Dissidia Final Fantasy/YMMV

""Eeeeeew, aren't you hot?""
 * Accidental Innuendo - Kefka to Firion:

"Onion Knight: "Take a good look at your enemy's equipment before a battle." Terra: "...Hehe.""
 * The original line from the Japanese game literally meant hot: Firion carries a lot of weapons around, so, yeah, one would assume he'd be a bit sweaty under their weight.
 * And then his EX Burst. If you take "titillating" at its literal meaning, then Kefka isn't just having fun destroying things: he's getting off on it!
 * The Bartz and Exdeath Manikins are called "Fallacious Wanderer" and "Fallacious Tree". That second one is begging for bad "wood" jokes.
 * Or the following exchange between Onion Knight and Terra:

"Onion Knight: "I've got something they don't, right here, if you know what I mean!""
 * He goes on to deliver this gem... Anyone who's not looking at the screen when the line is said, and some people who are, will probably collapse in a laughing fit.

""Get the fruit!" "Naive weekly!" "TURTLE!" "Tasty arrow...is yummy!""
 * Keep in mind Kuja is the one wearing the Thong of Shielding and looks highly effeminate. Why did they have to name two of his attacks "Snatch Blow" and "Snatch Shot"?
 * And the Fandom Rejoiced - Long story short, let's just say every title (except XIII, for good reason )
 * There's was a sequel, Lightning is going to be in it, and so are Kain Highwind, Tifa, Aerith, Laguna, Yuna, Vaan, and Gilgamesh for crying out loud! Oh, also Prishe.
 * Bears repeating: GILGAMESH!!!
 * World map! Squee!
 * Dissidia 012 will be released in Japan on March 3. It will be released on March 23rd in North American and March 25 in Europe. This means Square-Enix's usual practice of taking forever to localize their games will finally be defied with all regions getting the game inside a month of each other. It also means for once there will likely be no new bonus features adds to the NA and PAL releases, and thus the likelihood of a Final Mix-type re-release in Japan is low.
 * Yes, North America and the EU are getting Prologus, for just as much as it cost Japan, and we get Aerith too! Huzzah, averted tropes!
 * Sephiroth. Kingdom Hearts DLC costume. That One Boss made playable. That is all.
 * The PlayStation Network (and by association the PlayStation Store) going down was something many thought would delay DLC being released in Japan, and REALLY delay it being released in America, but come Store-is-back-on day, almost ALL of the new DLC announced is out.
 * Though a comparatively minor one, Aerith fans were pleased when Andrea Bowen returned to voice Aerith, seemingly indicating she's a permanent replacement for the universally despised Mena Suvari.
 * Alas, Poor Villain - The way Kefka goes out can actually make you feel a little sorry for him.
 * You still can't help but feel some sympathy for Kuja when you defeat him in Shade Impluse with Zidane.
 * Especially seeing as he seems to be relatively reserved and amiable in Duodecim.
 * Alternate Character Interpretation - After fighting with Terra in Shade Impulse, Kefka claims that "destruction is what makes life worth living", which prompts Terra to think that he tried to fill his "broken heart" with it. Contrast his original game, in which after ruling the world for a year (coupled, possibly, with the knowledge in the back of his mind that, despite his power, he was still a mortal man) convinced him of life's ultimate futility, followed by the heroes self-help book speech and complete refusal to accept his nihilist stance prompted Kefka to try to destroy everything in order to prove his point. He more or less went from destroying everything because he didn't see the point of life, to destroying everything because he thinks that's the point of life.
 * Author's Saving Throw: Kuja's entire story arc was rewritten from the original game to bring his personality more in-line with his Final Fantasy IX incarnation.
 * Cloud and Sephiroth's conflict in the original game was fairly shallow, Sephiroth seemingly manpulating Cloud only to prove he can and Cloud being disinterested in fighting without good reason. The prequel explains that Sephiroth makes a point to track down and fight Tifa and Cloud so he can get his memories back, and Cloud has been through several cycles and retains his memories of them so he knows that the war is pointless. His reluctance to fight is a leftover trait of that even if he lost his memories after the 12th cycle, and Sephiroth remembers Cloud has no interest in the war and manipulates him so he can get the battle he's looking for.
 * While Terra is a much weaker character in the 12th cycle compared to Dissidia, in the 13th cycle she's far stronger, having more of a mutual compansionship with the Onion Knight instead of having to be protected by him, and toughening up her resolve sooner, resulting in a character arc with a lower starting point but a higher ending point. They didn't change any of the voiced cutscenes for Duodecim, but the text-based cutscenes in Terra's storyline were changed to fit this new interpretation.
 * Broken Base - Some fans were outraged at the "psycho clown" approach taken to Kefka in Dissidia (which is ironic, given the fact that one of his fan nicknames is the psycho clown), while others believe he was portrayed perfectly. Of course, opinions on how faithful Kefka's characterization is dependent on how you think he was in the original game.
 * Catharsis Factor - The entire concept of the game lends itself well to this, given that it lets you beat up on your most hated Final Fantasy characters with your favourite characters. Game mods and model hacks only increase the possibilities, especially since it's possible to pose certain character models in other models' animations. This picture, using the Aerith model with Tifa's animations, epitomizes the potential.
 * Heck, the ability to use Aerith as an Assist in general. Admit it, you've gone looking for a video of Sephiroth dying to Holy, assuming you didn't try it yourself that is. Bonus points if he tries to use Hell's Gate on her and you manage to stop him somehow. And let's not get into the fact this game has all three members of the Final Fantasy VII Love Triangle, plus Sephiroth and whatever crossover pairing you like, waiting to fight each other in any combination you wish.
 * Chickification - What fans say has happened to Terra. Dissidia 012 both enforced and subverted this trope to different degrees.
 * On the one hand, she needs to be rescued from Kefka's control by Vaan in the 12th cycle and experiences a brief bout of wanting to be killed so she wouldn't be a danger to anyone, Vaan also tells her to hide away and wait for him to come back for her later.
 * On the other hand, instead of hiding while Vaan goes to fight, she fights off a horde of Manikins protect Cosmos. The 13th cycle also reworks her dialogue to make her less of a Shrinking Violet who needs to be protected, and more of a Reluctant Warrior who's willing and able to fight but doesn't want to if she can help it, which is closer to how she is in Final Fantasy VI after her Character Development. She's also more focused on rescuing Onion Knight and spends a bit less time angsting. For example, in Dissidia when Onion Knight was kidnapped, she worries about continuing on alone and fighting for herself. In Dissidia 012, she ponders the revelation she nearly killed him and yet he came to rescue her, and resolves to rescue him to return the favor.
 * Gameplay-wise, in Final Fantasy VI Terra was a Magic Knight with all around high stats and an excellent equipment pool including heavy armor, shields and the game's best swords. In Dissidia she's a Squishy Wizard with a focus on light armor and robes for armor and staffs, daggers and rods for weapons, and an almost entirely magical movepool. However this is likely for gameplay diversity as all the other heroes are melee fighters and of the original ten Terra makes the most sense to retool as a magic-focused fighter.
 * Complete Monster - The Emperor is just as depraved as he was in Final Fantasy II, if not more so, and unlike the official novelization for that game, he doesn't even possess a freudian excuse for his actions. He takes the classic villain goal of Take Over the World and runs it to the logical extreme--.
 * Kefka. While it was less apparent in Dissidia, pretty much everything he did Duodecim confirmed it—he overhears Cloud and Kuja discussing their lack of enthusiasm for the war and Kuja's plan to betray Chaos. He decides "Nah, I don't think so" and proceeds to . And let's not forget how he treats Terra when she begins to resist his control, and . Kefka will happily kill his own allies if they tick him off, just in case we forgot from Final Fantasy VI.
 * Althought initially presented as a neutral entity, was propelled into this category thanks to his actions in Scenario 000..
 * Contested Sequel: Dissidia 012: Duodecim, which is either better or worse than the first game.
 * Crack Pairing: Cloud Of Darkness and Exdeath, mainly due to their fascination with THE VOID.
 * Creator's Pet - An ironic case considering it could be due to fan popularity. But for anyone who's not a die-hard fan of Final Fantasy VII, the cast from that game ends up feeling like this due to how much attention it gets. In the first game, Sephiroth is the first villain to be announced and Cloud gets saved as a last big surprise (like no one saw that coming), and for Duodecim, the director has stated he wouldn't have made the game if Tifa wasn't included, Cloud's fourth outfit was (with Lightning's) the first one revealed. That's without mentioning that, even if only as an Assist Character, VII is the only game with four characters present thanks to Aerith's inclusion.
 * To top it off; Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy IX, the games more popular with people who aren't into Final Fantasy VII, don't get any new characters added to the roster in the sequel while VII, VIII, X, XI, and XII do. VI and IX do at least get new stages, which IV, V, VII, VIII and X don't.
 * Lightning is getting similar treatment from the developers, to the extent that people are claiming that she stole Warrior of Light's role as the de-facto leader of Team Cosmos.
 * No "claiming" about it; she did. Her role is of The Hero in the game, she's front and center to the Cosmos side on the box art, and Garland is HER personal enemy.
 * Firion in the first game due to him and his "dream" being brought up in just about every other story in Destiny Oddyssey.
 * Vaan in Dissidia 012 combines Americans Hate Tingle with Germans Love David Hasselhoff. He takes the role of protector to Terra by fighting, defeating and helping her escape from Kefka, two characters that Western audiences love. This also has the effect of lowering the value of the Onion Knight's friendship with Terra in the next cycle, making him seem a substitute for Vaan.
 * His treatment of Onion Knight isn't very impressive either. The Onion Knight prefers to be treated as an equal by the other warriors, and he is, to everyone except Vaan who talks down to him, encourages him to not work as hard as the "adults" and either ignores or doesn't notice the Onion Knight's paper-thin requests that he knock it off.
 * Crowning Moment of Heartwarming -
 * Getting the Moogle with Terra. All together now: "Aaawwww..."
 * The credits.
 * Crowning Music of Awesome - A given considering it's Final Fantasy we're talking about here.
 * "Cosmos". And the Chaos Battle Theme. And "The Messenger" (from the OST). And of course, the Villain Victory Fanfare, a darker version of the regular Victory Fanfare.
 * Heck, most of the soundtrack is this, since most of them are remixes or original versions of already great music. YMMV on whether some remixes are better or worse than the originals.
 * "Cantata Mortis & God in Fire" combines Square-Enix's two favorite musical stylings--Ominous Latin Chanting and The Power of Rock—and plays during the battle with the Bonus Boss. You don't get more awesome than that.
 * The trailer music for Dissidia 012 MUST be mentioned!
 * Demonic Spiders - the world map in "Confessions of the Creator" is populated with strong Manikins like Golbez, Garland and Kuja. The attacks they use to initiate battle are hard to predict and dodge so you'll need to be quick to get first strike on them. And then in battle they're Level 123 and thus will have several thousand Bravery, over 10,000 HP, top-grade equipment and accessories, and they're fond of the Ultima Weapon and Omega summons, either of which can completely ruin any game-winning final blow you're preparing. The saving grace of these battles is that you can use your entire party to fight them in turn and will be fully healed afterwards since you're fighting on the overworld.
 * Draco in Leather Pants - Sephiroth, just as always, but his status as one flies over the head of Penelo, who simply does not understand his appeal.
 * Ensemble Darkhorse - In general, most characters are this, due to every game having its fans. Duodecim takes it even further, as due to the main heroes and villains being already in, most of the newcomers are fan-favourites. However, one character is notable for being primarily popular because of Dissidia...
 * Exdeath, thanks to particularly hilarious writing, his hammy speeches about THE VOID!, and (more or less) the fact that you're brutalizing the most famous faces of Final Fantasy history with a tree, Exdeath has amassed a fanbase rivaling Sephiroth and Kefka. For a formerly-unmemorable villain from a not-so famous title in the series, that is amazing.
 * He now has his own fan game: Pac-Void.
 * Epileptic Trees - Exactly how Dissidia fits into the continuity of the main series is anyone's guess. The game's bonus storylines expand on Dissidia's universe while Dissidia 012 makes it clear that the heroes are all the same characters as the originals called from their worlds to fight, but there's still unanswered questions.
 * Evil Is Sexy - Cloud of Darkness and Ultimecia for the guys, Sephiroth and Jecht for the girls.
 * Also, Jecht for the guys. Don't lie, you know you would.
 * Kuja if you aren't exactly sure.
 * Golbez's voice has been reported to induce Stupid Sexy Flanders in men (in addition to the expected results for women). One can only imagine what will happen when they combine it with his Man in Black attire for his 3rd costume in Duodecim.
 * Fan Nickname - The Warriors of Cosmos and Chaos are sometimes simply called Team Cosmos and Team Chaos.
 * Ascended Fanon - Director Mitsunori Takahashi has also used the terminology.
 * Fan-Preferred Couple: Emperor x Ultimecia, Exdeath x Cloud of Darkness, Cloud x Terra and Firion x Lightning.
 * Fashion Victim Villain - The Emperor. What is he even wearing? A... four pointed cape? With a translucent pink Showgirl Skirt? Gold... is that armor? With Combat Stilettos? And the... what is that thing on the center of the cape? And the hair, and the ... horns?
 * Subverted by his third outfit in 012, which looks a lot more befitting for one of his status. The hair still needs some work though.
 * Flanderization - Many characters lost the Character Development subplots of their original games, resulting in this. Most easily noticeable are Cloud, who angsts for no real reason, Tidus, who is completely consumed with the desire to kill Jecht and thinks of nothing else, and Vaan, who went from a bit naive to an outright Idiot Hero.
 * Tidus and Cloud are justified, as Dissidia 012 reveals Tidus actually can't remember anything about home other than Jecht, while Cloud's source of angst is his inability to believe in Cosmos's cause and doens't understand why they're fighting, which 012 reveals is a leftover from his time as a Warrior of Chaos when he had become disillusioned with the war and didn't see the point of fighting in it when it was seemingly never going to end.
 * Ultimecia is a particularly painful example, as the original Dissidia gave her back the deeper character development the original english port of FFVIII had removed, only for all of it to be ripped out once Duodecim came along.
 * Fountain of Memes - Dissidia has perhaps inspired more memes than the rest of the series combined. To recap some of the most famous ones:
 * Pretty much anything Exdeath says (Mondegreens included).

""Buy my sword! No, this paint!""
 * Jecht and Golbez have become Memetic Badasses, Golbez for his mighty Pimp Hand. Jecht meanwhile has earned the Fan Nickname "Captain Jecht". Kain and Gilgamesh were Memetic Badasses before Dissidia 012, and it has only helped further their reputations as such.
 * You can thank Keith Ferguson for letting Gabranth's accent slip and giving us "Hatred is wot droives me!"

"Tidus: [thinking] Suddenly, I felt the urge to yell. [suddenly starts running past Firion]: "GRAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
 * Kuja is a Memetic Molester thanks to the rather unfortunate translation that he's "having his way with Zidane and Bartz."
 * Jecht is a Memetic Sex God, being a muscular Walking Shirtless Scene. Even Penelo thinks he "has the body of a bronzed god".
 * In 012 we have Laguna's EX Burst declaration "The greatest attack ever!" Thought not as famous, Lightning's "Thun-DAGA!" and Prishe's "Gimme a bite of spicy hot tacos!" have also become popular.
 * And thanks to DLC we have Memetic Outfits, most prominently Kuja's nobleman attire and Vaan's pirate garb. Kuja's in particular is noted for its Nice Hat.
 * Leading up to 012's release, the Emperor's new HP attack was known as "Melancholy Prison" from translations, then English footage revealed its name in the English version was "Dreary Cell". Fans decided this name was lame compared to the fan translation and the attack was re-dubbed "Sad Box".
 * Game Breaker - The infamous "Exdeath Cheat" that, with the proper summons and equipment setup, allows you to take a character from level 1 to level 100 in one fight.
 * To elaborate: this exploit relies on the fact that Experience Points are assigned per hit, based on the amount of damage you do. So: you go into battle against a Lv.100 enemy, let them max their BRV to 9999 by beating you up, use the Magic Pot summon to copy their BRV, and One-Hit Kill them for something like 300,000 EXP before multipliers. Technically, this works no matter who you fight, but Exdeath's peculiar play style makes his Artificial Stupidity easiest to survive.
 * Certain tactics are infamous for snapping the game's challenge cleanly in half: Squall Beat Fang infinites, Golbez's many possible infinite comboes, and Bartz EXP -> Brave Goblin Punch spamming come to mind.
 * Firion's EX Mode (Blood Sword) and Bartz's EX Burst (Spellblade Dual-Wield Rapidfire) are both nods to gamebreakers in their original games.
 * Exdeath himself is designed to be a Game Breaker if you master him. ...He's a Barrier Warrior Mighty Glacier Lethal Joke Character, with emphasis on the "Barrier", "Glacier" and "Joke" aspects, so good luck with that.
 * Kain's Jump attack. It's an HP attack that lets Kain dodge attacks, has Wall Rush for extra damage, he starts out knowing it, it tracks well, and it executes fairly quickly. The Game Breaker part comes in when Kain can charge Jump for vertical and horizontal reach, thereby presenting the problem of predicting exactly when to dodge because the time between the leap and the descent changes depending on how long Kain charged the attack. Oh, and once he's up in the air, most of the time you can't see him, so don't bother waiting for a visual cue to dodge, you've got to take your best guess. Perfect your usage of it and you can win battles just by spamming Jump.
 * Difficult but Awesome: You have to learn to charge it, because the standard timing is predictable and very easy to dodge.
 * The now infamous Iai Strike build to turn your character into a Glass Cannon. Set your character's level to 1, equip them with the Smiting Soul, Level Gap > 90, remove all their equipment and set them up with Weaponless, Armorless, Gloveless, Hatless, Level 1-9, and Large Gap in BRV (to note, this is one such combination, any set of six 1.5 boosters will do). The result is a character with a 99.9% chance of instantly doing Bravery damage to the opponent equal to their current Bravery when they attack, and since you're at level one they'll begin with 9999 Bravery which will become yours once you connect. Even Feral Chaos can be killed in under a minute using this set-up.
 * More of an A.I. Breaker: Yuna's Mega Flare attack. Even enemies with expert A.I. don't try to dodge it if they're just standing on the ground. You can easily win any fight by just blasting them every time they try to get close to you.
 * Germans Love David Hasselhoff - In America, the fandom has practically deified Jecht for the infamous "body of a bronzed god." In Japan, he's... just another character. Not unpopular, but not nearly as beloved.
 * Whereas in Japan, Vaan is massively popular, and everywhere else he's one of the series' least popular characters.
 * Good Bad Bugs - The Link Glitch, also known as the Holy Glitch, which lets characters combo attacks in ways they shouldn't be able to and continue attacks that didn't hit as if they had.
 * Hilarious in Hindsight - This Gamespot forum thread discusses hypothetical VAs for Final Fantasy IX. One fan suggested Bryce Papenbrook as Zidane. One year later, after this game was released, guess who's voicing Zidane?
 * Exdeath's third costume in Duodecim removes his helmet, revealing him to look like the main demon of his Neo Exdeath form. Yeah, one fan had the same idea about an entire YEAR before this game hit the shelves.
 * Though it may be closer to Harsher in Hindsight, Firion's suspicion of Golbez and warning Cecil he can't be trusted takes an interesting spin in Dissidia 012 when we learn
 * Also, Dave Wittenberg voicing Kefka Palazzo, who is also a rival of Sephiroth in terms of fanbase, is especially (and hilariously) ironic when one remembers that he also voiced Yazoo, a remanent of Sephiroth, in Final Fantasy VII Advent Children.
 * Speaking of Dave Wittenberg, Kefka's interactions with Terra will become especially ironic when he voices Captain Cryptic in the english version of Final Fantasy XIII-2, where one of his quiz questions involves a steamly love affair, with one of the answers being Terra Branford, who is an actress in that game.
 * Internet Backdraft - Almost everything about Aerith. When she was announced, there were complaints about a character being Assist-exclusive, and Final Fantasy VII getting a fourth representative while other games were still stuck at two. There's also some complaints about having to pay for Prologus and the chance to use her. Then her alt outfits were revealed, and more complaining began over them being more inspired and interesting than the outfits of some of the playable characters. And once the game was actually out and people began to use her, it was discovered she has limited uses as an Assist—Cure restores a bit of your Bravery and Seal Evil stuns the opponent to set them up for another attack, both things that a normal Assist with Wall Rush can do, while Planet Protector's invincibility has limited uses, and Holy is a Charged Attack that takes so long to charge it's Awesome but Impractical.
 * The exclusion of new characters for FFVI and FFIX in Duodecim actually convinced some people not to purchase the game. Which makes it sadly unsurprising Square-Enix made no official statement or explanation about their exclusion until the game was released in Japan.
 * It's the Same, Now It Sucks - Squall's gameplay seems to be heading this way in Duodecim, having so far only one new Brave Attack that's apparently not worth even keeping over other moves. Made more evident by no move of him at all showing up in the trailers.
 * Just Here for Godzilla - Many players picked up Dissidia for no other reason than the coolness factor of being able to play as their favourite FF hero in a fighting game. Other people just wanted to be able to play as Kefka, Sephiroth, et al, and were disappointed at the lack of Story Modes for the villains.
 * Launcher of a Thousand Ships - Squall and Terra (particularly the latter), either with one another or with the rest of the characters.
 * And in Japan, Firion matches them both, possibly because of his Hot-Blooded nature and lack of a sealed love interest in his original game. And following behind him there's Bartz, with curiously growing popularity.
 * More recently, pairing Cecil with anyone and everyone has become popular in English-speaking fandom. The fact that he's the one canonically married hero doesn't seem to stop anyone.
 * And, much like Terra in the original game, Lightning's inclusion in Duodecim has helped bolster her shipping popularity.
 * Like You Would Really Do It - So, both Dissidia and Duodecim star some of the most iconic characters in the franchise—and in a few cases, their entire genre. When it was revealed that Duodecim was a prequel despite introducing new characters, many fans applied Fridge Logic and feared the worst. Others, though, cited the characters' iconic status, Square's general Lighter and Softer tendencies compared to other video game companies, and the games' status as Fan Service to the nth degree, to reassure people that there was no way Square would really do it..
 * Magnificent Bastard: The Emperor, before he becomes a Smug Snake in Shade Impulse. Garland also qualifies.
 * Memetic Mutation - Numerous, see Fountain of Memes above.
 * Misblamed - many fans (at least, at first) seemed extremely displeased at the voice cast chosen for the English version, mostly because their precious views of their favorite characters did not match up to the end result, thus ruining the game for them... FOREVER. Most of these fans immediately blamed the voice actors themselves (Kuja, Ultimecia, Zidane, and Terra seem to be the ones who got the most flak). But, as revealed in a discussion with JD Cullum (the voice of Kuja), the voice direction was subpar—Cullum was apparently just told to imitate the Japanese voice actor and sound "breathy and feminine". If this is how all the VAs were handled, it's not surprising that some of them were hit and miss.
 * Mondegreen - "GET THE FRUIT". And from the Japanese version: "Tasty Arrow!"
 * Exdeath also apparently likes to read the "Naive Weekly" when inside the "Almagest" sphere.
 * Said fruit wouldn't be Sephiroth's "dis pear", would it?
 * No, it's the Emperor's "supper."
 * No doubt starting with Ultimecia's suggestion to "Eat turtle soup."
 * "BUY MY SWORD!" - Gabranth
 * "NO, THIS PAINT!"
 * And don't forget his "HOT ROD!"
 * "There is no running from this bear." - Ultimecia
 * "There is no butter on this plane."
 * When Chaos does his red wave attack thing he totally says "Red Fish".
 * "Dorks, unite!" - Onion Knight
 * In short, just about every character has some potentially hilarious mondegreens, owing to the fact that the voice actors often speed up, slow down or pause unnaturally to match the timing of the Japanese lines, and the called attacks are often obscured by sound effects or other characters' attacks.
 * A good number of examples have been compiled here for your enjoyment. Bon appetit.
 * A notable Duodecim example comes from Vaan. During his perfect Quickening EX Burst, he does a backwards Badass Arm-Fold as the opponent is trapped between Luminescence's rune symbols and blasted by Light the Way energy. His actual line is "Stings, huh?", but Vaan's posture makes it look like he's farting out Luminescence, leading many a fan to twist this into "Stinks, huh?".
 * Most Annoying Sound - "Well now! Well now! Well now!"
 * "Too slow! Too slow! Too slow!"
 * "Get away! Get away! Get away!"
 * Many of Kefka's battle cries, especially "You'll be well done" and "Come on, come on, come on". And in this case the Manikin version is infinitely more nerve-wracking.
 * Yuna's little breathy gasps anytime she gets hit.
 * Frankly, all the characters have at least one Most Annoying Sound, due to Giggling Villains and Calling Your Attacks.
 * Motive Decay/Villain Decay - Sephiroth's desire to become a god was greatly toned down in the first game, and pretty much removed entirely from Dissidia 012. Thus he mostly spends his time fighting Cloud and Tifa, or trying to fight them, so he can recover his lost memories, and in-between brawls ponders the nature of the cycles of war and why his memories were taken. Almost edges into Designated Villain because he doesn't care about who actually wins the war, his only priority is to regain his memories.
 * Narm - A good portion of the storyline revolves around Firion's wild rose, the people who come across it, and his dream to see a world full of blooming roses. Yes, it's a metaphor for a world of freedom and peace. Doesn't help the fact that Cloud and Terra are staring off into space discussing flowers like it's Serious Business.
 * This one line is... interesting:

Firion: [no reaction at all]"

"Golbez: "Your 'Void' intimidates even you.""
 * Exdeath's Mirror Match quote simply doesn't make any sense! He says "Even nothingness is powerless before the Void!" To put it another way, he's basically saying "I am powerless before my own power." What.
 * Well... given what happened to him at the end of his game, Exdeath may very well understand that nothing can stop the immense power he wields. Not even himself. Even Golbez knows this.

"Biggs: You wanted to talk to Vicks?"
 * The Narrator, when he starts trying to release a Hurricane of Puns or waxes melodramatic.
 * "The boy is known by the legendary title of... Onion Knight."
 * "Destiny's burden weighs heavy on Cloud's giant sword."
 * A rare lampshaded narm is the description for the Iifa Tree: "One whole Iifa tree. It's amazingly heavy...obviously."
 * Nightmare Fuel - Exdeath's face.. Also from Duodecim... take a look at Feral Chaos.
 * Not to mention that in Duodecim a Feral Chaos-related scary moment comes from A SIMPLE MOOGLE. To elaborate—if you ever say you've "mastered Dissidia" at the beginning of the game... well, see for yourself. And then Moogle mocks the hell out of you, à la (as even a YouTube commenter put it best) "You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?". (shudders)
 * It is somehow even worse when you guess who that moogle actually is.
 * Just wait until you see  EX Burst. Holy crap.
 * After Kefka, Kefka, when noticing that Zidane ("the monkey") is still around, says "Well, whatever... This should still be interesting, at least." Right when he says this, Kefka gives off a rather creepy expression where his face has his eyes in an almost ecstatic expression and grinning.
 * Player Punch - Part of the manual hints Square has decided it's canon that in Final Fantasy VI. And they do it to set up a joke.
 * An example that doubles as The Dev Team Thinks of Everything: the inclusion of Aerith allowed Square to show off a particularly nasty sense of humor... and they sure as hell didn't miss the chance to pull such a cruel joke.
 * In Dissidia 012's bonus storyline "Confessions of the Creator" you can occasionally find some of the other player characters on the world map wandering aimlessly. Talking to them will reveal they've all crossed the Despair Event Horizon big time, and will recount their own personal tale of sorrow, failure and regret. And then occasionally after speaking to them, they'll disappear... Dead All Along?
 * Rescued from the Scrappy Heap - Exdeath was one of the most unpopular Final Fantasy villains before this game. But look at him now.
 * Likewise for Vaan due to his flashy and impressive fighting style.
 * And due to his weapons, looking exactly the same as they did in Final Fantasy XII, not to mention he has a lot of them to his disposal.
 * Many weren't pleased with Prishe's addition, with common complaints being she should have been left out in favor of a villain for Final Fantasy XI, or otherwise replaced with someone from another game like VI or IX. And, since she was from XI, she was seen as a little-known and obscure character. However, once gameplay footage began to come out and she demonstrated fighting skills on-par with Jecht and Tifa, people have begun to warm up to her more. Her dialogue and voice clips don't hurt, either.
 * The same can be said for Shantotto (also from XI, interestingly) in some ways. Her brief characterization in the original game played up her evil side and she came off fairly disagreeable. Then Duodecim arrives, and her lines were rewritten to include more humor and better Rhymes on a Dime, and redemption was achieved.
 * Scrappy Mechanic - The suction effect that wind-based attacks have. Fine in the first game, but the range and strength of the suction were massively increased in the sequel. If you're anywhere near one, you have to concentrate solely on running away.
 * Smug Snake - The Emperor could have made Magnificent Bastard status due to his planning, but his insufferable arrogance and underestimation of the "insects" who oppose him leads to his downfall.
 * Kuja, even moreso than The Emperor, as he fancies himself the smartest, strongest, prettiest villain, even when his plans go haywire. When that happens, he either blames other people for it or calls sour grapes.
 * Tear Jerker - The original Dissidia tugged on some heartstrings, but Duodecim just pulls out absolutely all the stops.
 * The entirety of the Epilogue - An Undocumented Battle chapter in the "Treachery Of The Gods" scenario. Your party of newcomers is well aware that they're, and their dialogue reflects this, each talking about regrets, trying to comfort and reassure the others, and putting on an obvious brave face.
 * The ending of the 012 scenario. Just—all of it. Absolutely every last detail.
 * In the revised 013 scenario (i.e., that remastery of the original Dissidia in Duodecim), pretty much any time one of the characters does something that might hint they remember the 012 characters in some way will pull some heartstrings—like Cloud
 * In "Confessions of the Creator", you can find Yuna, Prishe, Lightning and Terra on the world map, each of them having crossed the Despair Event Horizon and lamenting their failures. However Terra's, her being The Woobie of the four, is downright depressing—she says she can't remember anything each time she awakens, her head is in constant pain, and she wishes she could go back to being a mindless puppet so she wouldn't have to deal with the reality anymore.
 * That One Boss - in Onion Knight's story, who is practically in perpetual EX mode for the duration of the fight, and just loves to spam  to keep you away.
 * Also, Jecht in Tidus' story and Golbez in Shade Impulse.
 * When the game decides to give Sephiroth some decent AI, you will die. Painfully.
 * Either of the two occasions when you have to fight the Emperor in Pandaemonium, which, as noted below, is perfect for him.
 * And in the Duel Colosseum, there's two varieties: the first type is any "Boss" enemy who is your character's natural enemy (that is, the other guy from their game). They pretty much always are the max level for that particular course (which really sucks if you just want to level or collect the Chaos Reports), Maximum CPU strength, and have Double Judgement rules on (fighters get frozen if they don't attack for a time, critical rate goes up after roughly 2 minutes, a fighter gets their summon back when their opponent gets enough for a one-hit kill via Break, and one gets full EX mode when put into critical HP). Oh, and their card never vanishes from the lineup unless you fight them or find a Samurai card. Secondly, the Blackjack course has... pretty much any enemy that hovers around levels 130-150. Can you say overkill?
 * Firion vs Ultimecia. She's level 20, and you must adjust your level to 8 or lower or the game actively punishes you. Her accessories cause her attacks to skyrocket when she's far away, and she loves staying away from you in the air. The only feasible way to damage her is to use air attacks, except Firion's air attacks suck balls!
 * In Confessions of the Creator, the Level 95 Feral Chaos. The Level 130 version is the Bonus Boss, this guy is supposed to be the warm-up. The reason he's actually just as difficult if not more is that you don't have accesst to the northern gateways, so you can't farm the Lufenian equipment or top-level trade accessories (thus your equipment probably sucks), he has a unique Booster that gives him a 90x multiplier after 60 seconds, boosting his Attack and Defense by 450%, and unlike the Level 130 Feral Chaos who uses Level 1 equipment, the Level 95 one uses Level 90 equipment, including the Ogrenix and the Maxmillian for further boosts to his Attack and Defense. While the Level 130 Feral Chaos likes Vicious and Destroy for his basic Bravery attacks, the Level 95 one uses Brute Force, which executes pretty much as fast as Destroy and is as difficult to anticipate, but unlike Destroy, Brute Force can't be blocked. Even if you have equipment appropriate for the fight, you've only got 60 seconds to fight before that Booster triggers, at which point you'll be pretty much unable to damage him and he'll Break you in one hit.
 * That One Level - Very few people are fond of the Pandaemonium, Planet's Core and Ultimecia's Castle stages, particularly the Omega versions:
 * Pandaemonium features very small corridors with narrow walls. Attacks that explode can hit through these walls unexpectedly, and the small areas can make moving around and avoiding attacks difficult. Of course, for The Emperor this arena is just perfect.
 * Planet's Core is a large vertical arena with few platforms. It's Omega version, after a period of time, has no platforms at all, leaving you with an entirely vertical stage with no footholds but Lifestream grind bars. Oh, there's some platforms—that are destroyed if you dash into them, which you will since EX Cores usually spawn on top of them. This itself isn't so bad, but the AI tends to grind on the bars endlessly for no reason, turning them into a Get Back Here Boss.
 * Ultimecia's Castle is also a small, vertical arena. It has a Banish Trap all along the ceiling, which can disrupt a lot of attacks if you accidentally knock opponents up too high and they teleport to safety and break your combo. It also routinely spins its gears, damaging you and knocking you around.
 * In Dissidia 012, Sky Fortress Bahamut Omega. The takes looks awesome, the airship flying at full speed through a field of glowing gold Mist, but the gimmick is that the wind constantly pushes you towards the back of the stage, and if you get up in the air a blast of wind will quickly knock you back, draining a bit of your Bravery. Hit the back of the stage and its a banish trap that warps you back to the center, taking even more Bravery. The Bravery drain is irritating enough, but the stage basically makes any form of aerial combat impossible because the characters will constantly get knocked out of the other's range.
 * For a more standard example, the later parts of Shade Impulse Chapter 3 are punishing, especially for new players.
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill - A real good way to add insult to injury is to send your opponent's HP to 0 while in EX Mode, giving you the chance to use your EX Command on the poor fighter, and taking said chance. It won't change a thing, but it is a good way to rub your victory in your opponent's face.
 * Tier-Induced Scrappy: Some characters have "wind-up" delays in their animations before and after they attack; Squall and Cloud are the obvious ones, with Tidus an iffy because all of his attacks start with dodges, making them hard to time but also hard to counter. Others have no delay and just drop their attacks on the spot: Onion Knight and Zidane, who have the Necessary Drawback of relying on Death of a Thousand Cuts, and... just about any Team Chaos character, who don't have that drawback at all. And, of course, the computer is adept at dodging just about anything, especially if it's telegraphed. You can see where this is going.
 * Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny - Basically the main selling point of the game is the chance to play out matchups that fans have debated for years.
 * Uncanny Valley - In Duodecim, while Golbez, Garland, and Exdeath have reskins that show what's "under the armor," as it were, said reskins appear to have absolutely no facial animation, which winds up being quite unsettling. It is possible that said lack of animation was a deliberate choice to make the three of them seem inhuman and frightening, even without the imposing armor. It is also possible (and rather likely) that facial animation would have taken time, cost money, been potentially tricky and taken up disc space, all for a simple alternate costume, and thus Square didn't bother.
 * Combined with I Am Legion above, many of Cloud of Darkness non-character-specific pre-battle and post-battle quotes emphasize the fact that she is distinctly not what she appears to be. She comes across as even less human than Exdeath, which is saying something.
 * Kefka being an insane clown is iffy on its own, but his frequent twitching and spasming (notice how his fingers never stay still?) puts him firmly in this territory.
 * Unfortunate Implications - Did you know that the Emperor EX Burst was originally named "Seduction"?
 * Look closely at his outfit and you'll notice he happens to have a demonic set of jaws set over his crotch in his EX Mode. Guess where the enemy is positioned during his EX Burst?
 * Viewer Gender Confusion - Kuja is infamous for this, and after him, Zidane surprised some for having such a masculine voice coming out of his mouth. And to lesser extents, both Warrior of Light and even Squall have been subjected to this.
 * Villain Decay - In his original game, Kuja was an effeminate and dramatic but highly skilled mage, and not only played Zidane and his friends as Unwitting Pawns several times, but destroyed Terra with Ultima and almost destroyed Gaia as well. In Dissidia he's instead rather like an arrogant and lonely child, throwing fits whenever things don't go according to plan, expressing jealously and loneliness towards Zidane and his friends, and being mocked by the other villains for apparently being the newest member of their team. However this parallels Kuja's personality after his Villainous Breakdown in the original game where he has a Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum when Garland revealed to him that he was not only mortal, but due to Zidane being the true Angel of Death, Kuja's life will also end very, very soon.
 * This is justified when it's revealed
 * Sephiroth suffered some decay in his home universe as well, focus shifting from his desire to become a god to his rivalry with Cloud. Dissidia 012 however decays even that, revealing the only reason Sephiroth wants to fight Cloud is to get his memories back since Cloud is from the same world as him. Had say, Vincent or Yuffie been summoned, Sephiroth probably would have fought them just as eagerly. As a result he's more of a Punch Clock Anti-Villain, only serving Chaos and acting as a villain to regain his memories, but otherwise not doing anything really villainous.
 * Arguably, all the villains suffer from this to some degree, many of them being Chessmasters or Manipulative Bastards in their original games. The Emperor and Kefka however are in prime form as such, especially in Dissidia 012.
 * Vocal Evolution - Liam O'Brien has come a long way as Kain since his overly deep-voiced portrayal in Final Fantasy IV DS.
 * JD Cullum is generally considered to have done a better job voicing Kuja in 012 compared to the first game.
 * Jason Spisak also does a much better job with imitating the other characters' voices as Bartz; the female voices, in particular, he vocalises impressively well.
 * Wide Open Sandbox - Quick Battle Mode. Oh man, where to begin? Not only can you choose your opponent and stage, you can also adjust the level of the opponent, so if you wanted, you could set it to match your level and have an epic battle, set it to a lower level so you can beat your opponent down, or you can test your skills against a higher-level opponent (or face off against a crazy-high level opponent if you're a masochist). You can even change the AI's strength and behavior. The possibilities are endless!
 * More than just that, the sequel has a Quest Creation mode, where you can set up to five different battles and put dialogue between each one to make it seem like a short story. You can also use the player icons you own to represent the characters talking, so you can create crazy crossovers, even between multiple incarnations of the same character, such as FF 7 Sephiroth (as in his character portrait when he's a Guest Star Party Member in the original game) and Dissidia Sephiroth talking to each other. And then you can upload it on the internet for people to download it back on their PSP and play it! And besides all that, you can use it as an advanced Quick Battle - you have full control over the outfit, moveset and equipment the characters use, so you can create your ideal opponent for whatever type of battle you want, then Test your quest and fight them.
 * "Confessions of the Creator" comes close to this - various gateways with a variety of level limits, many shops all over the world, you have objectives but are free to travel anywhere you like any way you like, and can use any characters to form your party.
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds - No wonder Chaos is an Orcus on His Throne—the guy just never really cared about the war at all, and for good reason.
 * Woolseyism - Quite a few, mostly to reference the ones from the older games. For example, one of the ingame manuals feature the FFVI versions of Biggs and Wedge.
 * Woolseyism - Quite a few, mostly to reference the ones from the older games. For example, one of the ingame manuals feature the FFVI versions of Biggs and Wedge.
 * Woolseyism - Quite a few, mostly to reference the ones from the older games. For example, one of the ingame manuals feature the FFVI versions of Biggs and Wedge.

"Yuffie: That's the way things go, you know. Without luck, you're... Uh, okay, let's move on!"
 * A pretty hilarious one comes from Yuffie, as she explains the game's Battlegen system:


 * Another example is the name of Ultimecia's finishing move in her EX Burst. The Japanese name was "End of Memories" to contrast the name of Squall's finishing move, "End of Heart". Squall kept the English translation of the move "Lion Heart", while Ultimecia's was changed to "Sorceress Heart"—an entirely different name than the original Japanese, but it kept the parallel between her move and Squall's.
 * Also Kefka telling Zidane, in regards to Bartz' location: "I'm afraid the mouse is... SMACK!! (closeup) (Zooms back) ...dab in the middle of enemy territory!" Originally, the translation was more like "I'm afraid the mouse is in the... PAWS!! ...of the enemy!"