Feral Chaos

Feral Chaos is a playable character and superboss in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy. An alternate form of the game's main antagonist Chaos, Feral Chaos is, as his name implies, a monstrosity that is a bestial berserker in battle, and speaks only in roars, snarls and grunts. He is, like Cosmos, an original character created for Dissidia 012. Though he is an alternate incarnation of Chaos, who is based on Chaos from the original Final Fantasy, Feral Chaos himself has no counterpart in the main series and his backstory and design are entirely original.

Appearance
Feral Chaos is primarily black, yellow, red and orange. Compared to the original Chaos he is larger with torn and burnt-appearing wings, rows of spikes along his tail, and a broken left horn. His face is exaggerated to monstrous proportions, as are the faces on his groin and limbs, and the amulet around his neck has grown from a red gemstone to a red orb. His loincloth is shorter and the smaller horns on his forehead are larger.

In his alternate appearance "Jade Dissonance", Feral Chaos turns green and blue with yellow colors on his claws and wings. It coincidentally resembles the color scheme of the Ivalice summon known as Chaos, as it appears in Final Fantasy XII. A Feral Chaos in this outfit is fought by the player in the storyline "Confessions of the Creator", at which point it is said to be a Manikin-like shade of the real Feral Chaos. However, despite this color scheme being used for Feral Chaos' Manikin the player may still purchase it in the PP Catalog and use it as an alternate appearance for him.

Story
At the end of the thirteenth cycle, the Warriors of Cosmos defeat Chaos and end the cycle of war. Shinryu, displeased at Cid of the Lufaine breaking their pact and siding with Cosmos, silently offers Chaos the chance to get back at Cid, and Chaos agrees. In reality, Chaos dies and the wars end, but Shinryu traps Cid in a nightmarish alternate world where the cycles continued. In this world, Cosmos wins every single cycle up until the eighteenth one: at this point, the constant deaths and losses finally drive Chaos to insanity. He transforms into Feral Chaos, losing any shred of his former self, and goes berserk.

Feral Chaos destroys all the summoned warriors, regardless of alignment, and during the twentieth cycle he falls the Warrior of Light, the last remaining warrior. At this point Cosmos' power to summon warriors is exhausted, and to protect her from death, Cid seals her and himself in the Chasm in the Rotting Land. With his nemesis out of his reach, Feral Chaos turns his attention to Shinryu, and Cid cleaves the southern and northern continents in two, restricting them to the north for protection and sealing a Gateway on the path connecting the two. The outcome of Feral Chaos' battle with Shinryu, who had also become stronger to transform into Shinryu Versus, is unknown, but as Feral Chaos has him as a summon it would seem that he won, or at least the two came to a truce and joined forces.

At some point, five warriors appear in the nightmare world, their method of entering unknown to even Cid, though he speculates he may have done so himself subconsciously. In the form of a Moogle and having lost his memories after his sealing, Cid is rescued by the party and directs them to the north and eventually to the Land of Discord where Feral Chaos rests at the Edge of Madness, along the way recovering his memories and telling them the story of how Feral Chaos came to be. At the final Gateway the party destroys Feral Chaos, shattering the nightmare world and releasing Cid from his torment.

Battle
Feral Chaos is described as The Omega and the Alpha and fights with fast, powerful Bravery attacks as well as a variety of HP attacks that make him a potent attacker. All of his Bravery attacks cause Chase and Wall Rush, and many stagger guards or crush them outright. However, he is hindered by several disadvantages - initially his Bravery constantly depletes, and his EX Gauge and Assist Gauge are locked at empty. As he levels up he gains support abilities that negate these disadvantages. Feral Chaos's moves have a much higher CP cost than other characters, costing 30 CP per Bravery attack and 50 CP for each HP attack when they are mastered. Furthermore, his basic abilities cost much more than every other character, such as blocking and evading costing 25 CP each when mastered. He is also very large, making him easy to hit and giving him poor maneuverability in small arenas. Uniquely, the player is unable to set Feral Chaos as their Assist.

Feral Chaos can be purchased as a playable character for 350 PP in the PP Catalog once the player completes Confessions of the Creator.

Boss
Feral Chaos is the final boss of Confessions of the Creator, fought at Level 130 with 125,698 HP. He has access to Garland as an Assist and Shinryu Verus as a summon, which like the original Shinryu used by Chaos can be used multiple times during the battle. Additionally, due to unique accessories he wears, the player's EX Gauge and Assist Gauge are drained to zero whenever Feral Chaos lands an HP attack, even if it does no damage, his own Assist Gauge increases 50% faster, and he deals 400% damage in EX Mode.

A Level 95 Feral Chaos can be fought earlier in the storyline, colored as "Jade Dissonance." He is significantly weaker than his counterpart, but is still a potent opponent. An accessory he wears boosts his Attack and Defense by 5%, which is enhanced by a lone Booster accessory. By this Booster after a period of one minute this Feral Chaos will gain a 90.0x multiplier, resulting in an increase to his Attack and Defense of 450% that renders him almost invincible to Bravery damage. In both of these battles, the player is able to use all living party members in sequence for the battle.

The Level 130 Feral Chaos can be fought in the tutorial when beginning the game by answering "I am a Master" to the Moogle's question. However, the player's character is merely a Level 1 Lightning, and due to the massive difference in power it is difficult to the point of being nigh impossible to win without cheating. Even if the player somehow wins, the Moogle reacts as though they lost, suggesting he is meant to teach the player a lesson in humility.

Feral Chaos is also fought at the end of Arcade Mode's Time Attack "Crystal Course." While he has access to Shinryu Verus, his stats and equipment are otherwise ordinary for an Arcade Mode opponent.

Fighting Feral Chaos
Feral Chaos' fights very much like his original counterpart - his melee Bravery combos are fast and difficult to avoid. He is equipped with the attacks Vicious, Erupt and Spew for Ground Bravery Attacks, and Destroy, Splinter and Raid for Midair Bravery Attacks. He has access to all his HP attacks, which fortunately can be anticipated and dodged if the player is quick. The only problems arise from Feral Chaos' tendency to Wall Rush the opponent, then use Deus Iratus or Ventus Ire, drawing them into the HP attack without giving them a chance to dodge. His Shinryu Verus summon, like the original Shinryu, can be summoned multiple times in battle. It has four effects, all of which activate after a 20 second timer - the player and Feral Chaos swap Bravery, the player's Bravery falls to 0, the player's Bravery is locked, and Feral Chaos' Bravery is tripled. Because they have 20 seconds warning to these effects, the player has a chance to plan for them. It is advised they try to deplete Feral Chaos' Bravery as much as possible before the tripling effect activates, increase their own Bravery in anticipation of the Bravery freeze, and land an HP attack at the last moment for the other two effects, thus either dropping Feral Chaos' Bravery to 0 when the values switch, or being in a state of recovering Bravery when their own Bravery drops to 0.

Due to his unique accessories it can be difficult for the player to build and maintain their EX Gauge level. Additionally, a timely Assist Change can get them out of a fatal HP attack. Thus, the player should give consideration to using accessories that emphasis the Assist Gauge, or at least do not weaken it as EX-boosting accessories tend to do. If the player does plan to make use of EX Mode, they should do so while they can, entering EX Mode at the opportune moment to maximize its benefits, and using their EX Burst on Feral Chaos if they get a chance. If the player is unsatisfied with the Assist they receive randomly, there is a way to change it - exiting to the PSP's home screen using the home button on the system will allow them to restart at Floor 4 of the dungeon as a Quicksave when they start the game back up. When they enter Floor 5 their Assist will be randomly chosen again, and the player can repeat this as much as they wish until they get an Assist they like.

There are a few aspects of Feral Chaos that should be noted and planned for before the battle. He has Disable Sneak Attack equipped, so this ability is a waste of CP. His base Bravery is over 3,500, so the Spite ability can be useful. EX to HP can help in prolonging the longevity of the party members - the great problem with Feral Chaos is his endurance due to his high HP, so Exp to HP can help even the odds slightly. Because his HP is so high, the boosters "Large Gap in HP" and "(Opp) HP ≥ 10000" will always be active when fighting him unless the player is close to winning. "Level Gap ≥ 30" and "(Opp) Summon Unused" are always active as well. Combined these four Boosters give a multiplier of 3.8x, and by their various conditions this boost will be in constant effect until the battle's final stages when Feral Chaos' HP dips low. If the player adds in one or two more boosters, they can easily achieve and maintain a considerable booster level throughout the battle. A Muscle Belt or Earring, depending on if they are using a physical or magical character, can thus greatly increase their damage output, especially if a Hyper Ring and Power Ring are added as well.

A very easy, if unorthodox way, to defeat Feral Chaos is to enter the gateway with a Level 1 character and expoit the Smiting Soul accessory and the Iai Strike ability attached to it. The player equips their character with a Smiting Soul, a Sniper Eye, and a combination of Boosters that results in a 99.9x multiplier. "Level Gap ≥ 90" grants a 10.0x multiplier and is essential to this. Combined with at least five other 1.5x boosters, and a seventh booster that gives at least 1.4x, the needed 99.9x multiplier is granted. Some boosters that make this easy to achieve are "Weaponless", "Gloveless", "Hatless", "Armorless", and "HP = 100%" - due to the massive difference in level, any HP attack Feral Chaos lands will kill the player in one hit, and the loss of equipment is ignorable. The player must also have Exp to Bravery equipped, and either fight on a calendar day that grants them Exp x2, or equip a Chocobo Feather. In battle, the 99.9x booster will all but ensure Iai Strike will activate, instantly doing 9999 Bravery damage. The player then uses an HP attack that inflicts Wall Rush. The damage will read "9999 + 9999", but due to the Sniper Eye accessory the Wall Rush damage will actually exceed the damage limit to do far more than ten thousand damage. Then, Exp to Bravery will instantly restore the player's Bravery to 9999 again. The player repeats this strategy until Feral Chaos is defeated. This method is fairly simple, and allows Feral Chaos to be defeated in under a minute.

EX Mode
Regnum Dei QYdR5gHYDy8 Feral Chaos's EX Mode is The power of discord reveals the true Chaos. His body turns a brighter shade of red and orange (A possible allusion to his apperance as living magma in the opening cutscene of Dissidia: Final Fantasy), and he gains the abilities "Divine Might" and "Brutal," increasing his movement speed and his attack and defense.

Feral Chaos' EX Burst is Regnum Dei (Kingdom of God). A departure from other EX Bursts, Feral Chaos teleports the opponent and himself to a closed-in arena in a ring of fire, and the player has twenty seconds with a chance to lower their opponent's Bravery, during which time the opponent can still move and attack. When the time limit ends, or if the player presses R +, Feral Chaos will deal the final blow, Nexus Ultimus (Final Nexus), in which he grabs the opponent, and impales them with several of Chaos's giant swords from all directions, the more bravery the player has at this point the more damage the swords will deal, before dealing a claw thrust to deal HP damage. The last attack is seen from the opponent's perspective, shortly before the screen cuts to black like a turned-off TV screen. The EX Burst can only be used if the opponent has HP after the HP hit that initiates the EX Burst, as otherwise the EX Burst cannot be used.

Because the opponent can still act during Feral Chaos's EX Burst, it is possible for them to enter EX Mode and execute their own EX Burst during it. If this occurs, after the opponent's EX Burst executes normally, Feral Chaos's EX Mode and EX Burst are both canceled out, and the two characters return to the normal arena. However, Feral Chaos will not suffer EX Break if hit by an opponent's Assist.

Equipment
Feral Chaos can equip Greatswords, Axes, Grappling, Shields, Gauntlets, Large Shields, Helmets, and Heavy Armor. He also has two sets of exclusive equipment, the weaker pieces of which are initially obtained in Confessions of the Creator after defeating Feral Chaos in the final gateway for the first time.

Music
The theme used for the battle with Feral Chaos is "Cantata Mortis & God in Fire." This track can also be selected for random battles once Feral Chaos is defeated for the first time at Edge of Discord.

Trivia

 * Feral Chaos is the only character that only has one alternate costume.
 * Feral Chaos has the longest EX Mode name.
 * Feral Chaos utters only one word in the entire game, growling "Destruction" when entering EX Mode. However, the speaker is unknown, as Feral Chaos has no credited voice actor in the credits.
 * The same voice clip can be hear on the second blast of Via Dolorosa if it is charged until Chaos flashes.
 * Feral Chaos has the most expensive alternate costume out of any character, costing 3000 PP when the next highest being 700 for some 2nd alts.
 * Feral Chaos' EX Burst is the the only one that does not have a "Perfect" EX Burst, the closest he has to button commands is his free assault against his opponent. On that note, he is also the only one whose EX Burst can be outright canceled by the opponent should they use their own EX Burst and not via EX Break.
 * Feral Chaos and Cecil are the only characters with Combination effects on their exclusive equipment.
 * Feral Chaos is the largest character in the game, even larger than the original Chaos.
 * Due to his sheer size, it is nearly impossible for Feral Chaos to dodge Chaos's Divine Punishment HP Attack as his body will almost always gets hit by the initial brave hits. However, a well-timed Deus Iratus and a dodge after the attack's end can prevent the attack.
 * If Feral Chaos is the party leader in the Confessions of the Creator storyline, any cutscenes that feature the party leader, such as those with Shantotto and Gabranth, will not play.
 * During the brief period of time during Feral Chaos' EX Burst before he teleports himself and the enemy to the ring of fire, the background shown varies depending on his opponent's alliance: blue if they are a warrior of Cosmos and orange if they are a warrior of Chaos.