Warrior of Light
- Tweaks to his ground combos make him harder to predict and Shield of Light now now points to the enemy, making it a much better HP attack; Bitter End is not the only HP attack to rely on now. New HP attack Ultimate Shield does bravery damage on the ground, and it's very hard to dodge. WoL was a strong character before and now all of his faults are gone.
- Garland has been nerfed in favor of a new bravery attack and a new HP attack, both of which are strong. Although Bardiche executes much faster now, there's less reason to use it since Flare hits targets so easily. With the new moves and nerfs to old ones, Garland doesn't improve.
- Firion was seriously lacking in the air, although that was by design. To make up for that, he was given Weaponsmaster as an HP attack, the only multi-hit ability he had in the air. It usually was never worth it since it had such poor tracking and usually could only hit while an enemy was dodging. Weaponsmaster's tracking problems have been solved, while Firion's magic has become far more usable and slightly customizable. On the ground, Firion can now combo into any finisher he chooses, originally used by his 3 main combos in the original Dissidia, punching the enemy away, slashing the enemy and then firing an arrow, or striking the enemy with a lance. This option not only make every ground combo viable, but Rope Knife has been buffed to the point that it now can angle up or down, making a short range version of Reel Impulse that was so desired. In addition to all that, he now has a new mid range ground HP attack that is very quick and Straightarrow fires much faster. Firion has been buffed to new heights to the point where he is actually usable in all stages, not just the ones that were mostly flat.
- Emperor was already a really good character in the hands of a skilled tactician, but now he's even safer to use now that his blue Flare can't be blocked and Dreary Cell is a great new HP attack that adds to the Emperor's trap game. The various mines have also been buffed; Emperor didn't need too many improvements but to maintain competitive balance, he needed a few new moves.
- Another already good character, Onion Knight now has the ability to buff his attack or magic power, but only one at a time. His combos execute much faster, which won't be noticeable to an opponent, but to someone playing as OK, he is able to connect his attacks much easier, especially his stand-alone HP attacks. His ground magic executes much better too, so there's less incentive to jump around constantly - although he still excels in that. It's a slight buff, but he needed to work with the new jumping mechanics.
- My favorite predictable character, CoD had tons of HP attacks, but only 2 bravery attacks that were determined based on timing. With 2 more bravery attacks, CoD is a bit harder to predict, even against the computer. With essentially 12 bravery attacks all usable at any time, CoD is a threat even without bravery now. A needed buff, if only for play against human opponents.
- Cecil was a great character in practice and design, but was severely nerfed for the NA/EU versions of Dissidia. This time, Cecil has 2 new HP attacks (one of which is probably the best HP attack in the game) only usable at once and gain benefits by using them while in its respective job. Cecil's infamous Searchlight->Paladin Combo and Paladin Arts->Paladin Combo combos from the JP version are back, allowing Cecil to attack from pretty much anywhere in the stage as long as Searchlight hits its target. While he was utterly devastating and incredibly broken in the JP Dissidia, the return of his infamous combos and his new air HP attack make him a much better character, yet not incredibly broken due to the new rules in Dissidia 012.
- Probably one of the best characters in the original game, Golbez received a new HP attack to keep up with the new emphasis on ground combat and some new special/sound effects to his old moves! Golbez is largely unchanged for the better because even with the new rules, he is still a top-tier character.
- Bartz's moveset has almost completely changed, incorporating the attacks from the newcomers, as well as the addition of Cecil's new air HP attack. Bartz needs a completely new play-strategy because of this, and while he does not make a huge improvement in bravery attacks, his new HP attack selection make him a far better character; Hellfire and Luminous Wave alone make him probably the best Cosmos character.
- The only direction Exdeath could go was down since he was the unquestioned best character of Dissidia. His blocks have new names, with better descriptions of what they block. The move formerly called High Block has been severely nerfed, unable to block the same HP attacks as last time. Omni Block is still fantastic and should be the bread and butter move for Exdeath veterans. It's a slight nerf, but Exdeath is still one of the best characters.
- Terra desperately needed better ground attacks, but she gets them at the expense of nerfing her air game and melee combos. With 012's new rules, it makes sense to strengthen Terra on the ground, but Blizzard Combo and Blizzara aren't nearly as good anymore. Holy Combo stays incredibly strong, but Ultima has been nerfed. Thunder's tracking has been improved, but Meteor received no imrovements. Graviga gets a buff and Fire gets a BRV->HP combo with Firaga, but in the end it all stays even to make Terra less good in the air and better on the ground. To make up for the various nerfs, Terra is even better in EX mode now that she has two BRV->HP combos and Meltdown has become her best move to use in EX mode now that its effects are customizable in EX.
- Although Kefka doesn't have any new moves, his old moves have better tracking outside EX mode, Hyperdrive can now go into the air, and Forsaken Null doesn't require Kefka to be stationary. It seems like small improvements, but Kefka has buffed to unbelievable levels, especially considering that Kefka has always been viewed as needing to be in EX mode as much as possible. His EX game is even stronger because of the buffs, rivaling Gabranth in improvements to power in EX mode.
Cloud Strife
- Cloud can use Meteorain and Double Cut can be used in the air now, but the biggest improvements have been made to how he executes his combos. Cloud was incredibly predictable before, but now he can choose to end a combo more or less whenever he chooses, allowing him to fake out his opponent. Because of that, Cloud's AI has also improved to the point it's no longer easy to make fun of on Youtube.
- Sephy has one new bravery attack on the ground, while Shadow Flare and Hell's Gate have been buffed. In exchange for that, Sephiroth's old timed-hits have been nerfed and he doesn't hit enemies as many times as he did before. This is actually advantageous since he attacks faster now, rather than focusing on catching an enemy not paying attention. Overall, Sephiroth doesn't improve that heavily, still remaining an easy- to-use character.
- Previously the best Cosmos character with an incredibly broken AI, Squall receives one new air bravery attack that isn't very good. The only improvement Squall needed was for Fated Circle, which now has a magnet effect. Squall also noticeably attacks slower with some combos, which doesn't affect him as a playable character, but makes his AI much dumber, which needed to happen. Squall improves sideways, but it's a good thing since he was already super good.
- Ultimecia at first glance gets a few nerfs, but actually gets her attacks strengthened in attack power. Her HP attacks, her biggest flaw, have vastly improved with Apocalypse being much better at a distance, Shockwave Pulsar being usable more than just above an enemy, and new attack Hell's Judgment being a great HP attack to use after using an Assist. She's improved greatly and it doesn't take a million years to win a battle with her anymore.
- Zidane receives huge buffs to his magic, especially his infamous Tidal Flame, which you can no longer play Tennis with. His air combos are even better, if at all possible, and it's a lot easier to connect his attacks.
- Kuja's new HP attack, Force Symphony, is obviously an addition to be used after an Assist. Seraphic Star got a huge boost and actually tracks opponents now. It was my favorite HP attack before, only hampered because it could never hit anything. Kuja was great before, but he got even better.
- He gets one new air BRV->HP combo, but it's one he already had on the ground. Despite his notoriety for being a dodger and BRV-HP combo guy, his blitzball attacks have been hugely buffed and there's more incentive to use his non-BRV->HP combos. It's not a huge buff, but Tidus is definitely less predictable now.
- The one character that needed no buffs whatsoever, Jecht gets a new HP attack which strikes almost instantly at close range, but does no BRV damage. Jecht's charges are much faster now, to make up for 012's faster paced combat. To make Jecht not broken and not even more impossible to learn, Jecht Beam and Jecht Blade share the same combos, while his other HP attacks can now chain from any point at the end of a combo. This is similar to how Firion and Terra were changed, but most people will probably end up using the old Jecht combos.
- NERFED. Although Shantotto's strongest HP attacks can be used with lower HP now, Bio just plain sucks now. Bind has better tracking now, but it doesn't make up for Bio being nerfed to hell and back. Shantotto needed some buffs and she doesn't get any. She's merely an average character now, even though her HP attacks are much easier to land now.
- This one is complicated. Dissidia 012 nerfed EX mode in general by making not last as long, so how do you adjust Gabranth, the character who was only ever good in EX mode? Quite simply, EX Charge charges three times as fast, maybe faster. While outside EX mode his attacks do more hits and allow Gabranth more time to go into EX mode, which he didn't need in the first place. In EX mode, Dual Rend has been nerfed to do far less hits, which is very disappointing. Gabranth has one new attack, which was pretty much exactly what he was lacking, a ground ranged attack that is way more reliable than Aero, which was much better in the air anyway. At first glance Gabranth has been nerfed due to 012's new mechanics, but he actually remains about the same due to the faster paced combat.
- Although not a playable character, he's still a character you fight against. Chaos doesn't have any new moves and because air combat has been nerfed, he's easier than ever to beat. It's kind of sad, but of course Dissidia 012 makes up for it by giving Chaos another form which is playable and incredibly broken,but only once you start mastering abilities.
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