Dissidia: Final Fantasy is a crossover fighting game featuring the main heroes and villains from the first ten Final Fantasy titles. It’s easily one of the best games on the PSP right now, alongside my other favorites such as Loco Roco and Mega Man: Powered Up. With original fighting gameplay mechanics and TONS of things to do, Square Enix has really made it their own and separates it from being another tired fanservice crossover game. The best part of the game is all the memorable characters you can play as, each one plays different. So we’ll take a look at each character in this blog.

But first, a mini-review. I hate repeating what other game reviewers have already said, but many have compared Dissidia to being a mix of Kingdom Hearts and the Dragon Ball Z fighters. And that’s really a true statement. There’s a lot of platform action going on, with jumps and running up walls mixed with projectile attacks from the air and close combat on the ground. It’s almost as fun to watch as it is to play. But it can be a bit disorienting sometimes.

You have two kinds of attacks. Some will take off Bravery Points and others take Hit Point damage. Your Bravery Points are like your defense, so you want to whittle those down first, and when they’re low enough, you can start using your Hit Point damaging attacks. You have to use strategy to plan which attacks you want to use, all the while keeping tracks of your own Bravery. It could be because I don’t quite understand everything about the gameplay, but sometimes this seems to rely on dumb luck, as players and opponents can switch Bravery Points seemingly on a whim, and sometimes battles can end rather abruptly because of that.

There’s so much to do in this game that I haven’t been able to try it all out yet, like the online modes. I also need to try out the new ‘command menu’ mode, maybe that’ll make the game easier? There’s just no way I can write about everything included in this game. Like an RPG, you can level up your characters in the Story modes, buy equipment and gameplay perks, unlock goodies, and much more. It’s almost a little too complicated for a fighting game and sometimes can feel a little daunting and hard to understand. Plus, since I’m not very good at fighting games, I also think this one can be a little bit too hard at times. I wish they made a super easy mode. I was hoping that since menu based RPGs don’t have the fast action that fighting games do, that Square would ease up a bit with this game. But I guess not! I think I would’ve enjoyed this game more if it was on the Xbox 360 instead of the PSP, too.

Even with those complaints, I’m still really enjoying the heck out of Dissidia. I’m more of a fan of the classic Final Fantasy games, but there’s plenty of fanservice to be had here. Even though the arenas are a little bland, each one has classic battle music and locations from each of the games. My favorites are the lunar surface level from FF4 and Kefka’s Tower from FF6. And say your favorite character isn’t in the fighting roster? Well, chances are they may be elsewhere in the game. In Dissidia’s many help menus, other characters explain the rules and aspects of each mode and features. Rydia tells you about summons, Vivi and Steiner show you how to equip armor, and Cait Sith explains the new Arcade mode, for instance.

Anyway, sorry for such a sloppy review, but I really wanted to focus on the playable characters, as that’s the best part of the game. At any rate, anyone who has a PSP and enjoys anything Final Fantasy should pick up Dissidia. Now, onto the characters!

Warrior of Light

This is one of the LIGHT WARRIORS from the first Final Fantasy game. And as such, he uses a lot of attacks based on light. I kind of wish they would’ve used a pixelly red blob like what he looked like in the old game, but I guess that would be too silly. So he’s based on the artwork I guess. One thing I remember about the original Final Fantasy game is you could name each of the warriors. When we were kids, my friend named the wimpiest character after me: the White Mage! I was so mad! Why is it that all my friends name the wimpiest RPG characters after me? (like Edward). Oh well, what’s funny is that now that I’m older, I actually like the White Mage characters in FF games now!

Garland

He wasn’t the final boss, but he was a dark knight who kidnapped the princess in the beginning of the first game. And somehow he became pretty memorable even though the rest of the storyline in the first game wasn’t. In Dissidia, he has a lot of heavy attacks, and one of them even makes a little earthquake!

Firion

Final Fantasy II is kind of the black sheep of the series, seeing as how leveling up your characters is a little weirder. What’s strange is that when they released this on one of the PSOne collections in the US, I remember playing it all the way through. Of course, I used every dirty trick in the book to level up, like casting Demi on myself to make the characters’ HP go up. But even though I played through the whole game, I don’t remember much about the characters in it! Except I think there was a White Mage guy who was kind of cool but he died. Anyway, Firion has a lot of neat attacks, and he’s one of the few characters I beat Arcade Mode with (yes, I suck). He has a really neat lighting bravery attack that reels in opponents close to him.

The Emperor

If you like to be sneaky, you’ll love to play as this guy. He uses a lot of traps that may move slow, but can really pack a punch. Just be careful not to run into your own mines and flares!

Onion Knight

This was the character job you first had in FFIII. You know, what’s strange is that I have FFIII on the DS (which is the only way to play it in the US), but I’ve never actually tried it! I’m not really a big fan of the Job system, though. I didn’t like how when you changed jobs, you had to re-equip all your armor since the new job might not use what you already had. Anyway, in Dissidia, the Onion Knight is one of the sillier characters. He uses quick, rapid fire attacks that chip away at the opponent. Like a machine gun-like Comet attack. In his EX mode, you can change his job for different attacks, too!

Cloud of Darkness

Whoa! I think I figured out where the ESRB got their “Partial Nudity” descriptor for this T rated game. She ain’t wearing hardly any clothes! She uses a lot of dark magic attacks. One of her neatest bravery attacks uses these little bell things to knock the opponent back, then she can charge for a big blow. But if the other player dodges, watch out! You’ll be left vulnerable for an attack of theirs (actually I found out some other characters are like this, too). I like the voice actress for the Cloud of Darkness, though. She has a cool evil lady laugh. “Mwua ha ha!” Her name is kind of dumb, though. Cloud of Darkness? Really? But I guess in the old FF games, they didn’t have very original names for the villains, seeing as though earlier games had you battle “Chaos” and “The Emperor.”

Cecil

FF4 is one of my favorites. I beat Cecil’s story mode first because it only had one star of difficulty. I wanted to do Terra’s first, but hers had five stars, so I figured I’d better do something easier. And the only other one star mode was Cloud’s, and I was NOT about to play as him first! Anyway, Cecil can change into his Dark Knight or Paladin forms at any time in Dissidia by switching from ground based to air attacks. It’s pretty neat.

Golbez

Darth Vad…er, I mean, Golbez has a lot of dark attacks. One of my favorites is a powerful move that encircles the other player with meteors. I beat Arcade mode with Golbez, so I guess I’m good with him. Too bad you can’t play as FF4’s Kain in Dissidia. I think he would’ve been a neat character to play as.

Bartz

I never played FFV much for the same reason as FF3 or Tactics. I don’t like the job system much. Bartz seems kind of weak, though he does have a neat spinny attack. I heard his pet Chocobo squawk in his EX Mode attack.

Exdeath

He walks REAL slow. Like, a leisurely walk. You’ll never beat your foes by walking, so Exdeath has a neat warp move where you hold down the bravery button to send out a ring. The longer you hold down the button, the farther it travels. Then release the buttons to move to that ring instantly! It’s tricky to use, but I bet players can perfect it to really get to their opponents. He also has a strong shield and attack combo move that blocks shots as well as hits the other player!

Terra

You know what’s strange is that you’d THINK my all time favorite FF character would be something silly, like a Chocobo or a Moogle. But actually, my favorite character is Terra. Of course, she’s from FF6, my favorite RPG. Heck, FF6 is one of my all time favorite games PERIOD, right on up there with Pac-Man, Super Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, and the PSOne Namco Museums. And in the game, Terra does have green hair and can turn into a PINK COTTON CANDY MONSTER, so I guess she’s a little silly. Plus I can play her theme song on the piano. It’s easy, it’s just a bunch of arpeggios. Since Terra can use M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-MAGIC, her attacks in Dissidia are all about long range spells. Like ice balls and tornados and geysers of water. And these attacks hardly every miss. She’s great. I beat arcade mode with her and everything! But I wouldn’t expect anything less from the best character.

Kefka

Since FF6 is my favorite Final Fantasy game, it’s only natural that my favorite FF villain would be Kefka. Like Heath Ledger’s Joker, when you hear Kefka’s theme song and he appears on screen, you know something bad is going to happen. And since Kefka’s so unpredictable, you don’t know what will happen. But you know it’ll be bad. Plus, Kefka’s the only FF villain who actually WINS (at first, anyway). And who could forget that laugh? Anyway, in Dissidia, since Kefka is a clown, he’s pretty silly and even makes boingy sounds when he jumps. His attacks are a little hard to use, but I can see potential in some of his moves, so I think if I practice more, I’ll do better with him.

Cloud

When FF7 first came out, I thought Cloud would be cool with his spiky hair and big ol’ sword. But once I played the game I learned that Cloud was nothing but a whiny emo wuss. FF7 was the first game that caused me to not like FF games so much. Sure, I played through all of FF7, but I wouldn’t do it again. I do appreciate it for being different, though. Anyway, Cloud’s attacks in Dissidia are all about his big, overcompensating sword. I kind of wish they would’ve picked another character to be featured as the representative for FF7. Tifa, Red 13, Cait Sith…ANYONE but Cloud.

Sephiroth

Well, almost anyone. FF7’s villain is my least favorite of all the FF bad guys. He’s just a emo pretty boy and I really can’t remember why he was supposed to be feared. Only thing I remember is you spent two discs simply just chasing after him. And his One Winged Angel theme song is the most overrated piece of music ever. Kefka’s Dancing Mad song is much better. In the game he has lots of long reaching sword attacks, and as a CPU opponent he is totally cheap. Won’t even let you move, much less attack!

Squall

He’s even worse than Cloud. FF8 was the first FF game I had no interest in playing. He has lots of circular based attacks. I did manage to beat Arcade Mode with him, though. Which makes him a good fighter in the game, I guess. And I hate admitting that.

Ultimecia

OK, now she just plain sucks. She moves way too slow and her attacks don’t connect. But as a CPU player, she warps around the screen, darting away from all your blows.

Zidane

Now I actually like FF9, but then, that’s because it was kind of a throwback to the old games. It’s what FF7 and 8 should’ve been, in my opinion. Anyway, Zidane is the main character (at least he isn’t an emo wuss), and he moves quickly and has a mix of long and short range attacks.

Kuja

Even though I liked FF9, I thought the villain was kind of stupid. He’s a cross between Kefka and Sephiroth. Even though Kefka is the best bad guy, imitating him is kind of lame. And anything associated with Sephiroth is dumb, too. In Dissidia, Kuja can fly and hover really well, but his attacks are hard to connect.

Tidus

Since I never played FFX, I don’t know much about this guy. Again, he has a mix of long and short ranged attacks. Wasn’t there a character in FFX who used plush toys of classic FF characters as weapons? If that’s so, that would be my favorite character, whoever that is.

Jecht

This scruffy bad guy’s attacks are best described as “explosive.” You have to watch out, though, and make sure your attacks connect because if he misses, you can get out of a combo punch move and that leaves him vulnerable for a bit.

Cosmos and Chaos

The Goddess of Light and God of Destruction, respectively. They’re mainly there for the story: Cosmos and Chaos are fighting and they bring all sorts of heroes and villains to battle alongside them. Chaos is also the last boss in the first FF game. But I really don’t care what kind of story Dissidia has. All the fighters could be battling over the last piece of cake from Terra’s birthday party for all I care!

Dissidia Conclusions

And that’s all the characters in Dissidia: Final Fantasy. Two things I want you all to put in the comments section. One, tell me who your favorite FF characters are. And two, if you have Dissidia, maybe you can share with me some tips on how to make the game easier. Because I really like the game, yet I stink at fighting games and I doubt I’ll be able to beat it otherwise. It is a really good game, though.

Tags: Game Reviews