Dissidia: Duodecim (012) is a gamer’s game. That’s not always a good thing.

I’ve been looking forward to the sequel to Dissidia: Final Fantasy for the better part of a year.

I’ve been a huge fan of the Final Fantasy series, which are widely credited as the best Japanese role playing games around, for most of my life. I loved the first game, and the second game is looking like it won’t disappoint me.

Yet for every fanboy like me, there’s another gamer who has no idea what Final Fantasy is, who won’t understand the various ins and outs of Dissidia and who won’t get the inside jokes.

Dissidia: 012 is not a game for the casual player.

The gameplay combines elements of action, fighting and RPG games, set against an epic story of gods and champions who want to get home. Gamers who excel at action and fighting genres will have no problem picking up the Dissidia mechanics, which are improved and slightly streamlined from the first game. The controls can seem a little overwhelming, however, and younger players may get frustrated easily at the amount of button combinations.

Dissidia: 012 added an assist feature, which means players can use partner combinations and counters, increasing the gameplay depth.

The main quests no longer feel distant as the game takes an open world approach to the story. There are also tweaks to main quest rewards, making the game vastly more playable.

Best of all: the story quests from the first game are included and players can port their saved data from Dissidia: FF into Dissidia: 012. There’s also an unlockable option to create your own quests, which adds all sorts of depth to the game that sorely needs a reason to grind so much.

Yet the game does feel stilted at times, and it will take a while before players can start choosing who they want to play with in the stories. Gamers like me will immediately forgive this, because we enjoy Square Enix games and appreciate all the gaming history inside Dissidia: 012. Unfortunately, the average gamer won’t (and shouldn’t) be so inclined. Dissidia is simply not a game for them.

Despite an amazing history, incredibly fun gameplay and a great challenge for Final Fantasy fans, Dissidia: 012 simply will not be a fun game for the average gamer.

It’s a lot of fun, but the controls, storyline and RPG aspects will be a bit too much for casual players.