If you’re a die hard Final Fantasy fans and all of the games, movies, action figures, and fan fiction is not enough for you, then you’re in luck the ultimate Final Fantasy fan service game is here for you. However, Dissidia: Final Fantasy is not just a cash grab that preys on the sensibilities of over zealous fanboys aching for resolution to their Cloud vs Squall flame war forum topic. Instead, Square Enix has crafted an excellent fighter/RPG hybrid that will not only please the diehards but gamers looking for a kinetic brawling title.

Gameplay

Let’s clear the air now: Dissidia is a grand example of Final Fantasy fan services. You have the major protagonists and antagonists from games I through XII, as well as the various boss battles and fight music from the series. You have to purchase the “bad guys” in the game but once you have unlocked the entire roster you can do fantasy match ups to your hearts content. The story line is as basic as you can get: Cosmos and Chaos are squaring off and each has summoned their greatest warriors to do battle. The good guys are trying to gather crystals while the men in the black hats scheme accordingly. While any excuse will do in order to get all of the Final Fantasy gang together, a storyline with a little bit more meat would have been the icing on the cake. The story mode progresses in a fashion that is atypical for a fighting game. You move your character through a board and along the way you encounter copies of your enemies, treasure chests, traps, and eventually the major villains themselves. It plays out like Final Fantasy: The Board Game but it’s a refreshing addition and adds variety to what could have been a very straightforward experience (fight, fight, fight.)


As for the actual gameplay, Dissidia is a 3-D brawler but not in the traditional sense. You have complete 3-D movement with your character and can air dash, wall-walk, and slide along rails of energy. The fights are very Dragon Ball Z-like as characters are dashing in and out while blasting each other with energy blasts and other superhuman attacks. Each battle essentially takes place in a confined arena space but some stages feature multiple levels, ledges, floating islands, and outcroppings. While the stages are small overall, there is plenty of opportunity to use the varied terrain to your advantage. With the press of Triangle, your character can do contextual movement, be it wall running or mega jumps between platforms. While the camera can get lost while you’re doing some of the wall running, the moves are well implemented and give you a great sense of freedom.

Combat is excellent and is deceptively precise – it’s easy to think that success will come by just mashing buttons as many of the attacks are over the top acrobatic sword flourishes or dazzling magical projectiles. However, in order to win your fights, you need a measured and controlled plan of attack. Distances play a huge factor and balancing between the use of long range and short range attacks is key (as well as playing to the strengths of whatever character you are using.) Also, the Brave System is a unique and key mechanic in the game. Brave represents your attack power and in order to win you need to increase your Brave by attacking your opponent with Brave Attacks. Once weakened, your HP draining moves will do damage equal to your Brave. Upon a successful hit, the Brave goes back to default levels. This delicate balance between getting Brave, maintaining it, and trying to do damage gives combat a very organic and tense flow. Be too aggressive and you leave yourself open to major damage. Play it safe and you’ll never defeat your opponent. The move sets of each character directly references spells and techniques used in their respective games, especially each character’s EX Burst super move: Cloud’s Omnislash, Golbez’s Shadow Dragon – all of the big “9999” moves are here, explosive and every bit as dramatic as their RPG counterparts. Square even worked in the ever popular summons into the game, which can turn the tide of battle on its head in an instant.

The RPG elements are quintessential Final Fantasy: you can level up your character, learn new attacks, and buy new weapons and armor, and equip stat changing accessories. It becomes a balancing act later on as you not only try to equip the best weapons and armor but juggle which moves and abilities to take with your character. It gives the game depth, whereas it would have been easy just to bypass all of that and just have static stats like most fighters.

While the gameplay is solid and allows you to recreate the kinetic battles that we have all drooled over in previous cinematics, the game doesn’t necessarily ease you in. You do get your obligatory short tutorial portion but it’s pretty thin and doesn’t really explain the ins and outs of the battle system. Also, while it’s nice to have character development though a level up system, it would have been great to have a quick play mode that gives you access to all of characters and their move-sets out of gate. Therefore, if you find a character that really gels with you, you’ll be more inclined to go through their story mode. Villains in the series do not have a story mode so in order to level them up you need to fight the CPU over and over again in one-off battles. It’s too bad because it’s a lot more fun when you have the backstory to drive your level-up sessions.

Graphics and Audio

While the opening cinematic is worth the price alone, the in game graphics are fantastic. The 3-D facelifts of previously 2-D characters is beautiful, with almost every detail seamlessly transported over. What’s especially great is that the characters designs stay true to the beautiful concept art by long time Final Fantasy lead character designer Yoshitaka Amano. The music is absolutely fantastic, as not only do you have a few original tracks but two themes from each of the previous games. The music was spectacular then and it sounds just as good now.


The voice work is serviceable but not outstanding. Also, the cut scenes where the story unfolds could have been a bit more dynamic. Characters lament among themselves and each other amid somewhat bland backgrounds -- combine that with the average voice acting and the whole thing falls a bit flat. And yes…Squall is still emo.

Value

The game is chock full of replay value and game modes. You have two main story modes for each character, Quick Battle, Arcade mode, and the ability to shop for items and weapons. The only issue is that with 10 story characters and two plot lines for each, getting through all of the game’s story (if you’re really dedicated to seeing it though) can be a bit long and tiresome.  A neat feature in the game is that you can edit your battles to make custom movies, which is a unique and quite fun to do. There is even an email/calendar system that gives you bonus points for playing on certain days and emails from various moogles. While not essential to the experience, it’s a quirky little cherry added on top.

As for multiplayer, you can challenge your friends ad hoc and even get experience points from the battles, which is great. You can even win artifacts from each other and trace back the hand-me down trail. It’s these extra little flourishes that really add to the overall package.

Conclusion

Whether you’re a Final Fantasy fanatic or a newcomer to the series, Dissidia is a wonderful fighter/RPG hybrid. The combat system is engaging while the RPG infrastructure is massive, deep and rewarding. Square Enix could have used the mechanics for a brand new IP and the game would still be great. However, having it set in the robust and captivating world of the Final Fantasy series makes it that much more interesting and serves as an excellent tip of the hat to all of the Final Fantasy die-hards out there.