After much waiting Dissidia has finally debuted in Japan. Already stories are coming in of sell outs and raving reviews, but a Western perspective is hard to find. Luckily Nick Barres managed to obtain a copy despite various obstacles and has shared his experiences with the world. He compliments both story and multiplayer, as well as the massive amount of customisation and battle engine which come with them. Oh and official intro to the game is below, which is sure to bring out the inner Final Fantasy fanboy in everyone.

Not even the numbing Tokyo cold and sheeting rain could stop me from acquiring a copy of Final Fantasy: Dissidia right when the stores opened at 9:30 a.m. Fourteen hours later, after a day of furious pyrotechnic battles, beautiful cut-scenes, and untold amounts of fan service, I have this to say: The Square action-game curse has been lifted.
Dissidia's a smart, stylish, highly strategic 1-on-1 fighting game that cannot be directly compared to any other. Battles revolve around two gauges that form the game's core: HP and "Brave," which functions as attack power. Standard attacks performed with the Square button reduce HP, but the Brave concept introduces the core twist -- Circle-button attacks steal your opponent's Brave, adding the total to your own. The higher your Brave, the more damage your standard attacks do to the enemy's HP. Deplete your foe's Brave entirely, and they Break, causing them to lose the ability to do any damage at all. Since Brave drops every time you land an attack and gradually rises again when it reaches zero, battles have an inherent tug-of-war feel unlike any other game I've ever played. The system's simple but deep, and it adds an extra layer of cerebral strategy atop the standard fighting-game model.

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