Dissidia 012 improved on every possible gameplay flaw while actually adding replay value once you finish the story mode, something I thought to be impossible. The graphics are as good as ever for the PSP, probably the last big release PSP game. The story however... When the original Dissidia was released, it wasn't a particularly innovating story, but the sheer amount of references and fanservice was enough to make the story a fanboy's wet dream. With Dissidia 012, there are retcons to the original story (for the better) and 012's main story is written incredibly poorly. Everything that much of us were looking forward to is wasted is various ways, like limited spoken dialogue between Yuna, Jecht, and Evil Tidus, no dialogue between Vaan and Gabranth, and little contact between Squall and Laguna.
If anything new in the story is interesting at all, it's that there have been many warriors of Cosmos and Chaos throughout the cycles and that sometimes new warriors are summoned, as is the case with Tifa in 012. It's also implied that warriors of Cosmos and Chaos are constantly betraying their allegiances and switching sides, mostly as reference to the fact that there are several good guys and villains who used to play for the other team, as is the case with Cecil, Terra, Cloud, Golbez, Kefka, Sephiroth, Kuja, Jecht, and Gabranth, just to name the warriors seen so far. It's disappointing then (and yet also refreshing), that Tetsuya Nomura has stated he doubts another Dissidia would be made since he fears the series would fall into the same problem other fighting games have, lack of innovation and refusal to change.
Story: 5/10, or 8/10, depending on whether you played the original Dissidia or not
Gameplay: 10/10
Presentation: 10/10
Replay Value: 10/10
Average Score: 8.8/10 for Dissidia veterans, 9.5/10 for first-timers
Despite it's glaring flaws in the story, Dissidia 012 is still a very great game even though there are tons of eye-rolling moments throughout the story of 012. It really makes me wish I could see the other 11 incredibly stupid ways the Cosmos warriors fail to win Dissidia if 012's grand plan somehow led to Cosmos finally winning in 013. The biggest highlight of 012 obviously are the new characters, Kain, Gilgamesh, Tifa, Laguna, Yuna, Prishe, Vaan and Feral/Desperado Chaos. I can say with upmost confidence that each and every new character brings something unique to the table and tons of enjoyment.
Update, Partial Second Opinion
It seems I jumped ahead of myself a bit on judging 012's story, but only partially. 012's story is only partially unlocked through the Main Scenario and you only get to see segments of the story that are always relevant to the plot of 012 and the new characters' plot to stop the Manakins. By playing 013 and the Reports, you unlock Side Scenarios that not only reveal more of the plot, but more fanservice moments, including a very lenghty conversation between Squall and Laguna (if it can be called that, knowing Squall lol), and a discussion between Firion and Lightning discussing how they are both associated with roses, among many others that just scream FANSERVICE and more connections between the plots of 012 and 013. The problem with these side scenarios however, is that they take far too long to unlock for new content. I'm barely halfway through 013's story and I still have yet to unlock the majority of 012's side scenarios.
Updated Score for Dissidia veterans: 9.3/10
In my next post, I'm going to discuss in detail all the changes made to every character's move sets and how things have changed for the better (majority) or worse (very very few). Stand by for my Donkey Kong Country Returns review.... um... eventually!
No comments:
Post a Comment