Bartz Klauser/Dissidia (PSP)

Bartz Klauser is one of the heroes fighting for the side of Cosmos in Dissidia Final Fantasy, who was previously seen as the main character in Final Fantasy V. A courageous young man with a strong sense of justice, Bartz possesses the ability to mimic and combine the powers of Cosmos's other warriors in battle. Searching for the Crystals with Zidane, he must contend with the various traps the villains set for him. He must also confront his nemesis, the sword-wielding warlock Exdeath, who wishes to engulf the world in the Void.

Bartz is set to return, along with the other characters from Dissidia, in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy.

Crystal and Attire
Bartz's design is based on his artwork by and Amano's artwork, although Bartz has brown hair and grey eyes. His outfit is made up of different shades of blue and white, with a blue cape and leggings and gold trim. His alternate outfit is directly based on an alternate artwork Amano, which depicts him with a zebra-striped shirt, a red cloth, black leggings, white hair, and a blue Brave Blade. His second alternate outfit is based on his original sprite appearance of Final Fantasy V, which features brown hair in a different style, a blue tunic, white pants, and green boots. Again, his EX Mode adds a red cape to the outfit, mirroring his appearance from the original Super Famicom box art for Final Fantasy V.

Bartz's Crystal is an ordinary purple jewel, reminiscent of the crystal shards used in Final Fantasy V to obtain a new job.

Bartz's Manikin version, Fallacious Wanderer, is cyan.

Dissidia 012
In the TSG trailer, after being attacked by Kain, Bartz is found by Lightning as he reveals his attacker's identity, much to her shock. He is earlier seen alongside Zidane and Squall who met with Kuja - believing him to be a rarely seen Warrior of Cosmos. On the latest Jump Festa trailer, Bartz is seen talking with Warrior of Light stating that maybe they can give him a new name so that his friends can refer to him. In the newest trailer a portal opens behind him in the Interdimensional Rift, and a mysterious figure emerging from it calls out to him, Gilgamesh.

Destiny Odyssey
After Squall saves Bartz and Zidane from the Manikins he is asked to come along to look for the Crystals together. Squall states he is more comfortable by himself and the three agree to split up while continuing to search for their Crystals. Just a moment after Bartz runs off with Zidane, he comes back and gives Squall a chocobo feather as a good luck charm, promising that Squall would give it back when they meet again later. Wishing to transform the crisis into a bit of fun, Bartz and Zidane propose to have a contest to see who will obtain a Crystal first. However, their competition is cut short as Kefka captures Bartz and fights Zidane. After Bartz regains consciousness, he finds himself in the hands of the Warriors of Chaos. Overhearing a conversation between Kefka and Kuja that Bartz's capture was a mistake and the trap was meant for Zidane, Bartz makes his escape. Later on, Bartz overhears a discussion between the Emperor, Ultimecia, and Sephiroth concerning the fellow villains who fight only for destruction. At first Bartz thinks the Emperor and Sephiroth are fighting over Ultimecia; he is spotted and makes his escape, and the Emperor and Ultimecia hope that pursuing Bartz would lead them to Exdeath, who is holding a Crystal Bartz snatches away without a second thought. Bartz runs into Golbez and fights him before continuing to look for Zidane. Bartz eventually finds Zidane and is surprised to see Squall is with him. When Bartz shows Zidane the Crystal he has caught, they find out it was no more than a trap that teleports Zidane to the mercy of Kuja. Bartz laments everything was his fault and Squall gives him back the chocobo feather before running into Exdeath. Bartz, tired of running, decides to fight and defeat him. After he wins, the chocobo feather turns into his Crystal.

Shade Impulse
Bartz, Squall, and Zidane reunite with the other Warriors of Light and approach Cosmos who Chaos disintegrates. Realizing that Cosmos sacrificed her life and that the final hope of the world is in their hands, the Warriors battle their respective enemies one more time before eventually defeating Chaos himself. After finding themselves near Castle Cornelia in the reformed world of the original Final Fantasy in the game's ending, Bartz returns to his world, as he throws a stick and fades into a forest. As he leaves, he tells his friends that when one is having the most fun, that is when time just flies on.

Battle
Bartz's fighting style is Mimic, and he copies the attacks of the other Warriors of Cosmos, freely changing between their weapons and fighting styles in battle to create new combos. His Bravery attacks have the unique feature of carrying support abilities, and he is able to equip any equipment piece in the game, giving him a high degree of versatility. His HP attacks are original attacks from other characters, and he possesses an impressive ground speed, though not as fast as some other characters like Zidane and Onion Knight. A slight drawback is that most of Bartz's moves are close to mid-ranged, limiting his ranged capabilities.

Boss
Bartz is fought in Distant Glory and Inward Chaos.

EX Mode
Spellblade - Dual Wield - Rapid Fire rhqQQq744rM Bartz's EX Mode is Job Mastered. Bartz's cape turns red, approximating his appearance as a Mime in Final Fantasy V, and gains three gold stars over his head, a symbol of Job mastery in the same game. While in EX Mode Bartz gains the Regen status and the special attack Goblin Punch by pressing R +. The attack is a quick, short-ranged HP attack with the Wall Rush ability, and does Brave damage before knocking the opponent away. As is tradition with the attack, it does more damage if Bartz and his opponent are at the same level.

Bartz's EX Burst is Spellblade-Dual Wield-Rapid Fire, an incredibly powerful combination of abilities commonly used in Final Fantasy V. Bartz imbues his friends' weapons with elemental energy and attacks his opponent eight times. In order for it to be perfectly executed, four pairs of D-Pad commands must be input correctly in quick succession. He finishes off the Burst by combining all his mimicry weapons into the Brave Blade for a final attack.

Equipment
Bartz is able to use any sort of equipment, except for the the ones unique to the other characters and female exclusive equipment.

Allusions

 * Bartz's weapon is the Brave Blade, a weapon from Final Fantasy V that is initially powerful but decreases in strength as the player flees from battle. Ironically, Bartz spends much of his storyline hiding from and fleeing from the various villains, perhaps a reference to the Brave Blade's counterpart, the Chicken Knife, which grew stronger as the player fled from battle.
 * Similar to Gilgamesh's use of parody weapons owned by various warriors, Bartz uses a variety of weapons the other heroes use: The Warrior of Light's Crystal Sword, Firion's axe, Onion Knight's Onion Sword, Cecil's Shadowblade and Light Sword, Cloud's Buster Sword, Squall's Revolver Gunblade, Zidane's Mage Mashers, and Tidus' Brotherhood.
 * In Dissidia 012, Bartz gains Lightning's Blazefire Saber, Laguna's Ragnarok Cannon, Yuna's Aeons and Staff, and Vaan's katana.
 * Several references are made to Bartz's friend Boko, his pet Chocobo: Bartz carries around one of Boko's feathers as a good luck charm, and when he begins his EX Burst Chocobo footprints run across the screen, and the cry of a Chocobo is heard as Bartz kicks his opponent with a flurry of yellow feathers around him.
 * Bartz's association with the wind is a reference to the fact it was his element in Final Fantasy V.
 * Bartz's EX Burst, where he attacks eight times with magic-enhanced weapons, is a reference to one of the most powerful ability combinations in Final Fantasy V. Dual Wield lets a character equip two weapons, Spellblade lets them enchant them with magic, and Rapid Fire lets them attack four times with each weapon, for a total of eight strikes. These abilities can only be used all at once by the Freelancer or Mime classes, hence Bartz's status in Dissidia as a Mime.
 * As Bartz begins his EX Burst, he raises his arms, and the eight swords he uses for the burst fly out in four directions, turn into orbs of magic, and fly back into him. This is identical to the animation used for Spellblade in Final Fantasy V. The colors of the magic are red, blue, yellow, and green, referring to the colors and associated Crystals' elements in Final Fantasy V. As well, before inputting the commands for his EX Burst, he will shout out, "Four essences!", which is seen at the intro FMV of the Playstation version of Final Fantasy V, describing the power of the Crystals.
 * Two of Bartz's strongest exclusive weapons are nods towards the Warriors of Dawn, and his father Dorgann Klauser, who was a member. Bartz's artwork for the game is in the same pose as Dorgann's artwork.
 * The Goblin Punch attack available in Bartz's EX Mode uses the same visual effects of white stars used to display a hit in Final Fantasy V. The Goblin Punch attack is furthermore a reference to Final Fantasy V being the first game in the series to use Blue Magic, as the blue octahedrons from the attack animation of Blue Magic in Final Fantasy V are included in the move as well.
 * The fact that Bartz's attacks grant him minor support abilities may be a reference to how Blue Magic works in Final Fantasy XI. It also may be a reference to the Mime class's ability to take on the support abilities and stat boosts of mastered classes in Final Fantasy V.
 * Bartz's ability to use other heroes' weapons may refer to Gilgamesh, who also uses the signature weapons of previous protagonists in Final Fantasy XII, and who first appeared in Final Fantasy V. When battling Jecht, Bartz says "Let's fight like men!" as a reference to one of Gilgamesh's famous lines. Another line said by Gilgamesh is when fighting Chaos, "Let's finish this, one on one!" which is said by Gilgamesh to Bartz before he defeats Necrophobe in Final Fantasy V, "When we meet again, let's fight one on one!"
 * When Bartz finds the Leviathan summonstone in his Story Mode, he exclaims "Sweet Cosmos, it's a talking rock!", a reference to his amazement when he met Ghido: "Sweet Christmas, it's a talking turtle!"
 * Bartz's victory pose is identical to the Amano artwork of him.
 * Bartz's combo of Holy and Flare is a reference to the Fork Tower, where the player is forced to acquire both Holy and Flare simultaneously in order to progress.
 * At the end of the battle scene between him and Exdeath in his Destiny Odyssey, he assumes a pose similar to that of his sprite in the original game.

Trivia

 * Of all of Bartz's Bravery attacks, Holy is the only one that is not a combination of two attacks. It is an identical copy of the original attack used by Terra. As with Terra's Holy Combo, Bartz's Holy chains into Flare, but his Flare is Onion Knight's Flare HP attack while Terra's Flare is a Bravery attack.
 * Bartz performs some moves with the opposite hand: Cecil uses Soul Eater with his sword in his right hand, but Bartz holds it in his left.
 * Bartz is the sixth hero to obtain his Crystal in Destiny Odyssey 90.
 * Although it is depicted in his artwork, Bartz only uses the Brave Blade when he is using his EX Burst. He otherwise uses the Crystal Sword in his victory pose, and the Mage Masher, Onion Sword, and Crystal Sword in his extended opening pose.
 * The only other Warrior of Cosmos whose weapon Bartz does not use is Terra's, possibly because she fights using magic and does not use her sword except for Chase Sequences. Her sword is also missing from Bartz's EX Burst, although the magic that combines the weapons together may represent her spell-based attacks.
 * Rather than Firion's Blood Sword, Bartz uses his axe during his EX Burst. Firion's weapon is the only one used in the EX Burst that is not a sword or sword-derivative.
 * Bartz quotes his comrades when using their attacks, and even mimics their tone of voice.
 * Bartz is the only Warrior of Cosmos who has a special attack in EX Mode.
 * Bartz has the quickest HP attack, only accessible in his EX Mode, Goblin Punch.
 * Bartz's EX Burst is mistakenly referred to as "Master Mime" in the menu.
 * In the Battle Tips menu, Penelo states that Bartz, due to his antics and personality, reminds her of Vaan.
 * Bartz's image on "Dissidia Potion" cans, along with Terra's is not from the official artwork. Although in Bartz's case, only his height differs, so it's hardly noticeable.