Dissidia: Final Fantasy

Review from Jae - Wednesday, 14 October 2009 @ 7:33pm

Trying to remember, off the top of my head, what franchises have done in regards to fan service. All that really comes to mind is Nintendo. No real videogame franchise has put many of ther favourite characters together in one game except for Smash brothers which hasn't really got an RPG element to it. Dissidia serves that purpose and from what I saw at TGS it's also an excuse to keep the cosplay world updated. Fortunately on my latest trip around Asia I managed to start and complete Dissidia. It is definitely a top tier PSP game but whether or not it suits your play style is something you'll need to look into.

Not many gamers will be able to say that they've played all twelve main Final Fantasy games. I have only ever finished four of them in full; VII, VIII, IX and X. I've played all of them before but most of them were only classic play throughs so I lacked the attention span to make it all the way. Despite this you can still enjoy Dissidia. The game takes the main protagonist and antagonist from the first ten Final Fantasy games and places them into a dimension by which they have to work together to bring Chaos, god of discord, down and regain the goddess of harmony, Cosmos. All the worlds in which Cloud, Firion, Tidus and all the other characters have come from are in danger if they do not achieve their goal of saving the world. For once I wish a Final Fantasy game wasn't about saving the world. Why can't they just get ready for a big rock concert or perhaps stop the invasion of a highly populated country of bull frogs.

Onion Knight: the vegetable that attacks your tear ducts

It's hard to describe the type of game Dissidia really is. At it's core it is an arena battle game with RPG levelling elements. Levels are displayed in a board game like grid. You have a certain number of destiny points (DP) or turns that you have to complete the level. You'll complete a level by getting to the final piece which can sometimes be a boss battle or simply a check point. I hope I haven't put you to sleep with this yet but it's important to understand the rules of the game to see whether it peaks your interest. Each character has five chapters to complete their story and within that chapter there are levels. In many levels you can easily eliminate every enemy within your DP, you can even earn extra DP if you complete a bonus task such as defeating an enemy within ten seconds. Then there are some levels which will put you in negative DP if you try and kill everyone. The impact of a negative DP is that it effects your PP that is rewarded at the end of each level. PP allows you to unlock new abilities, characters and bonus content in the game. Do you follow me so far? I haven't even explained the main fighting mechanic of the game yet.

When you engage in battle you have two statistics you must look after. Your battle points and hit points, which I think have been inadvertently named, are displayed at the bottom of the screen. Your battle points are your health and your hit points are your potential hit power when you successfully strike the enemy. Now when you attack you can either attack to impact health directly, if successful you will lower the enemies health by the amount of hit points you have. It will then take a few seconds for your hit points to regenerate. The other attack is like a health sucker in terms that it steals hit points and adds hit points to your count. You can't win a game by simply accruing hit points so you must make an attack that will eventually deplete an enemy's battle points which is the same thing as their health. If this all sounds confusing then wait till you play the game as it can be just as convoluted. My advise is not to start the game using the FFI character as his game is one of the most difficult. It's best to use him when you've gotten a few items and summons under your belt. Using a difficult character and having no idea on how the battle mechanic worked only resulted in many re-tries and fustrations. Be prepared to spend the first few hours learning how to actually play the game. If you don't have the patience to do that than perhaps Dissidia is not your cup of tea. If you do invest the time you will get to a point where you will really enjoy and appreciate what is on offer.

Pretty boy fights

There are cutscenes at the end of almost every level to help explain how the story moves along. FMVs only really appear in the introduction to the game and the end. For a PSP title Dissidia is at the high end of the graphics trait as many players will appreciate seeing their characters from FFI - FFVI in full 3D. Voices are done for most cut scenes but poorly. I think the gaming genre in general needs to step away from using bad actors and find some decent talent. Conversations don't flow very well and it may be the Japanese conotation at fault here but games today should have translators and script writers on hand to smooth out the process. I just hope FFXIII does the voice acting better this time so that you are really engaged by the story.

The summons have taken a back seat in the game as they represent draw cards to help you beat your opponent. In the middle of battle, if you have equipped a summon (which by the way are represented by red materia - FFVII FTW!), when certain battle conditions are met they trigger the summon. Take Ifrit for example. In order for him to appear, I use that term lightly because they don't quite appear in battle, you have to deplete the opponent's hit points to zero. Ifrit will then multiply your hit points by 1.5 giving you a likely chance to win the game in one more hit. Each summon serves a similar purpose and you gain extra summons by finding them on each grid level. Some summons are deliberately placed behind a hard opponent or a locked square so they require you to work hard to get them. I don't mind the summon function but wish they appeared in battle rather than a quick one second flash of a still picture as it makes them feel like a developer afterthought.

Fan service doesn't end at just the characters from the first ten games. In fact there is a cut scene by which you take a glimpse at the future series. I won't spoil it for you but it makes it worth playing all the way through to discover the bits and bobs Square Enix have added in. You can complete this game in a matter of hours but if you're really keen you can continue to grind your characters to level 99. I pretty much stopped at level 45 as that is all I needed to barely finish the game. I say barely because the last boss is a bitch to kill. What is with games lately that increase the difficulty of a final boss exponentially?! I probably re-tried the battle over twenty times just to win, the glaring sign there was that I wasn't leveled high enough to win. I was in a stubborn state and not in a mood to grind so I persisted till I won and eventually it worked. My advice is play the game and complete each character's quest. You can then decide which character you want to take for the last chapter. You can even chop and change characters during the last chapter but it will only set you back if they've not been properly leveled up. Regardless of which character you use the outcomes and cut scenes will be the same. Unlike most I prefer it this way as I don't plan on finishing the game ten times to see every ending.

I fart blue sparks

Coming from Japan I noticed shops were taking pre-orders for Final Fantasy Dissidia Universal Tuning. Like many FF titles in Japan it will be a version that is tweaked with some minor additions. I wouldn't bother waiting for a local release of it, which I doubt actually happen, just get the one that is available now. You can even choose the box art you want between one that has all the protagonist or one with the antagonists. It beats having the plain cover with the logo of Cosmos and Chaos.

Dissidia has so much to offer so the real question will be if you have the time to invest in it. Aside from the main story arc you can engage in arcade battles against the CPU or versus modes through local wireless play. There's a moogle calendar you can check for PP and there are many items to trade and buy in the shops. I never found gil, FF currency, a problem to find. If you ran out of gil it was a sign that you had bought enough from the store to progress in the story. There is so much to this game, even after completing the story mode I feel that it's only 25% of the overall content.

Pros

Looks great for a PSP title.
Absolute fan service for FF nuts.
Has longevity the length of my ego.

Cons

Battle mechanic will take you a while to grasp.
The need to grind for the last boss.
Summons take a back seat and play a minor role.

Summary

Dissidia offers to complete the Final Fantasy era on the PSP. Couple this with the previous release of FFI, FFII, Tactics and Crisis Core and you should have your FFFix for this generation. Take your time to enjoy this game as it has a lot to offer you.