Delving into Dissidia, Part 1

I feel like it’s been too long since I ran my mouth about something Square Enix made, so today let’s talk about the new Dissidia game. Or more specifically, Dissidia Final Fantasy NT for the PS4. I’ll also delve into its mobile counterpart, Opera Omnia probably next week. Both came out fairly recently and made different impressions. I’m surprised to say that I enjoyed the phone game more, but we’ll talk about that later. For now, let’s break down NT.

Dissidia NT, the game released for the PS4, is the latest installment in Final Fantasy’s fighting game spin-off series. Much like its predecessor, NT features an extensive line up of characters from different Final Fantasy titles. There are currently 28 characters included in the game with a goal of 50 outlined by the developers. This particular game pits players in matches of 3v3, which I believe differs from the last game since Wikipedia tells me it had 1v1 matches.

The actual combat in this game is pretty interesting. Each character has access to three different moves: Brave attacks, which will raise your Brave level and lower your opponents, Normal attacks, which will deal damage based on your Brave, and EX moves, which are specials for each individual character. Everyone also gets access to a pool of buffs and debuffs, which include staples like Slowga, Blind, Dispelga, etc. Matches take place in large stages from the various characters games and movement is 360 so you have free reign to move as you please. Some levels are more complex than others, featuring obstructive terrain or moving pieces that make eliminating your foes more of a challenge. Mobility is great at least, characters can dash, double jump and…fly…apparently. This can be a pain in the ass if you play certain melee characters though, as landing a hit can be difficult at higher difficulties.

Which is why I play casters.

You can also summon the usual line up of Espers to give your team an advantage and mess up the opponents day. During each battle summoning crystals will spawn in, which you then need to run over and whale on with normal attacks. Dealing damage to the crystal increases your teams summoning gauge. Which is great and all, but the summoning crystals also work as excellent bait since the enemy team generally swarms them as soon as they appear.

There are a few different types of battles you can engage in. I mostly messed around in straight up 3v3 deathmatch which is exactly what it sounds like. There’s also a mode where each team has a crystal that they need to protect while simultaneously trying to destroy the enemy’s. The crystals have a radius around them, and all it takes is one teammate to be standing in that to render your crystal immune to damage. So before you can even inflict damage you need to clear out the other team while keeping them off yours. It can be a fun challenge, but the AI can be a little difficult to work with since your computer controlled teammates aren’t the best at defending. Finally, there’s one other mode where you fight the espers. These work a bit differently since they can’t even be damaged until you’re inflicted a Brave Break (reduced their Brave gauge to 0 or lower) and even that won’t last more than a few seconds.

There is a story mode which I’m not really going to bother talking about since it’s mainly a long series of cutscenes with a sprinkling of battles mixed in. I was surprised to find out that story mode is actually locked, you’ll have to actually engage in battles to earn currency to open up the story, so it’s more of a reward than the main focus. Similarly, you can spend gil and ‘treasure’ to unlock things like skins and weapons to customize characters with, as well as quotes and avatar icons.

Other than that there isn’t really a whole lot to tell. The graphics are very nice, the controls are smooth and combat is interesting. The story…well, you could probably watch it on Youtube and keep your $60 if that’s your main interest. If you’re looking for a unique fighting game and plan to play online, or are an avid fan/collector of the Final Fantasy series, then Dissidia NT probably a worthwhile investment. It certainly sounds like they have more content coming, so it should stay relevant for a while.

Well, that sums it up for NT. If you’ve played it, I’d love to hear what you thought about it and if you haven’t do you think you will? Anybody you’re hoping they add to the roster in future DLC? Drop me a line in the comments below. Next week we’ll take a look at its mobile counterpart Opera Omnia and see how that compares. Until then, happy gaming everyone, have a great week!