Dissidia: Final Fantasy Character Spotlight – Cecil Harvey

Dissidia: Final Fantasy has a lot of playable characters.  22, to be exact.  Last week, I covered Sephiroth in our inaugural edition of the weekly Dissidia Character Spotlight.  This year, we’re going 16-bit to focus on Cecil Harvey from FF4. 

Making his first appearance on the Super Nintendo before his game was ported to the PlayStation, the Game Boy Advance, and then the Nintendo DS just last year, Cecil Harvey is what can be considered the first hero to exemplify the “modern” Final Fantasy structure.  Prior to Final Fantasy IV, the games often featured barebones storytelling (Final Fantasy II) or “blank slate” main characters (in Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy III) to keep players engaged; IV was the first game in the series to move story into the forefront, and as such it required a more fleshed out main character.  Enter Cecil, a Dark Knight from the kingdom of Baron.   Commander of the Red Wings air force, Cecil grew disillusioned with the actions he was forced to undertake in his kingdom’s pursuit of the Crystals.  After a delivery mission to a remote village went terribly wrong, Cecil soon found himself embroiled in a conflict that would endanger the entire world, take him deep into outer space, and force him to learn the truth about his own shadowy origins.

In Dissidia, Cecil appears as the heroic representative from Final Fantasy IV, opposing his brother Golbez.  Cecil’s Dissidia incarnation is unique because he features the ability to actively switch between his two classes, Dark Knight and Paladin.  Because his two Classes are philosophical (and elemental) opposites, each class is tailored toward a different style of play.  Dark Knight is aimed primarily at ground combat, featuring strong single hits, high knockback, and the occasional ranged attack.  Paladin, on the other hand, is built around the air, allowing for sweeping combo attacks, homing projectiles, and chain attacks.  As he levels up more, he gains the ability to chain his attacks together even more and even change classes mid-combo!

While Cecil comes from an era that predates the Limit Break, he does have several standout attacks that will likely become staples of his arsenal if you choose to focus on him.  Here’s a few.

• Soul Eater: Cecil’s default Dark Knight special attack is a damaging stab attack that, if it connects, deals a number of powerful hits before sending the opponent flying.  In the original Final Fantasy games, this attack often consumes the user’s HP in order to deal extra damage to an opponent, though this feature is not included in the Dissidia version.
• Dark Cannon: Known simply as Darkness in Final Fantasy IV, this attack allows Cecil to fire out waves of dark energy that can hit enemies from a distance.  If it hits, the attack will draw Cecil’s opponent in close to him, allowing for a well-timed follow-up attack.
• Search Light: While in the air, Cecil can fire out a small “bit”-like projectile that will seek out his opponent and, after a short delay, pepper them with small, but damaging, rays of light.  This attack is wholly original and does not appear in any Final Fantasy games, though Xemnas from the Kingdom Hearts series has several attacks that function similarly.
• Saint Dive: Influenced mainly by Cecil’s Dragoon friend and rival Kain Highwind, this special attack allows the user to fly forward at high speed in a descending arc; if it connects, Cecil will launch into a multi-hit air combo before knocking his opponent into the ground.
• Paladin Force: Another attack with no clear analogue in the Final Fantasy series, this attack features Cecil firing off a small “bullet” of light energy.  If the bullet strikes his opponent, he will fly at them at high speed and slash through them a number of times, juggling them in the air.
• Double Phase: While Cecil has no Limit Break in Final Fantasy IV, his EX Burst super move is a rapid combination of attacks that features Cecil rapidly switching between Paladin and Dark Knight forms; if the button inputs are entered correctly, he will finish his opponent off with a holy Cross Slash attack, while if time expires or the player fails to input the command correctly, he will end the attack early using his signature Darkness.

Cecil is a rather versatile character; his two classes allow him to utilize a wide variety of physical and magical attacks from close or long range, allowing nearly any player to find a use for him.  His two classes may take some getting used to, however; Dark Knight Cecil is difficult to use in the air effectively, and Paladin Cecil is nearly useless on the ground.  His largest drawback, however, is his speed; while on the ground, Cecil is one of the slowest characters on the hero side, next to Cloud Strife and Terra Branford.  While his potential learning curve might be slightly steeper than a character like Cloud or the Warrior of Light, Cecil’s lack of any truly glaring weaknesses makes him an entertaining character to play as, and fans of Final Fantasy IV should be proud to use him.

One small bit of trivia that you might not know, however, is that Cecil’s rival Kain was originally planned to be included in the Dissidia cast.  In an interview several weeks ago, Tetsuya Nomura explained that Kain was one of his favorite characters during production, but he had to be cut from the final cast in order for the game to ship on time.  As a result, Cecil uses spears as his default weapon, and several of his moves involve Dragoon-like Jump attacks, as an homage to Kain.  Fans of Mr. Highwind should not worry, though; Nomura has confirmed that if a Dissidia 2 is released (and anyone who thinks it won’t be is kidding themselves), Kain will be the first new character to make the roster.

In any case, I hope you enjoyed our little snapshot of Baron’s finest soldier; next weekend, we’ll be taking a trip to Zanarkand to look at the swarthiest Blitzballer ever to play the game, Jecht!