Dissidia: Final Fantasy, like all Square Enix games, has been a long time coming. Truly must-have titles on the PSP are few and far between, and with Dissidia cramming a ludicrous amount of Final Fantasy fan service into a promising fighting game vehicle, it seemed like this would be the next big hit on Sony's handheld.
However, is fan service enough to keep Dissidia's rather messy hack n' slash button mashing compelling, or does Dissidia need more than dream match ups and a ridiculous plot to make this something people need to buy a PSP for? Read on as we review Dissidia: Final Fantasy.
Dissidia: Final Fantasy (PSP)
Developer: Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix
Released: August 25, 2009
MSRP: $39.99
Dissidia: Final Fantasy has been designed, from the very start, to bet a fanboy's ultimate wet dream. The principal heroes and villains of every main Final Fantasy game, up to and including Final Fantasy X, are duking it out in the name of their respective patron God, Cosmos or Chaos. Cue some nonsensical storytelling and bad voice acting as some of the Final Fantasy franchise's most iconic characters meet and fuel the fires of fanfiction writers around the Internet.
For a game that brings together so many amazing characters, the actual story of Dissidia isn't very epic at all, and is rather clumsily presented to the player through dreary dialog and awkward, shoehorned encounters that don't carry the kind of weight that they really should. A fight between Squall and Sephiroth should really feel epic, but the cutscenes generally come off more like something you'd see in Dynasty Warriors than a Final Fantasy game.
The story seems more or less thrown together weakly as a poor excuse to bring the characters together and show off the fighting system. There could have been a great plot here, full of memorable moments as worlds collide, but characters just appear with very little fanfare and no build whatsoever. The horrible voice acting doesn't help matters either. Characters like Kefka and Kuja aren't done justice in the least.
As far as the actual combat goes ... well ... Square Enix gets points for effort, at least. Rather than tread on safe ground with a 2D fighter or rip off the Super Smash Bros. formula, Dissidia plays more like an evolved Crisis Core, with familiar turn-based commands performed in real time to create a game that's part hack n' slash, part methodical sparring session.
Dissidia combat is a battle on two fronts. As well as the general HP meter of each fighter, there is also a "Brave" score. By using Brave attacks, players can sap the bravery of enemies and transfer it over to their own character, thus making their attacks stronger. The idea of the game is to constantly keep your bravery high so that you remain superior to your foe. A careful balance between using Damage attacks and Brave attacks is rewarded with swifter victory.
In addition to these shenanigans, players also collect "Ex Force" by collecting items or through sustained battling. When a player's Ex Meter is filled, they are able to go into Ex Mode, which allows them to change form and perform an ultimate attack. For instance, Zidane will go into Trance and execute a button-mashing Tidal Wave, while Cloud will pull out the Ultima Weapon and smack fools about with the Omnislash.
The game sounds great in theory, and often it can be quite fun. However, it's also somewhat messy and very limited despite the wealth of customization. For all its attempts to be a strategic back-and-forth contest of skill, Dissidia more often than not devolves into a frantic button masher that's so fast-paced and confusing that players don't even know who's won the battle until the victory screen appears. The game is literally all over the place, and things move so fast that you rarely have any time to get your bearings on the map. Speaking of maps, they could have been better designed as well, with scenery getting in the way and so many tiers that you can sometimes lose sight of the enemy completely.
With practice, one gets more used to the pacing and it all looks very flashy, but the input delays on attacks and constant dodging around the map gets rather repetitive and irritating. The control scheme is also a problem as well. Players must frequently rush toward enemies to close gaps and keep the momentum, which requires them to press the right shoulder button and the otherwise-unused triangle button. Why it couldn't just be triangle on its own is anybody's guess, but the fact that fingers must always be on or near shoulder buttons while thumbs are hammering the face buttons is very uncomfortable indeed, and so far nearly every play session has ended with a cramped hand.
Grinding is also encouraged, annoyingly. Many times players will come up against enemies that far exceed their levels and they'll need to get into Quick Battle mode in order to do anything about them. Some of the mandatory bosses will also simply steamroll over a player without warning sometimes. Players can't replay levels until they've beaten the story mode once, either, meaning that the necessary grinding is slow and restricted.
In between Story Mode battles is a rather inane board game-style interface where players must navigate a grid in order to fight enemies, find treasures, and unlock barriers. Players are given "Destiny Points" at the beginning of each level which are spent with each action. If players spend all their Points, the rewards for completing the level will be diminished. This entire section could have been cut from the game without doing it any damage. It's a waste of time and doesn't really add anything.
The game's considerable irritations are a shame because in many ways, Dissidia is a very good experience. The character customization is spot on, and fun little extras like the PP Catalog, where players can spend Points to unlock new characters and costumes, and the Chocobo, that flies on a set path during your daily playtime with the game and uncovers new rewards the more you play, serve to make this feel like a very complete and addictive package. There is a lot of content, with twenty characters and several game modes, include Arcade and Versus.
Hardcore Final Fantasy nerds will be dazzled by the fan service on offer and will likely let a lot of issues slip by unnoticed, just because Kefka is in it. However, Dissidia really isn't a great game. It's a solid, if annoying, hack n' slash title that had a shedload of potential, but just isn't tight enough to truly realize the greatness it could have achieved. Not only that, but the Final Fantasy lore and cast of characters has been plundered and squandered with no real sense of respect and attention to detail. It's a shameless nostalgia fest that doesn't do its own background justice, and while the game is certainly decent for what it is, it's ultimately not something worth buying a PSP for. Dream matches between Cloud and Squall can only get a game so far.
Score: 6.5 -- Alright (6s may be slightly above average or simply inoffensive. Fans of the genre should enjoy them a bit, but a fair few will be left unfulfilled.)
Contest:
6:00 PM on 09.02.2009
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Also how come Cecil doesn't recognize one of the characters names that's spoken to him that happens in another game(avoiding spoilers)
Maybe their time could have been better spent making the Kefka Game About Kefka.
And to think, I was expecting so much out of Dissidia.
Well, at least it's not as shitcrap as Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny.
Jim, I never wanted to be the type to pick apart a review, but I adore this game. I wanted to know if you were aware that the Triangle button is used extensively in the game to increase your characters mobility, allowing you to run up walls, grind on rails, and the like?
Many times players will come up against enemies that far exceed their levels and they'll need to get into Quick Battle mode in order to do anything about them.
They're not particularly impossible to beat during a first run through a particular story mode, if that's what you mean. The toughest enemies were almost always optional, or at least could be fled from in the Shade Impulse chapters. I don't see what you mean by needing to grind to do... well.. just about anything in this game.
Complaints aside, thank you for the review.
"Brother... Friend... Destiny... Brother... Friend... Destiny... [repeat ad nausium]"
Skipping the cutscenes makes the game mostly bearable. The omgwtf fights that are randomly 10 levels above you are actually where I learned how to play the various characters. If you are given nothing but easy fights, you just button mash your way through them. As soon as you hit one of those bosses, you suddenly have to learn how to dodge, and use your abilities to kill your opponent quickly.
Its by no means a perfect game, but if you like Final Fantasy, or would just like to try an interesting and different 1v1 fighting game, its definitely worth a try.
The challenge is in Inward Chaos and Duel Coliseum. And what about multiplayer? PLaying against a human opponent, winning Artifacts and equipment normally not available, etc. There's a lot more to this game than it meets the eye.
Still, compared to other fighters, yes, it's not that good. But it's got the Emperor, dude. The Emperor of friggin HELL.
That's never happened while I've played it.
Call me a fanboy, but this is the best PSP game I've played in years. It's FAR from perfect, but it's entertaining and fun. There are frustrating elements like certain cramped stages, but ultimately everything can be completely controlled, and I've never had to grind.
That being said, Arcade mode sucks and I hate it, but it's so far removed from the "meat" of the game that it's not a problem in the slightest.
1) The story just plain sucks. I tried sitting through more than one story mode worth of it before giving up and skipping every cutscene afterward. It's a shame, because that's where this game should be strong. If it had been, this would have been a must-buy PSP game for more than just Final Fantasy fans.
2) The amount of time you have to spend in order to REALLY get into character customization is borderline ridiculous. It's not bad when you first start playing, but once you experience your first "Bonus Day" you realize that's it takes much longer than it should to gain more combat options, especially for the villains.
Overall, the game is good. I love the combat and customization systems to death, but the story and unnecessarily tedious grinding drops the quality a bit.
There was one more thing I forgot to mention that really grinds my gears about this game that Jim pointed out: some of the stages were VERY poorly made, particularly the ones with enclosed spaces. The camera gets stuck on the wall and you're not able to see anything that's going on, which gets you killed pretty quickly.
It's not a Final Fantasy game, it's a Final Fantasy spin-off title. Which aren't particularly known for having interesting/deep narratives. Many, many people would argue that the Final Fantasy series as a whole is a shallow experience.
I'm not one of them.
Look at that Castlevania abortion for another prime example.
Basically, these types of games are always and will alway be solely for fanservice.
Besides, I don't think anyone that wasn't crazy into FF would even consider buying the thing, so it's preaching to the choir right from the start.
When you were talking about not knowing who won....I think I understand what your saying.....The way the camera flies around spastically and sometimes it just seems like you can't tell if you are hitting your opponent and vice versa......
Just played the demo and I do want this game, but I think I can wait til it drops in price....or becomes downloadable, might be a nice game on my psp go.......especially since it seems like the demo is most fun in quick bursts......
I personally like the game even though the only true FF game I played was disc one of 9, but hey, that's just me
o/
For example: if you hit square with someone like Cloud, Sephiroth or Jecht, they'll do this giant hit sequence. They don't swing for every press of square. You're essentially just pulling off one button combo animations. So if you continue to hit that button, you're not doing anything. Not to mention there's so much ending lag on all those moves, hitting square continually is probably easier to punish than otherwise.
That said, it's not particularly deep as a result, because you're basically just doing attack animations. I was expecting something more along the lines of God of War, DMC, Ninja Gaiden, where you can break attacks at any time to dodge away. I feel had that been the case, the game could have been a much more fast paced rewarding experience.