant Wings is played using mainly the stylus, with the optional exception of using the button to conveniently combine all active characters and Espers into one group, and the  button to select and move the camera to one of the nearest summoning gates. Area effect spells work by targeting an enemy, while any other enemy surrounding that target within a reasonable distance will receive the effect of the used spell.

Drawing a box around two or more allies makes them a party. After setting up a party by tapping a character or drawing a box around a group, the player taps their destination to move them. Dragging the stylus does not make the units move continually. Tapping an enemy makes the party attack that enemy and the D-Pad moves the camera. Holding L swaps the two screens, allowing the player to move the camera with the stylus, and cover more distance more quickly than with the D-Pad. This makes it impossible to control a party during the screen swap, however. The screens revert to normal as soon as L is released. After ordering a party to do anything (move, attack, etc.), they are immediately unselected.

Summons
Summons are featured heavily in Revenant Wings. There are 51 summons in Revenant Wings, from the Espers of Final Fantasy XII, to the Yarhi of Lemurés, composed primarily of enemies from Final Fantasy XII, and including some returning originals like Shiva and Ifrit. They incorporate six elements; Fire, Water, Thunder, Earth, Holy, and None.

From the six elements, summons are further categorized into three groups: Flying, Melee, and Ranged. Finally, each group comes in three ranks, with higher ranks being more powerful, but being more expensive to summon as well as third (highest) rank being limited to only one summon at a time.

Quickenings
Only Vaan and Balthier keep their original Quickenings, whilst new characters have all new animations. Unlike Final Fantasy XII, Quickenings are obtained by defeating a given Esper. Each character only has one Quickening. Some damage enemies while some can prevent them from summoning Espers or harming the player party, or even heal.

The Quickenings have a gauge similar to the Limit Break gauge in other games, and once full, the character can unleash their Quickening. The method by which the gauge fills is different for each character: Vaan's Quickening gauge fills when he and his Espers attacks enemies, whereas Basch's Quickening gauge fills when enemies attack him and his Espers.

Sky Pirates Limited Edition DS Package
To celebrate the release of Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings Square Enix released a limited edition Sky Pirates edition package. It comes with the game and a limited edition DS Lite. The Sky Pirate edition package was only released in Japan. It comes with the Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings logo and a few of the main characters emblazoned on the front.

Etymology
The name "Revenant Wings" may refer to the plight of the winged aegyl race, whose emotions have been removed, making them emotionally "undead". In addition, the game's final mission against Feolthanos Exultant is titled "Revenant Wings". In it, multiple ghostly beings called Wing Wraiths are summoned, and the final boss is an immortal being who bears black, undying wings.