Mirson on 26 March 2011
Before I start, I want to say that this is officially my first Dissidia. I only played a little bit of the first, but I didn't enjoy it - most of it was because I had no clue how the game worked. So for anyone who's wondering if it's worth picking up if you own the first, don't ask me.
Now that I got that out of the way, here are my initial impressions of Dissidia 012 so far. Keep in mind I've spent around 12 hours with the game, and I'll bold the main points for the lazys.
Good:
- Visuals: The graphics are fantastic; simple as that. The fmvs, in-game graphics, and art design are wonderful. It's one of the best looking games on the PSP.
- Soundtrack: Dissidia 012 selects some tunes from the main FF games, and what I like is that the music pertains to the character used. For example, while you're using Lighting, Archylte Steppe will play on the world map; when you're using Vaan, Dalmasca Esterland will play on the map. The same thing applies to the battle theme.
- Battles: They're fast, fun and stylish. It's a little boring at first (will get to that in a minute), but once you start leveling up and unlocking skills, they become very fun. The controls are responsive and feel right; it's a little intimidating at first though. There are two modes you can tackle battles (action & RPG mode). Action mode lets you freely control the character, whereas RPG mode, all you have to do is input commands (the character moves by itself). Personally, I didn't enjoy RPG mode.
- Variety in characters: Most characters I've used played different from the others, and what's amazing about it is that they stay true to their character. For example, Lighting has paradigm shirts, Vaan can use quickening, Laguna uses a machine gun (long range attacks), Yuna summons, etc . With this much variety, you can easily find a character that suits your liking.
- Experience your fan factions: Dissidia 012 offers a quest editor where you can create your own little stories. You can choose the music, stage level, characters and even choose the dialogue. You don't select pre-determined dialogue, you manually type it. You can even select which character says that dialogue. There's a little to only ten dialogue lines, but you can create more quests. I found this feature very fun and addicting. I can't wait to write my epic romance comedy action mystery story.
- Changing options any time: You can change the difficulty, battle mode, everything any time you want. When you're having trouble with a fight, you can change the battle difficulty and change it to RPG mode (I found this mode easier). You can also adjust your player lvl for some reason.
- Tons of customizations: Dissidia 012 has a quite amount of depth. Once you start leveling up, you unlock various abilities. It's a little overwhelming how many abilities you can have. You can have like 12 attacks and bunch of support ablilities equipped. You can modify your abilities anytime you want, and find a moveset that suits you. You can also equip summons, accessories that alter your stats, equipment, etc. Tons of stuff to make your fighter better and stronger.
- Value: There's a great amount of stuff to unlock: characters, outfits, music, stages, bonus exp, icons, themes, avatars, etc. I only have 5% unlocked...lol. I heard you can unlock the campaign from the first game which is great, since I didn't really give the first one a chance.
- Portable friendly: You can save anytime you want (not during battles though). You can even tackle the main story bits by bits: play two battles from the main campaign and then save.
Bad:
- Not for impatient gamers: When you start playing, you only have one basic attack and one bravery attack. It takes a while to unlock various attacks, but first, you're gonna have to put up with the one attack which is boring. Once you start unlocking skills and start getting into it, the story makes you take control of a different character, and you have to repeat the process. It's bad. It takes a while 'til you fully appreciate the gameplay. Also, it has somewhat of a steep learning curve. This game loves using the R button: R plus triangle = rush, R plus square = ex mode, R plus X = dogde, etc. At first, I was like "R plus what = what?" The same thing applies to the L, but thankfully, the L mostly pertains to the assist character.
- Loading/Install times: Without install, the loading times were like ten seconds. I know what you're thinking, "But Master Mirson, ten seconds is not alot." The first battles you encounter in the story last less than thirty seconds, so waiting ten seconds for a few seconds fight isn't a pleasurable experience. I decided to install, hoping to cut down on the load times, and wow, I was shocked at how long it took to install. It took an hour to install, but I suppose it paid off as the load times are now like three seconds.
- Story is weak: It's not bad as Star Ocean 4, but it never evolves. There's a lot of potential: Chaos summons warriors, Cosmos summons warriors, battle between them begins. However, most of it has been "this way to Sanctuary," "We must get to sanctuary" etc. It's boring.
- Voice acting: The voice acting isn't that good; it's not bad as Star Ocean 4 (not a theme here?), but it's a shame SE doesn't hire some quality voice actors. It's a little puzzling how niche companies like Atlus and NISA can have quality voice acting, but the powerhouse SE doesn't. It's a little disappointing.
Overall, my experience with Dissidia 012 has been extremely positive; it's another solid addition to the PSP library, and I would highly recommend it. Dissidia 012 is fan-service at its finest.
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Tune in next week for the The 3rd Birthday Impressions.
