Gamesrader has posted a preview review of 012. It's worth reading for sheer lul factor because it's written by someone who neither understands the gameplay nor made any attempt too. In fact, the review reads like it was written by someone who never touched the game but judged it by watching a couple replays.
http://www.gamesradar.com/psp/dissi.../a-2011022815548620017/g-20100908154927241087
Have you ever wondered what Super Smash Bros would be like if it was made by Square Enix? It's a hybrid that should have failed – who wants to play a game with SSB-style fighting mechanics meshed in an unholy matrimony with the intricacies, ridiculous length, and convoluted storylines of a Final Fantasy series? The answer: Apparently everyone. Dissidia and its soon to be released prequel, Dissidia 012 [duodecim] Final Fantasy, are games ignorantly dubbed as "fighting games." But it's not that simple.
So we open with some pointless bitching.
In Dissidia, nothing is "that simple." Square Enix has taken large strides to make 012 (pronounced Duodecim, by the way) even more complicated than its predecessor, which (surprise, surprise) works to its advantage.
If you found Dissidia's system complicated, you must not play a lot of RPGs.
In 012, the brand-new world map is as linear as a traditional FF game's, but it lets you access shops, converse with allies, and activate portals in a dynamic way. Completionists will have a heyday here; accessing a portal means you have to fight some brutal battles and in later sections there are plenty of non-critical portals to access.
Inside these portals, the game takes a dramatic shift in gameplay; suddenly your open world movement becomes restricted to an isometric battlefield (think FF Tactics). There are a handful of enemies that you can choose to fight one by one, chain into one long fight for extra experience, or skip and fight the boss for the inevitable treasure at the end. Inside each individual fight, you're placed into a free roaming arena where you can run around at breakneck speeds, scale huge walls, and kick the living crap out of famous FF characters. Oh, and you can grind rails of light. We know, we know. It's confusing.
So wait, there's a world map, portals that lead to board game-type areas, and then you engage enemies and fight them in an arena? STOP, you're going to fast, my feeble four brain cells cannot process this deluge of information!
every character has basically three moves.
........wut?
Their quickest move is called a Bravery attack; it leeches your enemy's attack power and turns it into your attack power, so slam 'em enough with Bravery attack and they'll walk around the stage as harmless as a baby on stilts.
Truly this man is a master of the metaphor.
Next up is your normal attack, which is a bit slower than your Bravery attack. Its strength varies wildly depending on your level, equipped weapon, and of course, how much ass you've already kicked with that Bravery attack.
I think he's describing HP attacks but I don't know for sure.
And then there are the specials, which have been drastically changed.
I plain have no fucking clue at all what he means here.
EX Mode is back (you collect glowing orbs called EX cores from around the arena, which allow you to perform a ridiculously huge attack).
How apt a description.
Then there's the new "Assist" mode which allows you to call a preset ally to help attack your enemy or defend you. This new addition adds more balance than you might think.
....In other words, it adds an entirely new rock, paper, scissors mechanic to a game that already had one in place (Bravery attack, Attack, EX Mode), essentially doubling the complexity of Dissidia.
First off, this guy obviously does not understand what "rock-paper-scissors" mechanic means because there was no such balance in the original Dissidia. Second it isn't really all that complex, Assist counteracts EX Mode and EX Mode counteracts Assist. But then this review was written by someone who uses terms like "baby on stilts" so what can you expect.
Seriously, this review reads like a ten-year old read the blurb on the box, watched a replay or two and went "Okay I think I got it, let's write that preview." It's hilariously, pathetically, absurdly moronic.