Laguna Loire/Dissidia

Laguna Loire is the third representative of Final Fantasy VIII in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy.

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 wears black boots, fingerless gloves and a large black belt. He has long black hair, combed over to the right side. His eyes are green and he wears dog-tags and a silver earring for all three costumes.

Laguna's 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 the president of Esthar. He wears a light blue button-up shirt with brown pants and sandals.

His DLC outfit, "Sorceress' Knight," is his appearance at a movie filming, donning a suit of armor.

Laguna's Manikin, Transient Gunner, is purple.

Story
Laguna is a Warrior of Cosmos, acting like a big brother to the other Warriors and mediating them thanks to his cheerful and carefree nature. Prior to the conflict beginning, Laguna accompanied Squall and Firion on patrol, giving the latter the 'wild' rose they found. After Firion runs off to find the others, Laguna proceeds to talk to Squall about their new friends; like Zidane, whose tail he pulled during their meeting. He also tries to talk him out of being a loner. When Squall questions the point of making friends, Laguna explains that even if they were both from the same world, they would be separated eventually. Later, as the conflict begins, Laguna gets his group of Cosmos's warriors lost when trying to get to the sanctuary. He 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 are 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. After telling her he is helping Cosmos rather than serving her, Laguna's words intense the Cloud of Darkness's interest as she reveals where the Manikins are coming from, and that he can close the portal to end their rampage. Cloud of Darkness reveals this information as a potential suicide mission, and is curious about the manner of death Laguna would choose for himself.

Later on, Laguna and Vaan find Yuna with an unconscious Tidus after the Emperor has 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. 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 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. A downside to Laguna's strategic battle style is that most of his attacks have noticeable lags and many of his uncharged projectile attacks can be blocked.

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 right after, 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 are in some way present in Final Fantasy VIII.
 * The Machine Gun is the one he uses as his primary weapon in the original. He also uses 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 are used by Irvine.
 * 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 use 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.
 * 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 nickname Ellone would call him by.
 * Many quotes are taken from Laguna's episode at the Centra Excavation Site.
 * When he tries to convince his fellow soldiers that setting up traps against Esthar Soldiers is a good idea, Laguna proclaims "I have to admit... I really am a genius."
 * When his friends scoff his efforts for setting up such a simple trap, Laguna insists that "We won’t know until we try! And those who never try will never know!"
 * In his encounter quote against Emperor, Laguna warns his opponent to not fall for his own traps, an echo of when he told his companions that "It'd be idiotic to fall for our own trap..."
 * Laguna's encounter quote against Garland is a reference to when he was an aspiring journalist for Timber Maniacs.
 * Laguna's encounter quote against Firion is a reference to when his fellow soldiers teased him for his crush on the pianist, Julia Heartilly. This also ties into the Firion's 'rose theme' as the song Roses and Wine played during his time with Julia.
 * In another encounter quote, he says "Well, time for me to start my run," referring to the time he spent in Winhill going out on daily patrols to protect the civilians from monsters.
 * In the beginning of the Twelfth Cycle of War, Laguna takes the lead but gets the group lost much to everyone's frustration. This is similar to his role in Final Fantasy VIII where Laguna took the lead to help his comrades, Kiros and Ward, get back to Deling City only to get them lost in the jungle (the first time the player can control Laguna). He also brought the wrong map when they were exploring the Centra Excavation Site.
 * If Laguna fights Squall, Squall's encounter quote is "This guy's like a bad dream," a reference to the dreams Squall and his friends would have of Laguna and his friends.

Trivia

 * Laguna and Squall are the second father-son pair in the Dissidia series along with Tidus and Jecht in the storyline, however, according to one of the reports, both are unaware of their relationship.
 * 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 Laser, shares its Japanese name with one of Barret Wallace's Limit Breaks in Final Fantasy VII.
 * Satellite Laser is also Laguna's only HP attack 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.
 * Laguna is one of only two Cosmos warriors who don't use any kind of magic, the other being Tidus, if one doesn't count Energy Rain as magic.
 * Firion, Bartz, Gilgamesh, Laguna and Vaan are the only characters who use multiple weapons in battle, while everyone else carries one or none at all.