Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy

Unreleased

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy​ is the sequel to Dissidia Final Fantasy. It is currently in development for the PlayStation Portable and in the Spring of 2011, will be released within Japan.

Gameplay
Dissidia Duodecim's gameplay is very similar to the original's, featuring all of the original gameplay elements, characters and arenas. Fighters have Brave points that increase when they use Brave attacks and decrease when hit with a Brave attack. Depleting an opponent's Brave to zero inflicts a Brave Break on them, boosting the player's Brave greatly and preventing the opponent from inflicting Brave damage until their Brave regenerates. When an HP attack is used, the opponent takes damage equal to the attacking player's Brave. By collecting EX Force characters can enter EX Mode, boosting their strength and letting them execute EX Bursts similar to Limit Breaks. Summons are also included.

Several characters have gained new attacks since the original Dissidia, and Firion's fighting style has been entirely redone. New summons, arenas and characters will be included. Two bars under the HP bars are part of the "Assist" system. The bars fill by battling and can be used to call an ally into battle for an attack. The Assist attacks break enemy combos, as entering EX Mode no longer does this. Because EX Bursts are intended to be Limit Break-like attacks used to end battles or do heavy damage, Assists are meant to act as an opposite mechanic to them by doing minor damage over time and being used repeatedly. To accommodate this new system many equipment pieces and attacks have been re-balanced.

Dissidia Final Fantasy Save Data can also be transferred into Dissidia Duodecim.

Story
As Dissidia Final Fantasy told the story of the 13th cycle of war, Dissidia 012 tells the story of the previous cycle and is thus a prequel to the original. This is the meaning of the "012" in the title. However, the number also has another meaning relevant to the game's story, which is currently being kept a secret.

Characters
In a recent interview with Tetsuya Nomura it has been stated that all characters will return. In addition, three new characters have been announced: Kain, Tifa, and Lightning. It has been stated that more than just a handful of new characters will be included, but there will not be a new character from every game.

Arenas
According to the fansite Final Fantasy Network, all of the Arenas return, with two new additions confirmed: Orphan's Cradle and Sky Fortress Bahamut. The top floor of Pandaemonium has been seen, but it is currently unknown if it is its own arena or an extension of the original Pandaemonium arena. It was stated that Square Enix would include many more stages in the game.

Music
It has been announced that Square Enix will include nearly twice as many music tracks and more of them will be original/retro. The game's soundtrack will be composed by Takeharu Ishimoto, who was also responsible for the first Dissidia.

Development
Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy was announced in the Japanese magazine Shonen Jump in early September 2010. It had previously been hinted at by the Dissidia development team, who stated that they would love to make a sequel and that the decision would depend on the success of the first installment; and JD Cullum, Kuja's English voice actor, who offhandedly stated he had recorded his lines for Dissidia 012 in the Summer 2010. Judging from statements by the other voice actors, it appears that the whole English script of Dissidia 012 was recorded at the start of Summer 2010.

According to an interview between Takashi Arakawa and Yoshinori Kitase (director, writer, and producer of Dissidia) with a German gaming site, Kitase stated that a sequel would be "very interesting", and might even include Kingdom Hearts characters, although it would still have to be discussed with Disney. Tetsuya Nomura has stated that for a potential sequel, he would like to include Kain Highwind, Gilgamesh, and Sazh Katzroy, but would not include Kingdom Hearts characters.

Etymology
"Duodecim" is a Latin word meaning "twelve".

Trivia

 * Prior to the official announcement, two separate hoaxes had "revealed" that Kain and Lightning would appear in Dissidia Final Fantasy: Universal Tuning. The hoaxes involved elaborate fake magazine pages created in Photoshop and complete with fake Kain artwork and fake Lightning 3D models.
 * Kain and Lightning were considered to be included in Dissidia but were excluded for various reasons.