Laguna Loire/Dissidia

Laguna Loire has been confirmed as the third representative for Final Fantasy VIII in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy. A secondary protagonist and Squall's father, he tricked and sealed Sorceress Adel many years prior to the game alongside his comrades Ward and Kiros, Squall and his allies witnessing Laguna's adventures through dream sequences. Laguna eventually became the president of Esthar after Adel's defeat and aided Squall and his friends in their battle against Ultimecia.

Attire
Laguna's outfit in Dissidia 012 is identical to his original Final Fantasy VIII appearance. He wears a blue jacket with rolled sleeves over a white T-shirt with brown cargo-pants. He also wears black boots, fingerless gloves and a large black belt. He has long black hair, combed over to the right side of his face. His eyes are green. He also wears dog-tags and a silver earring for all three costumes.

His first alternate costume, "Galbadian Soldier", is his Galbadian soldier uniform. He wears a dark blue bodysuit with armor covering his chest and hips.

His second alternate costume, "President", is his appearance as of Squall's time in Final Fantasy VIII when he is president of Esthar. He wears a light blue button up shirt with brown pants and sandals, but remains 27 years old.

Laguna's Manikin, Transient Gunner, is purple.

Story
Laguna is a Warrior of Cosmos, acting like a big brother to the Warriors of Cosmos and mediating them thanks to his cheerful and carefree nature. In the beginning, Laguna gets his group lost when trying to get to the sanctuary. He then talks to Kain and Lightning, playfully teasing her about her somewhat harsh personality.



After arriving at the sanctuary and receiving his dormant crystal from Cosmos, Laguna travels with Lightning, Vaan and Tifa, but they end up getting separated when they were attacked by both Kuja and Kefka and the Manikins. While on his own, Laguna encounters and fights the Cloud of Darkness before his awkward staring at her half-naked body gets him a leg cramp to her dismay. After telling her that he is helping Cosmos rather than serving her, Laguna's words intense the Cloud of Darkness's interest as she reveals to him where the Manikins are coming from and that he can close the portal there to end their rampage. However, she revealed this information as it is a potential suicide mission and is curious about the manner of death Laguna would chose for himself.

Later on, he and Vaan find Yuna with an unconscious Tidus after the Emperor had kidnapped Jecht. They manage to cheer her up, and the three of them return to Cosmos and talk to Lightning and the Warrior of Light. He is also seen finding Firion's wild rose and giving it to him. He then talks Squall out of being a loner and telling him that he would not be around forever.

Near the end of the game, Laguna fights alongside Lightning, Vaan, Yuna and Tifa against Garland, the Emperor, the Cloud of Darkness, Kefka, and Ultimecia. Afterwards, they, along with Kain, fight a multitude of Manikins to protect Cosmos. But they eventually fall in battle. As Shinryu takes Cosmos and her other warriors to the next cycle, Laguna and the others disappear in front of the Warrior of Light.

Battle
Laguna's fighting style is Tactical Gunner, meaning he uses several mid-range and long-range attacks. He uses a variety of weapons to fight, including his trademark machine gun, rocket launchers, and grenades. His HP attacks use a miniature version of the Ragnarok airship, which he calls to fire various types of laser attacks. Laguna can alter the effects of his attacks by holding the  when attacking. For example, holding the button when using his machine gun fires more shots, while holding it when using his rocket launcher and sniper rifle lets Laguna aim freely using the analog stick before firing. Battle Director Takeo Kujiraoka has stated that, in contrast to the hero characters who have simpler fighting styles, Laguna is meant to be a more strategic character like The Emperor or Kefka.

EX Mode
Desperado GVP6tPnUorM Laguna's EX Mode is Look, the faeries are here, where his weapons turn gold, a reference to the Aura spell in Final Fantasy VIII. In his EX Mode Laguna gains the ability "A Faeries' Miracle." This lets him cancel out the lag from his Bravery attacks by attacking again afterward, letting him assault opponents much faster.

Laguna's EX Burst is Desperado, his Limit Break in Final Fantasy VIII. He blasts his opponent with a rocket launcher, then throws a grenade at them and leaps into the air swinging on a rope while attacking with his machine gun. The player must hold R and move a cross-hair target that flashes over the opponent with the analog stick, landing hits as a damage meter fills up. Filling the meter will have Laguna end the EX Burst with Ultimate Ragnarok Cannon, where he calls all his weapons together to concentrate energy and fire a large laser blast at the opponent, the earlier grenade exploding to deal HP damage. Failing to fill the meter will just end the EX Burst prematurely with the grenade exploding while Laguna poses.

Equipment
Laguna can equip Swords, Daggers, Greatswords, Guns, Shields, Bangles, Hats, Helms, Clothing, Breast Plates, and Light Armor.

Allusions

 * All of Laguna's weapons in Dissidia 012 were in some way present in Final Fantasy VIII.
 * The Machine Gun is the one he used as his primary weapon in the original. He also used the grenades as part of his Limit Break.
 * His Ragnarok Cannon is a reference to the one on the Ragnarok itself.
 * Shotguns and a rifle were used by Irvine over the course of the game.
 * Selphie proposed using a bazooka to blow up the train Vinzer Deling was on.
 * The six-pack missile launcher resembles the launchers at the Missile Base in Galbadia.
 * Laguna's usage of the Ragnarok in his attacks is a reference to Esthar's use of the airship Ragnarok during the Sorceress War. Laguna became the leader of Esthar after the war.
 * It is also a pun on his name; Laguna's name in Japanese, "ラグナ, Raguna" is spelled the same as the first three characters in the name of the Ragnarok, "ラグナロク, Ragunaroku".
 * The name of Laguna's EX Mode is a reference to the flashbacks of Final Fantasy VIII where he and his comrades believed the presence of Squall and his friends to be faeries giving them strength.
 * Laguna has a leg cramp when confronting the Cloud of Darkness and keeping himself from offending her, a reference to Final Fantasy VIII when he had a leg cramp and backed down when attempting to speak to Julia.
 * Laguna's fight with the Cloud of Darkness may be a reference to his battle against Adel, a Sorceress in Final Fantasy VIII with a similar appearance to the Cloud of Darkness.
 * While speaking with the Cloud of Darkness, Laguna mistakenly refers to the manikins as munchkins; a reference to his habit of mixing up words in Final Fantasy VIII.
 * In his encounter quote against Onion Knight, Laguna refers to himself as "Uncle Laguna", the same nickname that Ellone would call him by.
 * In the story mode, Laguna takes the lead, but only to get the group lost. This is quite similar to Laguna's role in Final Fantasy VIII. As the commander, Laguna took the lead to help his comrades, Kiros and Ward, get back to Deling City only to get them lost in the jungle. He also brought the wrong map when they were exploring the Centra Excavation Site.

Trivia

 * Laguna and Squall are the second father-son pair in the Dissidia series along with Tidus and Jecht in the storyline.
 * Originally, Laguna was intended to be in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. He was supposed to be the head of Mirage Arena, but Square Enix decided to use him in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy instead.
 * Laguna and Balthier from Final Fantasy XII, while both being gunners, also share the same Japanese voice actor, Hiroaki Hirata.
 * Laguna's HP attack, Satellite Beam, is one of Barret Wallace's Limit Breaks in Final Fantasy VII.
 * Satellite Beam is also the only HP attack of Laguna's that does not use the Ragnarok Cannon.
 * Laguna's EX Burst deals the most hits of any attack in the game - it hits four times at the start, fires forty shots from the machine gun, then deals fourteen hits with Ultimate Ragnarok Cannon, for a total of fifty-eight hits.
 * Laguna is tied with Prishe and Vaan for the fewest HP attacks (counting ground and midair variants), having only four total.