Final Trailer, Characters, Message, and DLC, have been updated on the official Japanese site.

The Final Trailer can be viewed both on the official site and on Square-Enix’s official Youtube channel:

We have Firion and The Emperor as new additions to the Character section, Warrior of Light, Garland, and Kain all receive their 3rd outfits.

Message translation is pending.

DLC section has a full render of Aerith.

Content ripped after the jump.

Full BGM: http://www.mediafire.com/?phkpu02f68almzj

Ripped the new 3rd outfit renders, that I don’t believe we had last time.

Warrior of Light 3rd:

Garland 3rd:

Kain 3rd:

Firion:

The Emperor:

Yes the two cards are very small, it seems they’ve reduced the size of all the cards, though I don’t know why. Instead of 266×370 they’re now 133×185. Sucks for those who were trying to complete any type of collection with the cards… now you’ve got to deal with smaller, not as nice quality ones.

Aerith DLC:

According to this week’s issue Famitsu, initial rumors of Yuna’s appearance in Dissidia Duodecim are indeed true. Presumably it will be her Final Fantasy X appearance, since the trailer reports indicated her walking barefoot on water as if preforming a sending.

Also confirmed my Tetsuya Nomura and director Mitsunori Takehashi:

*More characters post-SNES Final Fantasy series.
*Returning characters will have a lot of changes, such as Kefka and Shantotto.
*The Story Mode will have 15+ hours game play.
*The original Dissidia story will be included and enhanced, making total play time over 60 hours.
*Besides the new 3D World Map System, the Board based System from the first game will remain be in the game.
*More summons will be available.
*Laguna from FFVIII was left out in Kingdom Hearts BBS so he can debut in this game.
*Dissidia Duodecim 012: Final Fantasy is set for a release on March 3, 2011 in Japan.

Source: gamrConnect

Tonight’s been a big night regarding news with Dissidia Final Fantasy Duodecim 012. Jump Festa has announced the Japanese release date of the game as March 3, 2011, and even a limited edition Chaos and Cosmos PSP as well.

…But what’s more shocking is the update to the North American site. The North American Dissidia site updated their character section to include all the newly revealed characters but…there seems to have been a glitch with Cloud of Darkness’s profile and alternate outfit.

Unless Cloud of Darkness is into cosplay for another FF, I think we’re looking at the new character alternate look for Ultimecia.

A big thanks to DrakeClawfang for the heads up.

Read this article, that’s what!

I’m going to take all the work out of it on your end and lay everything out for you, the fans, to digest in a simple, easy-to-follow manner. So, the next time you’re in a debate about FFVII with HeartlessAngel527 or FlowerGoddess777 and they begin to reference Cloud’s wing, Aerith waiting around for a certain spikey-haired emo kid, or other stuff you know doesn’t belong, you can go all Phoenix Wright on them.

So, click “Read the rest of this entry” and let’s get started.

The Canon
First, let’s list in order of publication all the FFVII games that have come out since 1997 and the release of the original FFVII:
-Before Crisis (2004)
-Final Fantasy VII Snowboarding (2005)
-Dirge of Cerberus (2006)
-Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode (2006)
-Crisis Core (2007)

Next, we’ll list all FFVII movies, also in their order of publication:
-Advent Children (2005)
-Last Order (2005)
-Advent Children Complete (2009)
-On the Way to a Smile: Case of Denzel (2009)

Next up, a list of FFVII novels and novellas:
-The diary-like entries by several characters in the FFVII Kaitai Shinsho The Complete guide book (1997)
-Maiden Who Travels the Planet (2005)
-On the Way to a Smile:
Case of Denzel (2005)
Case of Tifa (2005)
Case of Barret (2007)
Case of Tifa (revised edition; 2009)
Case of Yuffie (2009)
Case of Nanaki (2009)
Case of Shin-Ra (2009)
Case of the Lifestream Black (2009)
Case of the Lifestream White (2009)
-Lateral Biography TURKS -The Kids Are Alright- (2011)

Finally, a list of other games that include FFVII characters or plot elements also found in FFVII:
-Final Fantasy Tactics (1997)
-Ehrgeiz (1998)
-Chocobo Racing (1999)
-Final Fantasy X (2001)
-Kingdom Hearts series (began in 2002)
-Final Fantasy X-2 (2003)
-Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Special (2004)
-Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Portable (2006)
-Dissidia Final Fantasy series (began in 2008)

Before going into the whys and wherefores concerning some titles being canon and others not, I will now give you the list of titles that are canon to the FFVII story:
-Before Crisis
-Dirge of Cerberus
-Crisis Core
-Advent Children Complete
-On the Way to a Smile (all of them)
-Lateral Biography TURKS -The Kids Are Alright-
-Final Fantasy Tactics
-Final Fantasy X
-Final Fantasy X-2
-Dissidia Final Fantasy series

Now, let’s move on to those whys and wherefores. First, let’s refresh on what the term “canon” means.

What does “canon” mean?
The word is derived from the Greek word “kanon,” meaning “rule,” “standard” or “measure.” Itself derived from the Hebrew word “kaneh,” it first came into use in its modern meaning from the councils who decided the ecclesiastical laws and official texts of the Catholic Church, those becoming the canon laws and texts.

Eventually adapted from that concept, canon for a fictional universe — or the franchise that depicts it — is what is considered to be the official continuity. For an illustration of this concept, let’s turn to the franchise that pioneered criteria for determining such matters where fictional universes are concerned.

Meet George Lucas, or Your Lord And Savior as he likes to be called

“Star Wars” is George Lucas’s creation, and — being officially licensed creations as they are — while he might take elements added to the so-called Expanded Universe of “Star Wars” by other authors, only those titles with direct involvement or approval from Lucas himself are considered the “absolute canon, the real story of ‘Star Wars’” as Stephen J. Sansweet, Director of Content Management and Head of Fan Relations for Lucasfilm, has referred to it. Though distinctions may become difficult at times due to the Expanded Universe featuring a great many products that are all officially licensed by Lucasfilm even while Lucas himself has no direct involvement in their creation (consequently, the overall franchise has a tiered hierarchy with levels of canonicity rather than a strictly in-or-out policy), comments from Lucas in the May 2008 issue of “Total Film” magazine make the matter quite simple: “… the movies and TV shows are all under my control and they are consistent within themselves.”

With that comment as the basis for determining absolute “Star Wars” canon, the overall definitive canon of the franchise is the seven films (“The Phantom Menace,” “Attack of the Clones,” “The Clone Wars,” “Revenge of the Sith,” “A New Hope,” “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi”), as well as the animated series “Star Wars: Droids,” “Star Wars: Ewoks,” and both the “Clone Wars” and “The Clone Wars.”

Information from interviews with Lucas or his production notes also fall under this umbrella, as do any deleted scenes from the films that are not in conflict with the final products. In the event of new Lucas-involved media — including rereleases of past films — that introduce new material or contradict previous facts, the newer material is considered to replace the old, and the most current vision of events becomes the new canon.

Though there is disagreement among fans about the exact mechanics of it all where Expanded Universe titles are concerned, a simple standard often followed is that EU titles can be considered in-continuity so long as they do not contradict established facts from the Lucas-involved works. However, due to his lack of involvement, they are at risk for being written out of continuity altogether — “decanonized” is the term often used — in the event that Lucas puts out a new work with elements that don’t correlate to those in the EU material. Without the overall protection of being a work from Lucas himself, those elements of contradiction call into question the rest of the work, and — unless otherwise afforded a place in the official continuity by a comment to that effect from Lucas — the entire work itself is considered struck from canon, or decanonized.

Lucas himself keeps the concept even more simple than that. As far as he’s concerned, there’s two “Star Wars” continuities — the universe he works on, and the parallel Expanded Universe, which includes all the details of his own continuity, as well as those added by other authors. As he put it in an August 2005 interview with “Starlog” magazine, “When I said [other people] could make their own ‘Star Wars’ stories, we decided that, like ‘Star Trek’, we would have two universes: My universe and then this other one.”

I know a fast way to increase the Midichlorian count in your bloodstream

Due to examining the “Star Wars” franchise, we’re unavoidably getting a bit far afield of the idea in its most general terms, so the concept of canon as it applies to fiction is best summarized as follows: it is the official continuity of a fictional universe as recognized by the franchise’s owners and/or creators, in which the most recent depiction of events is considered to be the current version.

Obviously, it can become a bit tricky for situations where the original creator no longer holds ownership rights to the creation and it’s then taken in different directions than the creator intended, but these standards generally work pretty well. Also, while one might think it becomes more difficult to make determinations about canon when dealing with products such as Final Fantasy VII, where the finished product was the work of several core creators and is also owned by a company that they merely work for, it can actually be much easier, for reasons we’re about to see.

Now that we have a standard for determining canonicity, we’ll begin applying it to the various FFVII-related media in order to establish why the list given earlier is the definitive canon of the franchise.

It appears that Vaan will added to the roster of characters in Dissidia Duodecim 012.  Don’t act so surprised.

It is our first glimpse at a new costume for Terra, in the screen-shot on the very bottom of the scan.

A big thanks goes out to forum member DrakeClawfang as well as front page commenter Phi for finding this for us.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/ffchaoticcosmos/275530.html

The official Dissidia 012 [Duodecim] website has been updated with more content.

Currently the only area updated is the character section. It now features Cecil Harvey, Golbez, Cloud Strife, Sephiroth, and Tifa Lockhart (in addition to Kain Highwind, Lightning, Warrior of Light, and Garland).

(10/27/10) The “Final Fantasy A Historical Compendium” has been updated with Final Fantasy II.

Profiles for the FFVII Characters are included bellow.

A beautiful fighter–
Tifa Lockhart

A up-beat young woman who is a master of martial arts.
Despite her bright, lively and defiant appearance,
she takes it upon herself to offer support to her friends.

Battle Concept
Feint Striker

By adding feints to her attacks she is able to interrupt attacks,
or swing around and strike her foe from behind.
As she uses feints to confound her foe, she beats them down with quick strikes.

Another Form
Tifa’s Another Form is the outfit she wears in FFVII Advent Children.

That massive sword bears the weight of a heavy fate for the soldier–
Cloud Strife

A cool young man who swings a large sword around with ease.
Like a true first-class solider he leads his friends
with a level head, but on the inside
he struggles to keep faith in his own actions.

Battle Concept
Blow Hitter

Specializes in attacks that knock back the foe, using his trademark sword.
The attacks can send the foe flying into walls and other obstacles,
making it easy to get additional damage.

Another Form
Cloud’s Another Form is the outfit he wears in FFVII Advent Children.

Third Form
Cloud appears as he appeared in Yoshitaka Amano’s illustration from the original FFVII.

Once hailed as a “hero”, a wing as black as night–
Sephiroth

A fallen hero, beautiful and heartless,
who wields a gigantic katana.

Battle Concept
Blade Master

With a blade taller than his own body, he unleashes devastatingly quick slashes.
A true specialist at close range battles, even his Brave attacks will rend
the foe with unseen cuts from his sword.

Another Form
Sephiroth’s Another Form is his appearance from the final battle of FFVII.

Third Form
Sephiroth appears as he did in the original FFVII.

Providing rips of the artwork and renders:

Character Cards:

Cecil Harvey:

Golbez:

Cloud Strife:

Sephiroth:

Tifa Lockhart:

If you’d like artwork and renders of the other characters, check out my previous post.

Also, Weekly Jump featured a look at Tifa in her alternate Advent Children outfit, apparently…beating the snot out of Cloud, in true Cloti tradition. As they say, ‘Love Hurts. A lot.’

Source: FF-Reunion

EDIT: Bellow is some translated info the scans regarding Tifa, her play style, and new attacks for Golbez and Cecil, thanks to Hitoshura.

Tifa is being voiced by Ayumi Itou again.

There’s a scene of her saying she “won’t believe that” while using a potion.

She doesn’t have any memory of her original world.

Her character concept is ‘Feint Striker’. She’s a hand-to-hand fighter, but unlike a power type like Jecht she focuses on quick movements and feints. The reach of her attacks is short, but even if the attacks don’t contact she can still pull off combos. In her EX Mode she is using the Premium Heart. Her EX gauge also affects her damage, the higher it is the more damage she deals.

Feints are a quick move, fast and moves you around to your opponent’s back. When she’s getting ready to attack, if you press X it will cancel that action and she’ll move behind the opponent, and you can attack with Circle.

It takes some getting used to using feints, and depending on the move the timing you can use them is different, but [Kujiraoka] believes that even people who aren’t good at action games can pull them off with practice.

Feints, when used at a long range, simply close the distance being you and the opponent, so can be used for movement. It looks pretty cool, kind of like teleportation.

In her EX Burst she attacks based on the number of reels. ‘miss’ means the attack fails, ‘hit’ means it successes, and ‘yeah’ is massive damage. The finisher is a big, flashy move based on Final Heaven.

Scene of Ultimania and Golbez talking about the battle lasting for eternity.

Cecil has a new Dark Knight move, Shadow Bringer, a ground HP attack which if it hits does a multiple hit attack. It doesn’t have a big reach but it’s very powerful. There’s also new Paladin attacks, apparently.

Golbez has a new attack, Sector Ray, which sends out ‘bits’ and fires homing beams.

Assist Lock: The characters you summon aren’t invincible, and if they get attacked they leave without performing an attack, and you don’t be able to use the Assist for a while.

Assist Change: A system where you switch in the Assist Character while being hit with a combo attack. If you use two Assist Gauge blocks you can summon the Assist Character and get out of the combo with no risk. But if you only use one block, the character will appear and take damage for you and you will go into Assist Lock. To use two blocks it’s L + Square, and to use one L + Circle.

Assist Charge: System where the Assist Gauge gets charged a lot when you counter while you’re in danger. If your Brave is low one block of the gauge is restored, and if your HP is low then it’s 2 blocks. For the latter you need to counter a HP attack.

Along with the scan featuring Tifa Lockhart, new renders of Cloud, Sephirtoh, Cecil, and Golbez are featured, including the alternate outfit for Golbez. Unsuprisingly, it’s his armorless look from Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. Cloud’s outfit is from his Amano artwork. Sephiroth and Cecil’s look however, are outfits closer to the original looks from their respective games.

The other page features a glimpse into certain abilities tied to the Assist System. There’s:

- Assist Change
The Assist Character taking the damage of an attack for you

- Assist Charge
Charges the Assist gauge when your HP is low or if you dodge and counterattack when you’re just about to go into Break

- Assist Lock
Locks out the other person’s Assist usage

A big thanks to Phi for giving us a heads up on these scans! And hitoshura for the translations!

Expectedly, her EX-Burst relies on her slot limit breaks from FFVII, and includes her equipping her ultimate weapon from FFVII. The Premium Heart.

A big thanks to Phi and DrakeClawfang for the find on our forums!

The official Dissidia 012 [Duodecim] website has been updated with more content.

New links on the main page lead to “Final Fantasy A Historical Compendium” (presently only has Final Fantasy I viewable), and both websites for Dissidia and Dissidia Universal Tuning, it also features a “What’s New” window. There is also a small icon to the left side of the site, which is features a beginners tutorial.

Site now features Story, Characters, System (disabled for now), Movie, Message (currently disabled) DLC, and Information sections.

The Character section features Kain Highwind, Lightning, Warrior of Light, and Garland. Interestingly 2D artwork is used for each character as per the original Dissidia website, instead of 3D renders which were used for the Universal Tuning site.

The movie section now features the longer trailer, which was previously shown in the closed private area at TGS 2010.

The DLC (Downloadable Content) section shows both Lightning’s Aya costume along with Cloud’s Kingdom Hearts I outfit (both 3D renders).

Below are translations for the two character profiles for Kain, and Lightning.

A knight, spear at the ready and clad in armor modelled on a dragon–
Kain Highwind

Though he keeps his feelings inside, he is a righteous and compassionate man. With his grace with a lance and mastery of aerial combat, he uses his high level of mobility to leave his opponents at his mercy.

Battle Concept
Position Maker

Free reign of the air puts him at an advantage over his foe. By using △ [Triangle] button to cancel the moment your guard is down post-attack, he can close the distance between him and his foe to bring the fight into close quarters.

A warrioress who bears a second name–
Lightning

Her harsh tounge and down-to-earth mindset can make her appear cold, but inside she is a kind-hearted person. Using a balanced mix of sword attacks and magic, she can change her fighting style in battle with her Paradigm Shift.

Battle Concept
“Paradigm Commander”

Making use of three separate roles, “Commando”, “Ravager”, and “Medic”, she can switch between long and short range attacks.
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