WHEN it comes to dream combat matches, it usually involves fictional characters from different companies coming together. It’s rare to see huge levels of excitement for dream matches involving characters from a single company but Square Enix has managed to do just that with its Final Fantasy series. Let’s take a look at Dissidia Final Fantasy NT.
SYNOPSIS
Long after the events of the previous Dissidia Final Fantasy game, World B has collapsed and the ruling gods, Cosmos and Chaos, have ceased to exist. Somehow, World B has revitalised and the will of the old gods reincarnated as Materia, the Sublime Goddess of Protection, and Spiritus, the Savage God of Destruction.
Both gods decide to summon the previous warriors of Cosmos and Chaos to become their champions, to maintain the existence of the new World B through energy generated by battles. Unlike before, all the warriors are able to retain memories of their previous involvement in the War of the Gods as well as their origins.
With not much choice in the matter and seeing how this may be the only way for the warriors to return to their respective home worlds, they decide to follow through the new gods’ plan; battle to preserve the existence of World B. Little do they know the world is also under the threat of world destroyers known as “Planesgorgers”.
THREE MAIN MODES
There are a number of options to access but for the most parts, you’ll only focus on three modes — Story, Online and Offline Mode. Many first time players will pick the Story Mode but unfortunately, there’s not much to do here. That’s because you need to unlock bits and pieces of the game’s story using Memoria points.
The Story Mode itself is laid out in a similar fashion to the Sphere Grid/Crystarium levelling system in previous Final Fantasy game. Instead of getting stronger by spending points on each part, you get to enjoy more of the game’s story.
To obtain the needed Memoria points, you need to level up your character profile, which requires spending time in the Offline and Online Mode.
For the Offline Mode, you have the choice of going through Gauntlet Mode in regular battles or core battles.
As you progress through the game’s story, you will unlock extra playable portions of the Gauntlet Mode where you will utilise specific characters against “Manikins”, crystalised versions of existing Final Fantasy characters in the game’s playable roster. Slight spoiler alert, there is also a Boss Rush mode where players will fight all of the game’s bosses, one at a time.
While doing this, you will slowly level up and gain some needed items, power ups, and the needed Memoria points to go through the game.
While this may seem like a unique way of going through the game’s content and it gives players the motivation to practice, it feels more like Square Enix’s way of artificially lengthening the game’s content. If there was no need for unlocking, you can easily finish Story Mode in an hour or two at most.
MISSING KEY ELEMENTS
Besides the characters, the fighting system also make the Dissidia series stand out among other fighting games. While other games have some form of attack, causing a reduction in the target’s HP (hit points), each character has two types of points to take note of; Bravery points and Hit points (HP).
Bravery points are accumulated through Bravery attacks, which are ordinary strings of combos and attacks. These points determine the amount of damage you execute on your enemies via HP attacks.
For example, if I have 5,000 Bravery points and the opponent has 4,000 HP, a single HP attack will instantly annihilate said opponent. From the first Dissidia game to this, the concept has been the same and this isn’t a problem with the game.
The problem is that the combat system feels more like a step back from the previous game. You don’t actually level up your characters to strengthen them but instead, to unlock certain attacks and items, and there isn’t much attacks to unlock for each character to begin with.
Previously, there’s a wide variety of Bravery and HP attacks that players can customise but that’s no longer the case anymore.
Summons have played a bigger role in this iteration of Dissidia as it can cause damage directly to your opponents.
However, this seems to have come at the cost of no longer having Limit Breaks, which I feel is a staple in the Final Fantasy series. In other words, you will not be able to pull off some flashy Limit Break moves like Lionheart, Omnislash and more.
That is not to say that the characters’ respective signature moves are not available. For some, they either appear as EX Skills, which consists of skills that can buff allies and debuff enemies as well as special attack moves, or in the form of HP attacks when you’ve at least reach Level 10 for specific characters.
My biggest gripe is that it’s not the same as having a proper Limit Break special move as not only do the moves feel underwhelming, you’ve taken away the sense of excitement.
CONCLUSION
Dissidia Final Fantasy NT is supposed to deliver the epic handheld PSP experience on console.
While the game itself isn’t bad, certain changes have made the game feel like a hollow incarnation of what could be a great game.
Square Enix supposedly want this to be an eSports-centric game, but I’m doubtful that gamers are willing to invest their time to build a competitive community around this game.
While it is true that Square Enix plans on having some form of DLC, especially additional characters, for this game throughout the year, there’s only so much that they can change and it may be too late by then. With that in mind, I give Dissidia Final Fantasy NT a 5/10 rating.
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