We’ve got a few ideas on how to make sure you hear that FF victory fanfare often in Dissidia.
Final Fantasy characters make for a surprisingly good fit for a fighting game – but despite that, Square Enix hasn’t made just any old fighting game. Partnering with Team Ninja, they’ve made their sort of fighting game – filled to the brim with some of the intricacies and eccentricities you’d expect from a Final Fantasy game – but still, Dissidia Final Fantasy NT is definitely, positively a fighting game at heart.
As the game enters closed beta, it only seemed right to offer up some top tips for getting good at this unique fighter. Once you know what you’re doing Dissidia is damn good fun – but thanks to those intricate systems it can be difficult to immediately understand compared to something like, say Street Fighter. So, without further ado, here are our tips for Dissidia Final Fantasy NT’s closed beta – good luck out there!
Can I get access to or a key for the Dissidia Final Fantasy NT closed beta?
It seems only right to start with this question, so let’s get this obvious thing out of the way: right now, there’s no way to gain access to the beta if you don’t already have access to the game. Square Enix took applications a couple of weeks ago, and now the beta keys are being sent out directly to applicants.
You won’t need to have access to PlayStation Plus to play the beta, though you will for the main game. It might be worth keeping an eye out over the coming days – Square Enix plan to run the beta for several days, and they may see fit to offer up more keys at some point during that period. Speaking of that…
Dissidia Final Fantasy NT Beta Times: when the closed beta runs
The closed beta for Dissidia Final Fantasy NT on PS4 will run from Saturday August 26 through until 9pm Pacific time on September 3rd (5am on the 4th in the UK, midnight US Eastern). This is a fairly long beta, running for over a full week – a nice little bonus. Keep in mind the beta only has a slice of the content you’ll find in the final game.
What characters can I play as in the closed beta, and who ranks best in the tier lists?
The main game will feature many more characters, but the closed beta will give you access to one hero from each of the first 14 Final Fantasy games. Each fits into a specific category and style of character, which we’ll briefly cover here:
- Warrior of Light (Vangaurd): Warrior of Light is an all-rounder who also comes with abilities that can defend allies or counter enemy attacks.
- Firion (Vangaurd): Firion is better when grounded rather than airborne, and wields multiple type of weapons allowing for devastating combos.
- Onion Knight (Specialist): The Onion Knight can switch between three different jobs – the default Onion Knight, plus the Ninja and Sage roles. Key to surviving as him is switching jobs smartly and at the right times.
- Cecil Harvey (Vanguard): Cecil can switch between Dark Knight and Paladin roles, with the former excelling on the ground and the latter in the air.
- Bartz Klauser (Specialist): FF5’s Bartz is also focused on the fact he’s a job-changing jack-of-all trades, with a wide range of abilities and some strong ally-buffing skills.
- Terra Branford (Marksman): A spell-slinging mage, Terra/Tina’s sword is actually largely for shopw in Dissidia. Terra’s attacks become more powerful if time passes between them, so she’s better off sniping selectively from afar.
- Cloud Strife (Vanguard): Cloud is for our money this game’s Ryu, easy to pick up but difficult to master. Many of his attacks can be charged to make them more effective, and his Limit Break skill means he can boost the parameters of his attacks.
- Squall Leonhart (Assassin): A trained mercenary, the assassin class makes sense for Squall – he’s all about getting in close and unleashing combos thaty deal massive damage. He’s difficult to master, however.
- Zidane Tribal (Assassin): Zidane is a hit-and-run character, designed so you can jump in, deal some damage and then dodge away. He can be greatly annoying, and is extremely mobile.
- Tidus (Assassin): Tidus is an extremely fast character but is weaker than many others as a result, but if you can master his dodge game he can become a trolling, nippy annoyance to your enemies.
- Shantotto (Marksman): Shantotto is better off taking on enemies from a distance with her range of deadly magic attacks. Her attacks power up when she takes a lot of damage, and she’s got a killer laugh.
- Vaan (Specialist): Vaan has a range of attacks designed to make him able to charge his bravery stat even more quickly than your average character combined with a mixture of magic and physical attacks. He’s able to unleash HP attacks far more regularly than your average fighter.
- Lightning (Assassin): Lightning is a brawler in this game, able to pummel enemies with a series of brutal, fast attacks. She also has access to some great ranged spells – making her a great jack of all trades.
- Y’shtola (Marksman): Another expert mage, Y’shtola also comes with some healing-focused abilities for aiding allies as well as a range of debuff attacks and some damaging spells. She’s best used as a support anchor for a more aggressive team.
Understand the character types/classes and their general strengths and weaknesses
Once you’ve picked a character above, understand the general layout of character strengths. Gneerally, one of the four classes is good against another. Think like this:
- Vanguards are usually bastions of defense, so they’ll better Assassins, who are all about the quick, up-close kills.
- Assassins like to get in close for their kill, which makes them a disaster for Marksman to deal with – they like to keep a distance.
- The fact that Marksman can pepper them with attacks without getting close enough for a counter to land makes them ideal for tackling Vanguards.
Specialists, of course, are entirely unique. This type of character is difficult to handle, and will have its own unique style – it won’t fit with any of the basic ‘classes’ or character archetypes described above.
Understand the Bravery and HP stats, and don’t save your HP attacks for the right moment
A big part of winning in Dissidia is down to understanding the unique systems of the game – Bravery, Health (HP), the difference between the two and how they relate.
We’ve got an entirely separate guide page that breaks down how bravery attacks and HP attacks work and how to make the most of your attempts to KO the enemy, so we suggest you go read that.
There is one tip that is universal, however: generally speaking, you should be saving HP attacks. Spamming them won’t help you much at all.
Master the HUD, especially the mini map
Mastering the rather busy user interface of Dissidia Final Fantasy NT is pretty key to winning – it holds absolutely key information about the match, and somebody who is able to better understand and quickly process what the HUD is telling them is almost always more likely to come out the victor.
In particular you should pay attention to the mini map to see where your opponents are – like any fighting game, position is everything. Elements of the HUD are also dedicated to showing who is attacking who, and this sort of information is displayed proudly throughout the HUD as explained in our guide to Dissidia’s somewhat clunky UI.
Use the mini map, HUD and target switching often to figure out what’s going on in the wider match.
Don’t neglect your skills beyond HP attacks and bravery attacks
Dissidia is a cross-over of fighting game and Final Fantasy, and that means that, yes, most characters come packing many of their abilities from their classic games. Many of these make their way into Dissidia NT as HP attacks and Bravery attacks, but many other classic FF staples find their way into the game in the easily less-used EX Skill and Summoning mechanics. We should talk about that.
Don’t ignore summons in Dissidia: they can turn the tide of a match
Summons in Dissidia offer you both a passive buff for the entire match plus a second buff after they’ve been summoned, and they also appear on the battlefield once summoned to wreck havoc on the enemy team.
Your choice of summon is important, and the right summon can seriously shore up lacking team composition to cover a hole in a team’s abilities. A good summon can also seriously turn the tide of a losing battle.
If you want to know more about what each summon does and their unique abilities, be sure to check out our dedicated guide on how to summon in Dissidia NT and what each summon does.
Similarly, don’t neglect your EX skills
Like summons, EX skills can make a major difference – and some characters like Y’shtola even carve out their niche in the Dissidia cast and tier list based on their EX skill usage. Learn what your EX skills are, choose which ones you use carefully, and use them often in battle. Simply debuffing the enemy (especially with the right summon buff in effect on top of it) can majorly change the equation when it comes to a match.
Team Composition is King – think about it carefully, and choose summons and skills to offset weaknesses
Being a three-on-three game Dissidia is impacted by the same sort of things as the likes of Marvel vs Capcom or Dragon Ball FighterZ – team composition matters. When picking your character for a match you should try to discuss with your team what your plan is – a team of three Clouds or even three Vanguards is difficult to win with. You should try to go into battle with a balanced team.
When you have a team idea, consider strongly your EX Skills and your Summon – what you pick and how you choose to use them during the match can seriously help to cover up your team’s deficiencies (there’s no such thing as a perfect team, after all) or significantly enhance their strengths.
Remember, too, that there is safety in numbers. If you’re struggling and taking a beating, one of the best possible things you can do is to retreat and find some cover with a team mate – it’s certainly better than dying!
Comments
Post a Comment