Gabranth/Dissidia (PSP)

Gabranth is an extra character in Dissidia Final Fantasy. An Archadian Judge in service to the Empire, he took on the guise of his twin brother Basch and killed King Raminas of the Kingdom of Dalmasca, disgracing Basch and ensuring Archadia's dominance of the region. In battle, Gabranth uses his power to quickly charge his EX Gauge, and then crushes opponents with powerful attacks. As an extra character in the game, Gabranth has no impact on the main storyline and has no hero opposing him. However, as an extra character who once served Chaos, the role of his heroic counterpart is filled by Shantotto.

Gabranth is set to return, along with the other characters from Dissidia, in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy. He is a fully fledged Warrior of Chaos in this game. His opponent this time is Vaan.

Attire
Gabranth's outfit is based on his original design in Final Fantasy XII. He wears gray and silver Judge's armor with a helmet with curved horns, and a black cape with the insignia of the Archadian Empire. Gabranth's weapon is a dual-bladed sword which he can freely disconnect at the hilt to wield as two separate weapons. His alternate outfit is based on the Yoshitaka Amano artwork of the Archadian Judges in which they wear black armor. In Dissidia 012, Gabranth's third outfit is based on the Dalmascan officer's uniform he wore when impersonating Basch in the introductory sequence of Final Fantasy XII, although his weapon, in the interest of gameplay, remains the same.

Gabranth's Manikin version, Warrior of Antiquity, is gold.

Dissidia 012
Gabranth briefly appears in the Duodecim trailer. He uses his Innocence attack on Vaan and Terra, in an identical animation to his version from Final Fantasy XII. Gabranth, then a fully fledged Warrior of Chaos, is opposed by Vaan in this game, but whether or not Shantotto is still opposing him remains unknown.



Destiny Odyssey
After all the Crystals have been gathered, Cosmos remembers about her time with Shantotto. In this flashback, Shantotto is about to confront Gabranth in order to protect Cosmos.

Distant Glory
In order to obtain Gabranth, the player must finish his Story Mode, "Distant Glory: The Redeemed Warrior".

Gabranth is the warden of the underworld, where hero and villain alike are discarded after each turn in the cycle of conflict, and they must fight each other to prove their worthiness to return to the world of the living. In a previous cycle of war, Gabranth was a powerful warrior, but Shantotto defeated him and he was banished to the underworld for his weakness. As the player advances, Gabranth questions their resolve, lamenting his own weakness and inability to overcome his inner demons.

Finally reaching the underworld's exit, Gabranth battles the player to determine if they deserve to be set free or not. When defeated, he allows the player to leave, but warns them that what they defend will eventually be lost, and in spite of this they must never lose hope and keep fighting, as he was unable to. He then disappears; his fate is unknown.

Battle
Gabranth's fighting style is EXecutioner. In his normal form Gabranth attacks and moves very slowly and has no HP attacks at all, only able to inflict HP damage in Chase Sequences, which none of his Bravery attacks can initiate. Instead, his lone HP attack while in normal mode causes him to charge his EX Gauge. Once in his EX Mode, Gabranth gains an entirely different skill set: he moves and attacks much faster, pummeling opponents with powerful sword combos, and even his melee blows have considerable range. As an obvious downside to Gabranth, he is weak outside of EX Mode and must avoid opponents while charging his EX Gauge to be able to fight competently.

Boss
Gabranth is faced as a boss at the end of Distant Glory and Inward Chaos.

EX Mode
Quickening gU5lzv31CWE Gabranth's EX Mode is Mist, where he dons his helmet, separates his swords, and glows with a red and black aura. While in EX Mode Gabranth benefits from Regen, recovering HP over time, and gains the ability "Stray's Tenacity." This ability greatly boosts Gabranth's movement speed and grants him a completely different set of attacks as listed above.

Gabranth's EX Burst is Quickening, where he performs variations of his brother Basch's Quickenings from Final Fantasy XII. The player must cycle through a list of commands and input the next level Quickening within a time limit to correctly link together Gabranth's three attacks and maximize the Brave damage done before he ends the EX Burst. Depending on how many Quickenings the player chains together, Gabranth will end the EX Burst with one of three Concurrences: Inferno, Ark Blast, or Black Hole. Unlike Final Fantasy XII, where the options appearing during a Quickening Chain were entirely random, Gabranth's EX Burst always has the proper commands appear in time for the player to execute them, provided the player can shuffle the commands quickly enough.

Equipment
Gabranth can equip the following: Swords, Daggers, Greatswords, Shields, Gauntlets, Helms, Light Armor, and Heavy Armor.

Allusions

 * Upon ending his EX Burst, entering battle, using the ability "Hatred" and in his victory pose, Gabranth assumes the same pose as his appearance on the logo of Final Fantasy XII. Gabranth's battle pose while standing still in EX Mode, and his board icon when used in storylines, are in the same pose depicted on his bestiary entry. His artwork pose is the same pose he makes in the Amano art of the Archadian Judges. In his render for his third outfit in his Basch disguise, he poses in the same way Basch does in a Final Fantasy XII promotional poster.
 * Gabranth's Level 100 exclusive equipment, the Chaos Blade and the Highway Star, are the names of the two swords that make up his weapon. The Chaos Blade is the longer sword; the Highway Star is the shorter sword.
 * The background music for Distant Glory [The Redeemed Warrior] is "Theme of the Empire" from Final Fantasy XII. The symbol of the storyline in the Storyline menu is the symbol of the Arcadian Empire.
 * Gabranth glows red when in EX Mode and using EX Charge, similar to how characters in Final Fantasy XII would glow when powered by Manufacted Nethicite.
 * Compared to Basch, Gabranth's Quickenings feature a few key differences in name and appearance:
 * Basch's "Fulminating Darkness" is green-blue. Gabranth's "Fulminating Oblivion" is red-orange.
 * Basch's "Ruin Impendent" consists of four punches cracking the screen to reveal a vortex that draws in the foe. Gabranth's "Ruin Unflinching" has only three punches that crack the screen, and does not include the vortex.
 * Basch's "Flame Purge" has a longer sequence in which the swords twirl behind him before flying forward to stab the foe, and the final sword stabs the target in the middle vertically. Gabranth's "Frost Purge" does not include the twirling and the final sword does not stab the target in the middle vertically.


 * When performing Gabranth's EX Burst, the "Mist Charge" option may appear while shuffling commands. In Final Fantasy XII, using Quickenings consumed the user's Mist Charges, and using the Mist Charge command during a Quickening Chain would restore their charges. In Dissidia, Gabranth has no Mist Charges and so cannot use the command when it appears.
 * Sentence, Enrage, Lunge, Circle of Judgment, Guilt, and Innocence, are all attacks Gabranth uses when fought in Final Fantasy XII. Guilt and Innocence are both cinematic attacks in Final Fantasy XII, reflected in Dissidia by being Gabranth's HP attacks. His Aero attack is taken from Judge Ghis.
 * Gabranth's dialogue to Shantotto in their flashback, "There is no future for the bystander. As there is naught he can defend," is based on what he says to Basch at the Pharos at Ridorana: "Without power, what future can you claim? What good a kingdom you cannot defend?" His introduction when facing Tidus, "One without strength has no future," is also based on this quote. His introduction when facing himself, "There is no escaping the past," is taken from the Pharos scene, when he faces Reddas. One of Gabranth's victory quotes is, "Even a stray has pride," which he said when he attacked Vayne.
 * Gabranth's cry when using the aerial version of Innocence, "Your life ends here," and his line when beginning his EX Burst, "By my sword," are derived from what he says when using Innocence in Final Fantasy XII, "Your life ends at my blade!"
 * Gabranth's fighting style, EXecutioner, is a reference to what Balthier says to Vaan when they spy on Gabranth at Nalbina Dungeons: "If you ask me, they're more executioners than judges."

Trivia

 * Gabranth is the only character whose artwork does not match his normal mode, which instead features him with his helmet and only holding one of his two swords, though this could be a reference to his Yoshitaka Amano Artwork of him and the other Archadian Judge Magisters.
 * Also, when appearing in cut scenes, Gabranth does wear his helmet.
 * In the English version of Dissidia, Gabranth is voiced by Keith Ferguson, who voiced Gabranth's twin brother Basch in the English version of Final Fantasy XII. This makes him the only character in Dissidia to not have his original actor reprise their role.
 * Being a secret character, Gabranth originally had no arena based after him; however, he was usually associated with Chaos' stage Edge of Madness. Also, in Duodecim, he gains the arena Sky Fortress Bahamut as his signature stage.
 * Unless one counts the variant quotes used for Terra's spells when dualcasting, Gabranth is the only character to use two different battle cries for the same attack. If using the ground version of Innocence, he cries, "Destruction!" but if using the aerial version, he says, "Your life ends here!".
 * Along with The Emperor, Gabranth is one of two characters who has two variations of the same HP attack depending on if it is used in the ground or in the air: on the ground, Innocence follows a straight trajectory, while in the air, the attack arcs downward.
 * In the Battle Tips menu, Penelo demands to know why Gabranth is in the game instead of Vaan, declaring that it "just isn't fair!".
 * Gabranth is the only character to have a level 100 exclusive piece of armor, the Highway Star.
 * While most characters have two outcomes for their EX Bursts, depending on if the burst is executed correctly or not, Gabranth is the only character with three outcomes - Inferno, Ark Blast, and Black Hole.
 * Despite only being able to perform HP attacks in EX Mode, it is possible to win as Gabranth without being in EX Mode through HP attacking in chase sequences.
 * Gabranth shares the same EX Burst as his Cosmos counterpart Vaan.