You don't need to be a Final Fantasy fanatic to love this stellar 3D fighter
+ Superb visuals and fluid animation
+ Great, original and well placed combat system that removes the use of button-mashing
+ Plenty of rewards and an RPG leveling up system gives loads of replay value
Negative
- Story is well below usual Final Fantasy standard
The first time I mentioned I was going to buy the PSP, two different friends on separate occasions forcefully recommended Dissidia: Final Fantasy. And yes, that forceful recommendation bared fruits. This Final Fantasy crossover offers something new to the 3D fighting games with an engaging and fast-paced battle system and despite a disappointing story, there is so much here that the game may keep you for more than 100 hours.
The Final Fantasy series is no stranger to anyone. But unlike the new saga for each single Final Fantasy, Dissidia is the ultimate crossover of the epic series, where an eternal conflict between Cosmos, the goddess of harmony and Chaos, god of discord takes place. Cosmos gathers ten main heroes of the first ten Final Fantasy stories while Chaos gathers the ten main antagonists to confront them. The story segment is absolutely disappointing as it does nothing more than put together those fan favorite heroes and take on their respective enemies. It's a nice thing but the story doesn't hold up as well and it is especially a letdown from Square Enix. The story mode is divided into ten parts where each hero gets his/her own story to play through. Cosmos tasks each one to find their own crystal to aid in the fight against Chaos. Each story follows the hero or heroine in their quest to find the crystal. It is of epic standard to see crossover characters working together and enemies but the stories are not powerful enough. Some emotions like pride and friendship are the main points of the game but that's just it. Each character's story doesn't take too long to end and each ends with fighting the main antagonist. On top of that each story ends abruptly, with the same, truly disappointing ending which isn't fun to watch more than two or three times. But the story doesn't end there. You'll unlock an additional story mode called "Shade Impulse" which continues upon the story that is established. Each character story has its own difficulty which it rarely matters much due to certain things.
Dissidia is one of the rarest 3D fighting game that I can never hate. It successfully migrates the series from RPG (though not completely) to the one on one combat. The series is known to be renowned, each time coming up with something new and something fresh and original to push the series in new ways. And Square Enix deliver a truly unique experience where using flashy and powerful moves is as important as landing a few small hits to accumulate enough 'points' to damage your enemy and a combat system that completely eliminates the chance of spamming and button mashing. Yes, the gameplay is so good because it's strategic and difficult, forcing you to know your character's move to steal bravery points and then deal an HP attack. A complex system that has a minor learning curve which ultimately pays off to deliver an in-depth fighting experience that very few have.
There is a solid lineup of 20+ characters from the origin that is Final Fantasy I till 2001's Final Fantasy X. That roster is extremely well balanced, from strategic characters to faster paced characters. The game offers large, open stages for the one on one battle. This allows movement to move away from a fiery opponent. Since button mashing is truly ineffective which will result certain defeat against some of the more expert players. There are 2 attack buttons. The circle button which is the bravery attack (BRV) button and the square button that deals HP damage. Both of them will be used in battle. There are two meters at the bottom side of the screen, each being the fighter's HP. Above there are certain numbers. Those are the amount of damage a fighter will deal to his opponent. Bravery attacks steal those points while the HP attacks deal the amount of damage depending on the player's number. This means some battles will end within a few seconds, and some will drag for more than a couple of minutes.
The amount of bravery points decreases when the player has dealt damage to his opponent. Each character has a scarce number of each type of attack in the beginning. Attacks are different and depending on the combo of the bravery attack, more damage can be dealt. HP attacks look cooler and are flashier, although they deal the amount of points you have. The number of bravery points increases when the battle enters a 'Break' phase. This is when one of the fighters' bravery points has gone done to zero. Whoever received the 'break' will be at a severe disadvantage after this point since not only his HP attacks will be useless, but the other fighter's bravery has escalated. Even the bigger battles can be ended quicker but putting your opponent in 'break' and dramatically changing the course of the battle. The 'break' phase doesn't last long and after that the one that received the 'break' recovers some bravery points. The other player retains the amount of bravery points received if he/she didn't hit the opponent with an HP attack, making it very difficult for the opponent to decrease a huge amount of bravery points. The whole system will seem overwhelming and complicated, but after that learning curve it's surprisingly simple to dig into the rest of what the combat has to offer.
'Break' can easily turn a battle on its head. Summons can also affect the battle. If equipped, these summonses may appear right after someone delivered an HP attack. The game freezes as these summonses take effect which usually occurs automatically. Summons varies from helping you to harming the enemy. Helping summons can be increasing your bravery points constantly after decreasing to zero after a successful HP attack, make you immune to 'break' and completely freeze your bravery points. The enemy can also use a summon such as Tsunami which constantly decreases your bravery points, a summon that copies the opponent's points and making them immune to break. These summons are obtained from the story mode.
Most of the time in battles you won't be on the offensive. The often smart, tough-to-beat opponents offer an incredible challenge, prompting you to skillfully dodge and strike afterwards. Dodging and dashing are extremely smooth making it a more suitable idea than blocking BRV attacks. HP attacks can't be blocked and crush defense. Another gameplay part is the inclusion of the EX Burst attacks. These are the so-called super finishers. Players can collect EX Cores that occasionally appear in stages to fill the meter on the side. Once it is full, you can press R + square to activate. This state has a limited time and in that limited time, you have to deal an HP attack on the enemy and press square after the end of the HP attack to activate. EX Burst attacks deliver over the top finishers, fantastically animated finishers where each button combo varies from Final Fantasy game. Two characters of the same Final Fantasy require you pressing circle repeatedly, another pressing multiple buttons simultaneously. It isn't necessary to get this right, but this obviously increases the damage inflicted. Also these finishers aren't always ultimate. With critically low bravery points, the amount of the damage inflicted is low. On the other hand, if successfully decreasing your opponent's bravery points to zero, therefore entering 'break', the amount of damage inflicted rises greatly. All characters have the same defending meter which requires you pressing the circle button almost in vain to try to decrease the damage received.
Dissidia: Final Fantasy is a fighter at heart, but the RPG element fortunately weren't forgotten. Characters earn EXP for each HP attack dealt in battle; therefore the game rewards you constantly. When a character levels up, basic stats are increases plus the more you level the more skills you learn. Initially the amount of skills available is scares but each character gains a handful of skills. That is what makes quick battles almost unlimited in challenge. Aside from the fact that you can choose from nine available difficulties and multiple enemy behaviors, you can freely choose the level of your opponent. The higher the level, the stronger the enemy and more the HP, making it difficult for a low level character to defeat a higher level character, which causes one strike from the high character to end the battle. Leveling up is rewarding and fun. Beside skills, money is gained to buy other character, equipment and a lot more.
The combat is truly magnificent but the game does have some minor issues. The camera is one of them. Most stages have obstacles and walls, ups and downs and occasionally the camera has awkward angles in close quarters. On a bright note, some rare nice angles are viewed which gives the camera a touch of class. The other one is the enemy AI. The AI varies from coward to strategic genius. Opponents are tough and unpredictable sometimes stealing victory when you least expect it. There are moments where the AI is irritating, especially being under leveled in the story mode, making some of the smarter bosses infuriating to defeat. The RPG golden rule is applied, thus making those battles easier. The level of challenge is extremely well balanced providing no shortage of replay value or lack of challenge anytime soon.
Dissidia is a sight to behold for the PSP. While it doesn't have that realism that Final Fantasy has but the anime style of Kingdom Hearts, the game looks superb. The animation in battle is so fluid and the cutscenes look awesome. But that's not all. The menu looks clean and it is always easy to navigate. Even the character selection menu looks superb as well. The environments are well varied and while some look better than others, the game never disappoints graphically. The character designs for battle are also extremely well done. There are some CGs which look terrific, but very few like the one in the very beginning. The voice acting is a mixed bag but most of it is well done. The story narrator for example is monotonous and some of the heroes' sound way too enthusiastic and over the top while the villains sound like a bunch of emo characters filled with sadness and void. The soundtrack is what's so good. Some of the classic Final Fantasy themes are here, providing an even deeper fan service. The soundtrack overall is impressive and solid which perfectly fits the game's fantasy theme.
Dissidia: Final Fantasy has so much to offer, despite its relatively disappointing story but with such a robust combat system and huge amount of customizations available, the game can easily offer around 80 hours of playing for average dedicated players. It successfully manages to be a Final Fantasy game and a superb fighting game that bring something new to the genre. There is a mountain of wealth and success in this one game making it difficult not to recommend. Dissidia is an exceptional fighting which manages to avoid some of the genre spikes and delivers an installment worthy of the franchise's name.
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Graphics = 9.2
A truly beautiful game. Stunning environments, character design, fluid animation and so on. Breathtaking.
Sound = 8.4
The soundtrack is a masterpiece. Not all of the voice acting is. Some of it falls flat in comparison.
Presentation = 9.1
Outstanding cutscenes and incredibly well designed menus and character selection screen. The loadings are fast without Data Install. Production values are through the roof.
Gameplay = 9.1
A unique and stellar experience that eliminates the use of button mashing to deliver a strategic and engaging experience. 20+ characters and plenty of skills make it worth leveling up. Customizations are close to endless.
Story / Content = 8.0
The story is the only disappointing factor that fails to take advantage of the occasion. But there is so much to do and so many feature it would be a shame to skip the game because of the story.
OVERALL = 87 / 100
You don't need to be a Final Fantasy fanatic to love this stellar 3D fighter