Kain Highwind/Dissidia (PSP)

Kain Highwind is one of the new characters introduced in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy. He specializes in high-speed aerial combat, fighting with his lance and Jump, along with a variety of other Dragoon abilities and wind spells. His EX Mode transforms him into a Holy Dragoon, just as in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, and allows him to use the iconic Dragoon ability Lancet.

Attire
Kain's outfits are based on Yoshitaka Amano's design for Final Fantasy IV and Akira Oguro's designs for Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. He wears dark purple armor with a dragon motif, featuring a helmet that covers his eyes, accented with a variety of elaborate patterns and designs in blue and white. As a Holy Dragoon his design is loosely based on Akira Oguro's artwork, where his armor is shimmering blue and white. He also lacks a helmet, revealing his face and long, blond hair.

Kain's first alternate outfit, "Noir Dragoon", is based on Dark Kain as he appears in Final Fantasy IV Advance and The After Years. He has scaled red and blue armor with more draconic features, and wields a forked spear. His EX Mode for this form is more faithful to his Holy Dragoon art, giving him a winged headpiece and armor.

Kain's second alternate outfit "Light Seeker" is his appearance as the Hooded Man from The After Years. Kain wears blue garments with a brown, tattered cape and a wide belt. His Holy Dragoon form is identical to the EX Mode for his second outfit, but colored purple.

Kain's Manikin, Delusory Dragoon, is colored dark blue with silvery accents, reflecting that of Cecil and Golbez's Manikins.

Story


After receiving his dormant crystal, Kain receives a visit from Golbez who divulges on the war's cycle of death and rebirth; in order for the revival to work their memories of the last war and their original home worlds must be erased. He mentions Kain fell in the previous cycle, but still retains memories of their own world, and that he will recover more with every battle he wins. Cecil enters and attacks Golbez, who teleports away. Before rejoining the others, Kain asks Cecil if he recalls anything about their world, to which Cecil responds he can only vaguely remember Kain. Kain informs the Warrior of Light of what he learned and the two reach the agreement that they should defeat the other warriors of Cosmos before the Manikins do, who are the only ones that can permanently kill the warriors summoned by Cosmos and Chaos. Kain proceeds to defeat and kidnap Bartz, which alerts the attention of the Chaos faction when he tries to take Lightning out as well.

After knocking Firion out, Exdeath asks Kain to disclose the whereabouts of the warriors of Cosmos, and turns a group of Delusory Dragoons on him when he refuses, with Kain emerging triumphant. After taking out Zidane, he intervenes in Tifa's fight with Ultimecia and protects her. Despite Tifa's joy at Kain's arrival, Ultimecia gloats about Kain's treachery and he flees with Zidane. By the time she finds him, Kain begins to suffer the toll of his fight as he tells Tifa to leave, but when she offers him her last Potion to Kain out of trust, he tells her the truth about the cycle. While Tifa remains positive, Kain asserts that he cannot guarantee she will survive the path she has chosen.

After they reunite with Laguna, Yuna, Lightning and Vaan, Exdeath and Golbez appear to tell them that the number of Manikins in the surrounding area is low. Kain catches onto the fact that the Manikins are heading towards Cosmos, and stays behind to fight Exdeath while the other five hurry to her aid. Kain defeats Manikins of the warriors he kidnapped, and finally Exdeath. Golbez expresses gratitude to Kain, as his actions have given him a chance to stop the cycle and save Cecil. He tells him that he will not make it back alive if he leaves, but Kain resigns himself to his fate. Despite his injuries, Kain joins the other five in their stand against the Manikins at the Empyreal Paradox, where they eventually succumb to them and lose their power. Kain sheds his light and fades away.

Battle
Kain is described as a Tactical Striker, fighting using attacks that let him dash and leap through the air with ease. Pressing after using one of his melee Bravery attacks cause him to dash towards the opponent quickly, allowing him to continue his assault. However, this requires strict timing which varies depending on which attack knocks them away and which attack the player uses next. Kain can also choose the orientation of where the final blow of his aerial attacks will send the opponent by tilting the analog stick up, down, or keeping it stationary, alternatively leading to Wall Rush or a Chase. His HP attacks are effective at both close and long ranges and are versatile across many altitudes.

EX Mode
Dragoon's Pride sD2h5EHgjm4 Kain's EX Mode is Holy Strength, recoloring his armor and removing his helmet to resemble his Holy Dragoon class change in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. While in EX Mode, he gains the special attack "Lancet", an HP attack which restores HP to Kain equal to the HP damage the enemy takes. It is activated by holding R and. The attack strikes from directly below the opponent and activates quite quickly. Kain is able to move while using it. It also restores Kain's Bravery to its base value after hitting.

Kain's EX Burst is Dragoon's Pride. Kain launches himself into the air at high-speed, and the player must repeatedly tap a specific button to fill a power meter, the button changing twice as the meter fills. If successfully executed, Kain reaches the peak of his jump above the clouds with the two moons in the sky behind him, and flips several times to leap down and drive his lance through his opponent, leaving a beam of light that consumes them in an explosion while he poses in the foreground. Failing to fill the meter results in Kain not reaching the peak of his jump and doing less damage.

Equipment
Kain can equip Swords, Daggers, Greatswords, Katanas, Spears, Shields, Gloves, Great Shields, Light Armor and Heavy Armor.

Allusions

 * The pose that Kain adopts upon successfully executing his EX Burst is his iconic pose from Amano's original artwork, which has also been used for several of his official illustrations.
 * At the start of a fight, Kain enacts a pose similar to the one seen in another of his official illustrations.
 * Kain's victory pose is the same as his victory pose in the Nintendo DS remake of Final Fantasy IV.
 * Kain's Spiral Blow and Sky Rave (also known as Sky Grinder) are based on two of his Band Abilities from Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, performed together with Golbez and Cecil respectively.
 * Kain's attack on the other warriors of Cosmos mirrors his role from Final Fantasy IV, when he was controlled by Golbez's enchantments.
 * His Aerial HP attack, Gungnir, was a weapon he had when he rejoins the party for the last time during the final moments of Final Fantasy IV. It may also be a reference to Odin's attack of the same name, where he throws his spear at opponents.
 * When Kain says, "Cross the Heavens," it is a reference to the origin of his name. His ExMode, may also a reference to Cain's fall and rise.
 * Although he cannot use magic in the original game, Kain is able to cast Cyclone in Dissidia. This may reference his ultimate weapon in Final Fantasy IV Advance, Abel's Lance, which randomly casts Tornado when attacking. The fact that Kain can use Cyclone could also be because of his connection to Barbariccia, as seen in the Tower of Zot in Final Fantasy IV. When facing Jecht in a fight, Kain says "Confident in aerial combat?", which references his dialogue before entering battle with Barbariccia at the Tower of Zot. The line in the Japanese version of Dissidia 012 is a direct quote.
 * Upon initiating his EX-Burst, Kain says "Let me ease your pain." This paraphrases his line of dialogue in Final Fantasy IV after defeating Cecil at Fabul: "Let me ease your suffering."
 * When Kain faces himself in a fight, his dialogue alludes to the battles with his dark side in The After Years.

Trivia

 * Kain was originally considered to appear in the original Dissidia, but was ultimately left out. Tetsuya Nomura however, stated if the game were to get a sequel, Kain was sure to be in it. In an interview about Dissidia 012, Nomura said his only request for director Mitsunori Takahashi was to include Kain. He was nevertheless rumored to make an appearance in the original Dissidia according to a fake scan supposedly taken from Famitsu magazine.
 * Kain was alluded to in the original Dissidia in one of Benjamin's quests for Mognet, if the player tells him to travel to Mount Ordeals to find a dragoon dressed in blue. Upon returning, Benjamin says he could not find the dragoon and that only monsters awaited him.
 * Nomura originally drew Kain facing on an angle, but re-drew him to face to the side to be entirely in-line with his original Yoshitaka Amano artwork, which he feels is an iconic image. This original art showed Kain's eyes, but when the other staff members told him Kain would take off his helmet for his EX Mode, Nomura redrew Kain with his eyes covered.
 * In Nomura's artwork of Kain it shows his lance in his right hand even though Kain is left-handed.
 * Kain's lances in his three outfits are all completely different in design and coloring.
 * According to some Dissidia 012's developers, during testing some player testers found Kain overpowered, while others acknowledged his fighting style difficult to get used to. Because of this the developers decided that the true answer was somewhere in-between and considered him adequately balanced.
 * When Kain finishes his EX Burst, he holds his lance in his right hand, but when the EX Burst is over, he is seen holding it in his left hand.
 * Celestial Shooter and Crashing Dive are both enemy attacks featured in Final Fantasy Legends: Hikari to Yami no Senshi.
 * Kain's EX Burst deals the fewest hits of any EX Burst, hitting the opponent only three times.

Kain Highwind/Dissidia