Dissidia Final Fantasy was a series exclusive to Sony’s portables, until it was turned into an arcade title. With Koei Tecmo’s Team Ninja at the helms of development, the game was turned from a single-player action RPG into a multiplayer-focused affair, with a focus on skillful play similar to a fighting game. In fact, the game is being pushed hard to the fighting game community, with an appearance at EVO 2017 and an upcoming tournament set to start soon.
But can it really be a good multiplayer game? I had my concerns, I never touched the series, and my first exposure was the closed beta months ago, but the open beta shows that it is shaping up to be a more presentable game. However, it still has some issues that you should be concerned.
A Full Package Of Fanservice
The big selling point of the Dissidia series is that it brings over all the main characters of previous Final Fantasy titles as part of the character roster. NT ups the number from its initial arcade release to , which includes villains and heroes from non-numbered FFs like FF Type-0 and FF Tactics. The presentation will be treat to FF fans, songs from past games can come in remixed or original (yes, even the NES titles will sound exactly like you expect). But there’s a lot of push for very superfluous unlocks.
You see, Dissidia Final Fantasy NT has loot boxes (gasp!). Thankfully, there are no hints that you can buy them with real cash just yet, but the systems are there. You can earn what they call treasure, and open these treasure for a random set of three unlocks with big ranges of quality drops. I managed to get player icons, extra background music based on past FFs and oddly enough, chat quotes. The most valuable unlocks are of course, the skins for costumes and weapons. It is unashamedly a loot box system, but so far, nothing too egregious.
But hey, you get to see Noctis get himself all confused as he drops into the first time into the Dissidia world and hangs out with Lightning. That’s cool, right?
Like most fighting games nowadays, there’s a story mode. But it’s not what you think. When initial info said there will be new cutscenes they really mean it. You can access to the 4 of them in the beta, and thery are short little fanservice moments. The idea here is that the story mode is treated as a reward for investing time in other modes rather than its own thing. Play some matches online or do the Gauntlet mode and you will gain orbs used to unlock the branching paths of the story. Later in the full game, there are a few sequences where you get thrown into a fight, but don’t expect it to be a lot.
While I personally like the approach they went with, this feels like a major step back from previous Dissidias, where the story mode is the main content. This is fine for a game that was clearly designed for multiplayer first which is tacking on the story later because fighting game story modes outside of NetherRealm’s output have been hit-and-miss affairs so far, but maybe not for Dissidia.
A Demanding Combat System
If you are familiar with Gundam Versus, then you will be right at home as the new 3v3 matches is exactly that format: you have three pips of lives, first team to take down the enemy three times wins.
(There is also another mode, where you have to attack enemy crystals while defending your own.)
The twist here is that each character has HP and Bravery points. To deal damage on the HP, you need to do an HP attack, the damage depends on your current Bravery points. To stock up Bravery, you need to do Bravery attacks, your main bread and butter.
The ebb and flow of combat ties to how much Bravery points you have currently, either gained after doing good combos or lost when you get comboed, so knowing when to cash out your bravery points is key: take down the enemy in one main swoop or whittle them down with more frequent HP attacks? You are very vulnerable after a successful HP attack and your bravery points will glow for all to see if you have enough points to down an enemy in one HP strike.
This is not a hack and slash where you mash buttons to win, attacks are slow and deliberate. So you have to play it tactically. The controls will need some getting used to as it feels clunky due to this.
But it does not go too deep in the fighting game rabbit hole when it comes to button inputs.Tilts (in this case, pushing the left stick forward or backward) are the only extra input to change your attacks, but it’s easy to forget that forward+X gives a different attack than just pressing X with no directions.
Characters can dash around at fast pace, knowing the range of your attacks is key here because boy the animations sure is long, which exposes yourself to oncoming attacks.
Characters come in four classes- Vanguards are the basic class of slow movers and hard hitters, Assassins deal less damage but move faster, Marksmen deal damage from afar while Specialists have unique properties and can bend some established rules.
Each character also have specific playstyles in mind. FFVII’s Cloud can charge his attacks so you should play him more slowly and deliberately. FFX’s Jecht is build to do fake out combos to trick your opponents and exploit them. Cecil from FFIV can switch between his Paladin and Dark Knight form, both with different movesets.
The different abilities do feel meaningful, if you can get past the main mechanics.
Thankfully, there is a tutorial that explains all the basic moves as well as hints of advanced techniques like dodge cancelling. The new clean UI also helps a lot to give more clarity (though I find the effects on the summoning gauge quite excessive that I could not tell if the bar was full or not). You can still use the classic UI from the arcades should you choose to.
In Case You Missed It, It’s Now A Fighting Game
There’s no denying how much the new Dissidia has a lot in common to fighting games, especially now it is structured like one. For offline, you now have the Gauntlet mode, which is basically an arcade mode.
You can select your party members, the other two being strictly AI controlled and fight through six stages. You can pick the opponents before each match, to raise up or lower down the difficulty. Finishing a the six set of matches, or after your defeat, it will tally up your score- awarded for doing well in matches- and will give you better awards the higher you score, which includes a loot box. You have a player level and a character level for progression, on level up you may gain more gameplay options that is EX skills (buffs and debuffs) you can equip in matches.
The online multiplayer is the meat of the game. You can either go solo or party up with one or two people and fight. Unfortunately, the game struggles here. Online matches have been a lagfest for me so far where simple inputs like switching targets take several seconds to register, and all the characters move in stuttering fashion. Maybe I had a few bad matches with high ping, maybe I was playing with people way far away. Problem is, the game does not surface any of this issue, no connection marker, no ping count, nothing.
A method to limit players that can matchmake with you should be added in the future, and I am really disappointed with this. You could make the argument that I have a bad internet connection but when I can play most fighting games online in a decent manner, this has to be either the issue of bad netcode or not enough nearby players.
Closing Thoughts
All in all, Dissidia Final Fantasy NT has shaped up considerably well for its console release, but maybe not enough. The main online multiplayer is questionable in quality, it can be hard to get into and familiarise the mechanics (but very rewarding once mastered), the single player content is mostly great for fans of the series and I am not sold if the loot boxes is a good implementation as Injustice 2 just yet. A lot of my concerns during the closed beta were not addressed properly, which leaves me worried and unfortunately, not hyped for its release.
If you feel like getting Dissidia Final Fantasy NT, don’t go in blind. Try the beta first and see if you like what you see. There’s fun to be had, but your mileage may vary.
