Dissidia Final Fantasy (2008)

Dissidia Final Fantasy is a video game developed by Square Enix for the PlayStation Portable as part of the campaign of the Final Fantasy series 20th anniversary. Dissidia's genre has been described as "dramatic progressive action" featuring a 3-D graphical environment with the ability to level up characters like in RPGs. The game reunites characters from other installments of the Final Fantasy series. Chaos makes an appearance as the god of discord, while a new character, Cosmos, appears as the goddess of harmony. Long-time series collaborator Tetsuya Nomura was in charge of the characters' design, although many of these are based on their original design by Yoshitaka Amano.

Gameplay
Dissidia is an action-based fighting game mixed with RPG elements. The battles in Dissidia are divided into stages, each taking place on its own checkerboard-like map. Characters will be moved around the board, able to pick up equipment and potions on the map and fight whenever they stop adjacent to an enemy. "Destiny Points", also known as DP, are needed to move around the board. Characters can collect more DP by fighting non-boss enemies on the board. These non-boss enemies are pallete-swaps of other characters of the game. The energy of characters is not refilled after battles with regular enemies, so grabbing items and equipment on the board is the key to winning a battle and being prepared for the next. Battles take place on fully rendered 3D fields, where the scenery might be damaged because of the fight. Destroying pillars and other objects builds up the character's "Brave" meter.

Brave points are required to do more damage to an enemy. The more Brave points a character has, the more damage he can deal. There is also an "EX Bar" meter which fills up during battle from attacking or from acquiring the EX Cores placed around the stages. Once filled, the character can enter EX Mode which grants a character-specific bonus and gives access to an EX Burst, a special move that deals massive damage to their opponent. These moves are often a reference to each character's respective game, such as Squall using his Renzokuken or Kefka Palazzo using Light of Judgment. After the battle is over, characters are rewarded with Gil, EXP, and AP. Characters level up in the game, the max being level 100. The director stated that depending on the player skills, a level 20 character can defeat a level 90 one. Screenshots and demos have shown that characters on the same side can battle with one another, such as Squall battling Warrior of Light and Garland battling Kuja.

Summons
Summons have been confirmed to appear in Dissidia. Not much is known about them, but they are equipped prior to fighting and are represented by red orbs over the player's health bar.

Each Summon has two appearances: one for their "Auto" version, and one for their normal version. The "Auto" version acts on a condition, usually a Brave Break, while normal version must be triggered by pressing Circle and R. The normal version is usually more powerful than the "Auto" one.

Currently known Summons in Dissidia include:
 * Alexander
 * Atomos
 * Bahamut
 * Barbariccia
 * Behemoth
 * Bomb
 * Cactuar
 * Carbuncle
 * Chocobo
 * Demon Wall
 * Gilgamesh
 * Ifrit
 * Iron Giant
 * Leviathan
 * Lich
 * Magic Pot
 * Magus Sisters
 * Marilith
 * Malboro
 * Mandragora
 * Odin
 * Omega
 * Phoenix
 * PuPu
 * Shinryu
 * Shiva
 * Tiamat
 * Typhoon
 * Ultima Weapon
 * Ultros

Arenas
Twelve Arenas have been confirmed to appear, although only eleven have been revealed to date, ten serving as an important site of conflict between the heroes and the villains in their original games, and the other two being entirely new areas made for the game. Each arena can be played as a basic arena with no special features, or as a stage with a special "gimmick", effectively doubling the number of states to twenty-four. For example, the Chaos Shrine stage's alternate form constantly drains the BP of both characters during a match.
 * Chaos Shrine
 * Pandaemonium
 * World of Darkness
 * Red Moon
 * Dimensional Castle
 * Magitek Research Facility
 * Planet's Core
 * Ultimecia's Castle
 * Crystal World
 * Sin
 * Cosmos Throne
 * Chaos Throne

Characters


Player characters are split between supporting the cause of the "Goddess of Harmony", Cosmos, and the "God of Discord", Chaos. Both summoned the characters from the series with their own motives: Cosmos wishes to protect the Crystals from the forces of Chaos and keep order, while Chaos wants to take control of the Crystals and upset the balance of power between good and evil. The narrator of the events ocurring in Dissidia is Cid of the Lufaine.

Thus far, 22 playable characters have been confirmed: a hero and a villain from each of the first ten Final Fantasy games, and a character each from Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XII.


 * Final Fantasy
 * Warrior of Light: A warrior chosen by the Crystals who fights with magic and swordplay.
 * Garland: A fallen knight bearing a two-handed greatsword that can transform into a variety of weapons.


 * Final Fantasy II
 * Firion: A young man from Fynn, who joined the rebels of the Wild Rose to fight for freedom and justice.
 * The Emperor: A man who wields terrible magic and manipulates powerful arcane forces to conquer the world.


 * Final Fantasy III
 * Onion Knight: A young boy, chosen by the crystals, who possesses the title of Onion Knight.
 * Cloud of Darkness: A being who exists to return all to nothing in order to reset the balance between light and dark.


 * Final Fantasy IV
 * Cecil Harvey: Once the commander of the Red Wings, he decided to fight against his king and finally against his own brother.
 * Golbez: A man clad in black armor, he is the new Captain of the Red Wings, Cecil's elder brother, and a master of dark magic.


 * Final Fantasy V
 * Bartz Klauser: An orphan from Lix who, on his father's final wish, decided to wander across the world.
 * Exdeath: An evil warlock born of a tree from the Great Forest of Moore, who wishes to absorb the world into the Void.


 * Final Fantasy VI
 * Terra Branford: The child of an Esper and a human, Terra was instrumental in the Gestahlian Empire's development of Magitek.
 * Kefka Palazzo: A failed Magitek experiment turned into the psychotic and sadistic Court Mage of the Gestahlian Empire, his sole aim is the destruction of everything.


 * Final Fantasy VII
 * Cloud Strife: A young man with false memories and great strength, he wields the enormous Buster Sword and believes himself a former SOLDIER.
 * Sephiroth: Once the strongest SOLDIER alive, he has now been driven mad by what he believes is his birthright to reign over humanity.


 * Final Fantasy VIII
 * Squall Leonhart: A young SeeD mercenary armed with a specially designed Gunblade, he is a loner and is focused on protecting the Crystals.
 * Ultimecia: A Sorceress said to have the power to manipulate time itself, she believes that Cosmos' act as a Goddess of Harmony is a farce.


 * Final Fantasy IX
 * Zidane Tribal: A 16-year-old thief with a deep sense of justice and a weakness for girls, he is unaware of his title as a manufactured Angel of Death.
 * Kuja: A manufacturer of destructive magical weapons with a preference for literature and poetry, he is Zidane's predecessor and the first Angel of Death.


 * Final Fantasy X
 * Tidus: The ace player from the Blitzball team, the Zanarkand Abes, he traveled with the summoner Yuna to stop the monster Sin.
 * Jecht: Tidus' father who served as the star player on Zanarkand's Blitzball team and sacrificed his life to appease Sin ten years prior.


 * Final Fantasy XI
 * Shantotto: An outspoken Tarutaru professor of magic, and one of the heroes of the Great War.


 * Final Fantasy XII
 * Gabranth: An Archadian Judge Magister born from the Republic of Landis, which was invaded by the Archadian Empire when he was young. He is the twin brother of Basch.

Story
The story follows the conflict between Chaos and Cosmos and their allies, drawn from the main series games of Final Fantasy. Chaos summons the villains of the games in order to take control over the crystals and, in response, Cosmos summons the heroes return the balance of between discord and harmony. Each warrior must once again face his or her greatest foe in an ultimate battle.

Development
First news of the game appeared when Square Enix filed for the United States trademark registration of "DISSIDIA" and then with the opening of the Dissidia website with the games logo. It was fully unveiled at Square Enix Party 2007 with the first trailer featuring the Warrior of Light, Garland, Zidane, Kuja, and Sephiroth. It was announced as a part of the Final Fantasy series 20th Anniversary collection (although the game wouldn't be released in time for the Final Fantasy series anniversary, and would not represent all numbered Final Fantasy games of the last 20 years, instead stopping at Final Fantasy X.) It was announced that the game would be produced by Yoshinori Kitase, directed by Yousuke Shiokawa, with music by Takeharu Ishimoto, and character designs handled by Tetsuya Nomura.

The game would pit past Final Fantasy characters against each other in a 3D battle field. The game made its playable debut at Jump Festa 2008, December 22nd 2007 where another trailer was shown featuring Squall, Ultimecia, and Tidus. In an interview Nomura stated that the game was being developed by younger staff members within Square-Enix and although he was the character designer, he was pretty hands off the project and leaving it in the hands of the younger developers. When asked by Famitsu about the possible inclusion of characters from Final Fantasy XI, Nomura cryptically stated, "I can't say anything yet." He avoided a similar question concerning the appearance of Final Fantasy XII characters in a later interview. The story revolves around the conflict that each of the paired characters has that makes them unique, as well as the overarching concept of each side battling for the Crystals. Each character has a distinctive battle style, and some have been redesigned to resemble the original artwork of Yoshitaka Amano. It is currently unknown if, story-wise, the heroes and villains already have established conflicts with each other in their own worlds, or if they are being brought to face each other for the first time.

The story will unfold both outside, and in the middle of battles, marking a unique style of story telling. At first, only the ten heroes will be playable, but as players play the game and earn "PP", they can use PP to buy alternate costumes and to access the villains. To see the "true" ending of the game, one will have to complete the game with all twenty characters. It has been hinted that, although the playable cast consists of ten villains and ten heroes, they may not all be on the same side - heroes and villains have been seen fighting amongst themselves in trailers on several occasions. It has also been indicated that some characters have their own agendas beyond the Crystals; several heroes and villains have been shown together frequently in trailers, hinting that they may be working together.

Director Takeshi Arakawa has said that there were difficulties in developing Dissidia using the UMD media in that they wanted to find a compromise between reading from the disc constantly (which drains battery) and longer loading times.

Music
Dissidia Final Fantasy Original Soundtrack will be released on December 24th, 2008 on two CDs. A Limited Edition version will also be released. The soundtrack features arranged music from the series, rearranged by Takeharu Ishimoto and Tsuyoshi Sekito.

Merchandise
The Dissidia cast will be made into Trading Arts Figures, posing in their positions as depicted in their Dissidia artwork. Dissidia will also include a purchasable bundle similar to that of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-. It will include a copy of Dissidia, with limited edition cover art that features Cosmos and the heroes, and the new PSP 3000 with engravings of Cosmos and Chaos, similar to the Crisis Core bundle. A line of grape flavoured Potion beverages with likenesses of the artwork for each of the heroes and villains on the cans have also been produced. Studio BentStuff published the Dissidia Final Fantasy Ultimania α as an initial reference guide for the game on December 4th 2008. The Japanese magazine V-Jump also published the Dissidia Final Fantasy Destiny Hero's Guide on December 18th 2008, which covers all the 10 chapters of the story mode and provides info on the 22 characters' ability and items.

TV Spot
The current TV commercials from Japan. TV Commercial 1 bubJR0q5jkE TV Commercial 2 pwbQ_vgWdrc

Trivia

 * The first trailer for Dissidia had the tagline "There are 12 worlds...and the 13th is about to be revealed." The meaning of this line has not yet been explained.
 * Dissidia's release date in Japan, December 18th, is the same date that the original Final Fantasy was released in Japan.
 * Dissidia will be released in North America in "mid-year 2009". Due to the symbolic date chosen for Japan, many fans believe that in North America the precise date will be July 12th, the same date that the original Final Fantasy was released in North America.
 * Dissidia will also be released through the Japan PSN store as a download.
 * Tetsuya Nomura wanted to include a character from Final Fantasy XIII, but felt that it could have affected Final Fantasy XIII in the process by locking down the image of the character's skills and so forth.
 * The design of each character's ability names correspond to the battle menu design of the game he/she originated from.