Dissidia: Got English version on Thursday, cause it took forever for the package to arrive! Also came with my new PSP, a 2 gig Memstick, limited edition Slip covers...except that the bundle came with cheap ass UMD Sized Cardboard cases making them useless...and A UMD OF ADVENT CHILDREN AAAWWW YEAH!!! (ok, so there's nothing wrong with getting it FOR FREE, as even without AC, I think the full package comes out to being less than buying each thing separate; Advent Children just secures you're coming out ahead on the deal.)
Anyway, I've only beaten the first 4 stories, difficulty wise, cause I figured I'd just do them in difficulty order, only realizing now that they were split up in difficulty for storyline purposes, which makes me want to punch Xer for claiming otherwise. Just look at the initial teams (like Cloud, Fiirion, Tidus and Cecil), and what difficulty level each have, and you'll see what I mean!
Yeah, the story is cheesey, but its a cross over fighting game; you're not suppose to care about the story. The general voice acting is good, and the characters are just fun to see interacting, or in Firion's case, "HOLY SHIT HE HAS A PERSONALITY!" Also, Emperor's voice is made of so much win in english.
Also played a bunch of arcade mode cause hey, free Chocobo Colognes for easy levels if I want too, its quick, and easy 300 PP, not to mention instant access to villains. Unlocked all the villains through this and story mode, in addition to getting Terra's alt costume so I can insure she's always green haired outside of plot scenes <_<
Random changes I've noticed (as in, things I'm not just taking people's words for):
WoL:
-Outside of starting with Shield of Light (Ground) in addition to his usual ones, not much has changed on his initial attacks.
Garland:
-Blaze's tracking is WAAAAY better. It not only actually consistently hits things when they aren't dodging...it can hit things at relatively close range too! Yeah, its no longer Kefka-like in how works, giving Garland some actual reliability on HP damage before he gets his Wind move.
Firion:
-Straight Arrow now causes stagger when blocked, instead of just plain blocking. As a fun fact, evidently, if you block Straight Arrow at point blank range, the reflected arrow (which normally disappears almost instantly) counts as a reflected attack and Firion can receive damage from it!
-Rope Knife causes Stagger when blocked, *AND* Firion will track the enemy. It has the same trajectory and general workings, but if the enemy moves to the right, Firion will pivot that way, and the attack moves accordingly. IOWs, yes, it has a practical use over the normally superior Reel Axe.
-Lance Combo is now solid instead of "Abject 3rd move cause its not Sword Draw which really sucks." Minor vacuum effect, and improved radius; that combined with its being Firion's best damage move, and the option of either launching or just extra brave damage that has high Wall Rush potential, it makes it a great Melee option, for all that you'll get more use out of the above two.
-Blizzard and Fire are faster, making him less defenseless in air! Blizzard's ricochet effect seems to be improved enough that it can matter in small stages.
Emperor:
-Aerial Flare. Not only is it an Air HP Attack he can fallback on, he can use it and Ground Flare at the same time, and adds to his zoning as it basically makes a part of the map something you really want to stay away from.
Onion Knight:
-No Forseeable changes. He's more or less the same still; attacks aren't bad, but his brave damage is pitiful, and practically relies on chipping away at HP, like before.
Cloud of Darkness:
-Like Onion Knight, haven't seen any changes.
Cecil:
-Dark Lance now is aimed at the opponent vertically, instead of always going straight forward.
-Saint Fall can actually track enemies above Cecil, making it not half bad if Cecil is below the enemy. It still has issues hitting enemies below him, despite the name.
Golbez:
-Haven't used; I do know, however, that Genesis Rock got nerfed. If you use EX Mode to break out of it, Genesis Rock gets canceled entirely, instead of the character just avoiding the hit, and getting a moment to dodge out of it.
Bartz:
-Holy's tracking is much better, and the balls move at different speeds making dodging it somewhat more precise on timing.
-Flood got nerfed, as the second shot seems to have a maximum range relative to the first, and seems to come off slower (this is actually based off Terra's version, mind, but given this move was a direct copy of Terra's in Japan, I assume that's still the case, especially since Holy got the same exact treatment.)
Exdeath:
-His AI is dramatically better. He'll use actual counters, and doesn't teleport around like an idiot unless you're actually far from him. He'll actually use some of his other Brave attacks too!
-Teleport is faster and staggers when blocked. Note that for moves that cause Stagger when blocked, you can't actually take advantage of the staggering in most cases; the recovery on the attack is pretty much equal to the stagger, so it really is just a neutral position (it mostly means "Blocking doesn't cause this character to get their asses kicked!")
Terra:
-Blizzara is much faster, and much better range. It also is stronger by extension, since the window of when the move can hit 3 to 4 times (instead of its usual 2) is much improved. It now is suddenly one of her best Brave Attacks instead of being kind of iffy.
-Thunder is a little faster, and seems to do a little more damage.
-See Bartz about Holy (and Holy Combo) and Flood
-Graviga tracks the enemy upon decent, instead of falling straight down (this is based off the demo, mind)
-Gliding is now much faster.
Kefka:
-Rolling Blizzaga or whatever is much faster, so the move is not total suck
-Back and Forth Firaga (or whatever its called now) is faster and much larger hit raidus.
-See Terra about gliding.
-His little creeping Thundaga more or whatever its called seems to have much increased range.
Cloud:
-Only change I saw was his aerial Brave attack, whatever its called, now attempts to follow the enemy on the second hit, instead of swinging twice in the same direction.
Sephiroth:
-Octaslash can't be blocked
-You can cancel out of Hell's Gate, getting a slash instead, which has modest range.
-Can cancel out of Heartless Angel as well.
-Scintillation has like double the range, and there's an Aerial version of it.
-Shadow Flare has a different animation to go along with its better speed
-Black Materia comes off faster in general
Squall:
-Starts with Ground Rough Divide; yes, this is a big deal cause he normally got this at level 50
-Heel Crush staggers and breaks through magic
-He has an Aerial Rough Divide now
-Rough Divide seems to have lost priority; see how it interacts with the small whirlwinds in Terra's "Tornado" for reference
-He also has an Aerial Magic attack, uses I'm unsure of (I just know it exists, IOWs)
Ultimecia:
-no Changes near as I can tell. There are some I theorize, but they may be psychological
Zidane:
-Free Energy is a basic HP Attack now, instead of a Brave -> HP Chain
-Tidal Flame moves faster
Kuja:
-Flare Star lost tracking and range, making the move less disgusting.
-Seraphic Star actually attempts to aim at the enemy now, instead of being fired at a set trajectory; note that it still has to be precise regarding range, so the move still kind of sucks.
-Some of his Brave Attacks are blockable, when they weren't before
Tidus:
-None that I can tell, though I do know that a few of his Brave -> HP Chains were removed, and given the Zidane's Free Energy Treatment instead
Jecht:
-See Tidus; I wanna say Triumphant Grasp has better range, but unsure.
I know, these mean nothing to people who haven't played the Japanese version, but it gives you an idea of how much changed between the two versions, based off mostly just the INITIAL attacks. Imagine some of these moves without the changes. Also, these aren't ALL the changes, bare in mind!
