Game Review: Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy

To start off Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy (the 012 is pronounced duodecim) is a must buy game for anyone who loves Final Fantasy and fighting games, and wants to see the two of them combined into an awesome  gaming experience.

Dissidia 012 is a follow-up to the original Dissidia Final Fantasy on the PSP but the story is actually a prequel, telling about the events that took place before the original story. The story revolves around six new characters, Kain Highwind from FF4, Tifa Lockheart from FF7, Vaan from FF12, Laguna Loire from FF8, Yuna from FF10 and Lightning from FF13. The previous 22 characters (main heroes and villains from the first 12 Final Fantasy) are all present in the story but the six new characters take the spotlight in the story mode this time around. You'll play with each character in a different chapter has they try to return to the Sanctuary, where Cosmos waits, and how they each deal with "endless battles" and looking for a way to deal with it. For anyone that never played the original Dissidia, the central story of the game is that Cosmos, the Goddess of Harmony and Chaos, the God of Discord are waging war. They both have summoned warriors from different worlds to battle in a classic clash of light versus darkness. The story in Dissidia runs about 15-20 hours long, but the biggest shock comes from when you complete the main story. You unlock the entire campaign from the original Dissidia and it supports all the new features that Duodecim introduces. So, for people who missed out on the first game you are basically getting two games for the price of only one.

The gameplay in Dissidia is pretty simple to understand once you start playing but it can be a bit hard to understand from just reading about it. Each battle is a classic one vs one battle, with the occasional assist character thrown in. You have two types of skills, bravery attacks and HP attacks. The goal is drain your opponents bravery by making it your own, you do this by attacking with your bravery attacks (O button attacks). Then once you acquire enough bravery you can hit the opponent with a HP attack (Square button) to drain their HP equal to the amount of bravery you posses. It seems a bit confusing, but once you actually play your first battle it all begins to make sense. The fighting mechanics are much simpler than playing a Street Fighter or Tekken. The moves are easy to pull off and execute but you'll still have to learn timing and placement to hit the opponent, especially when the enemies level gets really high. As you attack your opponent with bravery attacks, you'll acquire EX points once the gauge is full you can go into EX mode. Once in EX mode if you hit an opponent with a HP attack you can execute a finishing move to deal more damage to the opponent. The EX mode attack is general the characters signature move from their respect game. The gameplay between the two games remains mostly unchanged but Dissidia 012 does add several new features to the combat. The biggest new feature Dissidia 012 adds is assists, now as you attack your opponent an assist gauge will fill up. Once you get one bar you can have your assist character attack the opponent with their bravery attack or take damage for you if you're being attacked. If you let the gauge fill up to two bars then you can have your assist pull off their HP attack. Another new feature is the EX Revenge, if you have a full EX bar and your being hit you can activate EX revenge to freeze your opponent in place. This allows you to get a jump on the enemy and counterattack effectively. The game can also be played two different ways, Action RPG or RPG. Action RPG mode is the standard way of playing the game, where you freely move your character, and attack and dodge on your own. RPG mode plays more like a classic Final Fantasy battle system, each button on the PSP is mapped to a different action, like X for defending or Triangle for moving towards your opponent. It's an interesting way of playing but it felt constricted to me, so I recommend just playing the normal way. The only issue I had with the gameplay is that as the opponent's level raises the difficulty seems to spike at times. Fighting an opponent at level 1 or 5 feels really simple but fighting someone at level 15 or 20 you can really feel difference. 


The place where Dissidia shines is in its roster and how different each character feels. SquareEnix really did a great job of making every character feel different, from close range characters (Tifa and Cloud), long range (Laguna and Kuja), and even someone who relies almost entirely on counters (Exdeath). For fans of Final Fantasy all characters learn moves based on attacks from their respect games, Cloud has all his limit breaks, Lightning uses 3 of her Paradigms, and Yuna has her summons. Dissidia offers tons of replayability every character can be leveled up to 100, learning new moves as they progress and the game is always rewarding you with some form of experience after every battle.

 The graphics in Dissidia 012 continue to show why SquareEnix is one of the best companies in making CGI cinematics. The opening cutscene is gorgeous, one that I would watch over and over again. Even the in-game graphics are very impressive to look at compared to other PSP games. The one area I'm a bit disappointed in is the voice acting and I'm a voice acting fanatic. At times the voice acting in the game comes off a bit weird and odd, but their are characters who voice actor does a great job (see Kefka or Kain).

The multiplayer is the one area I didn't get a chance to try out and it's the same reason why I never get to try out most mutliplayer features on the PSP; it doesn't support infrastructure. I don't understand why almost every PSP game only uses Ad-Hoc, it can be hard for people to find others locally playing the same game as you. I do know the mutiplayer is a basic one vs one system, using whatever levels and gear you have earned in your save file.

Dissidia offers some pretty neat features outside of the core gameplay. If you have a save file from the original Dissidia you will be asked if you want to transfer over your characters and levels. This is a pretty neat feature that allows you to start off with your characters already upgraded and to not lose all the hours you have put into the original game. The game also awards you the more you play with a Play Plan and Accomplishments. The Play Plan is a feature where you pick what kind of gamer you are, either casual, hardcore, or advanced. Once you picked a Play Plan the game will give you a specific number of battles to complete in a day. As you complete battle after battle you'll get EXP boosts and items the more you play in a day. Also you pick a day of the week you play most; then on that day every week you get a boost in everything from EXP to AP. The Accomplishments in the game are similar to achievements on Xbox360 or trophies on PS3. These range from basic goals, like completing a story chapter, to more advanced goals, like chaining six battles together. As you complete Accomplishments you'll acquire new items to equip your characters with. These little extra features are a great way to drive some players to complete tasks for special rare items. The game also features tons of unlockable content everything from new costumes to unlocking the villains as playable characters. There's lots to do here.

In closing Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy is a great game on a system that will probably be obsolete within the next year and half with the new NGP coming out this winter. It's a welcome addition to any RPG fan's library. The gamplay, deep RPG mechanics, and lavish graphics really shine in this game. The story like most Final Fantasy's is very off the wall and most people will likely be confused as to what is going on, but don't let that stop you from experiencing a great game. So which side do you choose, light or dark?