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. Chaos was impressed by Gabranth's crimes and summoned him to the wars to fight among his forces.

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, although he has a long-standing rivalry with Shantotto, confronting her and Cosmos 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 original 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. When in EX Mode, this outfit gives Gabranth a gold aura instead of the red aura from the original outfit.

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.

Early Cycles
In the earlier cycles of war, Gabranth fought loyally for Chaos. Seeking to end the cycles of war by killing Cosmos, he travels to Order's Sanctuary and battles Shantotto, Cosmos' bodyguard. However, Shantotto emerged victorious.

Thirteenth Cycle
Gabranth's confrontation with Shantotto is seen in a flashback after all the Warriors of Cosmos have gathered their crystals.

In Dissidia's Distant Glory Redemption of the Warrior and in Dissidia 012's Confessions of the Creator, at the Land of the Stolen Crown gateway, Gabranth can be found in a hell dimension where those discarded from the cycles of war are sent. Questioning the player character's resolve and what they did to be sentenced here, Gabranth taunts them as they fight their way to the exit of the gateway to return to the main world. At the exit Gabranth battles them to judge if they truly deserve to live again.

Official Quests
The official quests expand on Gabranth's role and fate considerably. In "Gabranth's Quest 000: One Who Faces Hell" he battles Shantotto, but when he realizes she does not remember him Gabranth departs, deciding there is no point to fighting against an opponent that does not know who he is. Declaring his intent to no longer fight and wishing to escape the cycle, Gabranth meets up with Garland and the Emperor, who tell him that endless war is the destiny of a warrior. Gabranth says he will kill anyone who tries to make him fight, and when Garland asks if he means Chaos as well the two battle. Garland goads Gabranth to use up all his strength so he will not be revived in the next cycle of war as he wishes.

Instead Gabranth turns his blade on himself, intending to kill himself, but a portal to the Rift engulfs him. Garland tells the Emperor that those who defy the gods are cast into the Rift until they submit to the will of the gods and are willing to return. Gabranth awakens in a hell dimension and wonders if he truly escaped. The ending narration tells that Gabranth remained in the dimension outside the conflict, and occasionally rifts in space would open allowing other warriors to find his domain.

"Prishe's Quest 000: The Defeat of Cosmos" shows Gabranth fighting Prishe to distract her while Garland dispatches the defenseless Cosmos. With Cosmos dead Prishe and the other warriors Cosmos has summoned fade away, but mysteriously the Warrior of Light is able to endure and is reborn.

In "Vaan's Quest ???: The Strayed Sky Pirate", during an unspecified cycle Vaan finds a mysterious gateway and enters it to find himself in the hell dimension Gabranth was banished to. Gabranth offers to show Vaan the exit if he fights him, and the two battle twice. Between battles Gabranth tells Vaan how he fought with pride but was discarded when he questioned his duties, and that fighting the war is a pointless struggle. Vaan defeats Gabranth a third time and is shown the way out as promised, but when he asks Gabranth if he intends to return as well Gabranth declines, choosing to remain behind as a guardian to guide any other wayward warriors who stumbled upon him.

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
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


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, increases his ATK and DEF, 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 gaining 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 press to cycle through a list of commands and input the next level Quickening with  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". The unusual capitalization is a pun, placing emphasis on "EX", as Gabranth's fighting style revolves around his EX Mode.
 * 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

 * Being a secret character, Gabranth originally had no arena based after him; however, he was usually associated with Chaos's 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 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.
 * Though he possesses no HP attacks outside of EX Mode, it is still possible for Gabranth to win out of EX Mode by reflecting an opponent's HP attack, landing an Assist HP attack, or beginning a Chase sequence just before his EX Gauge depletes and landing the finishing blow in the Chase once his EX Mode ends.
 * Accessories that lower EX Force Absorption also negatively effect Gabranth's EX Charge, and at -100% EX Force Absorption, EX Charge will do nothing. However, accessories that increase EX Force Absorption do not boost EX Charge's effect.
 * 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!".
 * In his first alternate outfit Gabranth glows yellow while in EX Mode, but still glows red when using EX Charge.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * When called as an Assist Gabranth appears in his EX Mode, but without the typical glow. This has no effect on gameplay.
 * 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 he was Shantotto's designated enemy in Dissidia. This also makes Vaan and Gabranth the only characters to be from the same game but have different naming schemes for their manikins.
 * Gabranth is one of the two characters in Dissidia whose manikin had more than one model, wherein his manikin changes its form when it enters EX Mode. The other character is Cecil.
 * 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 and Zidane are the two characters in Dissidia who can combine their weapons into one.
 * Since the EX Charge ability does nothing except for charging the EX meter, Gabranth is the only character in Dissidia who has an "HP Attack" that does no damage at all.
 * This has changed though with the inclusion of Aerith in Dissidia 012, who has an "HP Attack", Planet Protector, which renders the person she is assisting invincible for a short period of time. Gabranth remains the only playable characer with a non-damaging HP Attack.
 * Gabranth is the only character whose manikin receives benefits beyond Regen and Critical Boost when it enters its EX Mode. Warriors of Antiquity receive the Stray's Tenacity effect when Powered Up, because otherwise they would not be able to properly fight.

Gabranth/Dissidia Gabranth (Dissidia)