Dissidia Final Fantasy

Dissidia: Final Fantasy (ディシディア ファイナルファンタジー, Dishidia Fainaru Fantajī) is an action game produced by Square Enix for the PlayStation Portable as part of the campaign of the Final Fantasy series 20th anniversary. Information on the game was first released during the "Square Enix Party" event of May 2007. The game features characters from different Final Fantasy games and centers around a great conflict between the heroes and villains, as the god of discord, Chaos, tries to wrestle control of their worlds from the forces of good.

The name "Dissidia" may be derived from the Latin word dissidium, which the origin of the word dissident, which roughly means "one that causes conflicts."

Dissidia: Final Fantasy's genre has been described as "dramatic progressive action" and its graphics are in three dimensions. It has wireless one-on-one multiplayer and fights revolving around the use of individual special skills of characters to do damage to opponents. Players can also customize their characters with equipment.^[3]

Character movement is fully functional within the three-dimensional field map. Characters are able to perform special maneuvers using the environment, similar to the Reaction Command feature of Kingdom Hearts II. Traps with a variety of ill effects can be found throughout the arena.

Similar to many fighting games, the aim is for the player to reduce their opponent’s HP to zero. A character's offensive (and, to a lesser extent, defensive) power is shown in numerical form called BP or "Brave Points". Both characters start out with equal BP, and each must steal BP from their opponent by attacking them with the basic "assist attack" to add it to their own total and gain the upper hand. Players can then use the "HP attack" to cause direct damage to their opponent; the higher their BP, the more damage they inflict. However, once an HP attack is used, the character's own BP is reduced to 0 and then recovers to its starting amount. A character whose BP total has been depleted (past 0 BP and into the negatives) is forced into "Break mode", where, aside from not being able to cause HP or BP damage, all attacks made against them cause critical damage, and the opponent gets a large boost to their BP.

One main feature of the combat system is the "EX Gauge", which can be filled in a variety of ways, such as inflicting damage on opponents, taking damage from opponents, and obtaining items scattered around the field of play. Once the EX Gauge is filled, the character can enter their "EX Mode", significantly increasing their power and enabling new attacks, including the "EX Burst", an unavoidable special attack similar to the Limit Break mechanic seen in many games in the series.

In Dissidia, there is an ongoing conflict between two gods: Chaos, the god of discord, and Cosmos, the goddess of harmony. The two gods have battled for eons with neither side winning, until Chaos summoned a number of villains from other universes to serve him. These villains built an army and overwhelmed the forces of good, and the balance of power tipped in Chaos' favor. The few survivors of the forces of good have banded together to strike back at Chaos and his forces and return order to their own universes.^[4]

The game unites both protagonists and antagonists from installments of the main Final Fantasy series, their stories narrated by the first Final Fantasy game's Cid of the Lufaine (voiced by Bunta Sugawara). Chaos (voiced by Norio Wakamoto) also makes an appearance as the god of discord, while a new character, Cosmos (voiced by Sumi Shimamoto), appears as the goddess of harmony. The game has an overarching storyline that requires playing through all of the characters to complete. The game contains twenty-two total playable characters: eleven heroes and eleven villains, one of each representing Final Fantasy through Final Fantasy X, and two secret characters: a heroine representing Final Fantasy XI, and a villain representing Final Fantasy XII.

Characters' equipment can be customized, and they can gain EXP and gil from battles.^[5]

Many of the characters can transform into different forms, mostly as part of their EX Modes. For example, Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII transforms into his One-Winged Angel form as seen in Final Fantasy VII Advent Children when entering EX Mode, whereas Cecil from Final Fantasy IV can switch between his Dark Knight and Paladin forms at any time.^[6] All characters have an alternate costume; examples include a design for the Onion Knight that makes him resemble Luneth from the Nintendo DS version of Final Fantasy III^[7] and Squall's SeeD uniform as seen in Final Fantasy VIII.

Summons are accessible using Summon Stones. There are over 50 different summons, each with a different effect.^[8]

On April 6, 2007, Square Enix filed for United States trademark registration of "DISSIDIA"; the mark's relation to Final Fantasy was omitted.^[11] Some sites speculated this was an edition of Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII.^[12][13] The title was connected with Final Fantasy when Square Enix introduced Dissidia: Final Fantasy on May 8, 2007 with an official Japanese website. The game was produced by Yoshinori Kitase and directed by Yousuke Shiokawa^[14] and features music by Takeharu Ishimoto. Takeshi Nozue will be the movie director. ^[15]

Tetsuya Nomura is responsible for the character designs, which retain much of the look and style of Yoshitaka Amano's illustrations.^[16][17] Nomura comments to the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu that Tidus is designed to look younger than he was in Final Fantasy X to "match the design touch of the rest of the Dissidia" cast.^[18] Jecht was chosen instead of Seymour to be the villain representing Final Fantasy X because Seymour has little in-game interaction with Tidus, whereas Jecht, as Tidus' father, would prove much more suitable.

The Dissidia: Final Fantasy Original Soundtrack was released on December 24, 2008,^[19] and is available in both regular and special editions, similar to the game itself. The main theme of the game is "The Messenger" by Your Favorite Enemies. In one interview with the developers, it was stated that the game contains twice the amount of dialogue featured in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.^[5]

The tracks "Cosmos" and "Chaos - Last Battle 1" are also performed by Your Favorite Enemies. "The Messenger" is the main theme song of the game, with lyrics from both "Cosmos" and "Chaos - Last Battle 1." "Cosmos" features female vocals, while "Chaos" is dominated by male vocals. In YFE's documentary on the conception of the songs for Dissidia, lyricist and vocalist Alex Foster admitted that the lyrics have no direct connection to themes of the game; rather, he left it up to the listeners to interpret the lyrics based on their own thoughts and ideas.^[20]

Studio BentStuff published the Dissidia Final Fantasy Ultimania α as the initial reference guide for the game. Released on December 4, 2008, this book became part of the Ultimania α series, which includes the Kingdom Hearts Ultimania α.^[21]

Suntory Ltd. also collaborated with Square-Enix to create the "Dissidia: Final Fantasy Potion" drinks which were released on December 9, 2008 in Japan to promote the game's release.

Square-Enix is releasing a line of Trading Arts figures in early 2009 with Series 1 containing Cloud Strife, Squall Leonhart, Zidane Tribal, Tidus, and the Warrior of Light.

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With individual scores of 9/9/10/8, the game received an overall rating of 36/40 points from Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, earning the game a place in its "Best Picks of This Week" feature as well as its "Platinum Hall of Fame." The game's battle system was described as fast paced and exhilarating, with simple controls capable of producing battles like those found in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, though it was noted that the action can become difficult to follow when things get hectic and that some of the more technical aspects of the game can be hard to grasp. Also cited were extensive character customization options befitting a Final Fantasy title, and a leveling system that allows the game's difficulty to scale with the strength of the character. The game was also praised for its story and cutscenes, with one reviewer noting that the characters' histories are neatly woven into the narrative, providing new insights and answering old questions while giving each character an equal share of the spotlight. The game scored 90/95/85/85 on Dengeki PlayStation.

As of February 1, 2009, Dissidia: Final Fantasy has sold 857,000 copies in Japan, making it the fifth best-selling game for the PSP in Japan.^[22] It was the 12th best-selling game in Japan in 2008, selling 660,262 copies.^[23]

• Official Japanese website
• Official North American website
• Dissidia: Final Fantasy Fan Web Site
• Dissidia: Final Fantasy at the Final Fantasy Wiki