Why are villains much harder to defeat than heroes?

[Mercen-X]

Took me stupid forever to figure how to critical against Bartz's insane Bravery. Initialize EX and connect with that BRV ATK.
God.

Also, I managed to get Ultimecia, but I forget how.

IMO Squall's ridiculous bastard as a lvl25 manikin.

[SuperMillionaire]

Are you referring to a brave-to-HP attack leading to an EX burst?

[Mercen-X]

Who are you talking to? If it's me, I was referring to Squall's story in which manikin Bartz has 1 hp and 3000 bp and he uses his crazy ass whirlwind attack that can kill you in one shot. So, in order to critical hit him in 10 seconds, you have to have your EX gauge built up before you battle him. Initialize to break his attack then counter with a brave attack. I haven't tried a HP attack for two reasons: 1) I worry that killing him won't count as a critical hit and 2) I have the chance to run around and rebuild my EX gauge.

[Roogle]

I thought the American localization team rebalanced the game to give all characters a fair chance at victory. Yes, some characters will be at higher tiers than others, but the battle system should give all characters a fair chance.

I play parts of the Street Fighter series and I can tell you that it is nearly impossible to have a perfectly balanced game. There will always be tiers in any fighting game because some characters are simply better than others for various reasons.

I am not sure what changed from the Japanese version of the game to the North American version of the game, but, minus any glitches and bugs, I'm sure they tried to adjust all characters properly. Some get left behind.

If you mean from a storyline perspective, I would say the villains need to be stronger than the individual heroes because they often have to fight the heroes in a party. You rarely fight a villain and his party alone at the same time!

[SuperMillionaire]

I thought the American localization team rebalanced the game to give all characters a fair chance at victory. Yes, some characters will be at higher tiers than others, but the battle system should give all characters a fair chance.

I play parts of the Street Fighter series and I can tell you that it is nearly impossible to have a perfectly balanced game. There will always be tiers in any fighting game because some characters are simply better than others for various reasons.

I am not sure what changed from the Japanese version of the game to the North American version of the game, but, minus any glitches and bugs, I'm sure they tried to adjust all characters properly. Some get left behind.

If you mean from a storyline perspective, I would say the villains need to be stronger than the individual heroes because they often have to fight the heroes in a party. You rarely fight a villain and his party alone at the same time!

I know that for a fact, because I also play Street Fighter, and there are certain bosses that are very hard to defeat, but they're not as user-friendly when you play as them; typically, Akuma, Ryu, and Ken are at the top tier, but out of those three, Ryu is the most user-friendly.

Going back to Dissidia, the game developers made Cloud the most user-friendly character in the cast (specifically keeping "pick-up-and-play" game players in mind), and his storyline the easiest to play as, with a difficulty rating of only one star.

[Roogle]

I know that for a fact, because I also play Street Fighter, and there are certain bosses that are very hard to defeat, but they're not as user-friendly when you play as them; typically, Akuma, Ryu, and Ken are at the top tier, but out of those three, Ryu is the most user-friendly.

The tiers in Street Fighter are based off of tournament results from people playing each other competitively.

Are you taking that into consideration when you say that the villains are more powerful than the heroes? I think some of the villains are actually pretty low tier on the Dissidia side of things.

[SuperMillionaire]

I guess that the Dissidia heroes are more user friendly and are easier to defeat when controlled by the CPU, but have less-powerful attacks. Villains are the opposite.

[Mercen-X]

Cecil is currently my highest level character and I tend to abuse him in Quick Battles and Arcade.

[Wolf Kanno]

I guess that the Dissidia heroes are more user friendly and are easier to defeat when controlled by the CPU, but have less-powerful attacks. Villains are the opposite.

There is also the fact the computer cheats sometimes, usually with equipment by allowing low level opponents suddenly have access to mid or upper level gear and this can greatly affect the battle sometimes. I find it amusing that whenever I unlock and acquire one of the rare super items, suddenly every computer opponent seems to have it. I unlocked the Ultima Weapon and now it seems like every high level opponent uses it, that or the Blade of the Damned weapon. Same goes with accessories. Smurfing Sturm and Drang...

[SuperMillionaire]

Come to think of it, yes, that too, but probably moreso the villains, because they fight dirtier.

[Roogle]

If there is an algorithm that determines the equipment setup that the computer controlled characters use, then I doubt that it differentiates between the heroes and the villains. Games rarely make that type of distinction. It would have been a cool idea if it was implemented that way, though, that Kefka or Exdeath would be more likely to have access to equipment that they normally wouldn't have at their level rather than the heroes who try to stick to their own level.

[SuperMillionaire]

But that would still give CPU-controlled villains greater power than CPU-controlled heroes...

[qwertysaur]

villains have more unique fight styles that take time to get used to. Kefka has his random chaotic attacks that do things like change direction or chase you, Exdeath with his block based offense, the Emperor with his traps etc.

[SuperMillionaire]

Yes, apparently villains are more "experimental" than heroes are, who like to keep things simple.

[Mercen-X]

Cecil is currently my highest level character and I tend to abuse him in Quick Battles and Arcade.

Close seconds are Tidus and Cloud.