Final Fantasy Dissidia

I know many people seem to think that Final Fantasy Dissidia is little more than a shameful grab at the popularity of the Final Fantasy series, but I am here to tell you this simply isn’t the case. This game presents an interesting new idea to the fighting game genre.
The story is Cosmos, the goddess of light, calling together heroes Ragnarok Style to help her fend off Chaos, and, shockingly for all of course, these heroes are all from Final Fantasy games. Each hero has their own story and each has a difficulty and might require extra curricular leveling of your character of choice. On the topic of leveling the game does make characters gain levels to learn attacks, separated into hp and bravery, with bravery determining how much damage is done (Similar to a game of tug of war) and hp actually hurting your opponent.
With Ten characters to start and eleven villains to be unlocked (along with one more hero) there is bound to be a favorite for anybody that plays (Onion knight FTW by the way). The styles are vastly different, for example, Cloud and Sephiroth both use ridiculously oversized weapons but play in very different manners (what manners you say? Buy it and find out). Equipment is also important as it can affect everything from attack and defense to bravery and hp and give you an edge in battle.
The levels are wide, open, and varied; the destructible environment is a nice touch. Stages from the throne of Cosmos to the realm of Chaos are possible and some stages can even have hazards and become a foe on its own. Choosing the right music can also be done in the loading screen before the battle starts, otherwise it’s random which can be awkward when One Winged Angel starts blaring with no Sephie involved.
No game can be the greatest however, and there are a few problems. First and most frustrating to me is the combination of some buttons. You can dash to move about the battlefield quickly with the triangle button and R trigger held at once; however, the R trigger is also the block button leading to stalling in midair to block… nothing. Equipment also bothers me in that most of it has to traded for with the computer using randomly generated parts. Though you can increase the chance you still have just that, a chance. The bonus day is a perk but I’ve never really paid much attention.
Even with these small problems the game is a good investment, with strong multiplayer (though you have to get some friends together for that) and innovative game play. Veterans of fighting games will find new challenges and lovers of the FF series will get gratuitous amounts of some of their favorite characters (no Vivi to my dismay).
by B.K.