Cosmos, the goddess of harmony, and Chaos, the god of discord, are the opposing forces in a timeless war. Each of them has summoned ten warriors – all from the Final Fantasy series – to fight for them as the fate of the worlds hangs in the balance. But as the tide of war is slowly blowing in Chaos’ favor, Cosmos sends the heroes out on a quest to collect the crystals which will finally put an end to him and to the war, once and for all. This endless tale, set in a universe where twenty of the legendary warriors from Final Fantasy I to X come together to battle it all out – becomes a realization in Dissidia: Final Fantasy. Square Enix describes the game as a “dramatic progressive action,” where characters fight one-on-one in a 3D enviroment. Mixed with RPG elements, this is a hardcore Final Fantasy fan’s dream come true – Squall, Cloud, Tidus and the rest of the Final Fantasy big-names star in a universe where they all interact with each other.
The one-on-one 3D battle which is the main concept of the Dissidia: Final Fantasy takes place in one of the open, interactive arenas that are designed after recognizable areas from the series (Ultimecia’s Castle says “Welcome home!”). Each of the battling characters starts with a base amount of Bravery Points (BRV) and Hit Points (HP). The amount of BRV damage you deal to the opponent will add up to your own BRV, which is your HP attack value. Opposing characters freely roam and chase each other while trying to chop each other’s BRV and HP. Your defense plan lays in your skill to dodge, block, gauge distances, and counter attacks. Some attacks lead you to a chase, which looks like a slow-motion mind game where timing is your best friend in either attacking or evading. These battle mechanics are nicely implemented, running smoothly in an arena where you can run and grind on and across the wall or the whole area itself. The characters can also be turned into their respective, exclusive EX Modes after filling their EX Meters full, which can be done by collecting enough EX Force. In EX Mode, aside from having additional skills, your character can execute their special Burst Attack – a nicely-choreographed barrage of unblockable attacks like you’ve taken all the spotlight and glory. It’s a breath-taking experience filled with visual splendor and intense fighting. It’s also nice to see the Final Fantasy characters’ well-known attacks in 3D action. Remember Squall’s Fated Circle, or Sephiroth’s Heaven’s Gate? You’re gonna get some of those here.
Summons, which has been a tradition of the Final Fantasy series, appear as modifiers for BRV. With a roster of familiar creatures and monsters like Ramuh, Ifrit, and Tonberry, you can only equip one and can summon only once. You can either give your BRV a much-needed boost, or slowly decrease your opponent’s BRV, depending on the Summon that you equipped. Summons have a wide variety of effects which will mostly help you in dire situations, as they can save you even in almost-helpless scenarios. Summon Odin and check out what his one-hit slash does in this game.
Dissidia: Final Fantasy is unlike other fighting games like Tekken, in the sense that you don’t input complex button combinations to execute attacks – these are done either by pressing the appropriate face button (Circle for BRV attack, Square for HP attack), or combining any of these with a directional button on the analog stick (toward or away from the opponent). You can combo by either pressing the attack button repeatedly, or in some characters’ cases, do a succeeding HP attack after a BRV attack. Each of the characters have a set of air and land attacks. The overall battle system is engaging as it is perfectly complimented by smooth frame rate and crisp visuals. However, there will be times that this system gets dull and tedious as you’re either going to perfectly time your attacking strategy, or just plain spam-attack, mashing on the buttons until you defeat your opponent.
A massive deal of RPG elements that the series is known for plays a big role in Dissidia: Final Fantasy, as the characters level up by earning experience points and can be equipped by weapons, armor, and accessories which boost their basic stats. You’ll start with Sephiroth’s Masamune Blade that’s gonna be One-Winged Angel eventually. As far as customization goes, you assign Abilities – offensive and basic – to match your fighting style. As you level up, more abilities and shop items become available. This system gives your characters more variety and depth as you grow and evolve them – no two Zidane’s are the same, even if they’re both Level 100. There’s a considerable amount of tweaking to do here, especially if you’re molding a specific character of your choice. Dissidia: Final Fantasy offers game modes that will truly keep you engaged, as you’ll have a chance to try most if not all of the characters in the line-up, and not to mention level- and item-grinding.
Take your character of choice for a run with other players through ad-hoc Communications Mode. Still, a lot of rewards and items are at stake here, like Artifacts that you can earn only from online duels. Because the battles’ visuals are intense, lag times are expected, but negligible enough not to ruin the live battles.
While the main strengths of Dissidia: Final Fantasy lie in this RPG-powered 3D fighting with a nifty system, the main story is a bit of a shortcoming. For a series that is well-known for the marvelous story-telling aspect, Dissidia’s story is a cliché of each of the hero’s background story molded into one. No character personally development, paired with a rather lackluster voice acting, brings a notch down to the game. Game script could have been better, too.
Some of the things that call a need for improvement aside from the story are the camera angles. Sure, the battles are valiantly packed with graphical spectacle, but there are some arenas where the camera doesn’t cooperate. If you’re engaged in a chase where the camera naturally zooms to the characters, and you’re somewhere near a wall, there are instances where the camera positions stupidly behind the wall, literally giving you no visibility to what’s happening on the other side. AI is challenging enough, but half-unforgiving most of the time.
Nevertheless, there’s a lot of game in here. Innovative gameplay, stunning visuals that make battles run fluid and smooth, a lot of unlockables including secret characters (yes, there are!) and new modes, and lots of items and stuff to haunt mean a huge replay value especially to the completionists. Another high note is the game’s music, which is packed with an assortment of rearranged and original scores from the past FF games in addition to new ones.
That’s just part of this massive game – Dissidia: Final Fantasy is an well-executed tribute to the series. Though some of the technical aspects needed some improvement, long replay value and lasting appeal is guaranteed. After all, this is not just your usual fighting game. Wait ’til you see that winning opening video!
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