Final Fantasy: Dissidia
Monday, November 2nd, 2009
8/10
2 months. That’s how long I’ve been playing this game. Two months and I just finally beat it. The longest I have played any game straight was the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and I was only on that for 3 weeks tops (I was stuck on the water temple the second week, go fig). So, as you would guess, either I really suck at this game or it is that awesome. The answer is the second. This game is so deep and engrossing I don’t know where exactly to begin. The story is based off the Final Fantasy lore of Cosmos and Chaos and their eternal battle against each other. Each side picks a handful or warriors from different time periods in the Final Fantasy universe and let them wage war against each other. Several favorites make their appearances in the game along with two surprise characters (the one I don’t know about, she’s kinda cocky and the other is force to be reckoned with). Now, the combat system is similar to that of the Kingdom Hearts series, with a few minor tweaks. You have two kinds of attacks, ones that attack your enemies HP and one that attacks their Bravery. Now, Bravery is like your attack strength, the more you have, the stronger your attack. You increase your Bravery in 3 different ways; either by attack your opponents Bravery thus giving you an increase in it, causing your opponent to break (this happens when you force your opponents Bravery to below zero), and by using summons (which I will get to in a bit). Now each character has the signature favorites, plus some additional movies. Finding a character that fits your playing style is crucial for mastering your game (my highest character is lvl. 71). Now, this game follows the traditional Final Fantasy lore by allowing you to level up and equip armor and weapons. You are also given accessories that range from giving you an additional boost depending on what your doing during that battle (for example: a 10% increase to attack for being above your opponent). And then you also have your summons. Now the summons wont come out and attack like they do in the original games. Instead, they give you boost in bravery or cut your opponents bravery down or inflict other status effects. Now, the way to getting all these items is by traveling through the story mode. In this mode you will play through each of the heroes stories (sorry, no side story for the forces of evil, which sucks). but even after you complete the main story, there are a plethora of things to unlock, including two hidden characters, a battle coliseum, and a whole bunch of other fun things that will keep you glued to this game for hours on end. So, to close this review, this is one of the best games on the PSP to date. I will admit, at times it can be frustrating so this game isn’t for everyone, but for those who sit down and give it the time and achieve beefing up that one character they use to decimate their foes with, it definitely worth the time.
PROS
1. Great story and plot. Love seeing internal conflicts such as that of Cloud and Sephiroth or Tidus and Jecht.
2. Incredibly smooth and tight game play. Takes some getting use to, but once you figure out the controls and get your skills up, you’ll be on your way.
3. Love the EX attacks. No two are the same and especially love how each character is unique in their own way.
CONS
1. Camera can be frustrating at times
2. The exclusion of a Story mode for the Warrior of Chaos. Yeah, after beating the game you can play with them in some story modes, but one has to wonder why Square Enix left this out. Leveling up the Warriors of chaos is a long and stressing task the kinda makes the game on sided when fighting the Warriors of light.
3. The final boss is cheap as hell and requires an incredible amount of patience and skill to beat (also a character at about lvl. 60 with really high defense and recovery). Took me two weeks to beat him. Almost made me take the game back. Square made me really work for this one.
