Name: Dissidia Final Fantasy NT
Platform: PlayStation 4
Style: Multiplayer Fighting Game
Publisher(s): SquareEnix & Koei Tecmo
Developer(s): Team Ninja
Release Date: January 30, 2018
Date of Completion: February 5, 2018
Final Fantasy is my all-time favorite franchise. The stories. The characters. The themes. EVERYTHING about that franchise is what I aspire to be in a writer. Of course, there have been some games that were a swing and a hit but the overall franchise has a spectacular following/results and I’m always looking forward to what they have in store for us. This time is no different.
Dissidia Final Fantasy NT is a fighting game that SquareEnix created solely for the PlayStation 4, with the help of Team Ninja. It’s also the third entry in the Dissidia series and, to be frank, it’s most ambitious.
The story is a bit straightforward and, to be honest, not exactly the most memorable for a SquareEnix game. See, the game takes place AFTER the events of the first two Dissidia game as Materia and Spiritus, both created by Cosmos, summons heroes of the franchise as their champions to protect the world from the other. Of course, in Final Fantasy fashion, the real culprit is revealed and the two sides have to swallow their pride to vanquish it. Afterward, the two opposites agreed to continue to fight for control over the world coming to an understanding that their truce was a one-time deal. See, straightforward but, given the timeline that shown, really short. Luckily, it’s been expressed that the timeline will grow given the final cutscene that was shown at the end of the game.
Another thing that took some getting use to was the 3v3 battle system. I mean I was aware of it, given that I have the Final Fantasy Wikia page bookmarked, but there’s a difference between theory and application. The core battle system is still the same. You have to attack your opponent(s) with Bravery attacks to increase your own Bravery. Afterward, you can strike with an HP attack to do REAL damage calculated by your character’s current Bravery points.
But, since it is 3v3, a lot of the mechanics in the series has to be altered to accommodate it. For examples, the player can only pick ONE HP attack for their character as opposed to the three from the previous entries. This is actually a good thing because it allows the player to further dictate what role their character is going to take up in the team.
Another thing is the reforming the character roster’s play style. This is something I seriously had to get used to rather quickly. The best I can give is Kuja (Final Fantasy IX) and Shantotto (Final Fantasy XI). See, in the previous installments, Kuja standard attacks revolved around his distance between each hit and he can still glide freely during his HP attacks and Shantotto’s attacks grows stronger as her Bravery points increase. This time around, Kuja’s Bravery attacks are just your standard one-two punch, though I’m still able to move around while attacking, and Shantotto’s attacks only grow after succumbing to damage thus changing my tactics.
A few other battle mechanics have been altered for the sake of the 3v3 battle style – some good, some bad. Summons now linger on the battlefield for a fixed time limit and there’s only seven you can choose from. EX Burst is replaced with EX Skills along with a slot for one buff and debuff move.
Oh, and fair warning, be ready for unrelenting mayhem online. I only played a few hours of it but let me tell you…you will find some teams that take the mantra “Wins by any means necessary” to heart. Not meant to discourage the online community, just letting you know that diligence is something to keep in mind.
I’m going to give Dissidia Final Fantasy NT an 8 out of 10 because of the logical and innovating changes that were implemented in the game. However, the story was a bit lacking for SquareEnix’s standard of storytelling but maybe that will change since they did hint at adding more to timeline later on down the line via DLC and such.
