Highly addictive fighting game featuring many famous characters, FF Fans delight yourselves in this game now!
Genre: Fighting
Developer: Squareenix
System: PSP
Total Score: 100/100
Value Score: 10/10
• Story: 10/10
o Final Fantasy's Dissidia's storyline brings upon the main heroes and villains of the Final Fantasy series together joining sides of Discord and Harmony. The Discord group is led by Chaos (who is also Garland) and the group of Harmony is led by Cosmos. Throughout the storyline, you play as different characters in their own paths in their storylines to collect crystals which are said to be the key to ending the war they are facing right now. Along the way each character encounters several villains among their own antagonist counterpart, each character assists each other, gives motivation to each other, a very rich storyline. There's so much in the storyline it would be difficult to put it all in this review.
• Characters: 10/10
o You get the choice of playing as the 10 heroes of the first 10 final fantasy games and go through each character's storyline. Throughout the game you will be getting PP which can be used to purchase the villains of each respected installation which will total up to 20 playable characters overall. Once you finish the main storyline, you will have access to unlock 2 additional characters who represent Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XII. 22 playable characters with each having a deep storyline along with two of the major characters of the storyline (Comos and Chaos), although the cast might be small, this game consists of several storylines and great nostalgic moments that any FF fan would love to see.
• GamePlay: 10/10
o Instead of the basic RPG, this game is a fighting game unlike the other FF games in the series. However despite that fact this game consists of RPG elements , such as equipping gears to further improve your character , gaining experience and leveling up, also instead of a HP bar decreasing from constant attacks, you have a bravey meter which shows how much damage you can do to a enemy's HP if you use a HP attack. Bravery increases by using regular attacks and breaking enemy bravery, HP attacks are strong attacks that deal heavy damage to a enemy's life but can leave you vulnerable with 0 bravery. Summons are available, but the majority affects one's bravery rather than doing any actual damage like the FF games usually known for. Other than the fighting, each character can be heavily customized, players are given the choice to record videos of fights, edit them, unlock items and characters using PP. In terms of game modes, you have Story mode which is self explanatory, Arcade mode which will let you use a random character or a selected character depending on the option you choose to fight 5 random opponents, Training mode and online mode for wifi battles. Another aspect to the gameplay is, the game can go from really easy to really hard depending on your enemy, so there's always gonna be a challenge no matter how far you level up.
• Graphics: 10/10
o FF Dissidia truly brings out the best in the PSP, as everything in this game completely well detailed in design from character designs all towards away on stages. CG cut scenes add a nostalgic value to the game along with that several nostalgic sprites and artwork from throughout the FF series are available. The fighting stages, story scenes and the CG cut scenes are well made and heavily detailed. One of the best features of the game, of course this isn't surprising since its Final Fantasy.
• Sound: 10/10
o Sound effects are well done in this game, each and every voice matches well with each character. Hitting effects, magic effects all have unique sounds, no two attacks sound similar. Pretty much, if you want movie quality sound, this game will deliver that.
• Music: 10/10
o Possibly one of the best aspects of the Final Fantasy series, imagine putting some of the best songs of the series together, but not only as their originals, but redone, remade and remastered. There are many nostalgic songs which are remade which will make any FF fan drool at the sound of each track, regardless of owning the game or not, this is one OST you should not miss out on.
• Length: 10/10
o The game's length is actually pretty long, you have a lot of stuff to do just to finish the main storyline and to unlock all characters. You first have to finish the prologue, than finish each storyline of each of the main heroes (which is about 10 in total), with each that could take you up to 1-2 hours just by itself. Than you have to do the main storyline where you would have to go through the last "dungeon" in the game till you fight the last boss which is Chaos, this of course which could take another 3 hours due to the difficulty and strategy you might want to use against the fights. Afterwards you can unlock the two additional characters and finish their storylines, and do a additional storyline mode which is totally optional and doesn't affect the overall storyline of the game, in total should take you up to 30-35 hours to finish (considering you'll want to grind before heading through the storyline). Despite finishing the main storyline, you can still do a lot more stuff in the game which can total up to 100+ hours.
• Replay Value: 10/10
o Final Fantasy Dissidia possibly has the best Replay value of any game I can imagine, regardless of finishing the game, you have plenty of stuff to do. Level up your remaining characters, try out the new coliseum mode which lets you use either heroes or villains, try to collect PP by playing Arcade mode, training or the storyline modes again to unlock more items and features. You can re-play movie scenes in the theatre along with that, see character profiles, check character art, clothes color, or even hear the OST as there is a sound test. You also have the ability to record fights and transfer them to the PC along with wifi battling. Don't forget also the additional storyline that's implemented along with the two new characters available.
• Player Value: 10/10
o Just get this game, if you're a RPG fan or a fighting fan, you will love this, if you are a true FF fan, you WILL want to get this asap. However as this guide is written, Final Fantasy Dissidia 2 should be out by now, might as well get that game though cause its pretty much the same thing with some few additions which I will mention in the next review, you can however use this review as its pretty much gonna be similar.