Dissidia Final Fantasy

After leaving the Ehrgeiz ring, the time had come to put years and years of stories and characters to good use to gain a more choral experience, capable of putting them all together without them in any way crippled. In this Dissidia has never failed, mixing together nemesis and protagonists to give us a very simple basic plot (the eternal struggle between good and evil) but thanks to which those protagonists relegated to memory have found new life and, in most part of the cases, even the coveted dubbing. I'm sure I wasn't the only one wondering how Squall's voice, or Terra, Firion, or Kefka - perhaps the most surprising of all - could sound.

Dissidia 012, narratively a prequel, has given a value to the overall experience by implementing some new aspects and closing, or at least it was believed, the circle. There is no peace in reality for the Cosmos warriors who in this last, perhaps definitive, chapter of the saga are called to fight once again. If you have played even one of the previous titles, however, before approaching Dissidia Final Fantasy NT there is one thing to do: take whatever you have learned in the past and close it in a drawer, leaving the characters and foundations out.

The new chapter of the series was in fact built from scratch to adapt to the multiplayer reality that for the first time Square Enix has decided to approach, in collaboration with Team Ninja. Forget the 1-on-1 battles and the level ups, the statistics, the equipment, the evocations as you have been used to seeing them, in short, everything, because Dissidia Final Fantasy NT respects its origins but completely changes the way you play.

Let's start with the most talked about aspect, the combat system. We say goodbye to 1 Vs. 1 and welcome 3 Vs. 3, a radical change for the series: whether you want to try your hand in the main campaign, whether you are aiming for online or local battles, it is mandatory to take the field as part of a team . All is twenty-eight characters on the roster are characterized by a different fighting style and divided into four classes: Vanguard, Specialist, Shooter and Assassin, each with its strengths and weaknesses. Avanguardia is distinguished by greater power and defense but is penalized by a moderate slowness in execution. The Assassin is very velcoe and prefers close-range attacks following a hit and run strategy, given his low defense. The Shooter, as the name suggests, remains distant and targets the enemy with exhausting attacks capable of causing altered status. Finally the Specialist, the most versatile and complex one to master, with unique skills that distinguish him from the other categories. Given the variety of characters and movesets, Dissidia Final Fantasy NT greatly encourages experimentation and expects the player to learn from the experience, rather than relying on an endless series of combos in a list of moves to memorize. It is a refreshing touch that consequently sets it apart from other games.

Another peculiar characteristic of the series, which has not been missing in this new chapter, is the distinction between two types of attack: HP and Audacia. The first, of course, affects the opponent's life bar, while the second rages on what we might call his attack force: by consuming the Audacity we will not only increase ours but by resetting it we can send it to shock, gaining an additional bonus and effectively making the enemy more vulnerable to an HP attack. It is not possible to win a battle by focusing on only one of the two attacks, it is necessary to balance its use by choosing whether to accumulate as much Audacity as possible to score a lethal blow or spread the damage over time taking into account the contribution that such a strategy of attrition gives to the team. A weaker opponent will tend to be less courageous and often seek escape or protection from teammates. As you can guess Dissidia Final Fantasy NT prefers tactics to strength and where violent raids can sometimes be successful, charging with your head down is also the best way to suffer a loud defeat.

Each character has a unique HP attack available, unlike the Audacia ones which are a bit more and vary depending on whether you are on the ground or suspended in mid-air. In addition, the game offers three EX abilities: one is specific to the single hero (Trance for Earth, Limit Break for Cloud, Tokkata for Tidus and so on) while the other two can be changed depending on which we have unlocked by increasing the rank of the character - which takes the place of the level here. These are the most disparate techniques (offensive, defensive and support) on which we must make an argument to understand what the best match can be based on who we want to play. Dissidia Final Fantasy NT links the experience to each of the characters, which translates into having to invest a reasonable amount of time to understand what they are really capable of doing. If on the one hand all this is rewarding, it also means that climbing the rankings (whether online or local) requires a fair commitment in terms of grinding.

It would not be a Final Fantasy if there were no Summons. The game knows this well and makes these mythological creatures a key aspect of its combat system. Leviathan, Bahamuth, Odin, Alexander, Ifrit and Shiva: they are the ones who support us during the game according to a choice made before starting and which determines the type of Summoning on the majority of the team's votes. To call them first, it is necessary to break the core which will occasionally appear in play and guarantee us crystal fragments useful to fill the special bar. Once filled, you must press the central button of the controller at any time to start the evocation: it is a process that leaves us vulnerable for a few precious seconds but acting in a team the time is reduced up to three times depending on how many players summon.

I was surprised by the incredible influence exerted by these creatures on the battle: the damage inflicted, always and only on the Audacity, is such that added to any alterations of state it makes the breaking of a crystal an obligation, even if only to prevent the adversaries to put ourselves in difficulty, forcing to change strategy during the work and to do it despite the risk of jeopardizing our own security.