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Dissidia: Final Fantasy (ディシディア ファイナルファンタジー, Dishidia Fainaru Fantajī) is an action game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation Portable as part of the campaign of the Final Fantasy series 20th anniversary. Information on the game was first released during the "Square Enix Party" event of May 2007. The game features characters from different Final Fantasy games and centers around a great conflict between the heroes and villains, as the god of discord, Chaos, tries to wrest control of their worlds from the forces of good.

Gameplay

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Dissidia: Final Fantasy's genre has been described as "dramatic progressive action" and its graphics are in three dimensions. It has wireless one-on-one multiplayer and fights revolving around the use of individual special skills of characters to do damage to opponents. Players can also customize their characters with equipment.

Character movement is fully functional within the three-dimensional field map. Characters are able to perform special maneuvers using the environment, similar to the Reaction Command feature of Kingdom Hearts II. Traps with a variety of ill effects can be found throughout the arena.

Similar to many fighting games, the aim is for the player to reduce their opponent’s HP to zero. A character's offensive (and, to a lesser extent, defensive) power is shown in numerical form called BP or "Brave Points". Both characters start out with a set amount of BP, and each must steal BP from their opponent by attacking them with the basic "BP attack" to add it to their own total and gain the upper hand. Players can then use the "HP attack" to cause direct damage to their opponent; HP damage is equal to the player's current amount of Brave. However, once an HP attack is used, the character's own BP is reduced to 0 and then slowly recovers to its starting amount. A character whose BP total has been depleted (past 0 BP and into the negatives) is forced into "Break mode", where, aside from not being able to cause HP or BP damage, all attacks made against them cause critical damage, and the opponent gets all of the BP in the "Brave Pool" (a number that can be seen at the bottom of the screen) massively boosting their BP amount.

One main feature of the combat system is the "EX Gauge", which can be filled in a variety of ways, such as inflicting damage on opponents, taking damage from opponents, and obtaining items scattered around the field of play. Once the EX Gauge is filled, the character can enter their "EX Mode", significantly increasing their power and enabling new attacks, including the "EX Burst", an unavoidable special attack similar to the Limit Break mechanic seen in many games in the series.

Plot

In Dissidia, there are two gods - Cosmos, the Goddess of Harmony, and Chaos, the God of Destruction. For eons, the two gods raged war against one another, until the balance of power tipped in favor of Chaos. As the forces of evil grow stronger and the war seems to near its end, the few surviving heroes have banded together to strike back at Chaos' minions and restore harmony.

Each of the ten heroes has a storyline, named as a "Destiny Odyssey," following their journey to recover their respective Crystal. Each Destiny Odyssey also parallels, to a certain extent, the events, or at least the spirit, of the storyline in the hero's original game - Terra's story for example, deals with her amnesia and her waning control over her powers, while Cloud's story concerns his indecisiveness and questioning his reason for fighting. The stories also overlap a great deal, with several heroes playing major roles in other heroes' Destiny Odysseys - for example, Cloud assists Terra in her storyline. One by one, the heroes each retrieve their Crystal and defeat their respective villain in battle.

After defeating their enemies, the heroes return to Cosmos, but Chaos appears and incinerates the goddess, and departs back to his realm. With Cosmos gone, her power over the heroes fades and they begin to fade back to their own worlds. However, with the last of her strength inside them, the Crystals are able to keep the heroes from fading and keep them safe, giving them one final chance to strike back at Chaos and restore order.

Characters

The game unites both protagonists and antagonists from installments of the main Final Fantasy series, their stories narrated by the first Final Fantasy game's Cid of the Lufaine (voiced by Bunta Sugawara). Chaos (voiced by Norio Wakamoto) also makes an appearance as the god of discord, while a new character, Cosmos (voiced by Sumi Shimamoto), appears as the goddess of harmony. The game has an overarching storyline that requires playing through all of the characters to complete. The game contains twenty-two total playable characters: eleven heroes and eleven villains, one of each representing Final Fantasy through Final Fantasy X, and two secret characters: a heroine representing Final Fantasy XI, and a villain representing Final Fantasy XII.

Characters' equipment can be customized, and they can gain EXP and gil from battles.

Many of the characters can transform into different forms, mostly as part of their EX Modes. For example, Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII transforms into his One-Winged Angel form as seen in Final Fantasy VII Advent Children when entering EX Mode, whereas Cecil from Final Fantasy IV can switch between his Dark Knight and Paladin forms at any time. All characters have an alternate costume; examples include a design for the Onion Knight that makes him resemble Luneth from the Nintendo DS version of Final Fantasy III and Squall's SeeD uniform as seen in Final Fantasy VIII.

Summons are accessible using Summon Stones. There are over 50 different summons, each with a different effect.

Development

On April 6, 2007, Square Enix filed for United States trademark registration of "DISSIDIA"; the mark's relation to Final Fantasy was omitted. Some sites speculated this was an edition of Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII. The title was connected with Final Fantasy when Square Enix introduced Dissidia: Final Fantasy on May 8, 2007 with an official Japanese website. The game was produced by Yoshinori Kitase and directed by Yousuke Shiokawa and features music by Takeharu Ishimoto. Takeshi Nozue being the movie director.

Tetsuya Nomura is responsible for the character designs, which retain much of the look and style of Yoshitaka Amano's illustrations. Nomura comments to the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu that Tidus is designed to look younger than he was in Final Fantasy X to "match the design touch of the rest of the Dissidia" cast. Jecht was chosen instead of Seymour to be the villain representing Final Fantasy X because Seymour has little in-game interaction with Tidus, whereas Jecht, as Tidus' father, would prove much more suitable. According to GameSpot and IGN, Dissidia: Final Fantasy will be released the third quarter of this year (Q3) for North America.

On May 8, director Takeshi Arakawa and producer Yoshinori Kitase announced that the release date for the Western world would be August 25, 2009, and that it will include a number of tweaks, including re-adjustments in gameplay, new gameplay events, an arcade gameplay mode, a shortened tutorial, new moves for playable characters, and extra cutscenes featuring cameos from several other characters from the main characters' original games that do not appear in the Japanese version.

On May 14, SCEA announced a Dissidia: Final Fantasy-themed PSP bundle. This includes a "Mystic Silver" PSP system, a copy of Dissidia: Final Fantasy, a 2GB memory stick, and a copy of Final Fantasy VII Advent Children. It is slated to also be released on August 25, 2009.

For the Dissidia: Final Fantasy US release, Gamestop announced that they will be releasing the game with two additional covers for anyone who purchases it.

Audio

The Dissidia: Final Fantasy Original Soundtrack was released on December 24, 2008, and is available in both regular and special editions, similar to the game itself. The main theme of the game is "The Messenger" by Your Favorite Enemies. In one interview with the developers, it was stated that the game contains twice the amount of dialogue featured in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.

The tracks "Cosmos" and "Chaos - Last Battle 1" are also performed by Your Favorite Enemies. "The Messenger" is the main theme song of the game, with lyrics from both "Cosmos" and "Chaos - Last Battle 1." "Cosmos" features female vocals, while "Chaos" is dominated by male vocals. In YFE's documentary on the conception of the songs for Dissidia, lyricist and vocalist Alex Foster admitted that the lyrics have no direct connection to themes of the game; rather, he left it up to the listeners to interpret the lyrics based on their own thoughts and ideas. Other tracks are often remixes done by Ishimoto of past Final Fantasy music originally composed by Nobuo Uematsu.

When the US release of Dissidia: Final Fantasy is available, Amazon.com will release alongside the game, the Dissidia: Final Fantasy soundtrack, which contains 10 tracks from the game itself.

Merchandise

Studio BentStuff published the Dissidia Final Fantasy Ultimania α as the initial reference guide for the game. Released on December 4, 2008, this book became part of the Ultimania α series, which includes the Kingdom Hearts Ultimania α.

Suntory Ltd. also collaborated with Square-Enix to create the "Dissidia: Final Fantasy Potion" drinks which were released on December 9, 2008 in Japan to promote the game's release.

Square-Enix is releasing a line of Trading Arts figures in early 2009 with Series 1 containing Cloud Strife, Squall Leonhart, Zidane Tribal, Tidus, and the Warrior of Light.

Best Buy has announced that when the game is released, a desktop calender will be available for anyone who purchases the game (just like the japanese version).

Reception

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With individual scores of 9/9/10/8, the game received an overall rating of 36/40 points from Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, earning the game a place in its "Best Picks of This Week" feature as well as its "Platinum Hall of Fame." The game's battle system was described as fast paced and exhilarating, with simple controls capable of producing battles like those found in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, though it was noted that the action can become difficult to follow when things get hectic and that some of the more technical aspects of the game can be hard to grasp. Also cited were extensive character customization options befitting a Final Fantasy title, and a leveling system that allows the game's difficulty to scale with the strength of the character. The game was also praised for its story and cutscenes, with one reviewer noting that the characters' histories are neatly woven into the narrative, providing new insights and answering old questions while giving each character an equal share of the spotlight. The game scored 90/95/85/85 on Dengeki PlayStation.

As of February 1, 2009, Dissidia: Final Fantasy has sold 900,000 copies in Japan, making it the fourth best-selling game for the PSP in Japan. It was the 12th best-selling game in Japan in 2008, selling 660,262 copies.

References

1. "Dissidia: Final Fantasy North American Release Confirmed". Final Fantasy Union. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
2. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Square-Enix-Dissidia-Final-Fantasy/dp/B002AB41IE/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1245370202&sr=8-4
3. IGN Staff (2007-05-09). "Dissidia : Dissidia Battle System Revealed". IGN.com. Retrieved 2007-05-16. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
4. Yahoo! (2008-12-18). "DISSIDIA FINAL FANTASY Announced for Mid-Year 2009 Release in North America". Retrieved 2008-12-18. {{cite web}}: Text "r" ignored (help)
5. ^ Dissidia: Final Fantasy interview via Forever Fantasy
6. Cecil scan via Gamekyo
7. Onion Knight -Luneth ver.- scan via Gamekyo
8. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1371119/
9. Summons Confirmed For Dissidia: Final Fantasy
10. James Arnold Taylor confirms his reprisal
11. Gregg Berger confirmed for reprising his role during BotCon 2009: Seibertron.com interview
12. "Trademark Electronic Search System (Tess)". United States Patent and Trademark Office. United States Department Of Commerce. 2009-03-03. Retrieved 2009-03-03. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help) To find the Dissidia trademark, type "dissidia" in the search field and click "Submit Query".
13. "Dissidia Trademark - Latest Status Info". United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark Applications and Registrations Retrieval (TARR). 2009-03-03. Retrieved 2009-03-03. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
14. Nero (2007-05-08). "New Final Fantasy XIII Title; Final Fantasy Dissidia XIII? UPDATE". FinalFantasyVersus XIII.net. Retrieved 2007-05-08. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
15. KujaFFman (2007-05-08). "Square Enix dépose le nom Dissidia". Final Fantasy World (in French). Retrieved 2007-05-08. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
16. producer (Yoshinori Kitase); director (Yousuke Shiokawa) (June 1 2007). "Feature: Final Fantasy Dissidia interview translation" (Interview). Famitsu. Retrieved 2009-01-06. {{cite interview}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
17. Jeriaska (2007-06-30). "Square Haven: Dissidia Final Fantasy profile page". Square Haven. Retrieved 2007-06-01. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
18. KujaFFman (2007-05-09). "Dissidia : Images et informations !". Final Fantasy World (in French). Retrieved 2007-05-09. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
19. GameSpot Staff (2007-05-12). "Final Fantasy XIII, Dissidia rock Square Enix Party". GameSpot. CNET Networks. Retrieved 2007-05-12.
20. Gifford, Kevin (2008-06-18). "New Final Fantasy: Dissidia Details".
21. http://www.gamespot.com/psp/action/dissidiafinalfantasy/index.html?tag=result;title;0
22. http://psp.ign.com/objects/904/904962.html
23. New Characters In Western Dissidia, Amongst Other Additions - News - Final Fantasy Union
24. "New Limited Edition DISSIDIA FINAL FANTASY PSP Entertainment Pack". PlayStation.Blog. 2009-05-14. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
25. North America Dissidia Purchase Incentives
26. Final Fantasy Union (2008-11-05). "Dissidia: Final Fantasy Soundtrack Release Date Confirmed". FinalFantasyUnion.com. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
27. "Your Favorite Enemies Episode 73: We Are "Final Fantasy: Dissidia" Part 4 of 8". myspace.com. February 4, 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-04.
28. "「ディシディア ファイナルファンタジー アルティマニアα」 大判サイズで12月4日に発売！". bent.co.jp. November 20, 2008.
29. Best Buy announces Dissidia Dektop Calender.
30. http://www.vgchartz.com/japtotals.php?name=&console=PSP&maker=&disp=American+Name&boxartz=1
31. "2008 top 100". Kyoto.zaq.ne.jp. Retrieved 2009-01-21.

External links

• Official North American website
• Official Japanese website
• Dissidia: Final Fantasy at the Final Fantasy Wiki (Wikia)

Template:Link FA

• 2008 video games
• Action video games
• Final Fantasy games
• PlayStation Portable games
• PlayStation Portable-only games
• Video game prequels
• Video games developed in Japan