Dissidia Final Fantasy NT is a fun but confused arcade fighter. While the core gameplay is fantastic and breadth of content is commendable, the stilted story mode and unpolished AI hurt what could be a truly great game.
Dissidia Final Fantasy NT
Developer: Square Enix
Price: $59.99
Consoles: PS4 (Reviewed)
MonsterVine was provided with a PS4 code for review.
Having put 150+ hours into each of the previous Dissidia games, you could say I was pretty stoked for Dissidia NT. The series’s unique Bravery system has always been original and surprisingly deep, and there are a thousand rosters worth of Final Fantasy characters worth including. Dissidia NT brings the PSP exclusive to the current gen with a plethora of new characters from more recent entries in the series, and though the results can feel mixed, Final Fantasy fans will still find plenty to enjoy.
While the story of Dissidia NT takes place after both original Dissidia games, you don’t need to have played them to understand what’s going on. Basically, two gods (a bad one and a good one) have summoned iconic Final Fantasy heroes and villains to their realm to battle one another for reasons not fully known. The two main deities from the previous games, Cosmos and Chaos, have been replaced by the younger and more intricately-designed gods Materia and Spiritus. The story itself is a bit abstract and pretty basic, but this is to the game’s advantage. Instead of getting caught up in its own canon, Dissidia’s simplicity allows for lots of fanservice that would make any fan smile. There’s an endless novelty to seeing Cloud and Bartz battle Sephiroth, or to seeing how Shantoto react to the insanity that is Kefka. Each path is capped off with a battle against one of the game’s huge summons, which adds some solid variety into the mix. The summons are all unique in how they fight, so fighting Shiva will provide you with a different experience than fighting Ifrit.
The problem with the story comes from how it’s presented. Instead of having a dedicated story “mode”, the story is presented as a series of unlockable cutscenes and battles spread across nodes on a branching chart. Nodes have to be purchased using Memoria, a currency that is unlocked through online or arcade battles. This means you can’t just experience the story, as you have to unlock it through other modes. This makes the narrative feel disjointed, especially since you’ll need to play quite a few random matches in order to experience the whole thing. The story itself is fun enough though, even with some awkward/stilted moments here and there. I just wish it was easier to access the story.
At its core, Dissidia Final Fantasy NT has absolutely stellar gameplay. Dissidia’s combat is based on the original “Bravery System”. The system is a lot of fun, but requires a bit of explanation. Each character has two types of attacks: Bravery and HP. Bravery attacks increase your own Bravery (a number above your health that goes up or down depending on if you are attacking or taking hits), while HP attacks inflict damage onto your enemy’s health that is equal to the attacker’s Bravery. It’s a lot to take in, but the tutorials are comprehensive (and most importantly, optional), so newbies can learn the ropes without too much trouble.
Combat is a bit mixed because of the problematic 3v3 team battles. I feel as though Dissidia is best suited for 1v1 battles, which Dissidia NT is proof of. See, you win battles by incapacitating three opponents on the enemy team. The friend AI is Dissidia isn’t quite up to snuff, meaning there will be quite a few occasions where your teammates are eliminated repeatedly, leading to your defeat. This is immensely frustrating, as you’ll frequently lose by no fault of your own. This is slightly remedied in online, as your teammates are other people, but overall I feel 3v3 doesn’t quite work with Dissidia.
The two main gameplay modes in Dissidia NT are Gauntlet mode and Online. Gauntlet is essentially an arcade mode where you battle a series of enemy teams of varying difficulty in order to win currency, experience, and treasures. Gauntlet can get kind of repetitive, but it’s probably the fastest way to get Gil to unlock things. Online is plenty of fun and quite stable, as I rarely had any issues outside of the rare frame drop. Playing with real people as your teammates helps remedy the AI issue, as competent teammates can make matches a thrilling competition. I do wish there were a couple extra modes to compliment Gauntlet and Online, as a bit of variety could go a long way.
There’s a ton of content present in Dissidia NT, meaning fans will be occupied for quite some time if they wish to be. Each character can be levelled up to 10, which unlocks new HP attacks with each few levels. Levelling up your favorite characters will take some time, and adds an extra feeling of accomplishment to each battle. Alternate costumes, online titles and icons, new weapon sets, and new songs are all available to be purchased in the shop. You also earn Treasure from battles in each mode, which are like loot-boxes that can’t be purchased with actual money. Only things from the store can be found in Treasures, making it simply another way to unlock content at no extra cost. It’s kind of weird to see this kind of system in Dissidia, but it’s entirely harmless so I’m not too concerned.
Dissidia NT looks great for the most part, though a few characters have doll-like faces at times. The environments and character models capture the spirit of each Final Fantasy perfectly while adhering to Dissidia’s style. I do wish that the faces had a bit more expression in them, as they can look a bit porcelain during regular conversation. This doesn’t apply to the summons though, who are nothing short of gorgeous. Seeing a giant Alexander loom in the background of the stage is mesmerizing, especially when the gorgeous attack effects start to tear the arena up.
Dissidia NT’s soundtrack is flawless, which makes sense since it’s made up of the best songs from the entire Final Fantasy series. Both remixes and original tracks are abundant, with plenty of tracks being unlockable through play. The voice acting, for the most part, is rather impressive. Each character sounds how one would expect from looking at them, though I found Mog’s unending enthusiasm to be a bit grating (pro-tip, you can turn off Mog’s battle tips and commentary in the options menu). I actually prefer the English voice actors for the most part, with Steve Burton, Ali Hillis, George Newbern, and Ray Chase standing out as some of the best performances.
The Final Word
Dissidia Final Fantasy NT can be a lot of fun, though its janky story mode and weak AI take away from the solid content already present. Final Fantasy fans will find lots to love, while fighting game fans will likely enjoy Dissidia’s unique Bravery system. Though I wish the game was 1v1 instead of 3v3, I think Dissidia NT is still worth playing if you have an interest in Final Fantasy.
MonsterVine Rating: 4 out of 5 – Good
