Back Into Dissidia Again

See the updated post here.

This is a continuation of my old thread, since it'd probably too old for me to post in again. Anyways, since my friend was able to find Dissidia again, I was able to play it again and I just wanted to update my progress and ask for some advice and some explanation for some things.

Anways, I somehow became better at Dissidia by not playing it. Weird, I know, but I was able to do block counters, Searchlight to Paladin Force, became better defensively and offensively (mostly the former) in chase sequences, and learned how to use certain moves more effectively that I had a harder time hitting with before (namely Sacred Cross, Shadow Lance, Spiral Cut, and Jecht Stream combos). Also, before I couldn't defeat around half of the Expert Battle Pieces in Shade Impulse 1, but I was able to defeat each and every one of them in all of Shade Impulse 2 and Shade Impulse 3-1 and 3-2 (the latter being the farthest I was able to do today).

Characters I've Improved With: regarding Cecil (my main), I've become more accustomed to distance fighting (with Paladin Arts, Searchlight, Paladin Force, and Dark Flame) and blocking and countering with Paladin Force. Warrior of Light (he's probably my second main now) I think I've slightly improved with (I'm really good with Shield of Light now, though I have a really hard time hitting with Rising Buckler). Jecht, I've become much better with his Jecht Stream combos, but not his Jecht Rush combos. I still can't get Jecht Stream to combo into Jecht Blade or Triumphant Grasp. I can do Jecht Stream so it ends in Chase or Wall Rush rather consistantly though. I know the timing for the first part of Jecht Stream starts a split second after the second kick, though I don't know when to press O for the other parts though. Same with Jecht Rush, though I don't know how to do any of the parts. I fluked out once and got him to continue Jecht Rush in the air, though. Tidus used to be my worst character on Cosmos' side, but now I'm probably better with him than Firion (who's was my 5th main). After learning to use Spiral Cut insanely close to the enemy and trying his air HP attack for a change (Energy Rain), I'm doing really well with him now. Though I don't really know how to use Wither Shot and Stick and Move all that well. With Garland, I've gotten better with hitting with Earthquake and Chain Cast, though I don't really know how to use Deathblow and Twin Swords well. I only tried Onion Knight a couple of times today, but I've gotten much better with Blade Torrent now that I know the distancing for it.

Characters I've Became Worse With: Golbez' slow movement speed has started to take it's toll on me. He's at level 5 right now, and I don't really have a bread and butter Brave attack for him, except for Rising Wave, and that's rather limited since it needs to start from really close up for full effect. I have become much better with Nightglow though, and can effectively use the Brave damaging part. Maybe I need to unlock some more moves for him? For Firion, it was probably the fact that I was fighting in Dream's End against Zidane that I think I've become worse with him. I still won that match, but I don't really have any bread and butter Brave attack for him either, except for Lance Combo which suffers from the same problem Rising Wave does, limited range. Though maybe I'm being too picky since I prefer melee moves where the character moves since it extends the range of the attack (like WoL's crossover or Cecil's Radiant Wings). I guess it's also a case of unlocking better moves. The Emperor, I'm totally out of shape with. I won both matches I tried out with him, but I could hardly get the mines or Light Crest to hit. I suppose that one's a matter of getting back into the Emperor's playstyle's mindset.

Anyways, for questions, what is the best way to get Chocobo accesories? And what's the best way to level up villain characters besides Quick Battle? Is it Duel Colosseum or the Distant Glory Storylines? Also, how do you activate Brave to HP attacks? I know you have to master the move that triggers it, then equip it, but do you have to press Square at a certain time during the move, or does it automatically trigger when pressing O to continue the attack? Also, I know that the red circles in Jecht's Brave attacks are supposed to signify the timing, and that they don't appear if you do the attacks improperly. But, how exactly do you do the attacks properly so that the red circles appear?

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Originally Posted by Evastio

what is the best way to get Chocobo accesories?

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>>> Change the play plan to the Fat Chocobo one. "treasure hunter" if im not wrong.:luca:

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Originally Posted by Evastio

And what's the best way to level up villain characters besides Quick Battle?

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>>> Get into the Coliseum, its battle after battle all the time..:luca:

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Originally Posted by Evastio

Is it Duel Colosseum or the Distant Glory Storylines?

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>>> Only the Distant Glory, the coliseum is just for level up and get rare items, equipment etc..:luca:

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Originally Posted by Evastio

Also, how do you activate Brave to HP attacks? I know you have to master the move that triggers it, then equip it, but do you have to press Square at a certain time during the move, or does it automatically trigger when pressing O to continue the attack?

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>>> Depends, for most of the close range Brv to Hp attacks you can press square right away and it will work, for long range Brv to Hp attacks you have to wait a little and check up your timing to press square. And no, Brv to Hp attacks doesnt activate by just pressing circle.:luca:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Evastio

Also, I know that the red circles in Jecht's Brave attacks are supposed to signify the timing, and that they don't appear if you do the attacks improperly. But, how exactly do you do the attacks properly so that the red circles appear?

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>>> You got me there. I never cared about Jetch in Dissidia and I didnt master his moves..:luca:

Sounds to me like you just need to master a few abilities. Once you start unlocking most of the branching attacks, it really changes characters like WoL and Firion.

Duel Coliseum is the best place to level as well as collect some great armor sets like the Snowpetal gear and Kappa Gear as well as ingredients to build top tier gear and ultimate weapons. Its also a great place to fight Chaos who will give you the most AP possible. If you haven't acquired the Diamond Armor set for most of the characters, it should be a priority cause mastering skills takes forever without AP bonuses. You should also try to make accessories that give more AP and Gil like the Beckoning Cat item.

Fat Chocobo Level Mode is the best for collecting Chocobo Feathers for XP. Afterwards just use Exdeath trick to get some higher levels but I would suggest leveling characters you intend to main normally so you can get their style down and level their abilities evenly.

I don't play Jecht skillfully. He's my button masher character and it works for the computer at least. Mateus is tricky and it depends on how you want to play him. The easy way is to play short range and just block and counter with his bombs and electric traps. The hard (but more fun way) to play him is to learn how to use his charge shot effectively with its aim. It has a high absorption rate that draws opponents near it and firing one between an opponent and a trap you set up earlier leads to fun rag doll combo antics.

I can't help with Tidus cause he's easily one of my worst characters to use. Golbez is a matter of taking advantage of his teleports in his moveset but he's mostly a close to mid range fighter. Use Black Fang in EX mode to force long range fighters (except Terra) to come to you. Onion Knight is really mean but he's a guy who requires you to set up his gear to make him a beast. He does really low damage so you need to given him items that significantly raise his Str. and Mag. damage. Don't be quick to use his Ex-Burst either cause their kinda crappy, just abuse his overpowered Ex-Mode and play an attrition game.

Alright, thanks for the help guys. I'll hopefully be able to go to my friend's house this week to try it out. Though there's quite a lot to do and not enough time to do it (defeating all Destiny Odysseys to unlock both Distant Glories and the Fat Chocobo Play Plan may take 2-3 visits to his place, and borrowing his PSP is out of the question since he plays on it often). I suppose I should focus on defeating Shade Impulse completely so I can level up both Cosmos and Chaos characters more effectively.

Also for Jecht, even though the red circles didn't appear, the O follow up timing still exists, so I guess I'll have to play it by ear and remember the timing based on youtube videos of Jecht I watched quite a lot (FF Wiki helped me out with the directional input, so that isn't a problem). Also, I learned from youtube comments that the HP attack is inputted using square after two well timed O follow ups, but only certain HP attacks will be guaranteed to hit depending on which directions were inputted.

I was able to play Dissidia at my friend's house today and I was able to beat Chaos in Shade Impulse (only having to retry twice). Either Searchlight to Paladin Force is really that effective or I got used to how his attacks work from youtube videos. Anyways, I'm quite suprised about that (and happy). I also tried Duel Colosseum (only with villain characters, specifically Golbez and Jecht, since they don't have any decent game modes to level up in). I did quite well with Golbez (I think I got around 50 medals) but I only around half as far with Jecht (due to Jecht doing insanely bad against Terra and Cloud of Darkness).

Anways, character progress: I haven't really changed much with Cecil, but I'd say if anything I slightly improved with him. I'm back in business with Golbez. I suppose it was a mindset problem (I had a similar problem with the Emperor) in thinking his slowness hindered his effectiveness as a character. His speed is decent enough to get close enough to use his mid-range attacks. As for a bread and butter brave attack, Attack System was good at mid range and Rising Wave is too, but it's insanely more effective starting it at melee range. I also managed to get Cosmic Ray A and it really added to his already insane HP game. I also remembered my Gravity Force to Genesis Rock Combo. If only I could get Glare Hand so I could do the Glare Hand to Nightglow Combo. I also got both Float System and Gravity System, though I barely notice any difference between the two. I can't remember how I equipped them (in terms of equipping them both, or equipping one twice to master it quicker). Also, I knew that moves could be equipped twice, but I had no idea that it made mastering them twice as fast. If only I knew that before. Oh well. Also, I've become really good at using Black Fang against CPU's and it sure is useful, especially when they got the stage bravery. Golbez is back to being my second best (quite fitting, seeing how he's my second most favourite FF character of all time).

As for Jecht, I've become quite a bit better at using Jecht Block (though I mostly use it for moves which can be normal blocked. Still, it'll help give me practice against HP attacks). But more importantly, I've pulled off his Jecht Stream to Triumphant Grasp Combo!! :D

...I find that I have a 1 in 7 chance of pulling it off. Anyways, what I heard about charging up Jecht Stream for the timing circles to appear was true, though it makes hitting with Jecht Stream a bit trickier. After the second follow up, square needs to be pressed right away, somewhere before or during the first hit (so that the text for Triumphant Grasp shows during the second follow up attack). It feels so good to pull off! I'm like "I can't believe it! I was actually able to pull off those crazy Jecht combos on youtube for myself!" Getting the timing down felt insanely satisfying. As for Jecht Rush, I could not do any of his follow up attacks whatsoever. I suppose that's okay since I prefer fighting in the air in Dissidia. Jecht would probably be my third or fourth best now.

Warrior of Light I've improved quite a bit with, seeing how I'm better with hitting with Shining Wave. I still can't hit with Rising Buckler all that well, though I'm insanely good at hitting with Shield Strike (maybe even better than hitting with Ascension). I was able to get Blue Fang, but I can hardly hit with it (I only managed to connect once with it today). Firion, I've began to use his magic and his Reel Axe and Rope Knife more often so not having a brave and butter attack with range isn't an issue anymore. I guess I was paranoid about his ranged attacks leaving him open. Straightarrow is still a pain to hit with though. At least I know how to enter chase sequences with Lance Combo now, so I can do HP strikes then. It's strange, I instinctively press O after launching the opponent with Lance Combo, it said X, and I kept asking myself why I shot the bow instead of chasing the opponent, when the X that was displayed explained pretty well why. I thought it had to do with the timing, but I should've realised a year ago that I could never get Firion to chase because I was pressing O instead of X. Yeah, silly me. The Emperor I'm also back in business with (as I mentioned before, it was a mindset issue). I forgot just how useful Flares were, and for the first time, I've been able to use both mines that come out as melee attacks. I also forgot how effective the Thunder Crest to Flare combo is. Garland attacks were tricky to get down, but I've at least become decent with all of them. Round Edge and Twin Swords made for good area of effect attacks. Deathblow was one of those attacks that are best used for punishing. Though my favourite Brave move with him is definitely Bardiche. It's tracking and range are deceptively good, it's powerful, and it comes out really fast.

As for questions I have right now, how to do Jecht Rush combos is one of them, though I suppose there aren't any Jecht users here that can help me out with that (and I prefer Jecht Stream combos over Jecht Rush combos). Well, I suppose if you guys have suggestions on stuff that I should do after defeating Shade Impulse, I'm interested in hearing it. How to get Diamond equipment for AP boosts piqued my interest, and it would definitely help Firion. Since I likely won't be able to ge the Fat Chocobo play plan, what are some good accessory setups to get exp. easily? I thought my setup for Golbez was good (Chocobo Down, Level 10-19, and HP 100%), but I only got around 800 Exp per HP attack. I'm wondering because I'm wanting to use villain characters for Distant Glory (and get them around level 50 for it), seeing how they don't have their own story modes to level up in.

My friend let me borrow his PSP and Dissidia as a birthday gift, so I'm back into it, again.

As for my progress (from a completely brand new file and 2 days of progress), I beat Cecil's story mode and all 4 Shade Impulse Chapters. My younger brother has also beat Onion Knight's story. Cecil (my most currently levelled character) is at level 70.

Anyways, my questions this time are more item related. What booster accessories do you guys find it best to use? I normally stick with ones like level 20-29 and level 50-59 but I'm not getting those anymore, so I'm sticking with HP > 80%.

Also, what are some good setups for level 1-100 battles (that don't require really exotic or rare items)? I know all about the level 100 Exdeath and Magic Pot trick but I'm not sure about what common items I can use to substitute the typical strategy for that. And don't worry. I'm only planning to do that with villain characters, due to them not having a story mode to level up with at low levels. And it doesn't have to bring the character to level 100, I just want them levelled up enough for distant glory.

And uh, how do you get the Diamond equipment? It probably involves getting items then trading them in, but I'm hardly any good at that seeing how I simply just buy stuff and equip them. I don't know much about getting the accessories needed for trade ins.