If you've already played the Dissidia Final Fantasy NT open beta, then you already have a pretty good idea of the game and its contents. The final code turned out to be, in fact, an unlocked version of the beta in which it is possible to choose each character and open the previously inaccessible menus. In short, on the content front the new Dissidia has confirmed our fears about the predominantly arcade turn that the series has taken, originally born on PSP as a hybrid between a fighting game and an RPG and then temporarily disappeared from radar to peep into Japanese arcades with a three-on-three brawler set in the multiverse of the popular Square Enix franchise. This transformation has aroused many fears especially in the fans of this spin-off, who at the time spent hours growing their favorites between statistics and accessories. Now the famous Japanese software, entrusting the brand to Team Ninja, has decided to leave the past behind to shyly sneak into the competitive scene. Will he succeed?
Final Fantasy ...
The campaign diagram - a real map, in fact - in the final version of the game presents about thirty nodes to be unlocked by consuming a special currency, called "memory", which is obtained by playing online or offline and consequently increasing the level of the various fighters. In a way, this is a cunning move that intertwines the story mode with the others, but on balance we found it really annoying having to fight in impromptu matches when we wanted to continue in the campaign. The latter, in fact, turned out to be much more interesting than expected, and not just a mere pretext to bring together and clash figures who belong to completely different worlds. Most of the characters still remember the events that brought them together in previous Dissidia, so the campaign amiably glosses over their relationships and unlikely dynamics to focus on the mystery of Spiritus and Materia, the two new rulers of this interdimensional realm who replaced Cosmos. and Chaos.
The heroes and villains will separate to solve the trick and go home: each unlocked node represents a clash or a short cinematic that the player, at a certain point, can face in the order he prefers. Generally, it is history that determines the controllable characters and the abilities equipped, also because in some occasions we will have to face their clones in clashes by way of filler. Under this point of view, we found the battles against the Esper, the gods that we can summon in battle and that act as real bosses during the campaign, much more surprising. In these cases, it almost felt like playing a Final Fantasy XIV raid: you have to learn the patterns of the boss on duty, dodge the telegraphed attacks and study the best strategy to take him down, perhaps choosing whether to damage the Esper on duty or the henchmen. that protect him. In conclusion, we enjoyed the campaign. Obviously this is an exaggerated fanservice for fans of the series who will find, in the few hours necessary to complete it, all the characteristic features of the heroes represented.
PlayStation 4 Trophies
To unlock the platinum trophy you will first need to earn 48 bronze, 5 silver and 2 gold trophies by completing the campaign, learning every skill of the various characters, opening chests as much as you can and winning tons of matches both offline and online.
...but not too much
We knew the roster of Dissidia Final Fantasy NT and we know that in the coming months Square Enix will release new characters - free or paid, still not sure - but we must admit that, despite the introduction in the cast of heroes like Noctis, Ramza, Ace and Y 'Shtola, we missed some fighters, such as Tifa and Prishe, who appeared in Dissidia 012 and magically excluded from this round. An inexplicable choice, even in the face of the inclusion of Cain, the Final Fantasy IV Dragoon added together with them in Dissidia 012. However, this is not a serious loss because the roster, which includes almost thirty characters, is sufficiently varied and the characters who lack charisma, such as Dark Cloud or Exdeath, are still fun to use.
We have already explained the combat system to you in our previous trials but, in summary, it essentially works like this: normal attacks charge a numerical gauge that represents the strength of the PV attack and if this hits, and exceeds the target's total health, then the opposing team loses one of the three notches that make up their overall energy. The three-on-three fights are therefore characterized by a strong strategic nature, since it is necessary to evaluate in a few moments who to hit, also because normal attacks reduce the power of the opponent's PV attack, and therefore you have to choose the right moment to deliver a decisive blow as you navigate the wrestlers in the arena. Furthermore, each fighter belongs to a specific category which makes him more or less effective against the others, and this is another element to keep in mind when composing the team.
In this sense, unfortunately, the confusion generated in the fighting soon becomes a deterrent. Between explosions, particle effects and light trails, especially once the Esper who devastate the battlefield with their supernatural powers have been summoned, it becomes increasingly crucial to resort to radar to understand who is aiming at whom, provided that we can reconnect the numbers they represent. the players to the wrestlers on the field. The interface is really intrusive and takes up most of the screen; although it offers all necessary information, it contributes to a feeling of general chaos that row against any strategy. It is clear, in fact, that Dissidia Final Fantasy NT was conceived to play together with teammates, perhaps communicating by voice. When it happens, the Team Ninja title shines with a light of its own that reveals the competitive potential in which Square Enix hopes.
Unfortunately, however, we are faced with one of those cases in which the idea only partially works and collapses under the weight of simply badly thought-out mechanisms. Beyond incomprehensible solutions, such as the inability to cancel a choice and return to a previous screen after, for example, getting in a long queue for an online match, the real enemy of Dissidia Final Fantasy NT is the community. Obviously you can't expect to always play with champions, but as you can imagine most players fight online as the most popular heroes and villains of the saga, in spite of any meta or team composition strategy: the game, in fact, prevents us from knowing the choices of our random battle mates until it is too late to reconsider. Added to this is also the precariousness of a netcode probably weighed down by the number of players in the game, so that one of them just needs to have some connection problems to ruin the experience for all the others.
Therefore, excluding the online mode, which we recommend to face together with friends to save yourself disappointments and headaches, there remains a very sparse single player component, consisting simply of the aforementioned campaign and a Survival-like mode in which you have to win as many matches as possible , choosing the level of difficulty each time. In these cases another problem unfortunately stands out, namely artificial intelligence. For some reason, opponents are shrewd, coordinated and lethal especially at advanced difficulty levels, while our supporting characters always look like howler monkeys that cannot be relied upon. And it's a shame because the gameplay basically revolves around this mode, which you need to play repeatedly not only to unlock the memories and continue in the campaign, but also to accumulate the gil or chests that contain myriads of purely aesthetic items such as costumes, icons , avatars and catchy phrases.
Comment
Resources4Gaming.com7.5
Readers (36)6.0
Your voteDissidia Final Fantasy NT is a controversial title, full of good ideas counterbalanced by an execution that often leaves something to be desired. It is definitely a fun to play with at least two other friends - strictly online since there is no splitscreen - and communicating by voice, but alone it is tedious and repetitive after a few minutes, online you fight with connection problems and stubborn players, while the aesthetic rewards are not very stimulating. Whether it can make it into the high-level competitive scenario is still to be seen, but for the moment it is a difficult title to recommend to more casual players, unless they are hardcore Final Fantasy fans.
PRO
- Very nice to see
- Excellent control system and diversified roster
- The story all in all is interesting ...
- ... but the progression system is really questionable
- If you don't communicate or play strategy, the games are just chaotic and give very little satisfaction
- Unstable netcode
