Dissidia Prologus Thoughts *SPOILERS*

I doubt this thread will have a long life considering the real game comes out next week but for those who dove in and picked this up yesterday, what are your thoughts so far. I've been too busy to play story mode but I've taken a few rounds in normal (5 battle) arcade mode so I could check out Kain and Lightning and see how much Kefka got modified.

Lightning is pretty interesting, I wish medic was more practical (and really, Shantatto needs it more than Lightning does) and I was surprised that Lightning isn't as bouncy as I thought she would be. I figured she would have a really over the top move set like Tidus but she's pretty straight forward. Like Cecil, her paradigm roles could be stand alone fighting styles but she can switch them with a hit of the L and R buttons. I screwed up with her Ex-Burst so I didn't get to see the whole thing. :(

Kain, is an overpowered asshole. I blew through arcade mode with him. He's very combo friendly (I so wish Cecil's moves flowed together as well as Kain's do) and yeah, he's a dominating force in the air but he's surprising just as good on the ground. Jump is an awesome HP attack and I love the fact I can charge it for delay. I don't care for his EX-Mode, I was never fond of the idea of Kain becoming a Holy Dragoon in FFIV:TAY and I honestly feel the outfit is ugly. His EX-Burst is more funny than epic imo. Overall, I have a pretty good feeling Kain is going to be added to my list of mains.

Kefka, he seems a bit faster, which is good cause he needs it. His Firaga Fireball skill is a bit bigger and more noticeable but its hard to tell if it has been nerfed or not. Ultima and the shotgun Blizzaga spells have much faster start-up times but it looks like their damage might have been toned down. His long range Thundaga spell works has a much greater range and it looks like you get some additional lightning bolts for tapping the O button. His EX-Mode is about the same though I did kind of feel like he got slower but then again I only was able to enter it once. I'll have to check to see if he had more changes later.

WoL got a new HP attack that gives him some mid-range ground love. He's retained all his branching attacks and I feel he's become a lot faster since the original. The animation for his EX-Burst seems a bit different as well. Alo, he's awesome in his new Fighter alt. :D

Garland, Flare is nasty and finally gives him some close range aerial HP game. Overall, he doesn't feel very different beyond his new move and his faster Flame and Tornado attacks. His Amano Chaos Alt, is pretty nice as well.

I haven't played Sephiroth or Jecht yet, and I've heard Cloud is unlockable. I'll get to them later. XIII's stage is HUGE probably the size of the Rift/Lunar Subterrain at least. I haven't seen the others yet but I'll probably see them in story mode or arcade hard mode.

Changes:

EX Cores give much less points for your EX gauge. Really, you have to actively prolong some of the fights just to reach it cause I swear it only gives as much as half as much as it used to.

EX Revenge, taking a cue from other fighting games, you can sacrifice your EX gauge to activate this. It slows down time and the background goes black and white. Let's you basically score a few good hits in and break an enemies attack. This might be the answer we need to counter Cloud and Jecht. It is also possible to knock opponents out of EX-Mode though I have yet to figure out how to do this but it looks like it has to do with the Assist attacks.

Assist Attacks, are pretty fun, sadly Prologus doesn't let you control who your partner is or what moves they will use. Mateus and Lightning have been especially cool Assist characters. Charging them is easy and you will certainly be using them a lot. I kind of wish I had access to Squall or Cecil cause I feel these two would benefit the most from this system. It's activated by the L button and the O for Brave Assist and square for HP assist. Combo attacks with the Assist is fun and easier than I thought it would be.

The game also gives access to some of the new music. I'm not really impressed since Dissidia 1 had most of my fave battle themes from the series already and even then I don't care for some of the remixes but I'm bias. Chaos Temple from FFI and Esper Battle from FFXII are pretty awesome as well as the tracks from XIII. J-E-N-O-V-A is a sad remix and is four for four of bad remixes of good music from FFVII imo. :(

My only beef so far has been the fact that now that the L button is being used for Assist moves, it feels like the targeting system is really unresponsive. Trying to switch between a target and the EX Core is more pain than it should be and it really hates responding to having the target removed from your opponent and then your opponent walks off screen. I took a few cheap shots off screen cause I couldn't get targeting back onto him. I can only hope this is something exclusive to Prologus and the real game will fix it.

They most definitely nerfed EX cores and points, you are correct there. It sucks, because it means most fights, you won't even get to see EX mode. Really, it makes you wonder why they left the mode in the game. Although I do seem to get it more often in the Hard Mode than the regular, so maybe level and abilities will bring it more into play.

You left out the biggest, and, in my mind, most important mechanics change: Dashing. Seriously, this is such a huge difference, how could anyone not notice? Dashing is now separated from the air game. If you are standing on the ground, and you dash towards your opponent or an EX Core, you stay on the ground. Unless you jump, or dash off a cliff, you won't gain elevation. It has totally messed up my playstyle, since I am so used to dashing and chaining into aerial attacks.

That said, inifinite jumping is also gone, since dodging does not reset your midair jump, which makes levels like the Rift much more annoying to navigate.


It seems like they wanted more of a ground game this time. Not sure I'm a fan.

I knew I forgot something. Chase is very different but I like the extra speed and need for quick timing, makes it more useful. Dashing will take some getting used to but I probably wasn't as affected since I wasn't using my usual aerial based characters (Terra) but I did notice Kefka was having some issues.

I like it so far, the more ground game makes me happy too cuz i got kinda sick of always being in the air and nothing else alot. So it mixes it up a bit and I am happy to see that, other then that I like most of the changes I just hope they allow you to remap some stuff cuz i dont like assist being the same as lock-on/off other then that I am happy with the game, I wished they had more chars for the prologus but meh I just want to play as my chars and only 1 showed up in the Prologus that being Sephiroth, Kain is alright but I dont think Ill main him, I dont like Lightnings play style but Im not going to judge yet really since its not the real game and I will hold all final judgment till then.

On that note if anyone has found out how to unlock Cloud let us know I think you have to do the 30 battle arcade as everyone for it not sure though. I also did get hit by Golbez's new move and I can not WAIT to have that its a nice mid-range HP attack I was also hoping Sephiroth had Scillta as a move in it seeing as they made it better I wanted to try it out.

Also the Triangle Button as Kain is your friend.... he has a unique dash to him that homes so yea...

Just figured this out, the key to raising the EX Gauge I've found is initiating Chase, you seem to gain more than usual as long as you keep up chase chains. Since Sephy loves launching people into Chases, I noticed I was able to activate EX-Mode in most of his fights. Its a shame his EX-Mode isn't that good... :(

Sephy got a new short range swipe that launches opponents into Chase mode. Beyond that, it seems like they slowed down some of his animations to make it smoother to the eye, it doesn't seem to have affected his speed. Beyond that he's pretty much the same.

Jecht got a new mid-range ground HP attack that is surprisingly faster than I thought it would be. The timing for his EX-Burst seems a bit different as well but I might be imagining things.

I noticed that dodging moves in Chase mode is much harder, the timing for the HP attacks have been altered so I was getting some nasty hits from people like Ultimecia, EX-Death, and Sephiroth.

Also, while Bartz is unplayable he does showcase two new moves from Laguna and Yuna. He has two ground HP attacks, one is short range and summons what looks like Ifrit (its really fast so its hard to tell) who fires a wall of flame in front of Bartz and can be used as a shield. His other attack involves summoning the head of the Ragnarok ship and using a beam blade from it. The attack looks like Squall's Blasting Zone. ;)

You unlock Cloud by finishing the 30 matchesin arcade. I finished the 30 matches with Kain, Cloud, Sephiroth, and Kefka.

Kain-incredibly well balanced, he's gonna be top tier imo. He is mid-fast, but I am more afraid of his punishments. gungir could be the highest damaging HP attack in the game if done properly dragging the enemy across the whole screen into the back wall. Jump is amazing too, the best ground HP attack I saw in prologus so far.

Cloud-same old OTL Cloud...I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE YOU! The gave him a meteorrain in the air...as if he need more garbage. Maybe its because hes the noob character and we are noobs thus far but screw you cloud. Sorry, being more objective, the air m.r. is amazing making his HP game even more insane, honestly having trouble getting to him, glad i main kefka ;) The rest of him I didn't notice any major differences.

Sephiroth-I didn't notice any real big changes, other than I didn't have my heavens light :( His new move is very good, its faster than free energy, does suitable-good damage, once u master its range its a force to be reckoned with. Other things didn't seem too different.

Kefka-His range his nerfed mainly due to the WWF. The attacks range has been greatly changed, but it could be a little quicker, but that does not compensate for the shorter distance. Forsaken has a faster start up and you can move like Kujas ultima making it much more usable. TTB is better, shoots in the air in case of an aerial attack and is faster, but i still don't think i will use it. Ultima is better giving it better homing than before. LLT is better, can aim much better and good damage that goes to chase which is essential to get to EX mode, which i have yet to study cause its so hard to get to and honestly I kill them before i get halfway up :D. I only played him on 30 course so idk ECF. O, hyperdrive was defiently made better, but you can't hold it forever. goes off the ground out of ex mode. Trine is faster with a shorter duration and hit box. SSB is good to, not dramaticly different. My overall opinion is favorable, though is range was cut i think everything else is better making him at least a little usable at closer range, Will he be able to fight on Phantom train, probably not anytime soon, but I think SE realized he was all range game, and only half his moves were usable which they altered. Also a great new line *spoiler* LICK THE DIRT OFF MY SHOES!

EX MODE: Very difficult to build in comparison unless you are Gabranth who seems to charge it faster despite it being more difficult for every other character... I think its a bit too hard now, considering i main kefka I find this very irritating. EX REVENGE is much better than before because now use lose something when ex bursting during an attack, its was just dumb before making it so you were practically required to get hit.

DASH: I like it better tbh. I use omni dash anyway. Only dashing on the ground makes running and spamming attacks at least take a little skill since you need to time a jump now too. Before I couldn't beat OK with kefka because it was so bad. Charging straight at me no matter where I was trying to run, this makes it much better I think. Since now there is some skill required in chasing Cloud users beware :P I will say the ex cores are more annoying to get though since they are normally just floating above your height so you need to jump to get them.

Assist: I enjoy it, new element, thus far I think tactic human meat shield is very promosing.

Having gone through with Kefka a bit more, I am finding it a much more pleasant experience compared to the original game. They have improved him a lot even though most players (since very few actually play as him) will not notice what actually changed, beyond him suddenly being much better. His EX-Mode is certainly a lot crazier than I remember it being and it definetly lives up to its "crazy effects" moniker cause half the time I'm surprised how some of the abilities have changed. I'm just grateful he's not as painfully slow as he used to be cause it's helped him alot. Making him more mid-range fighter has also made dealing with close range fighters like Squall and Cloud much easier to handle.

I'm really happy about all these changes, especially since what I'm seeing with Terra is that they nerfed her pretty badly. I can only base it off fighting her but, they removed Holy's retardo-range that allowed her to take potch shots at opponents from the other side of the map, and Tornado has a really slow start-up time now, though the range is much greater. Throw in the change to Chase mechanics and the removal of the infinity jump mechanics, and I fear she's going to be one of the low tier fighters in this one. Especially since you can still reflect magic just by dashing through it which I still feel is bull:bou::bou::bou::bou:. :objection:

So far, I'm really liking Assists cause they have dramatically changed the game. Not only do they add more pressure to opponents (and you) allowing some characters to overcome their issues from flawed fighting design., it has also negated EX-Mode as the "I win" button for half the cast. Darkwolf090 and I have determined that Chase sequences are needed to build up EX-Mode but also, that Assists have the ability to knock an opponent out of EX-Mode if their attack lands, which is going to greatly nerf characters like Garland, Terra, Cloud, and sadly Gabranth, who simply needed to get into EX-mode to win fights. I also love how making the EX-Cores useless has made the game more focused on the actual fighting instead of just "battle, battle, race to EX-Core, battle, battle, Race to other Ex-Core, activate EX-Mode, win... " so I feel a lot of the new mechanics have really made the game much better in that regard.

My only hope is that they have also revamped the other problem Dissidia faced, which was the imbalance of the equipment/accessories. In the end game parts of Dissidia, it became more often than not, an issue of who has the best gear as opposed to who has the most skill. I'm hoping that this will be addressed.

I agree with the equipment thing as Wolf said, like I told him last night I hate the fact that I can be kicking his butt with my Golbez then he with the stupid Snowpetal set lands on holy combo with Ex-Terra on a lucky Counter which gives 300% damage to magic on counter hits and then gets to 9999 brave and branches in to Ultima, when skill is no longer a factor in a fighting game cuz you simply have better gear I think its a issue. Now dont get me wrong Wolfs Terra is good and he is skilled with her, but having that equipment makes it just wrong.
So I do hope they make it that it isnt that big of a factor again.