Gabranth/Dissidia (PSP)

Gabranth is a Warrior of Chaos and an extra character in Dissidia Final Fantasy and Dissidia 012 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 little impact on the main storyline, other than confronting Cosmos and Shantotto in an earlier cycle, intending to kill Cosmos to end the war. In Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, though Vaan is also from Final Fantasy XII, they never actually meet during the war.

In Dissidia Final Fantasy, Gabranth is unlockable by completing the Distant Glory - Redemption of the Warrior storyline and purchasing him as a playable character in the PP Catalog for 1,000 PP. In Dissidia 012, he is available as a purchasable character at the PP Catalog from the start and costs 100 PP.

Appearance and Attire
Gabranth is a tall, muscular 36 year-old with short blond hair and hazel eyes. His 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.

Gabranth's first alternate outfit, "Dark Steel Armor," colors his armor and weapons black, based on Yoshitaka Amano's artwork of the Archadian Judges.

Gabranth's second alternate outfit "Captain's Gear" is the Dalmascan officer's uniform he wore when impersonating Basch in the introductory sequence of Final Fantasy XII. He wears a red and brown uniform with armored plates along the chest, steel gauntlets and boots, and longer hair. His weapon remains the same.

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

Story
Gabranth appears in the Reports, where he confronts Cosmos in a previous cycle, intending to kill her for the sake of ending the wars. However, he finds Shantotto as Cosmos's last line of defense and proceeds to fight her after giving her a chance to leave. But in the end, Shantotto defeats him and he fades away. During some later cycle, still seeking freedom, Gabranth comes upon a portal to the Interdimensional Rift and casts himself into it to free himself from the war, with his fellow Warriors of Chaos thinking that he instead fell victim to Shantotto's "ultimate spell".

After his escape, Gabranth became warden of the underworld, where hero and villain alike are discarded after each turn in the cycle of conflict, and must fight each other to prove their worthiness to return to the world of the living. As the player advances in Gabranth's storyline, he 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.

In Dissidia 012, in the Confessions of the Creator scenario, this storyline is found at the Land of the Stolen Crown Gateway at the Marsh Cave.

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, except Circle of Judgement. 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
In Dissidia, Gabranth is faced as a boss at the end of Distant Glory and Inward Chaos.

In Dissidia 012, he is faced at the bottom of the "Land of the Stolen Crown" gateway in Scenario 000, and fought by Shantotto during Report #8.

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 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. In Dissidia 012, Gabranth also gains the ability "Jamming," which prevents the opponent from getting the Map Bravery when EX Break is inflicted on him.

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 Swords, Daggers, Greatswords, Shields, Gauntlets, Helms, Light Armor, and Heavy Armor. In Dissidia 012, Gabranth can also equip Axes, Guns, and Large Shields.

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.
 * 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 Archadian 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.
 * In addition to the above, Gabranth stands on the left side of the screen facing his opponent on the right. When performing his Quickenings, Basch is positioned on the right of the screen facing his opponent on the left.


 * 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.
 * Although the English translation is different, "Gaia Breach" is a direct reference to the Monk ability, "Shockwave" or "Earth Render" (地烈斬 or 地裂斬), from the Final Fantasy Tactics series with similar graphic effect.
 * 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."
 * In Dissidia 012 when Gabranth confronts Shantotto, he says "You are a wielder of magicks," using the spelling of the word used in Final Fantasy XII. It is also used when facing Ultimecia, he says "No magick can overturn the past".

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. Gabranth also wears his helmet in cutscenes and on his board icon when used in storylines.
 * 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 their original actor reprise their role. Although in Dissidia 012, Gilgamesh didn't have his original voice actor either.
 * Being a secret character, Gabranth originally had no arena based after him; however, he was usually associated with Chaos' stage Edge of Madness. In Dissidia 012 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!". Additionally, his Guilt attack, which was renamed Execution in Dissidia 012 with a slightly different function, uses different quotes between the two Dissidia games.
 * 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!".
 * While in his alternate outfit Gabranth glows yellow while in EX Mode, but still glows red when using EX Charge.
 * In the first game, Gabranth was the only character to have a level 100 exclusive piece of armor, the Highway Star. However, in Duodecim, Feral Chaos has an entire set of level 100 exclusive equipment.
 * Highway Star is meant to represent Gabranth's offhand sword, and as such falls in line with the Parrying category of hand armor, even possessing that group's unique Attack bonus. However, Gabranth is unable to naturally equip Parrying equipment.
 * 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, or by reflecting HP attacks. In Dissidia 012, using HP Assist is another possibility to win outside of EX Mode.
 * When in a dungeon in Dissidia 012, Gabranth appears in his EX Mode battle pose but is in his normal mode without his helmet and his swords connected. Thus he carries his full sword held over his head and holds out his other arm in a clenched fist with no weapon in it.
 * Gabranth is unique in that he attacks in EX Mode when called in as an Assist, albeit without any glow. This, however, has no effect on gameplay (Like causing EX Break when attacked by the opponent's assist).
 * Similar to Yuna, Gabranth gains no aesthetic changes when entering EX Mode in his second alternate costume, although he still splits his weapon into twin sword, possesses a glow and a change in animation.
 * Although he is from the same game as Vaan, his manikin's adjective is the same as that of Shantotto and Prishe-- "of Antiquity". This is likely because his manikin debuted in the first game with that name, and it wouldn't make sense to change it now.
 * Gabranth's manikin is one of only two manikins to have more than one model, changing form when it enters EX Mode.Gabranth_Sword_Glitch.jpg
 * The bottom-most sword that Gabranth summon while casting Frost Purge in his EX Burst clips through his right thigh. This can only be seen in the replay editor when the HUD was dismissed. Since the HUD covers that sword from view, it could explain why this clipping problem is not fixed in any way.
 * Gabranth (along with Zidane) are the two characters in Dissidia who can combine their weapons.

Gabranth/Dissidia Gabranth (Dissidia)