How did design considerations differ from previous original DISSIDIA FINAL FANTASY titles?
In terms of the battle system design, if you ignore the characteristic “bravery” system, then pretty much all elements of the game were redesigned around the idea of 3v3 battles.
The balancing of the different characters followed the strengths and weaknesses of the previously mentioned character types and was deliberately adjusted in a way that would leave certain matchups unbalanced in a one-on-one setting.
All aspects of the design were made to optimize the excitement of 3v3 matches, so in such cases you might want to take on an opponent who would give one of your allies problems, if your character was more suited to fighting them, etc.
We do understand that there are people who want to see one-on-one matches too, and you can still do that using custom lobbies, but we really want people to enjoy the 3v3 aspect.
Aside from that, one big difference is how there is no Story Mode like in the previous and the first DISSIDIA games. We actually wanted to avoid the kind of Story Mode that had gone before for the PS4, as we felt that we should be making use of the unique capabilities of the PS4 hardware.
However, in order to do that properly, we would have to spend another one to two years in development and keep people enjoying the battles for a long time.
After much consideration, we decided to make the battles themselves the main focus of this game. However, we have still created a story and numerous cut-scenes to tell it through.
We based the story unlock system on what we had in the previous games, where memories become clearer the more you fight, having more story cut-scenes unlock as you play more and more battles.
As we have also included as great a level of character growth as the versus game format will allow, I think players will be fully satisfied by the time they see the story’s ending.
You can expect great things from these cut-scenes that total over 60 minutes.
The artwork has been greatly enhanced over the PSP games, and I think this has helped show the all-star cast of the FF series in a whole new light.
We deliberately adjusted the bodily proportions of the characters to be slightly shorter, in order to match the flashy, acrobatic anime-style visuals.
We also included as many things as we could that were not possible on the previous DISSIDIA games, such as showing damage and dirt on the combatants, having alternative skins for characters, and having things change in stages during the battle.
So please try out as many of the characters, stages, and summons as you can!
Takeo Kujiraoka, Game Director