Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia Japanese Version Preview
Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia is a free-to-play strategy game for the iOS and Android platforms co-developed by Square Enix and Team Ninja from Koei Tecmo. The game is a mobile spin-off of the Dissidia games instead of following the main game’s timeline.
The game does however bring over some of not just key Dissidia gameplay elements, but also story elements as well. Instead of it being a cohesive storyline though, the game’s story was crafted to fit the mobile platform.
Gameplay uses some mechanics of Dissidia, but with many tweaks to be more mobile friendly.
Gameplay
Gameplay in Opera Omnia, unlike in the main titles, is less of inputting and stringing attacks and commands in real time action. Instead the system is converted into more of a turn-based battle system.
Opera Omnia, uses the Brave and HP system found in Dissidia titles. Brave meters serve as “shields” for the opponent or unit’s HP. You need to whittle them down to 0, or “break” their brave meter to damage them at all. There are some characters who can pass through the brave meter barrier and damage them directly, however, they are less effective than HP attacks done with the opponent’s brave meter broken.
The Chase System is also brought over to Opera Omnia. But unlike in the main games where you can deliberately start chases, in Opera Omnia, this occur in random intervals during battles. And instead of trying to hit the attack button before your opponent can block, your characters are given a max number of five seconds to key in your attacks or end the chase sequence immediately. The sequence ends similarly to the main games where the opponent hits a wall.
The Brave and HP systems persist for instance.
Characters in your 3-man teams have a default setup of 1 brave attack and 1 HP attack with the option of having passive skills and a third special ability that can either be a Brave or HP attack. More attacks are unlocked as your characters level up and discover other weapons along the way.
Similar to the Dissidia titles, you can equip weapons and armor to your unlocked heroes. But unlike in the main titles where you have a bit more slots to fill-in, Opera Omnia follows the typical mobile game setup where you can only equip a very limited number of items per hero. Also, the weapons and armament system in Opera Omnia also follows the typical mobile game upgrade system of using your other acquired weapons as ingredients to level up your chosen weapon or armor. The higher the rarity of the weapon you used as an ingredient, the higher the exp your weapons will get.
Weapons are acquired using the game’s gacha system. Weapons, as mentioned earlier, have a rarity system in place where the lowest rarity starts at one star all the way up to five stars. Weapon classes are character exclusive so don’t expect Cloud to start using guns instead of a sword or Zidane to lug around a broad sword. The game also shows you the weapons your characters equipped as they use them in-game.
The character roster is filled with big names from all the series.
Character List
So far Opera Omnia has a total count of around 50 characters that you can acquire from the first Final Fantasy up to XIV, Tactics and even Type-0. The characters are easily unlockable by getting them through the game’s quest/story system or during the regular character theme events the game gives you. You can increase their stats by leveling them up through the game’s story quests/missions.
The summons are no simple B-listers either.
Summons
Of course, what is a Final Fantasy game if there are no summons? Opera Omnia so far has six equippable summons that provide you with timed bonuses as you use them. Summon regulars like Ifrit and Shiva are part of the choices, and they will provide bonuses instead of the usual damage dealing stuff summons have been known to do.
Pros: It's a Final Fantasy Game. Cons: It still plays like a mobile game.
Critique
Opera Omnia feels like its own Dissidia title, removed from the main timeline of the earlier two Dissidia titles. One of the major points that make Opera Omnia a standalone title is the switch from an action oriented game to a more deliberate, but still action packed strategy version of itself, even with the drastic gameplay option changes or the platform switch.
One of the game’s downsides however is that the game lacks any multiplayer feature. This is where I believe Square Enix et al. dropped the ball. One of the best features a Dissidia title has is the 1v1 battles that players can do in-game. Yes, it’s understandable that this feature may have been taken out because of the switch in combat gameplay, but the absence of any multiplayer feature is an oversight. Most especially with a lot of games out there right now brandishing their own version of a multiplayer feature in their games. The lack of the multiplayer feature will hurt the game in the long run because players who’ve already experienced a lot of the game won’t have any other reason to get back to it.
As a single player mobile experience though, Opera Omnia still provides a lot of content for players to be enthralled by for a moderate amount of time. The main story is a little bit heftier than your usual mobile game so that’s going to keep people interested for a bit. And add the event quests that will test your team setup for that pinch of difficulty to keep you from getting bored even longer.
It’ll be interesting to see if Square Enix would decide to bring the game to the west though. Since when I reviewed the game, I played the Japanese version of it. The game on its own has been an interesting experience, even with the language barrier. So hopefully they don’t just translate the game to the English language, but also add at least a kind of multiplayer feature for players to interact with others.
State of the Game: Great
Opera Omnia is a game that you can truly enjoy as a fan of the Final Fantasy franchise and that of the Dissidia brand. Even with all the missteps in some key game features, the game retains enough Dissidia feels to make it an interesting, albeit stripped down version of itself. If you’re a true fan of the franchise, then this is a game that you should get on your phone.
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