Games Happy

Dissidia has lengthy been a type of sport concepts that ought to have been a slam dunk, emphasis on ought to. Whereas the primary two PSP video games had been strong fighters with some extremely enjoyable character moments, the Ultimate Fantasy combating collection has completely struggled to determine what to do with Dissidia since then — a misguided arcade fighter and now shut-down cell turn-based RPG.

That brings us to Dissidia Duellum Ultimate Fantasy, yet one more weird step within the franchise that, as soon as once more, has me scratching my head at a few of its design selections. After spending almost six hours with it, I can not deny that the sport has its hooks in me in a approach, although I can not correctly articulate why. The novelty of seeing these iconic FF characters work together, particularly on this modern-day setting, however the fight additionally has a type of distinctive aptitude to it that I am having fun with. That being mentioned, I’ve some actual skepticism concerning the long-term enchantment of Duellum, particularly within the face of Sq. Enix’s less-than-stellar historical past with free-to-play cell video games.

Dissidia Duellum is a reverse Isekai that transports the heroes of Ultimate Fantasy to modern-day Tokyo, combating a wierd outbreak of monsters and magical crystals. That trendy tackle the story is fused with what’s known as a “3vs3 Workforce Boss Battle Area” the place two opposing groups rush to take down a single boss the quickest.

It is all nonetheless constructed on the ‘Bravery’ and ‘HP assault’ components of the Dissidia collection, nevertheless it fairly instantly feels decidedly completely different from something that is come earlier than. The core fight feels someplace between an action-RPG and a brawler, laser-focused on pace and teamwork — a lot so {that a} coordinated workforce can finish a match in actually 1-2 minutes. 

For the time being, Duellum solely has that 3vs3 boss rush mode, the place you decide a single character, outfit them with completely different equippable skills, and rack up Bravery to assault the boss. Basically, you achieve Bravery by shattering crystals or attacking enemy gamers, and when you attain 9,999 Bravery, you’ll be able to enter a Burst mode, permitting you to assault the boss. There are some further layers of technique, nevertheless, as doing Burst the identical time as allies can result in combos for elevated harm, and it’s essential handle rising your personal Bravery whereas selecting how a lot you need to combat the enemy workforce. 

We coated fight in our authentic preview of the sport, so I will not delve an excessive amount of deeper into the these mechanics, however what I do need to give attention to, is how completely different every character feels, and the way they’ll result in completely different workforce synergies. The dynamics between characters is truthfully what’s saved me up to now, with each feeling uniquely pleasurable to play.

For instance, I beloved taking part in Zidane as a hit-and-run character, dashing across the subject to rapidly take out enemies. By going into Trance and duelling one other participant, to rapidly backing out as their teammates tried to assist, let me basically irritate the opposite workforce the whole time. In the meantime, Krile is totally about help, with skills to continually buff and heal your workforce, however she’s extremely susceptible when on her personal. Even additional, Kain is a deliciously enjoyable character due to his leap skills, letting you hop to a crystal from throughout the map, thus focusing extra on space management.

Regardless that Duellum is decidedly less complicated than different Dissidia video games, it is that concentrate on dynamic characters that also supplies an simple hook to its gameplay methods. Nonetheless, I do hope that the gameplay can develop in new methods with further characters, or that Sq. Enix considers further modes and/or twists, as a result of even after simply six hours, I can see how this method will develop stale after some time. 

The opposite important half to the touch on is how the gacha system impacts gameplay. The gacha in Dissidia Duellum Ultimate Fantasy is break up into drawing characters after which drawing skills for mentioned characters. I spent a couple of hours making an attempt to get a deal with on the sport’s story and gacha methods, significantly how, on this occasion, these two are blended collectively. For full disclosure, the preview account I had entry to was loaded up with the entire sport’s currencies, however I intentionally prevented that originally to see how a lot I may earn by taking part in, after which utilizing a few of mentioned currencies to mess around with the character-specific skills.

The excellent news is that Duellum does not really feel wherever close to as egregious as Ultimate Fantasy 7 Ever Disaster. Nonetheless, it is nonetheless going to take some funding. Attracts for skills are comparatively low-cost, and although character-specific skills are rarer, you get a ton of them that may be geared up on each character — which means it is pretty straightforward to make completely different builds. For characters, you need to use a single Character Ticket (earned in-game) to attract for particular characters or new outfits, or you’ll be able to spend 5 Character Tickets to purchase a selected character you need. 

The opposite catch right here is the sport’s second largest focus exterior of fight, the Season Move, can also be the place the whole lot of the story takes place. As you play matches, you may earn Factors for the Season Move, filling a meter to take you to the following tier. Every tier has rewards, typically completely different in-game currencies, Icons, Progress gadgets for skills, and many others. There are additionally story scenes of two completely different varieties combined in, full cut-scenes, and textual content message conversations. 

As you may anticipate, this will make the narrative really feel a bit scattered and unfocused, as you are seeing little bits of textual content message conversations or a couple of minutes of a cut-scene earlier than having to grind out some extra matches. From what I measure, it looks as if about 3-4 matches would at all times get me to the following tier, and there are Day by day/Weekly challenges that may reward extra Factors for the Season Move, too. 

I am simply not fairly certain of the story ingredient proper now, although that is not an enormous shock for a Dissidia sport. There’s some overarching story a few “Committee” serving to Ultimate Fantasy characters combat off the monsters, with the heroes utilizing expertise to cloak themselves from being seen by people, inflicting them to be often known as “Ghosts”, however it’s kind of exhausting to comply with the place issues are going proper now, like seeing snippets of the story. 

There is definitely some delight available in seeing these characters work together and adapt to life on Earth. I significantly like particulars like Zidane turning off his cloaking to let individuals see his face, as a result of he is so self-absorbed in having followers. Firion texting Cloud to return play him in darts as a result of Balthier began flirting with ladies and made every part awkward was additionally a spotlight.. 

If the sport can lean extra into these slice-of-life moments, I believe there’s a variety of potential right here, however I’ve virtually zero understanding or attachment to what’s “supposed” to be taking place. I additionally do not love the story itself being connected to a Season Move system, inherently including a way of “grindiness” to the whole factor. 

That is solely compounded by my worry that Dissidia Duellum could not totally get the possibility it wants to show into one thing particular, given Sq.’s monitor file of shutting down cell video games nowadays. It is exhausting not to take a look at the failings which might be already right here and marvel what may occur to this sport if it does not entice sufficient gamers. 

And that is a disgrace, as a result of I believe a variety of the core concepts are good. The boss rush battling is enjoyable, the artwork fashion is truthfully attractive, and I am even totally onboard with the concept of bringing all these characters into the actual world and seeing the hijinks that play out. However on the finish of the day, all these cell and gacha components nonetheless really feel like they’re there to excruciatingly draw out the expertise, and sap your time and cash. 

I would like to not be cynical about Dissidia Duellum, however I equally do not assume it is fallacious to really feel burned by video games like Courageous Exvius, Dissidia: Opera Omnia, and NieR: Reincarnation, being shut down. So whereas I like a variety of the weather of Dissidia Duellum, I have not seen sufficient to totally commit my money and time. I have to see if this sport is doing one thing extra attention-grabbing with its storytelling, persistently updating, and actually leaning into these dynamic character variations in gameplay. 

I am keen to offer it a shot, for now, however Sq. Enix is actually going to want to return out of the gate swinging with a sturdy roadmap of post-launch content material and a dedication to holding it alive. On the finish of the day, I would like to see Duellum succeed, as a result of Dissidia is just too good an thought to be misplaced to time, a destiny that I am far too conversant in on the subject of Sq. Enix’s free-to-play releases. Till then, Dissidia Duellum Ultimate Fantasy a weird sport that has me alongside for the experience.