4) Dissidia 012 (Duodecim)
Dissidia sounds like every Final Fantasy fan’s dream. Take the main heroes and villains from every game in the series, throw in a few others, and make them all fight each other. For the most part, the Dissidia games succeeded on that vision as well.
Dissidia is a bit different for a fighting game. Two characters pit off against each other in an arena that they can freely move and dash around in. Two different kinds of attacks called Bravery and HP attacks are at the player’s disposal, and these attacks lower the opponent’s count of each respectively. The more Bravery points you have, the more damage you do when you land an HP attack. Each character also has a huge amount of abilities, levels, assist characters, and equippable items that can help change the tide of battle.
The sense of speed in battles is a huge draw to Dissidia; the battles are hectic and fast-paced, requiring players to stay on their toes the whole time. Of course the biggest appeal is being able to play as your favorite Final Fantasy heroes and villains. Dissidia 012 has a huge cast of characters, clocking in at 31 playable characters from Final Fantasy 1-13.
Dissidia’s story casts all these characters in a huge war between Chaos and Cosmos, basically as warriors of light and darkness. The story manages to be confusing at a lot of turns, but Dissidia actually has a pretty expansive single player offering that can last upward of 60 hours. Dissidia 012 functions as a prologue to the original game, which you actually unlock after beating the story of 012. You travel a world map as story scenarios play out, and can undertake additional objectives and battles to help train your characters.
