Dissidia 012 [Duodecium] Final Fantasy Review

The god of discord and goddess of harmony have their warriors collide again but is their battle spectacular this time around?

Back in 2009 Square Enix released a fighting game pitting the protagonists and antagonists of the Final Fantasy series against one another for the Playstation Portable and the fighting was compared to the action seen in the CGI film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. In Advent Children the fighting was over the top and involved characters flying through the air and that is what you can expect here. Now Square Enix has released another in Duodecium set before the original title with a larger cast from last game. Where the previous games had a rival for each character playable, the new batch of characters are a selection of recognisable favourites who are implemented well and maintain the spirit of the play style from the Final Fantasy title they were taken. You get to play as characters like the summoner Yuna from Final Fantasy X whose battle style involves her summon monsters, Laguna from Final Fantasy VIII who has a selection of projectiles weapons like his guns from FFVIII and Lightning from one of the newest titles, Final Fantasy XIII, whose play style reflects the paradigm system with different roles to cycle through when playing her. All the characters bring a unique play style to the game and vary the roster.

As with the previous game the story mode takes you through the game’s narrative with cut scenes and battles taken place over board game like board. However this time around the characters are not like pieces on the board and are animated with their partner also appearing on the board and in addition to this there is a world map where the boards are accessed. The large world map allows the player with their character to talk to other characters aligned with them, collect power ups and look for items and treasure chests. It gives the story mode a much more Final Fantasy feel, seeing as the role playing Final Fantasy titles usual involve traversing over a world map being able to talk to the worlds inhabitants. All the tweaks make the experience more enjoyable as a whole as well as more akin to a traditional Final Fantasy title. However the sections on the board still seem a little out of place and break the story up from an otherwise well presented story mode.

The actual gameplay in the fights is a slightly tweaked version of the original Dissidia. The basic gameplay is mostly the same and involves brave points and brave attacks as well as health points and health point attacks. Brave attacks increase your bravery whilst dealing damage to brave points and your health point attacks deal damage depending on how high your bravery is. There are a variety of brave and health moves that can be chosen on character customisation, as before, along with weapons, accessories and summons which provide varieties of bonuses. Some moves cause a character to chase another in the air, like previously, but seem to happen a lot faster than the previous title, speeding up the collisions in the air. It’s fairly easy to pick up and play but can take some time to master tactics against opponents.

Of course crazy over the top moves, like original Dissidia, can be pulled off in EX mode, offering the character a stronger transformed state, once the EX meter is full, from attacking the opponent or collecting EX cores on the stage.  The largest changes come from the addition of partner characters. An extra bar for partners is shown under the health bar and builds up as you perform brave attacks. One bar is a brave attack; two is a health point attack. They come in handy in times of need and can appear to stop enemy combos as well as perform their moves. It really makes the game more of a back and forth battle, allowing players to recover from a stream of enemy offence.

Aside from the previously mentioned story mode there are other modes to enjoy such as battle mode featuring quick battles for fun and an arcade mode with a several different gauntlets of enemies to run. There is also the communications mode to battling other players with a variety of different modes including online, as well as group battles and the means to battles ghosts of your opponents too. There is also the ability to create tournaments so plenty to enjoy with other players. There are also a few extra features that add bonuses through answering questions on different days in the form of the mognet and play plan with day bonuses of experience for the player. Extra unlockables that can be purchased in the PP store include extra costumes, extra stage music, icons are all taken from or referencing the Final Fantasy universes which is great for any fan.

 

The graphics of the game are pretty much on par with the first Dissidia and are still quite impressive for the PSP. The facial animations are quite simple though in comparison to another Square Enix title released the other year, Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, with similar character designs. It would have been nice to see greater graphics for a title this year. The CG cut-scenes are on par with all Square Enix titles though, and are more than a joy to watch. One other element of the game that needs a mention is the sound. The voice acting comes from a great selection of renowned voice actors that suit the characters well for example Liam O’Brien as Kain Highwind is a good fit for the dark Dragoon knight. The other element of sound of course is the music and there is a wonderful selection of original music as well as popular themes, battles and boss tracks taken from the Final Fantasy series. Overall the game is worth a purchase for anyone for it’s unique battle style that has been tweaked for improvement and full of spectacular attack moves and definitely a great purchase for the Final Fantasy fan for the references as well as the Final Fantasy feel.

The Good

• Unique and expanded fighter –  Different style of fighter with expanded roster and beneficial gameplay tweaks
• Story Mode: World Map – Great RPG feel added to the story mode
• Sound – Great music and voice cast
• Multiplayer – Large selection of battle modes to enjoy with other players

The Bad

• Story Mode: Board – Feels out of place in the game and pulls away from the story
• Graphics – Great and impressive but underwhelming compared to other older PSP titles

Dissidia 012 [Duodecium] Final Fantasy
• Developer: Square Enix
• System: Playsation Portable
• Genre: Fighter
• Players: 1-to-2

Other Recommended Titles

• Dissidia: Final Fantasy (PSP)
• Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep (PSP)
• Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2 (PS3/360)
• Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 (PS3/360)