Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy

Unreleased

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

Gameplay
Dissidia Duodecim's gameplay will be very similar to the original's, featuring all of the original gameplay elements, characters and arenas. Fighters have Bravery points that increase when they use Bravery attacks and decrease when they are hit with a Bravery attack. Depleting an opponent's Bravery to zero inflicts a Bravery 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 and new ones will be added according to Nomura.

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.

The Assist Gauge can be quickly filled by either successfully counter an enemy's Brave attack when near Break status, or by counter an HP attack when near KO, respectively filling one or two Assist Gauges. There is another new technique called an EX Revenge, which can cancel an opponent's attack, similar to how going into EX Mode did in the original Dissidia. Activating an EX Revenge consumes the entire EX Gauge, however.

Dissidia Final Fantasy Save Data can also be transferred into Dissidia Duodecim, although to what extent is currently unknown.

The game will also feature a Chaos story mode.

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, Lightning, and Tifa. Also, bundled with the first shipments of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix and The 3rd Birthday are access codes that can be used to unlock Cloud's Kingdom Hearts and Lightning's Aya Brea attire as alternate costumes, respectively, though it is not known whether or not if there are more upcoming games that would have access codes or if the currently known games have more access codes that are yet to be revealed. It has been stated that more than just a handful of new characters will be included, but there will not necessarily be an equal amount of characters from each 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. Tetsuya Nomura stated that Square Enix would include as many new stages as new characters.

Music
It has been announced that Square Enix will include nearly twice as many music tracks and more of them will be original/retro, compared to the original. The game's soundtrack will be composed/arranged by Takeharu Ishimoto, who was also responsible for the first Dissidia's music. thumb|200px|right|Dissidia Duodecim main theme

Plot
The divine conflict between harmony and discord rages on, the fate of the world its promised prize. Fighting to secure it are brave souls summoned for that solitary purpose. These warriors, relying on what fragments of their shattered memories remain, fight to end the conflict — and for a chance to return home, to the worlds they each once knew.

Dissidia 012 will tell the story of the 12th cycle of battle between the warriors of the Gods. According to Siliconera, the game will feature something like the Destiny Odysseys, only they will include Chaos Characters as well.

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 that means "twelve". Duo translates to two (2) and decim translates to ten (10) in latin. Combined, they equal 12, symbolizing the 12th war. Latin numbers after 10 are written backwards that is why duo is first. Nomura stated, It means ’12′ in Latin. DFF was the 13th battle and marked the end of the gods’ battle, but this time we’re covering the 12th battle before that one so it was named with that meaning in mind. It has other meanings to the development staff

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.
 * In an interview Nomura stated that Takahashi had said, “If you don’t add this character I’m not making the sequel!”. The character in question being Tifa Lockhart.