Dissidia 012[duodecim] Final Fantasy Review

We've been through all this before.

You ever get déjà vu? It can be a powerful sensation, though in the case of reviewing Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy, it feels more like experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, at least for those who had the unfortunate luck of playing the first Dissidia.

Despite having a new name that sounds like something out of a library catalog, not much else is new about this sequel. In fact, you can pretty much take everything I said in my review of the first game and apply it to this one and no one would notice. But despite that fact, there are some differences, although they really don't make the game any more fun to play... they're just... different.

For instance, you no longer get a random number of movements around the chessboard like a battle grid, which means you can now play through every single, boring, repetitive battle available to you, without going through a level several times. There's also been an added overworld map that you can traverse through which gives you a chance for even more pointless battles and adds another shop that, even though run by Moggles, could've easily been added to the regular shop and makes just as much sense as having two different battle maps.

In order to counteract the monotony of the repetitious combat, a new assist mode has been added that lets you call on a partner if you happen to have one available. But you don't always have a partner and their only real advantage is that they can attack an opponent from long distances.

Overall, though, it's the same old song and dance. There's still too many load times for the menus and fights. The plot is still convoluted and corny. And it's still just the same fan-pandering cash grab as before. The game even takes a few steps backwards, such as the fact that you're forced to play with specific characters in story mode as opposed to choosing your own hero, and I'd much rather be a dragoon than an onion knight.

Duodecim is the same car with a fresh coat of paint. Just copy and paste what I said about the last game in with this review with the few addendums I've mentioned here and be done with it. I have no clue how or why Dissidia got a sequel, but I hope Square-Enix learns their lesson and stops the insanity here. There may be over 60 hours of gameplay here between the new story and the rehashed plot from the first title, but it's 60 hours of doing the same thing. It's like working overtime in an FF battle factory.

Unless you're truly a glutton for punishment or simply have to own everything the words “Final” or “Fantasy” in it, go ahead and skip this one.