Quickening (ability)


 * For the music piece in Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-, see: Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- Original Soundtrack

Quickenings (ミストナック, Misutonakku, Mist Knack) are the term for the Limit Breaks of Final Fantasy XII and its spin-off, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings. In Final Fantasy XII, Quickenings use an innovative new system over previous Limit Break systems, involving the real-time input of button commands, requiring fast reflexes to chain together attacks before a timer depletes. In Revenant Wings, Quickenings use a more familiar system involving charging up a "Mist Gauge" to unleash a powerful attack. Quickenings also appear in Dissidia Final Fantasy as Judge Gabranth's EX Burst.

Final Fantasy XII
An example of a Quickening chain je7ZLhJdggs Quickenings are divided into three levels, with each level being more powerful than the previous and requiring more Mist Charges to use. Quickenings are found on the License Board and each requires 50 LP to unlock. Quickening squares on the License Board automatically teach the recipient their next level technique and cost the same amount of LP regardless of the level of the Quickening. Each Quickening square can only be taken by a single character, but there are eighteen squares total and so all of the party members can eventually learn all their Quickenings.

Quickenings boost the recipient's max MP unlocked - Level 2 Quickenings double the recipient's original MP, and Level 3's triple it. The party member's MP bar takes on a gold color to represent how many "Mist Charges" they have. The MP bar grows longer as more Quickenings are learned, and will consist of one, two or three golden bars depending on the user's Mist Charges. The bars represent all (zero or 1 charge), 50% (with 2 charges) or 33% (with 3 charges) of the user's max MP. Using a Quickening costs a number of Mist Charges equal to the Quickening's level, for example two Mist Charges to use a level two Quickening. When a character uses a Quickening, normal gameplay stops as the character executes the attack. A timer appears along with a blue bar and button icons corresponding to any of the three current party members who know any Quickenings. Characters who are KOed, petrified, stopped, berserked, silenced or confused can't use Quickenings. As the attack executes, the timer and blue bar deplete, and the player must quickly press a shown button to have the next character execute another Quickening. This is called a "Quickening Chain". The player may press R2 to "shuffle" the shown commands for the other party members, randomizing the commands they can be given. If a character has the "Mist Charge" option available, using it will restore the character's Mist Charges to full and allow more Quickenings to be chained. The faster the player inputs the next command, the more time they will have to input another command during the next attack. Assuming the player can react quickly enough, and they get lucky in having the Mist Charge command appear, there is virtually no limit to how long a Quickening chain can get. When the chain ends, characters lose MP equal to however many Mist Charges they used in the chain, and any characters who used the Mist Charge command lose all their MP.

In the International Zodiac Job System version, Quickenings no longer use MP, but have their own mist charge gauge, similar to Revenant Wings.

Every Quickening uses the user's Strength stat, but because they are executed using MP they cannot be used if the character is unable to perform magic. Despite their appearances, all Quickenings are non-elemental and break the damage limit, allowing them to do up to 99,999 damage. Level 1 Quickenings have a power of 90, level 2 a power of 140, and level three have a power of 230. Damage done is equal to a random number between 1 and the power of the Quickening multiplied by a random number between 1 and the character's Strength. Thus, a character with 50 Strength using a level 2 Quickening will do random damage between 1 and 7000. Depending on how many Quickenings the player chains, and what levels they are, a Concurrence may occur when the Quickening chain ends. Concurrences are power attacks that affect not only the target of the Quickening chain, but all enemies nearby as well. If the player fulfills the conditions for more than one Concurrence to occur, the strongest one will take priority. Executing every Concurrence unlocks Judge Gabranth in the Sky Pirate's Den, granting the player the title of Mist Walker.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
Quickenings are simplified heavily in Revenant Wings, with only one Quickening available to each character, and no potential for Chains. Quickenings are learned upon the defeat of a certain Rank III Yarhi, and are charged by the Mist Gauge, which fills up as a character deals and receives damage in battle, much like the Limit Break systems of Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy IX.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
Gabranth's EX Burst is a sequence of three Quickenings based on Basch's - Fulminating Oblivion, Ruin Unflinching, and Frost Purge. As Gabranth performs the attack, a timer will count down as the player cycles through the other Quickenings Gabranth can perform. If they select the next-level Quickening before the timer depletes, Gabranth will chain the previous Quickening with the next. If the player misses the timing or inputs the wrong command, the sequence ends. Depending on how many Quickenings Gabranth chains together, the sequence ends with the Inferno (0 chains), Ark Blast (1 chain), or Black Hole (both chains) Concurrence. The command for Mist Charge can be spotted during the "shuffle", but can never be selected.

Trivia

 * In the Japanese version of Final Fantasy XII, Quickening chains were accompanied by a message, like "Cool" and "Very Cool!", beside the chain number. The higher the chain, the better the message. These were removed in the North American and European versions.
 * The Bradygames official strategy guide for Final Fantasy XII lists Whiteout and Luminescence in reverse. This is a mistake, as Luminescence is the stronger of the two.

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