JP Release Date: 18th Dec
Random Trivia: the 18th is the same date that the first Final Fantasy game was released.
You might as well ignore all of this and go
here.
Essentially a collection of
everything known about the game so far, courtesy of Proffesor Snuggleworth.
Also, his interesting posts on
FFXIII, and
initial Dissidia impressions.
Explanatory notes via APZonerunner:
What is Dissidia?
Dissidia is a game being released to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Final Fantasy series. The game is a real-time action combat game, with a system that makes use of the stats and figures so closely associated with Final Fantasy alongside real-time combat, similar to the recently released Crisis Core and Kingdom Hearts games.
The game is being released on the 21st anniversary of Final Fantasy I's release, December 18th in Japan.
The game features the most famous characters from every entry in the series fighting it out against and alongside oneanother for a common cause.
So it's like Smash Bros. No plot?
Yes and no. Dissidia has a multiplayer mode, and quite a large one at that. But primarily it is a single player game. Square-Enix staff have composed a story that in terms of script size is even larger than Crisis Core's, straddling multiple Final Fantasy worlds, locations and storylines.
The gist of the plot is that Chaos has decided he's tired of seeing the forces of evil beat down over and over again, and has pulled the greatest villains from various timelines together to fight together to steal the crystals and end the world.
Cosmos doesn't like this idea, though, and has likewise gathered the forces of good to save the world. The first ten heroes and the first ten antagonists from Final Fantasy I-X are all fighting. For multiplayer there will be several special unlockable characters.
Characters
Dissidia features a range of characters from across the Final Fantasy series. As yet, the plot details are sketchy, but it seems unlikely that any characters will appear from any given title in the series other than those made playable. Don't expend to see Celes backing up Terra even as an NPC, for instance, as nothing released about the game so far indicates anything like this will happen.
The game has an interesting art design in that all the characters follow closely to the original art by Mr. Amano. Even the games with art design by others (FF7, 8 and 10 by Tetsuya Nomura, 9 co-designed by Toshiyuki Itahana) have been edited to more closely match Amano's original art. Sephiroth's shoulder armour, for example, has blue decor and trinkets to match Amano's take on the character, and Squall has the small cape attached to his coat that the Amano art shows him wearing.
It's a great chance to see all the art and characters from across the series redesigned and redrawn by both Nomura and Amano - Nomura has handled the individual character art, while Amano has contributed overall story art. Before you ask, Terra's hair is blonde, not green.
- thanks!TGS '08 Trailer
character roster via pretty pictures:
(From top left)
Hero /
Villain
FFI:
Warrior of Light /
Garland
FFII:
Firion /
The Emperor
FFIII:
Onion Knight /
Cloud of Darkness
FFIV:
Cecil /
Golbez
FFV:
Bartz /
Exdeath
FFVI:
Terra /
Kefka
FFVII:
Cloud /
Sephiroth
FFVIII:
Squall /
Ultimecia
FFIX:
Zidane /
Kuja
FFX:
Tidus /
Jecht
And freshly announced:
Crazed Tarutaru Black Mage Shantotto!
No idea what her part in the entirety of the game will be yet, but she's entertaining either way.
That laugh is
badass.
She's laughing
as she's burning him alive.
Posts
If I had a PSP.
That said, they made his face awfully similar to Michael Jacksons.
We haven't got a bare knuckle fighter in the cast, for example, so Zell or Tifa could well happen. Or... and this is a long shot, a character from another Square series with deep FF connections like Crono or Sora. There is definitely more than one secret character, though.
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If they're doing more characters in this way, it's unlikely it would be someone like Zell or Tifa. A character from an off-shoot series is kinda possible though.
The only mainstream games that have really recognisable characters that aren't represented are FF11 and FF12 and FF13. We've got an FF11 character now, and I doubt we'll get an FF11 bad guy, as there isn't really anyone recognisable enough. For FF11 players, Shantotto was the character many were shouting for, so they got that dead right.
The thing is they've been deliberately trying to balance out characters movesets in the game already - Cecil for example uses a staff, not his famed holy sword obtained from Mount Ordeals. It's not 'canon' to the series, but they deemed that they had too many sword users and Cecil would suffer least from a weapon change. Hand to hand users - be they bare knuckle fighters or monks - are a staple of the FF series, but we've never had a main character or antagonist who uses that style.
We've got Mages, Warriors, Knights and various other classes, but no monk equivalent. Because of that, it's not a massive stretch to think that we might get a secret character who uses such a style. Yang, Tifa, Zell, whoever. Tifa would be the most obvious and popular choice. Another fairly good bet for a secret character will be a ranged weapon character - all the included ranged characters so far are magicians like Kuja. A possible choice here could be FFX-2 Yuna, I suppose, as in her default setup she's acrobatic and uses guns.
Nomura has said secret characters won't necessarily have an 'opposite number' on the other side like the main characters.
XBL/PSN/Steam: APZonerunner
Are you serious? Cecil uses a staff?
Here is a list of confirmed characters that didn't have to use a sword and make more sense than Cecil:
-FF1 Light Warrior (That isn't even a job, come on)
-Firion(I think he started with a sword, but there are so many weapon options for him)
-FF3 Onion Kid (Again, their weapon choice is much larger and they can change jobs)
-Bartz(same as FF3)
If you use a staff with Cecil, you are either in the Magnetic Cave or an idiot.
Also, Gilgamesh would have been way cooler than Exdeath.
Fanboy rage!
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Castlevania Judgement had some issues, but was mindless fun....this may follow the same path. If it is anything like Square's last fighting game...it'll suck.
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It looks like they're going for a main character kind of thing, but they really should have dumped Terra and gone with Sabin. Anyone who's going to recognize Terra would recognize Sabin, or any other given character from that game, I'd imagine.
And they've kept each game's main character + villain from the looks of it, so Terra was a given.
Granted, they could've used Edea instead of Ultimecia for VIII.
The hell you say. FFVI didn't really have just one main character.
But if it did, it would be Celes.
Actually I think the main reason is that in the Amano art he uses a staff. The character design in the games is taking a lot from the original concept art for each character.
FFVI begins and ends with Terra. Celes just takes the stage for a little while.
The game does have an ensemble cast, but the story revolves around Terra as far as I'm concerned.
zahh?!
Screw Sabin. It's all about Edgar.
And when fighting women, he wouldn't need his tools. He would just charm them into giving up. And then sleeping with him.
And more DS release
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...Failing that, Cissnei would be just as welcome.
...Oh great, now it just looks like I have a thing for female shuriken users...
Nomura's involved, so I wouldn't put it past him to throw the Crisis Core fans a favor or two.
Battlenet: Judgement#1243
psn: KupoZero
If Zack is in it, he'll probably be a different costume for Cloud. He doesn't need a whole different character, and every character gets a few costumes (thankfully, one of Terra's is her green hair).
I really hope Shantotto or whatever isn't the only hidden character. If they wasted the only slot on a stupid Tarutaru when they could have had Gilgamesh or Balthier or basically anyone but from Final Fantasy XI...
I hope they add someone from XII, and someone from Tactics (T.G. Cid!)
Actually I hope they give us someone that isn't a goddamn bishie pretty boy. I know, I know, it's Japan, and it's Final Fantasy characters, but goddamn. If they give us a bare-knuckle fighter, I want it to be Amarant from 9. Because he's not pretty.
Mostly because I don't have a PSP and I don't know anyone who does
Shantotto being in the game is pretty rad, though I wish she could have been part of the main story. She doesn't really have a rival or anything, so I guess that's why she isn't. I would have picked Zeid and the Shadow Lord to represent FFXI myself, though
Wii: 5024 6786 2934 2806 | Steam/XBL: Arcibi | FFXI: Arcibi / Bahamut
And then stick it in the OP. Those pics are cool, but man, I have no clue who most of them are supposed to be.
"EVERYONE LOVES THIS HAPPY FANTASY LAND BUT ME, I'M GONNA FUCK IT ALL UP"
Battlenet: Judgement#1243
psn: KupoZero
It's basically just the mainish character from each of the first ten FFs and then the main villain sort of. Not exactly 100% true to that but....
From IV on it's pretty easy to name everybody if you've played the games, but some from the first three games are kinda...trailing off with my sentences here.
From the top left, going to the right then down:
FF1: Warrior of Light - Garland FF2: Firion - Emperor
FF3: Onion Knight - Cloud of Darkness FF4: Cecil - Golbez
FF5: Butz - Exdeath FF6: Terra - Kefka
FF7: Cloud - Sephiroth FF8: Squall - Ultimecia
FF9: Zidane - Kuja FF10: Tidus - Jecht
And then that FFXI character.
Awesome, thanks. Sometimes it's hard to match up 8-bit art with the modern reinterpretation of the concept art.
Gau was my fav. Mostly because he was a innocent little boy who could beat the living shit out of you. It was a pain in the ass to learn what each of his Rages did though (I refused to look it up).
*EDIT* Gau is what i said... errmm.. not Gara.... (its been too long since I played FFVI)
Anywho, I've been following the game for a while and it looks neat. I'll wait until the fan reaction until I commit to picking it up though. I'm a huge FF fan so I don't mind if its not perfect and the reviews give it kinda mediocre scores, but if the fans like me pan it then I'm out.
If Zack appears, it'll probably be as an alternate costume for Cloud.
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