Dissidia Final Fantasy Duodecim 012 Tetsuya Nomura Interview and More

Hitoshura has translated the latest interview with Tetsuya Nomura and Mitsunori Takahashi on Dissidia Duodecim and what to expect from the sequel.

While it is indeed a sequel to Dissidia, it also seems to appear to be a prequel as well. Read below to find out more. A big thanks to hito for giving us this awesome info!

Oh, and when you’re done reading, be sure to look at some of the new gameplay footage of Dissidia Duodecim as well!

EDIT: More info regarding Lightning and Cloud’s unique alternate outfits have surfaced thanks to hito again. Apparently, by pre-ordering Parasite Eve: The Third Birthday, you get a code to download Lightning’s alternate outfit that makes her look…like Aya Brea.

By pre-ordering Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Final Mix, you get the code to download Cloud’s Kingdom Hearts outfit.

– The meaning of ‘Duodecim’

Nomura: It means ’12’ in Latin. DFF was the 13th battle and marked the end of the gods’ battle, but this time we’re covering the 12th battle before that one so it was named with that meaning in mind. It has other meanings to the development staff.

Takahashi: ‘012’ fitted extremely well with the content of the game, but that’s a spoiler so I can’t talk about it now (laughs). Just remember that it has meaning.

– The Concept of the Game

Takahashi: The previous game was for the 20th anniversary, so we’re keeping that celebratory feeling. We’d like for many people to play it, so

Lightning’s illustration was based on an unreleased picture drawn for FFXIII. It was the first time Nomura had drawn the Blaze Edge, which was difficult with all the small parts. Kain’s was originally drawn from a diagonal angle, but since the impression from Amano’s original drawing was so strong he redrew it. He was going to show his eyes at first, but the staff told him they would have him take off his helmet for his EX Burst so to hide his eyes in his illustration.

– Selecting the New Characters, Kain to Lightning

Nomura: I said Kain would be a dead cert if we had the chance to make a sequel. Since I wanted to see how a dragoon’s jumping would look in DFF. That was my only request, I left the rest to Takahashi and the rest of the staff.

Takahashi: Lightning was included since she’s from the latest FF title. There are more new characters, but the space limitations of a UMD are harsh and I can’t say for definite. All the original’s characters are present.

Nomura: Unlike the first game it won’t be the same number, or one character from each game, but it’s not something as small as 3 or 4. It’ll be a good number, so please look forward to the follow up reports.

Takahashi: We’re not just selecting characters at random, but focusing on giving them a different feel when playing and on character popularity.

Nomura: The next new character to be revealed was one that Takahashi said, “if you don’t add this character I’m not making the sequel!”

Takahashi: The EX Mode is an ultimate attack, and Assist is more something you use little by little. The Assist gauge will fill up even if an attack doesn’t hit, and will decrease as time goes by. You’ll receive the benefit by being aggressive with it. There’s also a new system that symbolizes how EX Mode and Assist oppose each other.

– Do you have a choice in what attack Assist Characters use?

Takahashi: You can select the character, but the attacks are set. We’re focusing on bringing out the personality of the characters.

Takahashi: There’s no character [from the first game] that hasn’t been retuned, and most of the characters have new abilities. Frioniel in particular has changed. Every character has a new ‘3P Colour’ costume. The motif was on having an impact and greatly changing the feel. Look out for Garland’s especially (laughs).

Nomura: Some of the new costumes are based on Amano’s illustrations, and they’re interesting with some surprising references. Some of the second costumes from the first game have also been slightly touched up or reworked.

Takahashi: In addition to new [equipment and accessories], we’ve redone the balance on others. The inclusion of the Assist system has had an impact on the equipment.

Takahashi: All the previous game’s are included, and there’s new ones. There’s several more apart from FFXIII’s Orphan’s Cradle, and we’ve added the same number as the amount of new characters.

– Do the maps have any connection to the new characters?

Takahashi: I can’t really say (laughs). We didn’t just pick any old locations.

– We heard a remix of ‘Blinded by Light’

Takahashi: It’s still been worked on, but we might include nearly double the number of tracks that the first game had.

– Carrying over save data

Takahashi: You will be able to, but there’s things which touch on the heart of the new system, so I can’t go into detail on it just yet. We’re not just trying to do the same things as with the last game but to have a title with something new to enjoy, so there’s parts that will carry over and parts that won’t. We’re still looking into how much to carry over.

Nomura: There’s definitely going to be elements that can be carried over, so I hope people who didn’t play the original will play the Ultimate Hits version while they wait.

Takahashi: [In the TGS demo] there’s three difficulty settings, so people playing for the first time or beginners should pick Intro Mode. The summon system has been taken out of the demo, but it will of course be in the final game with new summons as well.

– In the demo you could select an RPG style command control.

Takahashi: It’s a complete renewal of the original game’s command battle system. In the first game it was difficult, but we’ve lowered the hurdle on it and worked on the AI, so people who only play RPGs can play it as well. It has kind of a RTS feel to it as well.

– Final message

Takahashi: As a sequel, we’re working towards making it so even people who played the original game can experience something new playing it. There’s still more information to come so I’d be glad if people would speculate about it during the wait. And please look forward to seeing the new characters.