I've been playing Dissidia a lot lately and although I'm thoroughly enjoying it as a whole, I find myself cringing at the game's horrible, generic script. To me, the game really feels like a culmination of all the elements (both good and bad) that make up the Kingdom Hearts games, only taken to the extreme. On one hand, the solid action-RPG gameplay from KH has been made even more frantic and exciting, but on the other, KH's sub-par writing has returned in an even worse iteration. It's as if Square Enix just went through a bunch of fortune cookies and copied the fortunes onto the script, and I'm absolutely determined to prove this point.
Below I have included a 50/50 mix of fortune cookie fortunes and excerpts from Dissidia: Final Fantasy's script. The only changes I have made to the excerpts from Dissidia involve changing the narrative voice to the traditional second or third person found in fortune cookies when it applies (so a line like "I must not fall to temptation" would become "you must not fall to temptation" or "one must not fall to temptation"). Also, certain giveaway words have been replaced with general terms (so line like "a warrior must not fall to temptation" would become "a man must not fall to temptation"). Everything else has been left as it is. I challenge anyone to sort out which lines are from Dissidia's script, and which lines have been taken from fortune cookies. On my next blog post I will announce the answers, as well as give credit and applause to anyone who got them right.
FIGHT!
1. Your current path will lead you to the future you long for.
2. You cannot steal victory.
3. You should be aware of your own naivete.
4. Behind a capable man, there are always capable friends.
5. Your emotional currents are flowing powerfully now.
6. What the head decides must sometimes be ignored in favor of the heart.
7. There is always a way - if you are committed.
8. You should learn when to quit.
9. Never quit!
10. No matter what your past holds, you have a bright future.
11. Your strongest weapon is your brilliant mind.
12. Nothing in this world is accomplished without passion.
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It's not meant to have good writing.
You have a reasonable case with Kingdom Hearts. Dissidia? Not so much.
I think 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 11 belong to Dissidia.
@ Aurain: Making excuses for bad dialog in any game or genre only helps perpetuate the cycle. Not every game benefits from having a great plot and fantastic writing, but it never hurts to keep up minimum standards.
Ignoring the fact that I'd be hesitant to call Dissidia a fighting game in the traditional sense of the word, I'll just say that even if it was, there's no reason why a fighting game can't have a good story, or at the very least a somewhat decent script. I'm not asking for the game to make me cry, but I'd at least appreciate it if it had SOMETHING resembling a solid narrative (especially considering this is a Square Enix game).
also this is very clever.