You’re probably reading this title thinking it’s overly dramatic — an end of an era is generally denoted by something significant phasing out, coming to a complete halt, or disappearing or ending completely. It’s signaled by whatever trend it started burning out, or perhaps it was the last vestige of something unique. Something that would maybe never be seen again. And you know what? Maybe you’re right. Maybe the title is too dramatic when talking about the closure of Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia, what will have been the last functional title within the Dissidia series to receive constant character and story updates. But for now, it’s the end of the Dissidia series as we know it, and was one of the last moderately free-to-play friend Square Enix mobile games in the Western market.
I’m not writing this out of fondness for the game series, though Final Fantasy Dissidia on the PSP ended up being one of the primary reasons I gave Final Fantasy XII another chance as an young-adult. (I see and acknowledge you fellow Gabranth mains!) Or the fact that I actually really liked the cosmetics in Opera Omnia, which I did end up getting a few of for characters that ended up becoming main-stays in my roster. I’m writing this because it’s sad to see Square Enix close up shop on a game that was genuinely good and had engaging combat. Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia will only be around until February 2024, and once servers go offline nearly five years worth of content will be lost. Intricate, AU (alternate universe) character stories where players’ favorite characters could interact and even see get additional character arcs from beyond their main game will only exist in the form of YouTube videos. Turn-based combat that felt akin to Final Fantasy X will no longer be part of Square Enix’s diet in the mobile market.
Everything that Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia was will be gone, with nothing to replace it. Because for all intents and purposes, once Opera Omnia goes offline, the only thing that will remain is Dissidia NT, which is an abandoned fighting game with a netcode so horrible entire matches will freeze up if a single player experiences an especially bad bout of lag. Yes, the PlayStation Portable titles will exist. Final Fantasy Dissidia and it’s prequel/sequel Duodecium are there, but unless if you own a PSP and are willing to fork out cash for the games (or pirate them, since that’s about the only thing you can do now), you’ll never get to experience them.
The Dissidia series worked on a loose frameworks of “What Ifs” in a way that felt like an exploration of a child’s imagination or an enthusiastic fan’s. What if Tifa and Lightning teamed up to fight Exdeath? What if Kuja entered a tenuous alliance with his supposed enemies and ended up becoming stalwart allies in the end? What if Vayne Solidor persisted beyond death in some inscrutable way with foresight of his own demise being the reason he fights on in a fractured realm? Most, if not all, of these things happen. Where else would you see Jack Garland team up with Garland to square off against another Final Fantasy character? It’s nonsensical and fun, much like the original Dissidia games where characters fought to reclaim their memories and, in the process, lived out another version of their game’s respective narrative.
Unlike the other Dissidia games, Opera Omnia was where fans could find that classic turn-based combat they loved, with a handful of Dissidia mechanics mixed in for good measure. I loved it for that reason. It was a game I could kind of take my time with, figuring out and strategizing how to take on the hardest fights in the game. These fights would later become inaccessible to me, because as generous as Dissidia once was when it started, it too began to feel the vice-like grip of capitalism and an endless need for profits permeate it’s gameplay structure. Banners would not become so frequent in the way of Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis, but the amount of weapons needed to collect to actually access certain skills was starting to become excessive.
It wasn’t always that way with Opera Omnia, the game had gone under significant rebalancing to make content easier, and free gems were distributed with enough frequency (and of a generous amount) that you didn’t need to spend money on the game to get what you wanted for a considerable amount of it. At least up until that point. And It was everything I wanted in a Final Fantasy game for a while. Engaging combat, a fun storyline that had a lot in common with “classic” narratives in the series, and a cast of characters I grew to love over the course of my time with it.
I guess, in the end, I’m just sad to see Dissidia go. I’m sad because I don’t think Square Enix will give the series another shot. I don’t think we’ll get another fighting game, either one-versus-one or three-versus-three, or a mobile game set in the kaleidoscope-like universe of this weird mishmash of Final Fantasy games. And once Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia shuts down, that will probably be it for this strange off-shoot of the franchise. But it had a good run, and who knows. Maybe one day Square Enix will come back to it, and give the series the support it deserves.
Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia is available for Android and iOS devices. Service will end in February 2024.
