Sestren Review – 9/10

Time for an update on the articles of this blog. Since DLC news has been scarce lately, I’m going to do more extensive in searching for news items to post here about Dissidia 012. Expect to see more frequent updates with things such as reviews, price drops, etc.

To start this off, we have a review of Dissidia 012 that was posted on Sestren.com a few days ago. It was a very positive review. You can read the review either in the following link or in this article, which will be posted below:

Sestren.com

Opening Statement

There is a lot to this game that I almost feel like telling you to just pick it up and play it for yourself.

Intro – About the game

Dissidia 012[duodecim] Final Fantasy has so many features and so much depth that I don’t even know where I should begin in explaining it all.  However, for those of you yet to purchase this game, this should be a good sign as every feature and detail in this game is wonderful.  This is especially true for any Final Fantasy fan.  I would also say that if you are not the biggest Final Fantasy fan, but enjoy action-rpg/fighting games, then this is most definitely something you should at least check out.

You have many modes to choose from which includes a Story Mode, Battle Mode(Quick Battle 1 on 1 or Quick Battle Party with a party of up to 5 that is completely customizable) and Arcade Mode which gives certain objectives to complete.

A fighting game with action and rpg elements, Dissidia 012[duodecim] Final Fantasy is a blast to play.  You can play on either RPG mode or Action mode.  I spent most of my time playing on action mode.  The gameplay with action mode is such fun to play and controls very well once you get the hang of it.

Playing in RPG mode is still a good time for the battles as well and like all RPG’s, you select what your character does and it’s still very interactive with how the fighting progresses.  You get to select when your characters moves, attacks, defends and more.  However, when playing in action mode, you get full control over everything and it’s really a much more enjoyable gameplay experience.

There are many combinations for attacks for each character and each with their own special moves.  Each character also levels up on it’s own as you play with them.  As you level up and continue to play, there are also so many things to unlock and accomplish in Dissidia 012[duodecim] Final Fantasy.

During battle you also have EX Mode for special attacks which are really neat when you do perform them.  You do need to make sure to collect the EX Core when it comes into play if you want to be able to charge your EX Meter in able to perform these powerful attacks.

Another nice gameplay addition is the Assist. For the assist, players must charge up a meter that fills up as they attack, and once it is full you can call on another player to lend a hand. You need to fill up the first bar to have them do a bravery attack and fill up both bars to have them perform an HP attack.

The levels in Dissidia 012[duodecim] Final Fantasy are fun to play in as well, with destructible surroundings and walls to climb, they provide for even more fun gameplay while playing action mode.  There are a few levels that can become slightly frustrating however and you need to be aware of your surroundings.

When it comes to Story Mode, you will play it by episodes.  Each episode playing with a different character.  The way story mode works is you have your basic world to journey, though it’s very compact to where you can actually go.  While in the world, there are usually a treasure chest or two to collect as well as maybe one battle you can fight in.  However, you look for gateways to enter to progress.

Once in a gateway, it’s set up like a tactics game.  You can walk up to a square that an enemy sits on and engage in battle.  You will also collect chains that you can use in setting up battles.  So instead of moving from square to square to each enemy to fight, you can use a chain that can highlight multiple targets to fight from your location to earn more KP to use later.  Once you fight your way through each enemy you’ll reach an end point to either simply be able to exit the gateway or to face a boss.

Dissidia 012[duodecim] Final Fantasy really has a lot of detail in the game with lots of things to look at and complete.  It has a ton of extra features that go along side with you as you play the game.  It keeps full track of accomplishments which there are a ton and it will keep you very busy for a very long time.  It also has a mode called battlegen which are accessories that are obtainable when completing certain conditions during matches.

Throughout the game you will also be able to edit the abilities of each character. This includes offensive abilities, both bravery and HP attacks as well as basic abilities and actions to equip.  There is so much here for your to customize and do.  You also have two different shops to shop from in Story mode, both with different types of items to purchase.

As you start the game it lets you transfer over your Dissidia Final Fantasy game save data if you’ve played the previous one.  However if you are like me, you’ll be starting new data.  You’ll then get to enter a nickname, what type of gamer you are and what day of the week you play the most.  So lets say you are to pick Saturday as your most played day.  The game has a calendar and every time Saturday comes along, that will be your bonus day in the game for you to receive bonuses in game.

Your calendar keeps up to date with the actual date and time.  It lets you know how many consecutive days you’ve played and will also let you know when other bonus days come about.  You also get mail from moogles that present you with friend cards and more.  They can also be interactive with you asking you questions as well for you to respond to in which they will get back to you the next day on.

Another feature is the PP Catalog where you will earn PP throughout the game to use in the PP Catalog to unlock all kinds of material from characters, uniforms, voices, stages, bonus icons for your calendar, avatars, background music and so much more!

You can also create original quests(battles) to play all the way from the battle format, background, background music, victory conditions and more.  There is also an area to watch and edit your battle replay data.
There really is a massive amount of detail to this game that you will spend lots of time just looking at it all.  It is also presented very well with very easy to navigate menus as you work your way through the game.

I will also say that they did a wonderful job explaining every little thing you may have questions about while playing this game.  By just pressing the Start button while in a certain menu, it will give a lot of detail about it.  Also, if you need to, the instruction booklet comes handy as well explaining more details on certain things.

Story

The story for Dissidia 012[duodecim] Final Fantasy in story mode is well enough.  It’s not great by any means, but I am sure a lot of us like most of the characters and that’s what drives this game.  I still did find it interesting at certain points in the game as it progresses.  So by no means is it a bad game at all.  It works for what the game is and that’s what is most important.

Game play – AI – Controls

Controls in the game do take awhile to get down, there are a lot of different combinations in the buttons that will take time to learn.  Once you get the hang of it though, it becomes so much fun to play.  The AI can be easy to very difficult as well, especially if you are going up against a much higher level character than you.

Sound – Graphics

Of course the soundtrack is mighty excellent with wonderful Final Fantasy tunes!  Visually the game looks very sharp as well, including decent cutscenes.

Online – Multiplayer

Unfortunately the game is ad-hoc only.  If this was playable online, this would be fantastic!  If you have some friends to play with though, you will be in for some good times for sure.

Enjoyment Level – Fun Factor

I really did enjoy this title and had a lot of fun with it.  Most importantly to mention is that I will also continue to have a lot of fun with it.  I have an extremely high enjoyment level for Dissidia 012[duodecim] Final Fantasy!  With different modes and lots to do and unlock, it’s a very fun game.  Most importantly, without a good battle system this game wouldn’t have been as good as it is.

Final Notes:

I will mention the load times here.  If you have a large chip to install, I would do so.  Otherwise the load times will slow you down a bit.  It’s not as smooth as I would have liked.

Buy, Rent, Avoid Factor:

Easily a buy!  With tons of depth in the game and so many characters to play with and level up, you will be busy for a long long time!  This is a fantastic game for Final Fantasy fans and it’s a wonderful game for those who may be on the edge.  The story isn’t great by any means in story mode, but it is interesting enough.  Again, it’s the gameplay and all the things you can do that make this worth it.  With so many features in the game, you will find yourself putting many many hours into it.

Rating – 9/10

I know this isn’t the kind of post we’ve been having lately, but I’m going to try to get as much news and information as I can, whether it be reviews, DLC announcements, price drops, or other news.

I’ll be back with updates soon!
Trent – L2K

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy is not Dissidia 3

Lately, there has been a new Final Fantasy game announced for the Nintendo 3DS, titled “Theatrhythm Final Fantasy”, which is a rhythm game that has a story somewhat like Dissidia’s story and has a similar looking logo.

Since it looked similar, there have been many people believing that this game is actually the next Dissidia game, thinking that rhythm was the genre Nomura was talking about when he said the next Dissidia game wouldn’t be like 012 was.

According to a Famitsu interview on Andriasang, those people were dead wrong.  Upon asked the question of whether Theatrhythm was the future of Dissidia, Tetsuya Nomura said No, and said that this was not what he was referring to when he talked about the next Dissidia being different from the original and 012.

Also, the Japanese PSN was updated last week and with the V, VI, and XI DLCs due for release on the US PSN this week, we can expect some more DLC to be announced soon.

I’ll be back with updates soon!
Trent – L2K

Bartz, Terra, Shantotto DLC hitting US Store July 19th

Lots of time without new DLC, for sure. That time is starting to come to a close for North America, though. Thanks to IGN, we’ve got some more DLC headed to the US Store.

IGN

According to IGN, 6 packs of DLC will be hitting the US PlayStation Network on July 19th, which is in about 3 weeks. The DLC will contain the following:

Bartz “Dancer” Costume
Terra “Striped Dress” Costume
Shantotto “Wedding Dress” Costume

Final Fantasy V Music Pack
Final Fantasy VI Music Pack
Final Fantasy XI Music Pack

Those who missed the V and VI DLC when it first hit will have all the time they want to get it on July 19th and onward. Hopefully we’ll also get the Gilgamesh DLC soon after that.

I’ll be back with updates soon!
Trent – L2K

Kingdom Hearts Cloud, Shantotto, and FFXI Music available on EU PSN

The European PSN has been updates with some DLC that has yet to appear on the US Store. This actually makes sense. Before the PSN Outage occurred, the DLC was supposed to release in the order “Japan->EU->US”. The updated contained the following, thanks to Chaotic Cosmos

Cloud “Kingdom Hearts Gear” Costume
Shantotto “Wedding Dress” Costume

Final Fantasy XI Music Pack

As the DLC keeps coming in, we can be hopeful that the US store will restore the Final Fantasy V/VI DLC as well as releasing this. The interesting part is that KH Cloud was exclusive to the US but not EU, so it appearing on EU’s store may increase the chances of Kingdom Hearts Squall, exclusive to EU but not US, appearing on the US store.

I’ll be back with updates soon!
Trent – L2K

PSN Update – Bartz, Terra, V/VI Music DLC Released

It’s been a single day since PSN has been restored, and the store has gone through another update already! As Sony stated before, they will be making gradual updates this week until they’ve released everything that would have already been available had there not been a PSN Outage.

You know what this means? That’s right, there’s more Dissidia 012 DLC available. The following was added today:

Bartz “Dancer” Costume
Terra “Striped Dress” Costume

Final Fantasy V Music Pack
Final Fantasy VI Music Pack

DLC is definitely right on track. Have fun downloading today’s DLC as well as yesterday’s DLC . Let’s also cross our fingers for some more DLC in the coming updates this week. All that’s left to release that’s announced thus far are the Gilgamesh and Shantotto costumes and the Final Fantasy XI Music Pack. Square had better announce some more DLC before everyone gets caught up!

I’ll be back with updates soon!
Trent – L2K

PSN Restored – DLC Caught Up

Well, the wait is finally over! The PlayStation Store has been restored, so we can finally get online to buy some Dissidia 012 DLC. That’s not all the good news, though. The Store has been updated with new DLC, and not just some new DLC. We got a MASSIVE update for DLC. The following was updated into the US PlayStation Store:

Onion Knight “Ingus” Costume
Emperor “Emperor of Heaven” Costume
Sephiroth “Kingdom Hearts” Costume
Laguna “Sorceress’s Knight” Costume
Zidane “Marcus Hood” Costume
Kuja “Treno Noble” Costume
Yuna “Gunner Dressphere” Costume
Vaan “Pirate” Costume

Final Fantasy II Music Pack
Final Fantasy III Music Pack
Final Fantasy VII Music Pack
Final Fantasy VIII Music Pack
Final Fantasy IX Music Pack
Final Fantasy X Music Pack
Final Fantasy XII Music Pack

Each of these pieces of DLC are $0.99, including costumes, which makes them a very nice deal. Any US PSN users, have fun going in and hoarding all of this great DLC today. With all of this caught up, expect more DLC to be announced very soon.

I’ll be back with updates soon!
Trent – L2K

Gilgamesh, Terra, Shantotto, FFV, VI, XI DLC Announced

With the PlayStation Store being restored in North America in just 3 days, Dissidia 012 DLC announcements are back on track.  To go with the Bartz DLC that was announced not long ago, Square has announced the music pack for Final Fantasy V, as well as the packs for Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy XI and the DLC costumes for Terra, Shantotto and Gilgamesh.  This is thanks to Dissidia France, shown below, and the costumes can be seen on the 2nd link, thanks to Final Fantasy.net:

Http://dissidia-france.com/forum/index.php?topic==1207.msg114059#msg114059

http://www.finalfantasy.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/4thdlc.png

Terra’s costume, which I think looks great, is based on another alternate Amano artwork of her.  Shantotto is shown in FFXI’s Wedding Dress and Goetia Armor Sets, and Gilgamesh is based on his newly announced appearance in Final Fantasy Type-0.

The music tracks are as follows:

Final Fantasy V
-Battle 2 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge_Yi3Jv1Bk
-Evil Lord Exdeath – www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9MILNTsRtw
-The Dawn Warriors – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKtCKy2UGoE

Final Fantasy VI
-Phantom Train – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znZNrMzeRWc
-Protect the Espers – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiP8Xnr-IWc
-Magitek Research Facility – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq_Qf3mVnCo

Final Fantasy XI
-Vana-diel March – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cExMJ2pVk-s
-Ragnarok – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFVa5UWI80g
-Fighter of the Crystal – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsLkGEDwLLc

There’s some good stuff in here, so let’s hope the DLC starts releasing quickly once the PSN Store gets restored in a few days.

I’ll be back with updates soon!
Trent – L2K

Bartz DLC Revealed – Dancer

Thanks to the PSN outage, we’ve been fresh out of posts here for quite awhile, but thankfully, we are prepared to keep going as Square Enix has announced another DLC costume for Dissidia 012.

Thanks to FF Reunion, we now now the next DLC costume is for Bartz, and is the attire for the Dancer class, as you can see in the article picture. I never saw this one coming. It doesn’t look bad, though.

No details have been given about release and pricing, probably because PSN is still down, but expect it to come out somewhat soon.

I’ll be back with updates soon!
Trent – L2K

PSN Outage – DLC Delay Probable

As many of you are probably aware, the PlayStation Network has been down around the world for about 6 days now and we’ve finally got enough information to give you guys the deal with what’s going on and when we’ll be able to get back online.

Amidst all the rumors, the story is that on April 20th, an external intrusion (someone hacking into the system) breached the network, specifically user profile information (PSN ID, Name, Address, Phone Number, Email) and Sony had to take the network down to minimize the damage of the attack.

While the hacker has not yet been identified, many people speculate it is the work of Anonymous, a collective group of hackers who recently have been spewing cyber-attack threats against Sony.

Since the attack happened, Sony has been working on a massive security upgrade to the network. You can read the full report below via the PlayStation Blog

PS Blog: Update on PSN and Qriocity

As of right now, Sony estimates that we will be able to access the network again sometime this week, with some services (which were not specified) not to be back up for a full week. Because of this, it is very likely that the EU DLC and Japan DLC that was due to come out this week will be delayed until the network is back up and running.

As a final note, if any of you have credit cards linked to your PSN accounts, I suggest you check your billing history right away and make sure none of those hackers got your number. Sony said they didn’t see any instances of credit card information being taken, but one can never be too careful.

I’ll be back with updates soon!
Trent – L2K

Emperor/Onion Knight, FFII/III Music DLC Announced

Another week, another set of Dissidia 012 DLC is announced. This time the costumes are Final Fantasy II’s Emperor Mateus and Final Fantasy III’s Onion Knight. Andriasang has the news this time.

Andriasang Article

The Emperor’s costume (as shown in the article picture), is based on the “Emperor of Heaven” form he takes in the GBA and PSP versions of Final Fantasy II, within the “Souls of Rebirth” storyline. Onion Knight’s is based on Ingus, a character from the the DS version of Final Fantasy III.

These are scheduled to release on April 28th, along with the Final Fantasy II/Final Fantasy III music packs. According to Dissidia France, the music packs will contain the following:

Final Fantasy II
–Tower of Mages
–Temptation of the Princess
–Dead Music

Final Fantasy III
–The Endless Ocean
–Good Ol’ Fellows
–Forbidden Land

Pricing will be the same as previous DLC. 300 yen per music pack and per costume.

I’ll be back with updates soon!
Trent – L2K