While attending PlayStation’s pre-conference mixer, I had the chance to try out the newly announced Dissidia Final Fantasy NT, for the PS4. As a fan of the previous two entries in the Dissidia series, NT gave me plenty to think about. So, here are my thoughts on the latest Final Fantasy crossover fighter:
For the uninitiated, Dissidia Final Fantasy has a rather unorthodox system for a fighting game. Beside a character’s health bar is a large number, typically in the thousands. This is your “Bravery”, which is the amount of damage your “HP” attacks will do. To raise your Bravery, you can do Bravery attacks, which takes points from your opponent and gives them to you. This unusual style of strategic fighting means you could technically beat your opponent in one HP attack if you take enough of their Bravery, while your opponent could win by chipping away at you with numerous weaker strikes. This system returns almost untouched in Dissidia Final Fantasy NT.
Moving on, the E3 demo for Dissidia starts on the character select screen. The main protagonists of Final Fantasy I to XIV are playable, meaning anyone at the show can throw down with Cloud, Terra, or Lightning. I chose Cloud, as my favorite game is Final Fantasy VII, and was set against the Warrior of Light and Bartz, with Zidane as my teammate. Moving away from 1v1 combat is a new step for Dissidia, and one that seems to work for the most part. The stage never felt too overstuffed, as the A.I. combatants typically focused on fighting one another instead of ganging up me as the player.
After being summoned to the Interdimensional Rift from Final Fantasy V, the battle began at a breakneck pace. Combatants gliding all over the map, giant swipes and slashes abound, and even a huge “summon” attack, courtesy of iconic series monsters like Ifrit, Odin, and Ramuh. As chaotic as the battle was, I never found myself getting lost or overwhelmed by what was happening. It’s impressive to see that a fighting game as fast and flashy as Dissidia can work without becoming a wild mess. This sense of control the game has keeps an emphasis on strategy, which is one of Dissidia‘s unique strong suits.
The major issue with Dissidia is its cluttered HUD. While the various numbers and stats are a requirement for the relatively complex Bravery system, there are definitely ways to minimize these huge numbers that take up every corner of the screen.
Overall, Dissidia Final Fantasy NT looks to be an exceptional and rather original arcade fighting game. While the HUD will need some clean-up before the game is released, the core gameplay is unique in premise and strong in execution, which serves as a good sign for Dissidia‘s impending release.
