Gunblade (weapon type)

Gunblade is a recurring type of weapon in the Final Fantasy series, first appearing in Final Fantasy VIII. Originally designed by Tetsuya Nomura, a gunblade is a fusion of a sword and a gun. The Final Fantasy VIII gunblades do not fire projectiles, but later versions in other games, like in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy XIII, work as both a gun and a blade, although seem to work more of guns with blades rather than swords with firing mechanisms.

Design and Execution
In Final Fantasy VIII all forms of gunblade consist of a sword blade with a gun action built into the hilt, the barrel running inside the length of the blade. They are mostly used like normal swords, but triggering a round sends a shock wave through the blade as the weapon passes through an opponent to increase damage.

In Dissidia Final Fantasy, Squall Leonhart's use of the Revolver is refined beyond the normal slashes seen in Final Fantasy VIII, incorporating the use of the gunblade's recoil for a unique combat style. Using the Heel Crush and Rough Divide techniques, Squall triggers a round while holding the gunblade behind him, the recoil pushing him forward. Using the Solid Barrel and Beat Fang techniques, Squall thrusts the blade into the enemy, triggers a round (which also damages the enemy), and the recoil of the shot pushes the blade back, where Squall immediately thrusts again, repeating the process several more times. In Final Fantasy VIII Squall wields his gunblade two-handed, but in Dissidia Final Fantasy he often uses the weapon with one hand.

The combat styles demonstrated for gunblades capable of projectile firing (as seen in Final Fantasy XIII and the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII) are alternating between ranged and melee combat with the favored style depending on the gunblade used. For example, the Velvet Nightmare is more adept for ranged combat than melee.

Final Fantasy XIV introduces several gun hybrid weapons, such as the Gunhalberd, Gunhammers, Gunbaghnakhs and Gunshields, which use a halberd, grappling weapon, hammer or shield bases, rather than a sword base.

Development
The gunblade was designed by Tetsuya Nomura for Squall's weapon in Final Fantasy VIII with the aim to make the battles more dynamic, the players needing to press a button at the correct time to deal a critical hit, and to give Squall an iconic weapon. Nomura has stated he designed Squall's gunblade during a time when he was into silver accessories, but on thinking back he says it has a rather odd appearance.

For Final Fantasy XIII, the idea for Lightning to have a sword that can transform into a gun related to the game's Eidolons, which could turn into vehicles, and the narrative's themes of transformation. Reasoning that if the summons could transform, the developers thought the weapons should be able to as well.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Yazoo and Loz use two ornate gunblades called the Velvet Nightmare. Despite being officially considered gunblades, they don't appear to possess any notable cutting ability, and are used mainly as guns, although they do have a blade running along the top of the barrel, and a smaller blade along the bottom forming the front end of the trigger guard.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-
Various copies of Genesis wield gunblades, swords capable of firing bullets and rockets. They first appear during the attack on Junon and can be encountered on missions. There are two varieties of this gunblade, as its appearance degrades in the same manner as the clothing worn by the Genesis Copies, thus more degraded copies use a variant with faded coloring.

Final Fantasy VIII
The weapon's début appearance, the gunblade is the weapon of choice for Squall Leonhart and his rival, Seifer Almasy. It is a sword with a firing mechanism, such as a pistol (as with Seifer's Hyperion), or revolver (as with Squall's weapons), which serves as the blade's hilt. Despite its name, it cannot be used as a gun, meaning it does not fire projectiles, and can therefore only be used in melee combat, making it more like a gun supplementing a sword than a blade supplementing a firearm, e.g. a bayonet on a rifle. The firing of the gunblade's rounds induces a tremor in the blade causing it to deal additional damage to whatever it strikes.

In battle, one must press while the character is striking to pull the trigger. If successful, the hit will be critical, multiplying the damage by x1.5 (as opposed to x2 for regular criticals). Triggering the gunblade is the only means of performing critical hits for its users. With Seifer, using this technique is slightly more difficult than with Squall because he attacks faster. Squall and Seifer are the only ones who can use a gunblade in combat, while Laguna Loire uses one in a flashback minigame, and mentions he trained with one in his early years as a Galbadian soldier.

All gunblade models have 255% accuracy, making misses impossible even with Blind status.

There are seven gunblade models available for Squall plus the model used by Seifer.

List of Gunblades:
 * Revolver
 * Shear Trigger
 * Cutting Trigger
 * Flame Saber
 * Twin Lance
 * Punishment
 * Lion Heart
 * Hyperion

Final Fantasy XII
Gilgamesh has a knock-off of the Revolver gunblade among his collection of legendary weapons. Like his swords, it is slightly different from the original, having an image of a chocobo on the blade instead of Griever and lacking the chain.

Final Fantasy XIII


Also known in Japan as Dualweapon, the gunblade transforms between gun-mode and blade-mode. Used by Lightning, the gunblades are capable of both melee and long-range use. Lightning's gunblade has a holster that swings behind her for the weapon to rest. In the web novelization Final Fantasy XIII Episode Zero -Promise-, Sergeant Major Amodar mentions that Lightning's initial weapon, the Blazefire Saber, is a weapon only used by the most skilled soldiers.

Below is a list of the seventeen gunblade types/models available for Lightning to use throughout the game.

Note: Names in parenthesis are the names used in Japanese version.
 * Blazefire Saber (Blaze Edge)
 * Flamberge (Magnum Blaze)
 * Axis Blade
 * Enkindler (Ignite Blade)
 * Edged Carbine (Saber Carbine)
 * Razor Carbine (Slash Carbine)
 * Lifesaber
 * Peacemaker
 * Gladius
 * Helter-Skelter
 * Organyx
 * Apocalypse
 * Hauteclaire
 * Durandal
 * Lionheart
 * Ultima Weapon
 * Omega Weapon

Final Fantasy XIII-2
Lightning wields a new unnamed gunblade given to her by the goddess Etro. The gunblade, like her previous weapon, has engraved writing in Etro script. The writing reads: "Gladius in turba aetern a induratus vincula inserepabilia rum", which translates to "The blade forged in everlasting chaos shall cleave the unbreakable chain" in English.

While her previous weapon was kept in a holster slung from her belt, Lightning's new gunblade can be summoned and dispelled whenever she desires.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
Provided the player has a save file from Final Fantasy XIII or XIII-2, Lightning can wield her weapons from those games.

Final Fantasy XIV
A weapon of advanced technology, the gunblade is the weapon of choice for the Garlean Empire centurions. The weapon is an ingenious integration of sword and firearm into a single instrument and is equally capable of dispatching enemies at close-quarters and at range.

One of the main antagonists of the game, Gaius van Baelsar, wields his own gunblade, the Heirsbane, while another antagonist, Nael van Darnus, uses a gunhalberd variant, called the Bradamante, said to be named for a warrior maiden he killed. This might allude to the knight, one of the greatest female knights presented in western literature; as an expert fighter, she wielded a magical lance that unhorsed anyone it touched.

The three main villains encountered during the player's conflict with the Garlean Empire wield instruments built on the basics of gunblades: Nero Tol Scaeva uses the standard blade and a variant shaped like a hammer, called Mjolnir. Livia sas Junius wields gunbaghnakhs called Aglaea welded to her gauntlets. Rhitahtyn sas Arvina wields two gunshields mounted in his arms, called Tartarus.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
Squall Leonhart wields his Revolver in combat and switches to the Lion Heart in his EX Mode. Outside of his Renzokuken EX Burst, the player cannot trigger rounds manually. Instead, the mechanism is incorporated as part of Squall's attack style, called Relentless Revolver. When attacking Squall uses the recoil from a triggered round to drive the blade back after attacking and quickly move into position for a second attack, allowing him to use powerful multi-hit combos that hit several times in rapid succession. It is mentioned that because of the way gunblade is used to achieve optimal performance, the weapon is considered an old-fashioned and difficult weapon to use in comparison to regular swords.

As a Mime, Bartz uses Squall's Revolver in some of his attacks. Manikins of the two use crystalline versions of the Revolver, colored respectively to match their user.

In addition to wielding the Revolver and Lion Heart in battle, the Revolver, Twin Lance, Punishment and Lion Heart appear as Squall's exclusive weapons.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Lightning wields the Blazefire Saber in battle and exchanges it for the Omega Weapon in her EX Mode. As in Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning uses both the weapon's sword and gun forms, quickly switching between the two while attacking to combine close and long-range tactics, such as firing a barrage of gunfire then diving in for a sword slash. Squall continues to use the Revolver and Lion Heart, and Bartz uses both the Revolver and Blazefire Saber when performing some attacks, but he only uses the sword form of the Blazefire Saber. Manikins of the three use crystalline forms of their users's respective gunblades in battle.

The Revolver, Twin Lance, Punishment and Lion Heart return as Squall's exclusive weapons. As with Squall, many of Lightning's exclusive weapons are named after her Final Fantasy XIII gunblades - the Blazefire Saber, Axis Blade, Flamberge, Enkindler, and Omega Weapon.

Final Fantasy All the Bravest
Two of Lightning's gunblades appear, Blazefire Saber and Omega Weapon, but classified as katana. Katana can be equipped by the Warrior, Red Mage, Blue Mage, Onion Knight, Firion, Terra, Celes, Zidane, Tidus, Ashe, and Lightning. Squall and Seifer wield the Revolver and Hyperion in battle when attacking.

Similar Weapons
While the following weapons are not officially considered gunblades, they share many of their characteristics.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-
Wutai troopers wield halberds with gun barrels built into the handles, and can flip them around to fire bursts of gunfire. The halberd comes in several color schemes to match the user's armor, and stronger Wutai soldiers wield halberds with additional reinforcements to the weapon.

Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-
Rosso the Crimson's weapon is a double-bladed sword with a gun built into its handle. Weiss the Immaculate wields a pair of rifles with katanas built into the barrels. At least one of the Restrictors uses a pair of automatic sub-machine guns with blade attachments.

Final Fantasy XII
The Ras Algethi gun appears to be based on the Final Fantasy VIII Lion Heart with aspects of the Revolver's design. Though classified as a gun and thus only being used in ranged combat, it bears a large blue blade running along the length of the barrel, a wing design on the hammer, and a handle similar to the Revolver with a chain and wing emblem attached to the end.

Final Fantasy Type-0
Soldiers armed with gunblade-like weapons appear in the game. The weapons appear to be based on rifles and bear a large blade extending from the barrel like a bayonet.

In the Kingdom Hearts series, Squall, under the name Leon, uses his trademark Revolver, sans the Griever etching as it had in Final Fantasy VIII. When charged up, the Revolver will emit an aura of blue energy, making it similar to the Lion Heart. Two Keyblades are associated with Leon, the Lionheart and the Sleeping Lion, the former taking its name from the gunblade and the latter being based on the Revolver in design.

Parasite Eve II
A gunblade appears in Parasite Eve II as a weapon that the GOLEM type character No. 9 uses. Upon his defeat Aya Brea can use the weapon as one of her secret weapons if certain objectives are met. It is aptly named "gunblade".

Gunblades in Popular Culture
In the fanmade CG movie series, Dead Fantasy, Rinoa Heartilly wields a black gunblade called the Vanishing Star. It features a revolver gun component with dual triggers and a blade with a white feather and the words "Vanishing Star" inscribed upon it. An actual gun barrel atop the weapon's blade, as well as exhaust ports on the blade itself, suggest it can be used as a ranged weapon. On said gun barrel the words "All Existence Denied" are inscribed: a quote of Ultimecia in Final Fantasy VIII's final battle. Rinoa wields it one-handed in a similar style to the Chinese Dao sword. When not in use it has a belt holster it can attach to on the wielder's hip.

In the Dion Rogers' Rinoa concept design of Rinoa she wields a gunblade that has a shotgun handle and a Griever etching on the blade. It has been dubbed the "shotgunblade" by Dion Roger when commenting on the art's design.

The character Juji Kabane from  uses a gun/sword hybrid "Gun Blades" called Tsumuji and Hayate.

The titular character from the 23rd Kamen Rider series, Kamen Rider Wizard, uses a magical weapon that can transform between a sword and a gun called the WizarSwordGun. The first "Kamen Rider" that used a gunblade was "Kamen Rider Kaiza" with the "Kaiza Blaygun".

Merchandise
Final Fantasy Master Arms include miniaturized replicas of both Squall's Revolver and Seifer's Hyperion.

The Lion Heart model is included in the Play Arts Arms set along with four other ultimate weapons.

Scaled replicas of Squall's and Lightning's iconic weapons have been featured with every figurine of the characters regardless of what media or game the figure is portraying.

Trivia

 * While it is assumed the gunblade models have to use specific bullets/shells to fire, only one example of a "gunblade bullet" has been shown through an image in Final Fantasy VIII that appears during the game's introductory credits.
 * Some gunblade models resemble the real-world s; weapons consisting of various swords with pistols or revolvers built into the hilt, originating from medieval Europe and the U.S Civil War in the 18th-century.
 * In Dissidia Final Fantasy, whenever Squall uses a melee attack in EX Mode, bullet shells can be seen ejecting from Lion Heart's chamber.
 * An ability called Gunblade is used by Squall in Chocobo Racing; allowing him to use a Turbo Boost until he reaches first place.
 * Lightning's Blazefire Saber is on a weapons rack among other weapons and guns in a live action video commercial for PlayStation, titled "Michael" - PS3 Long Live Play. Lightning herself is listening to a story told by Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series.
 * Hidden within the game files of Final Fantasy VIII are two enemies named "Gunblade" that share the appearance of Seifer's Hyperion. Numbered #82 and #142, these "enemies" are not encountered in the game.
 * The gunblade is mentioned in one of the possible questions in Captain Cryptic's Confounding Quiz in Final Fantasy XIII-2. The question, "Which celebrated movie introduced the gunblade, a now-popular toy among kids?" can be answered with "The Sorceress's Knight". This answer alludes to a movie in Final Fantasy VIII where Laguna Loire held a staring role as the titular knight Zefer wielding a Revolver gunblade. Due to this, it might be presumed that Final Fantasy VIII gunblades exist in the world of Final Fantasy XIII-2 as toys.