In Dissidia Final Fantasy and Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, the various icons on the story mode boards are known under the blanket term "pieces," and are broken down into several subtypes—Player Pieces, Reward Pieces, Battle Pieces, End Pieces and Support Pieces. There are also two special types of tiles: Locked Areas and Enigma Tiles. In terms of map completion for the storylines, the player is required to interact with every piece on each board at least once to achieve 100% completion, in addition to receiving all the map rewards for the storyline.
Player Piece[]
The Player Piece represents the player's position on the board. The Player Piece's appearance is that of whichever character the player is playing as. The player can only interact with other pieces when they are in one of the four tiles adjacent the Player Piece.
In Dissidia a white outline on a tile represents the player's Home Area. Moving the Player Piece out of the home area costs a Destiny Point. When a player interacts with another piece their Home Area changes to their current location.
Assist Piece[]
The Assist piece represents the player's Assist, usually a predetermined character depending on the gateway (however, in the Epilogue of the Light to All storyline and in the Confessions of the Creator, the Assist is randomly selected from a list of characters not in the player's party).
Engaging the Assist Piece normally starts a short conversation between them and the player character. However, on the Confessions of the Creator, the Assist will fight the player if engaged. The Assist is at level 100 and fought on Order's Sanctuary. After the battle, the Assist Piece is removed from the map regardless of the result and the player must continue without the help of the Assist for the remainder of the floor.
Reward Pieces[]
Reward Pieces grant various items and summonstones when interacted with. There are four main types:
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Support Pieces[]
Support Pieces come in two types in Dissidia: Ethers and Potions. Potions restore the player's HP to full and fill their EX Gauge. Ethers only appear in Dissidia and randomly replace any Map Skills the player has used with new Map Skills. The continuous skills Invisible and Regen are not replaced, nor is Blink if its effect has been activated but not used up.
In Dissidia 012, the Phoenix Down appears to revive a KOed party member in storylines where the player travels with a party, generally within multi-floor gateways.
Locked Areas[]
Locked Areas are tiles the player cannot pass until they are unlocked. Red locked areas unlock after the player has defeated a specific Battle Piece or a specific number of Battle Pieces. Gold locked areas (known as Special Locked Areas) guard rare chests and summonstones, and unlock after earning enough Story Points, and thus cannot be unlocked in the first playthrough.
In Dissidia 012, locked areas are represented by a glowing gold icon, and only appear in the "Confessions of the Creator". They are unlocked when the player rescues the mured moogle and returns to these gateways.
Emblems[]
Emblems appear in Dissidia 012, and come in three varieties: a red circle with a downwards-pointing arrow, a blue circle with an upwards-pointing arrow, and a purple circle with a question mark. Emblems activate when the player icon stands on them and effect one or both of the combatants in battle.
Blue emblems bestow beneficial effects on the player or detrimental effects on the opponent, such as giving the player five times their base Bravery at the start of the battle. Red emblems help the opponent or hinder the player, such as reducing all physical damage to zero. Purple emblems affect both or neither character, and include varied effects such as awarding an extra KP in battle or raising the Stage Bravery. Emblems only take effect when the player's character stands on them; they are not active when an opposing Battle Piece is positioned over an Emblem.
Battle Pieces[]
Battle Pieces represent manikins, and initiate a battle when interacted with. There six types of Battle Pieces:
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In Dissidia, they only appear on subsequent playthroughs of a storyline when the player has accumulated enough SP on prior playthroughs. In Dissidia 012, they appear late in the Confessions of the Creator mode and are Level 100+. An ultimate battle piece also appears in Lightning's story, but it is only on Level 26. |
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In Round Robin, the party members in the first slots fight, then the second members, and so forth. When all battles are concluded the team with the most victories wins. If the player wins enough battles to have the majority, such as three victories against a five-member team, the remaining battles are skipped and the player wins KP for them as though they fought and were victorious. In Tournament, the first two characters in the parties fight, and when one is defeated the next person in line steps in to fight in their place. This continues until one party is entirely defeated. In Round Robin, only the party members who may potentially fight receive EXP from battles (i.e., only the first three party members when fighting a party of three enemies), while in Tournament all party members gain EXP. |
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Enigma Tiles[]
Mauve tiles with a question mark are as Enigma Tiles that contain a map piece, but the identity of the map piece is only revealed when the player either engages it or moves their home area adjacent to it. Enigma tiles do not appear in Dissidia 012.
End Pieces[]
End Pieces come in three types: Cosmos Pieces, Chaos Pieces, and the Stigma of Chaos. The Stigma of Chaos ends the stage or gateway when interacted with, while Chaos Pieces represent a battle with a Warrior of Chaos, and Cosmos Pieces trigger a battle with a Warrior of Cosmos. In some stages a Cosmos Piece or a Chaos Piece must be defeated to end the stage instead, and no Stigma of Chaos appears. In the bonus storylines Inward Chaos and Distant Glory, the Stigma of Chaos will not appear to end the stage at first until certain enemies are defeated.
In Dissidia 012, the Cosmos Piece is only used in Treachery of the Gods Chapter 5 to denote the entrance to Order's Sanctuary where the Warrior of Light is fought. In all other storylines when a Warrior of Cosmos is fought, a fourth end piece, the Enigma Piece, is used to represent them. This piece is also used during Chapter 3 of Main Scenario 013 placed as if the Phantasmal Harlequin manikin were the boss, but immediately after it is defeated the player faces Cloud as the true boss.
Behind the scenes[]
The model for the Mirror Piece is present in the game data of the original Dissidia, but is unused.
Both Dissidia and Dissidia 012 have two more unused map pieces in their data. The first resembles a Normal Battle Piece, but with a saucer-like covering over its head. The other is a large golden cup. This model was the basis for the Moogle Chalices in Dissidia 012, both of which are identical to the unused model save for the addition of the Moogle sitting inside the chalice. Given its resemblance to the Potion and Ether items, it is possible this unused map piece may have been intended as another beneficial item, possibly an Elixir.