Dissidia Duellum Ultimate Fantasy Preview: Modern Factions

The Dissidia Ultimate Fantasy spin-off collection is making a return, however in an entire new kind, as Dissidia Duellum Ultimate Fantasy is a free-to-play recreation coming to Android and iOS units on March 24, 2026. DualShockers had an opportunity to preview Dissidia Duellum Ultimate Fantasy forward of launch, which meant hands-on time with the brand new Ultimate Fantasy crossover.

Dissidia has turn out to be a subseries of the Ultimate Fantasy collection, through which characters from throughout the franchise face one another on the battlefield. Often, these are combating video games, translating the mechanics of every hero and villain into that style, corresponding to Tifa from Ultimate Fantasy 7 as a quick brawler, or Terra from Ultimate Fantasy 6 as a ranged character who blasts individuals with spells.

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Dissidia Duellum Ultimate Fantasy is extra of an motion recreation, being nearer to Ever Disaster than the unique Dissidia Ultimate Fantasy. Maybe the most important shake-up is the setting, because it’s someplace the Ultimate Fantasy collection has seldom gone earlier than.

Dissidia Duellum Brings Ultimate Fantasy Characters Into the Actual World

Dissidia Duellum Ultimate Fantasy begins out by asking the participant’s favourite Ultimate Fantasy, citing a completely gargantuan listing of names. Sadly, this solely appears to find out one of many titles in your character profile.

As soon as the profile is ready up, the intro film begins, and to the shock of nobody, Cloud Strife from Ultimate Fantasy 7 kicks issues off, following Sephiroth by way of a portal. As a substitute of ending up in Kingdom Hearts or Tremendous Smash Bros. Final, the 2 enter the real-world, or, extra particularly, modern-day Japan.

The intro pits Cloud in opposition to an Iron Large, one of many recurring elite monsters from the Ultimate Fantasy collection. Thus begins a prolonged tutorial for the battle system, which is mentioned in larger element under. As soon as Cloud is victorious, he is joined by the Warrior of Gentle from Ultimate Fantasy (sadly, not Jack from Stranger of Paradise), Terra from Ultimate Fantasy 6, and Lightning from Ultimate Fantasy 13, and he is rapidly recruited into their group.

The Ultimate Fantasy characters work together with a human little one, who refers to them as “Ghosts.” The story segments principally include messenger sequences, because the Ultimate Fantasy forged be part of the identical faux-WhatsApp group and begin sharing GIFs with one another.

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Who’s Who In Dissidia Duellum Ultimate Fantasy

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The preview construct of Dissidia Duellum Ultimate Fantasy has ten characters, with extra confirmed for the long run. These characters are:

Every character has an outfit primarily based on their look of their supply recreation, in addition to a contemporary outfit with a number of colour variants. These fashionable outfits look nice, with a stunning deal with vogue over fanservice, one thing that appears to have fallen to the wayside with Ever Disaster.

Characters are earned by way of Character Tickets, with their costume variants classed as separate entities. There are 4 separate fight roles which are tied to them, and whereas they do not have distinct tools, they do have sure unique assaults that solely they will use in battle.

Dissidia Duellum Pits Gamers Towards Every Different (and a Boss)

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So, how does the fight work in Dissidia Duellum Ultimate Fantasy? Every match options two groups of three gamers dealing with one another on small maps. There are a number of crystals unfold throughout the map, that are guarded by monsters. As soon as a crystal’s radius is freed from enemies, a participant can declare it, incomes Bravery factors.

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A boss monster will seem on the stage, such because the Behemoth. To win the match, a staff must kill the boss inside the time restrict. Nonetheless, it is proof against assaults except the Bravery meter is stuffed out, which they should do by claiming crystals, all whereas the opposite staff is competing for a similar crystals. As soon as the Bravery meter is stuffed, characters can carry out a Bravery Burst, the place their assaults can harm the boss, which has a separate well being meter for every staff.

Gamers can (and will) assault the opposing staff, because it’s attainable to kill them. That is solely short-term, nevertheless, as they will respawn on the fringe of the battlefield, the place they will have to waste time returning to the battlefield.

The controls in Dissidia Duellum Ultimate Fantasy are finicky in touchscreen mode. The sport is performed vertically, with the participant in a position to transfer the digital camera and the character by touching varied elements of the display. Fortuitously, there are auto options that make it simpler to focus on issues, however it takes some getting used to.

The visuals in fight are surprisingly attractive for a cell recreation, with the extra reasonable Ultimate Fantasy 7 Remake/Ever Disaster aesthetic modified out for a cel-shaded search for the characters. The degrees are primarily based on actual areas of Japan, and so they look first rate for what they’re attempting to painting. The soundtrack is composed of Ultimate Fantasy hits, together with some new remixes, and nothing else must be stated about its high quality.

How the Gacha Mechanics Work in Dissidia Duellum

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The principle fight gimmick in Dissidia Duellum Ultimate Fantasy includes the Capability system. A personality can take 5 Talents into fight, a few of that are shared amongst the entire identical kind, and a few are unique. For instance, Terra from Ultimate Fantasy 6 can use the Fira spell shared by all Ranged characters, however Meltdown is unique to her.

Every Capability has a cooldown timer when utilized in fight, which suggests they cannot be spammed. Whereas Talents are highly effective instruments to make use of in opposition to different gamers, they deal way more harm to bosses as a part of a Bravery Burst, that means gamers must be very cautious about once they use them.

It ought to be famous that not all Talents are assaults. There are some which are movement-based, corresponding to Minwu’s Teleport, which places a personality subsequent to the closest crystal, whereas others heal or buff allies.

So, what concerning the Gacha mechanics? The participant does not get entry to all of the Talents immediately: they’re drawn utilizing a, you guessed it, particular forex. This implies the extra highly effective strikes are locked behind random likelihood, or, you understand, paying cash for the prospect of getting them. It is also attainable to boost Talents utilizing Development Eggs, that are one other useful resource the participant wants to trace.

The Capability system drastically adjustments how every character works, that means the probabilities of taking part in opponents with an identical builds are slim. The distinctive Talents of every character imply there’ll nearly actually be a tier-list of heroes, particularly when extra are added to the sport sooner or later, however the choices supply every kind of thrilling choices for builds.

The Specter of Dissidia NT Hangs Over Duellum

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After taking part in the Dissidia Duellum Ultimate Fantasy preview, there was one burning query left in my thoughts — will it have the identical downside as its religious predecessor, Dissidia Ultimate Fantasy NT?

The primary two Dissidia video games have been 1v1 combating video games, that means gamers had solely themselves guilty in the event that they misplaced. Dissidia NT modified the components, turning it right into a 3v3 recreation. This resolution killed the sport, because it meant there wanted to be six gamers of roughly equal ability to maintain matches balanced and enjoyable.

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If one participant was a beginner or in the event that they stop mid-match, it was principally a loss for his or her staff, as the opposite two members have been outnumbered. This was the most important design flaw with Dissidia Ultimate Fantasy NT, and it appears like Dissidia Duellum Ultimate Fantasy is making the identical mistake, particularly as it is a cell recreation.

This brings me to the second main concern with the preview — we by no means really killed the bosses. Every recreation resulted in a loss as a result of the groups have been too centered on killing one another and utilizing up Talents simply to outlive. A ton of cooperation is required to take down a boss, and the timer turns into the most important enemy, as a result of matches simply preserve operating out the clock.

Dropping the boss, the opposing staff, and all of the common monsters/crystals into such a small area implies that it may be straightforward for issues to get complicated, particularly when attempting to focus on foes with particular Talents.

Dissidia Duellum Ultimate Fantasy may be performed utilizing AI companions in opposition to AI opponents, however many of the content material is tied to aggressive modes. I worry individuals attempting to play it like a solo recreation are going to get pissed off once they’re shedding in opposition to opponents who’re actively speaking, which, to be honest, is a matter with a number of multiplayer titles.

All that being stated, the Dissidia Duellum Ultimate Fantasy preview was performed with a small group of individuals in a brief time period. If a aggressive scene does construct up across the recreation, then this can be much less of a problem. When there are six gamers with totally optimized builds battling it out, Dissidia Duellum Ultimate Fantasy may be an thrilling multiplayer expertise. It simply wants these particular situations to get the place it must be.

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Methods

Launched

March 31, 2026

Developer(s)

NHN PlayArt Corp., Sq. Enix

Writer(s)

Sq. Enix