Dissidia: Final Fantasy Character Spotlight: Bartz and Exdeath

Every generation of Final Fantasy games has its “black sheep”.  The game people don’t like, the one people forget about, or the one just not that many people played.  The NES had Final Fantasy II, the Playstation had Final Fantasy VIII, the PS2 had Final Fantasy X-2, and the SNES had Final Fantasy V. Never released (officially, at least) in the United States until the PS1 era as part of the Final Fantasy Anthology collection, most Final Fantasy fans didn’t get a chance to play it until even later, when it was ported to the Game Boy Advance.  Nevertheless, despite its status as the least-played of the SNES series entries, it introduced several elements and characters who would persevere into the series after its passing.  It brought the series the enigmatic Mime Gogo, who would later join the party as a playable character in Final Fantasy VI, and more importantly, it brought the series the multi-armed weapon master Gilgamesh, who will be known in Dissidia as “Sir Not Appearing In This Game”.  It also brought the series the two focal points of this week’s Character Spotlight, Bartz Klauser and Exdeath.

Bartz, the leading man of Final Fantasy V, is a rather interesting presence in Dissidia.  In his original game, Bartz had no set Job Class, and thus no pre-defined party role or iconic weapon to base himself on.  In Dissidia, though, Bartz is a Mime, which grants him the ability to use the attacks, and weapons, of his comrades as he fights.  During battle, Bartz switches at will between a variety of weapons, including Cloud’s Buster Sword, Squall’s Revolver, and Tidus’ Brotherhood.  His special moves also follow a “mimic” path, resulting in interesting mergers and alterations of many of his allies’ attacks.  You know the drill by now, so give the video a watch and read on.

• Climbarrel: A merger of attacks from Cloud and Squall, this normal combo allows Bartz to quickly dash forward with the Buster Sword extended; when it connects, he switches to the Revolver and delivers a small multi-hit combo before pulling the sword’s trigger and knocking the opponent far back.  This attack also allows Bartz to launch into a midair chase sequence.
• Slide Hazard: Combining Tidus’ Brotherhood and Cloud’s Buster Sword, this aerial attack features Bartz delivering a series of aerial slash combos through his opponent before knocking them to the ground with Cloud’s heavy sword.
• Soul Eater: A special move cribbbed directly from Cecil, this attack functions identically to the original.  In it, Bartz stabs forward with Cecil’s Darkblade, then channels a wave of dark energy into his opponent before knocking them away.
• Flood: Yet another direct move theft, this time from Terra, Flood summons waves of water directly out of the ground beneath his opponents.  Like with Terra’s version, this is one of the hardest moves in the entire game to block, though a skillful player will know how  to dodge it.
• Flare: Bartz’s only HP Chain Combo attack allows him to use Terra’s Holy spell, firing off a wave of homing light spheres to hunt down his opponent.  If the spheres make contact, Bartz can launch directly into the Onion Knight’s signature Flare spell to deal direct HP damage.
• Spellblade Dual Wield Rapid Fire: Yes, that’s the attack’s real name.  When Bartz enters EX Mode, his costume changes to signify that he’s Mastered the Mime Job Class.  This allows him to passively regenerate his HP, as well as unlocking him two new attacks.  The first is a hidden HP Attack called Goblin Punch, and the second is his EX Burst super attack.  In this attack, Bartz calls forth his allies’ weapons to deliver a multi-hit slashing combo before combining them all into a Brave Blade, with which he finishes off the opponent.

Bartz’s attacks, owing to their copycat nature, allow a skillful Bartz player to overwhelm and confuse his opponent by making it difficult to predict what he’ll do next.  His only downside is that his moves are largely short range attacks, with only his spells borrowed from Terra granting him any real ranged versatility at all.  It should be noted that Bartz’s fighting style seems largely lifted directly from his fellow FFV castmate Gilgamesh, who has appeared in several Final Fantasy titles, using a variety of weapons including Cloud’s Buster Sword, Squall’s Revolver, and even Odin’s own Zantetsuken.

While Bartz seems to be a bit indecisive on what role he wants to play in Dissidia, his rival Exdeath, on the other hand, is very, very sure of what he wants to be.  Exdeath is, without any shadow of a doubt, the certified tank of the Dissidia cast.  Featuring a nearly impenetrable defense (that only grows more powerful as he levels up) and a host of defensive attacks, Exdeath is not a character for beginners, but an expert Exdeath player is almost guaranteed to win a fight against someone of a lower skill level.  Take a look at some of his moves.

• Reverse Polarity: An utterly defensive technique, and almost impossible to effectively use offensively, this attack allows Exdeath to fire out a seemingly harmless blue ring.  The longer you hold down the O button, the further out this ring will go.  When you let go of the button, Exdeath teleports directly to where the ring is; if your opponent happens to occupy the same space, they’ll be knocked back.  This is one of Exdeath’s default moves, and not a particularly good damage dealer.
• Block: Exdeath can, like all characters, defend by hitting the R button before an attack hits; however, he also has special Block moves as equippable abilities.  He starts out with Low Block, a speedy defensive field that repels projectiles.  As he levels, he gains access to Mid Block, a forward shield that can deflect several physical Brave attacks, then High Block, an enhanced version of Mid Block that can be held indefinitely.  At an even higher level, he gains access to Omni-Block, which projects a spherical shield around his body that repels all Brave attacks and a large number of HP attacks.  Notably, if you hit the O button just after blocking an attack, Exdeath can immediately launch into one of several counterattacks.
• Delta Attack: Exdeath’s default special attack is also a defensive move; when he activates Delta Attack, he conjures up a circle of energy in front of him that can deflect some attacks, before firing out a ray of light straight in front of him that deals HP damage to anyone unlucky enough to be caught in the blast.  This move has aerial and ground variants.
• Grand Cross: One of Exdeath’s signature attacks in Final Fantasy V, this attack summons a circle of energy orbs that spiral around his opponent before converging in all at once, causing heavy HP damage.  In FFV, this attack also inflicted a number of bad status effects on its targets; it lacks this property in Dissidia.
• Almagest: Yet another defensive attack, this move causes Exdeath to project a spherical shield of energy around his body.  When encased in the shield, you have minor control over his movement before the shield cracks, then detonates, damaging the opponent if they’re anywhere within the blast radius.
• The laws of the Universe mean nothing!: Exdeath’s EX Mode causes him to transform into his tree-like alternate form from the final battle of FFV; it also grants him the Regen status, makes his guard attacks recover more quickly, and lets him chain his counterattacks together.  It also grants him access to his extraordinarily long-named EX Burst super move.  In this attack, you are prompted to hold the O button down to charge up a bar, before letting go right as it hits zero.  If you fail, Exdeath casts a more powerful, flashier variant of Grand Cross, but if you succeed, Exdeath launches Neo Almagest, an attack in which he pulls his opponent into the Void, then shuts them into it by crushing the portal between his hands.  Stylish.

As stated before, Exdeath is the tank of the Dissidia cast.  He features a wide variety of defensive attacks, he wears heavy armor granting him higher defense than his peers, and he’s also the slowest character in the entire game.  His walking speed is so slow that he’s almost entirely useless as a character until he learns the Air Dash ability.  However, Exdeath quickly grows MUCH more powerful as he gains the ability to dash, his guarding abilities become more versatile, and his HP attacks allow him to hit people from long range.  If you run into someone with a level 100 Exdeath while playing multiplayer, watch out.  In some circles, he’s considered to be the most powerful character in the entire game.

And that’s it for this week’s Dissidia character spotlight.  We’ve only got a week and a half to go, so next week’s spotlight will be the last installment before the game’s release in the United States.  We’ll be bringing you all the info on Final Fantasy X’s Blitzball-throwing hero, Tidus, and the thong-clad villain of Final Fantasy IX, Kuja.  Also, stay tuned to OLC for the latest news and updates on Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIV, and more, straight from the show floor at Gamescom in Cologne!