See Dissidia 012[duodecim]: Final Fantasy’s Assist System In Action

One gameplay changing feature in Dissidia 012[duodecim]: Final Fantasy is the assist system. See the arrow underneath Lightning’s life bar? That’s the assist meter. When you have one bar like the Emperor you can call a partner character for a brave attack. Two assist bars let players deal an HP crushing blow.

Assist characters aren’t invulnerable. Hit your opponent’s assist character when it jumps into battle to send them into assist lock status. This blocks their ability to bring a partner character into the fight for a set amount of time. The assist system is also designed to give players in a comeback move. Counter an attack while you’re low on life and you’ll perform an assist charge, a move that fills up one assist bar.

Along with a batch of partner screenshots, Square Enix shared a few more English Dissidia 012[duodecim]: Final Fantasy screens.

Dissidia 012[duodecim]: Final Fantasy is slated for a Q1 2011 release in North America.