Dissidia: Final Fantasy Review

Dissidia: Final Fantasy is a game that was developed to mark the 20th Anniversary of the Final Fantasy franchise, and as such, it features some of the most well known characters from its illustrious history. However, unlike typical Final Fantasy games, Dissidia: Final Fantasy has a very strong focus on action gameplay, a genre that Square Enix hasn't exactly excelled at. This time though, Square Enix is hoping that their gameplay model coupled with the addition of so many great characters is a winning combo.

As expected from a Final Fantasy based title, there is a story to accompany all of the action. Chaos, the God of Discord, and Cosmos, the Goddess of Harmony, have created a realm from remnants of other worlds. Each of them also selected ten warriors to represent them in a war that would wage for an age, until the balance of power shifted towards that of Chaos. As a last ditch attempt to stop Chaos from being victorious, the Warriors of Light band together to try and stem the tide.

To be blunt, the story is nowhere near as deep as a typical Final Fantasy title, and it essentially serves as a relatively shallow device to give players the incentive to fight. Each of the Warriors of Light has their own story, featured in the 'Destiny Odyssey' section, which takes a look at their own personal demons. For example, Cloud Strife attempts to overcome his insecurity and discover a reason to fight. The stories also all link together too, as many of the Warriors travel together, and only by playing through all of the stories will players understand exactly why everything happens. However, even after taking this into consideration, it's disappointing to find a game bearing the Final Fantasy name that it isn't overly engaging. Chaos, while effectively being the main antagonist, doesn't really provoke any kind of emotion and many of the other antagonists aren't anywhere near as evil as they were in their original titles.

The progession through the main game can also feel a bit disconnected, as it essentially feels like a board game. At the start of a level, players are greeted with a board, which contains statues. They must then use Destiny Points to progress through the level, any way they see fit, fighting manequins along the way. Extra Destiny Points can be granted depending on how the Manequins are defeated, and prizes can be rewarded based on the number of Destiny Points a player has at the end of the level. However, the main problem comes with how the story is delivered. There are 5 levels to each of the story chapters, but story is only offered at the beginning and end of each of these chapters in short bursts. It means that there is a very small ratio between story and combat.

Speaking of the combat, in a bold move, Square Enix have gone completely away from their comfort zone and created a game that relies entirely on real-time combat. However, it's much deeper, and far more inventive than typical fighting games. It's entirely in 3D, and there is a ton of variety to be seen in all of the different levels featured in the game. Combat can take place in the air, or on the ground, and it's not uncommon to be shooting across the map at high speeds towards a foe. There is also the addition of the Brave Point system. Alongside the typical Hit Points (HP), a character also has Brave Points (BP). These denote how much damage can be performed if a successful attack is landed on an opponent, although it's not quite as simple as that.

Each character has a selection of Brave Attacks, and HP Attacks. By performing successful Brave attacks, it increases the amount of Brave Points that character has, while decreasing the amount the opponent has. The player can then choose to do a HP attack, and deal that amount of damage, or store the Brave points up to try and do even more damage. However, if someone's Brave reaches 0, they are then broken, allowing the opponent to acquire all of the Stage Brave. Performing a successful HP attack reduces that person's Brave to 1, so it's easy to be broken for a short period afterwards. It might all sound very confusing, but it's a system that works, and works very well.