Dissidia: Final Fantasy Hands-on Preview

Super Smash Bros. Brawl meets Dragonball Z meets Final Fantasy. That’s how Dissidia: Final Fantasy, the PSP-exclusive 3D one-on-one fighting game, was described by Square Enix at a recent hands-on event in London. That’s quite a mouthful, isn’t it? Not only that, it conjures up an image perhaps too fantastically incredible to comprehend. A bit like ice-cream on pizza.

Let’s break it down. The Dragonball Z reference comes from the fact that the one on one battles take place in 3D arenas. Big 3D arenas. The two characters zip about, up, down, left and right, chasing each other around like spiky-haired kids in a playground. They can even fly, or perhaps more accurately hover, a little bit, too. The idea, clearly, is to try and simulate the fights, as Final Fantasy XIII also appears to be doing, from CGI film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.

The Super Smash Bros. Brawl reference has more to do with the game having a roster packed full of Final Fantasy characters than it does with gameplay. Square Enix, perhaps in an effort to avoid causing controversy, has stuck to a ‘one goody and one baddy from each Final Fantasy game’ policy rigidly. So, Cloud and Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII, Squall and Ultimecia from Final Fantasy VIII, Tidus and Jecht from Final Fantasy X and so on and so forth, right back to the first Final Fantasy game (Warrior of Light and Garland). All are playable, all are unique, and all have their own story to play through.

All the characters’ stories, called Destiny Odysseys, tie in to the largely befuddling plot, which involves two opposing gods: Cosmos, the Goddess of Harmony, and Chaos, the God of Destruction. There’s a big old war between the two, which has been going on for ages. Recently, however, Chaos has had the edge, forcing Cosmos to enlist the services of Cloud and co in a last ditch attempt to restore harmony to the universe.

As with most fighting games, the plot is just a silly excuse to get everybody together to knock lumps out of each other, which is what Dissidia is all about. The fighting system is an interesting mix of accessible button bashing and well-timed dodging and parrying. Every character has a health gauge, as you’d expect, but also something called Bravery Points. This acts, in effect, as a shield, the idea being that you steal Bravery Points from your opponent with a special attack until they’re all gone, allowing you to go to work on their health gauge. The number of Bravery Points you’ve nicked determines the amount of damage your strikes do, so pounding your opponent straight away isn’t going to do much. Once you’ve whittled your opponent’s Bravery Points to nothing, however, you’ll achieve what’s called a Bravery Break. That’s your cue to wade in.

In a nod to fighting games like Street Fighter, there’s an EX Gauge to fill. Once done, pressing the Square and R buttons together activates EX Mode. This makes you a complete badass, and unlocks access to character specific special moves, like Cloud’s stunning Limit Break Omnislash. Here, you’re asked to complete a simple quick time event – hammer the Circle button to fill up Cloud’s Limit Break gauge – before he slices and dices with the Buster Sword.

No Final Fantasy game would be complete, of course, without the summoning of big monsters, and here Dissidia doesn’t disappoint. You have to find a Summoning Stone first though, which is a rare occurrence, but when you do, a quick press of the R and Circle buttons brings down the beasts from on high. In Dissidia they’re more about buffing the statistics of your character than actually dealing damage. Final Fantasy stalwart Ifrit, for example, increases Bravery Points by one and a half times.

As with most PSP games, the camera seems to suffer from the handheld’s lack of two analogue nubs. Here, the d-pad moves the camera and the nub controls character movement. If you don’t fancy a bout of claw hand, you’ll be using L to lock on, which works well. There’s an impressive sense of verticality to the arenas, with walls to climb and platforms to perch on. You’ll find retreating to regenerate Bravery Points a smart tactic, and conversely quickly chasing down opponents who do the same will be key to success.

While Dissidia might look like a straight up Dragonball Z clone, there’s still a strong JRPG feel to proceedings. Story Mode, which includes plenty of quality CGI cutscenes, plays out like a game of chess, with a grid for you to move about before triggering battles. Here you have a number of Destiny Points that are consumed as you move about the grid. This value determines the stage bonus you get from defeating enemies. There’s some strategy in plotting your path to the grid boss: do you want, for example, to spend Destiny Points chasing down that mystery item on the grid, or head straight for the boss? There’s levelling up, character customisation and plenty of items to equip. Yes, Dissidia is a fighting game at its core, but it’s still rooted firmly in its Final Fantasy foundations.

Before you get to that point, however, there’s a prologue/tutorial to work through. This teaches you the mechanics of the fighting system, as well as giving you a feel for character movement. Once completed (it takes about half an hour), all the characters become playable, and you’re free to pick whoever you want to begin their Destiny Odyssey. All the Destiny Odysseys need to be worked through in order to fully complete the game. Thankfully that provides for hours of gaming: online play isn’t supported, which means you’ll no doubt be playing Dissidia alone a lot of the time.

If the idea of playing Dissidia feels a bit like Square Enix licking your face, it’s probably because you’re a Final Fantasy fanboy. The game is pure fan service. There is no effort to mask this fact. Indeed, it’s being released to coincide with the 20 year anniversary of the series, and is perfectly fitting to mark the occasion. There are familiar locations – Cloud’s Destiny Odyssey takes in the Core of the Northern Crater – and familiar music to enjoy. If you’re a Final Fantasy fan, Dissidia is almost an essential purchase irrespective of its quality, simply because it brings together everything that’s great about the series in a single game. When you win a fight you can’t help but feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end as that classic victory parade music bursts out of the tinny PSP speakers.

That might be doing Dissidia a disservice, however. The game’s fighting system will appeal to fighting game fans in an addictive, accessible way. There is depth to be found, and skill required to proceed – at level three the game’s difficulty spikes quite considerably, with opponents blocking and countering smartly. But let’s be honest: you’re reading this because up to this point the idea of Cloud fighting Ultimecia or Squall fighting Gabranth has been the stuff of hazy dreams. No longer.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy is due out for the PSP this autumn.