The highlight of this year's Jump Festa event came in Square Enix's packed booth as we sampled Final Fantasy: Dissidia for the first time -- one of the few games we were able to try, as the company had to close off its lines an hour into the start of the show because of the immense crowds that turned up.
A fighting game based off the Final Fantasy franchise brings up memories of Ehrgeiz, the old arcade and PlayStation 1 fighter that featured several characters from Final Fantasy VII. But to our pleasant surprise, Dissidia is actually nothing like Ehrgeiz, and in fact, we get the feeling it might even be fun enough to stand on its own without the FF characters.

Unlike most traditional versus-style fighters, Dissidia is more akin to a one-on-one combat game. Characters are free to move around the large, varied battlefields, and can jump, evade, and so on. The game even has a lock-on button, as it's possible to lose sight of your foe. Players are encouraged to climb up walls and perform air dashes between fighting platforms through a simple movement system that requires a quick press of the triangle button once you've reached certain hot spots.

The fighting system itself has a peculiar twist that we're going to have to try out a bit more before proclaiming our undying love. You have two attack buttons, both of which are used with analog stick combinations to unleash an array of moves on your opponent. Attacks performed with the square button steal your opponent's attack power (called "Brave" in the game). Attacks performed with the circle button use the stolen brave to unleash physical blows that drain HP.

There seems to be a bit more to the game than just fighting, though. When finishing a fight, you're rewarded with gil and experience points. The character select screen had players listed with the amount of experience required for a level up; all of this suggests a progressive single player game and customizable characters, features that were hinted at in recent magazine articles in Japan. But the demo at the show was just a set of single-round fights. Players could select to play as one of four characters: Squall from Final Fantasy VIII, a "Warrior of Light" from Final Fantasy I, Firion from Final Fantasy II, or Zidane from Final Fantasy IX. A CG trailer shown as part of the Square Enix Closed Mega Theater presentation also featured footage of Tidus facing off against Sephiroth, hopefully a hint that both will be playable in the final game.
Source: http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3165167