Dissidia Final Fantasy - Final Fantasy
Dissidia Final Fantasy is a fighting, action role playing spinoff game of the Final Fantasy series produced by Square Enix on the PlayStation Portable. It is one of a number of Final Fantasy PSP games and was released in Japan in 2008 and in 2009 in the rest of the world. Directed by Takeshi Arakawa and produced by Yoshinori Kitase, the game centers around a conflict between Cosmos, the goddess of harmony, and Chaos, the god of discord. Multiple protagonists and antagonists from previous Final Fantasy games appear in the ensuing struggle, staying true to their fighting styles and capabilities. The game was a critical success and inspired a follow up sequel title called Final Fantasy Dissidia 012.
Plot
The game takes place in called “World B”, an alternate dimension of “World A” where the first Final Fantasy takes place. In “World B”, the gods summon a number of characters from previous Final Fantasy games and pit them against one another. Cosmos gives each character a mission to retrieve a crystal, called a "Destiny Odyssey". The purpose of retrieving the crystals is to defeat Chaos. The characters are able to retrieve the ten crystals but are too late, and Cosmos is defeated by Chaos. The characters begin to fade away but are saved by the power of the crystals, giving them the chance to finally defeat Chaos. In the end, Cosmos is revived and all of the summoned beings return to their respective worlds.
Characters
New characters introduced to the Final Fantasy franchise in this game are:
- Cosmos - The goddess of harmony that wishes to protect special Crystals from Chaos's forces and keep order and balance in the world.
- Chaos - The god of chaos who wishes to use the Crystals in order to upset the balance of power between good and evil.
The rest of the characters are famous protagonists from the Final Fantasy franchise games.
- Final Fantasy - Warrior of Light, Garland, Cid of the Lufaine
- Final Fantasy II - Firion, The Emperor
- Final Fantasy III - Onion Knight, Cloud of Darkness
- Final Fantasy IV - Cecil Harvey, Golbez
- Final Fantasy V - Bartz Klauser, Exdeath, Shinryu
- Final Fantasy VI - Terra Branford, Kefka Palazzo
- Final Fantasy VII - Cloud Strife, Sephiroth
- Final Fantasy VIII - Squall Leonhart, Ultimecia
- Final Fantasy IX - Zidane Tribal, Kuja
- Final Fantasy X - Tidus, Jecht
- Final Fantasy XI - Shantotto
- Final Fantasy XII - Gabranth
Gameplay
The gameplay has been described as “Dramatic Progressive Action”. Players navigate a 3D setting and can interact with their environment, doing things like running up walls, grinding along railings, as well as destroying pillars and floors. Players have two attack statistics called Bravery and HP. Attacking an enemy with bravery increases the player’s Brave points and decreases the enemy's brave points, ultimately increasing the player’s damage potential. If one’s bravery decreases under zero, they will enter “break" mode, where they cannot inflict any HP damage. Bravery attacks against them do more damage, and their opponent will receive a significant boost to their Bravery statistics. There is also an "EX Gauge", which can be filled by damaging opponents, taking damage, or obtaining EX cores scattered around the map. When the EX Gauge is filled, the character can go into "EX Mode", a special status increasing their power and enabling new offensive moves including the "EX Burst", a strong special attack that once used depletes the EX Gauge. As the player progresses through the game, their equipment can be customized. Players receive Gil and experience points from winning their battles. The strengths of each character from the other Final Fantasy series remain, displaying their diverse range of abilities and specialities.
Development
Dissidia was fully unveiled in 2007, the first trailer featuring the Warrior of Light, Garland, Zidane, Kuja, and Sephiroth. Creative producer Tetsuya Nomura originally envisioned the game as a Kingdom Hearts spin-off, but was ultimately dissuaded by the image of Disney characters fighting one another. Thus, he opted instead to use Final Fantasy characters, however the original concept led to the creation of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. Dissidia Final Fantasy was developed as part of a campaign commemorating the 20th anniversary of the series. In specific cases, “rival” characters were chosen instead of Final Bosses, as representative antagonists in the game.
Reception
As the Dissidia Final Fantasy game brings together many of the popular characters from the Final Fantasy franchise, Dissidia has been a game that led to a lot of merchandising. Upon release the crossover game received a number of mixed reviews, despite reaching 660,262 copies and winning various titles such as the 12th best-selling game in Japan in 2008. Critics have commented that this particular Final Fantasy is great when targeted to the die-hard Final Fans, but concerned that it was less appealing to those that had no experience with the franchise.