Square Enix’s latest mobile Final Fantasy spin-off, Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy, should have been an easy win for fans. The Dissidia name already has history, the character roster pulls from across the franchise, and mobile gacha is still huge across Malaysia and SEA.
But according to Siliconera’s review, this one lands in a pretty disappointing spot: a competitive mobile game with interesting ideas, dragged down by aggressive monetisation and awkward progression.
The setup is classic Dissidia with a modern twist. Final Fantasy heroes are pulled into present-day Earth, where they fight monsters in Tokyo to protect civilians from having their vitality stolen. Cloud spots Sephiroth causing trouble with a Behemoth, familiar villains are involved, and the heroes — called Ghosts by people in the city — work together to restore crystals.
On paper, that sounds fun. Final Fantasy characters dropped into a modern urban setting? Bro, that should slap.
The issue is how the game handles its story. Instead of letting players enjoy the campaign normally, episodes and LINE-style Fine text conversations are tied to the season pass and competitive multiplayer. That means you need to grind ranked battles just to unlock more narrative content. For casual Final Fantasy fans in Malaysia who mainly want the story, characters, and vibes, that already feels like a big ask.
Combat itself seems to have a decent core. Matches are 3v3 battles where players fight around crystals, build Bravery, use Abilities, and eventually trigger Burst attacks to damage the boss. Roles matter too: Krile works as a support healer, Lightning plays like a fast attacker, and Rinoa fights more like a ranged mage. The team that defeats the boss before time runs out wins.
That part actually sounds okay. Different characters need different approaches, and timing your Burst with allies can create stronger attacks. The problem is everything wrapped around it.
The biggest complaint is the Ability system. Abilities come from the gacha, including the best character-specific moves. If you do not pull the right skills — or get duplicates to upgrade them — your favourite character may not be properly viable. Siliconera notes that characters like Krile may need specific rare skills to function well, while another character like Gaia became easier to use simply because the reviewer happened to pull several of her important Abilities.
That is where the pay-to-win feeling kicks in. In a competitive game, power being locked behind random pulls is always sus. SEA mobile players are already used to gacha pressure from games like Honkai, Genshin-style banners, and countless anime RPGs, but ranked PvP makes it feel worse. If someone can spend more and get a stronger moveset faster, free-to-play players are going to feel the gap very quickly.
Characters are another sore point. Older Dissidia games and Opera Omnia let players unlock characters through normal play. In Duellum, you start by choosing Warrior of Light, Terra, Cloud, or Lightning. The free Battle Pass can eventually give the others, but getting more characters requires Character Tickets. Those tickets are tied to gacha pulls, giveaways, events, or real-money bundles. You can save five tickets to pick someone directly, or gamble on banners that might give you a costume or colour variant instead.
For Malaysian players, this is the kind of system that makes you pause before installing. Mobile games are popular here because they are accessible, but nobody likes feeling forced into spending just to enjoy a roster from a franchise they already love.
Single-player Challenge content also does not sound strong enough to carry the experience. It lets you run grid-based fights, borrow friend characters as NPC allies, and earn items like Growth Eggs, currency, music, and Job Medals. But Siliconera found it too similar to the ranked gameplay, just without the same rewards.
There are still bright spots. The soundtrack is apparently excellent, with remixes of character themes and music from across Final Fantasy. The modern real-world character designs also seem like a major highlight, especially for names like Cloud, Terra, Krile, Zidane, Rikku, Balthier, Lightning, Gaia, and Clive.
That almost makes the situation more frustrating. Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy has style, music, and a combat idea that could work. But locking too much behind gacha, tickets, ranked progression, and RNG makes it a hard sell — especially for SEA fans who just want a fair mobile Final Fantasy worth sticking with.
Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy is available on mobile devices.
Source: Siliconera