[01/04] Takahashi: Dissidia “has its own challenges”

[Gingerbread Lesbian]

Mitsunori Takahashi, director of Dissidia: Final Fantasy and its sequel Dissidia 012[duodecim], has said that while the fighters have their roots in the Final Fantasy series, the development team is more focused on making solid action gameplay rather than producing an authentic Final Fantasy experience.

“The development team did have a debate during the initial stage of the original Dissidia project in an attempt to understand what makes a Final Fantasy a Final Fantasy,” the director told EU PS Blog.

“However, we eventually reached the conclusion that we should not be too preoccupied by such ‘Final Fantasy-esque’ elements.

“Final Fantasy is a series in which fresh challenges have always been taken for each game and we were afraid that, if too much attention were to be paid to the common elements, we would only allow ourselves a reduced level of freedom and be bound to too many restrictions.”

The team agreed to one stricture – to introduce nothing that would jar with the series’ universe – and found the freedom to do as they wished produced ‘very Final Fantasy-esque’ results.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t easy creating such a divergent type of gameplay.

“We have put in our best effort to work out what new gameplay we might be able to provide our users, with combat action elements mixed into RPG,” Takahashi said.

“Therefore, although the Dissidia series would not exist if it were not for Final Fantasy, the direction is different to many of our other games. This means that DISSIDIA has its own challenges for us to face.”

Dissidia 012[duodecim] is out now for PSP, and is available over the PlayStation Network in addition to physical release.

Source: VG247

 

[Stoic Hero]

Lol.

Let's not care at all about making it resemble Final Fantasy. Let's just throw shit together and hope it blends. But hey, all else fails, the gameplay is tight.

That's what I took from this.

 

[Martel]

the development team is more focused on making solid action gameplay rather than producing an authentic Final Fantasy experience.

...this explains why the story mode is the biggest pile of convoluted bullshit I've ever seen outside of fanfiction along the same lines. They didn't even bother TRYING to make a good story. Just throw in some generic stuff about good and evil and watch the fans lap it up, because this kind of mass crossover thing doesn't happen outside of dreams, poorly-written fanfics, and Nippon-Ichi games.

“The development team did have a debate during the initial stage of the original Dissidia project in an attempt to understand what makes a Final Fantasy a Final Fantasy,” the director told EU PS Blog.

These days? Just the logo and the reputation behind it. There are so many RPGs out there equal and superior to Final Fantasy these days that if it weren't for the logo so boldly proclaiming it, nobody would distinguish FF from everything else. The days of FF being one of a kind are long gone.

The team agreed to one stricture – to introduce nothing that would jar with the series’ universe

...well, this explains the convenient amnesia pretty much every character has. They're ignoring the elephant in the room, so to speak. Personally, I think transporting all of the characters in the game out of their own universes post-game, when nearly all of the villains are dead, fucks with the series' universe pretty seriously. It pretty much says that the entire game and its respective pantheon is irrelevant, since these all-powerful Gods can just pluck you right out of it, erase your memory, and raise the dead.

The only character that doesn't jar the series' universe is Gilgamesh, because he's done this dimension-hopping thing so many times now we're used to it. He's special.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t easy creating such a divergent type of gameplay.

I think the results speak for themselves here, don't you?

“We have put in our best effort to work out what new gameplay we might be able to provide our users, with combat action elements mixed into RPG,” Takahashi said.

Ugh, I'm not even going to bother ranting about how Dissidia is not an RPG. Just because you have a level-up system in place DOES NOT mean you're playing an RPG. I understand that the genre has been massively diversified, but Dissidia IS NOT AN RPG.

“Therefore, although the Dissidia series would not exist if it were not for Final Fantasy, the direction is different to many of our other games. This means that DISSIDIA has its own challenges for us to face.”

I would never have guessed.

Once again, a Square Enix representative proves that he is the Grand High Master of the Obvious and, as usual, half of the comments are utter bullshit or he's taking an entire paragraph to say what could be said in a single sentence

Must we have all this "behind the scenes" stuff? We're not morons. We know what Dissidia is. More importantly, we also know what it is not. Why are they even bothering trying to justify their choices when a) it doesn't work, and b) the game sells by the millions anyway, so what do they care? Square Enix have more than proved they're in it only for the money.

 

[L]

yeah, it wasnt hard to see that Dissidia wasn't going to be a real Final Fantasy. When I think of Dissidia Final Fantasy, the first thing that comes to mind is Soul Calibur.

 

[Fusionist]

This story feels like it should have been posted years ago

I have nothing to say. I liked Dissidia for what it is: fun fanservice.

 

[Rey]

The Tales series got Tales of Versus so that pretty much was just like Dissidia. I still think in the future they should just band a bunch of Square Enix characters and make it like an SE all start game. Just pointing it out.. not saying it WILL happen xD. Tales Of Versus looked like a dissidia rip off though but at least it never got a sequel.

 

[10th Doctor]

USELESS NEWS IS USELESS. Seriously though, pretty sure we all knew this already. What's next? Telling us that Lightning is going to be in the game?

 

[Eight]

They're not kidding on the challenges. Seriously, on the last Dissidia it was like "Meeeh, the challenges are purely for the sake of making yourself better, I don't need to do them." But now, you gotta do 'em to get Feral Chaos, and the inner perfectionist in me needs a full character rooster AND full music option. I can do without sidequest that just earn you titles, but now.

As for the plot, yeah, it was poo. I mean, the original Dissidia wasn't that bad considering how shit crossover plots often are, but Duodecim was just, like, utter shite. But Fusion is right, it is fun fanservice. Fanservice with immense gameplay.

 

[Onion Knight]

I can't believe that this is the same company that brought us classics like FFIV and FFIX.

At first, I thought Dissidia would be an awesome crossover of epic proportions. But now, after seeing the actual game, it feels like I've been watching a generic, tasteless soap opera or something.

When your crossover game's good points are the fanservice and the gameplay, and its only flaw is the plot itself, you know you've really made a mistake down the line somewhere.

 

[Ayen]

Seriously... Why even bother with a story at this point if you're not going to try? Dissidia may as well be a generic fighting game with three selection on the main menu:

• Arcade
• Versus
• Options

Now you can just focus on the gameplay however much you want. No Story Mode to hold you down...