Back when I got the first Dissidia Final Fantasy, I could never quite pin down a character I would stick to. Squall was a great beginner character, but at the time I was oblivious to any multiplayer components so I wanted someone who could mess up AI pretty badly.
Come Inward Chaos with LV100+ characters (LV100 is your max level), ripping my characters a new one. No hp links or they had a slow startup (e.g. Cloud’s Slashing Blow). How am I supposed to get through the extreme boss rush of sorts?
It was in that instance where I discovered Jecht, the other FF10 character I had not yet played.
At that point I had only played FF10, so Jecht was like this character who I could kinda relate to based on canon knowledge. Except his screen time was all too short and him being better than Tidus in every way stuck. So a character who previously was barely shown in the canon game was given a fully realised,in dependent move set with an intentional design? Let’s look into him.
“Jecht is all about close-quarter combat”
“If you can master Jecht’s (2-frame) combos, he will be nigh unstoppable.”
“Unseeable bravery moves into HP links that wall rush.”
All that was basically saying is “Jecht is your character.”
And he was easily the most ripped man in the roster. Complete with Jecht Block that acted as a special parry into everything Jecht does, he was the perfect character for me. He would slaughter Inward Chaos, grind hard mode Time Attack, beat all of my friends. And he also played an important part in competitive play mindset in Dissidia Duodecim. Albeit very rewarding, he was difficult to get consistent with, and many safer characters could often beat him by simply turtling (which is how a good character is usually decided in Duodecim). I literally dropped tournaments to doubting my Jecht pick in favor of someone else and eventually consolidated my position in Dissidia community as the best Jecht after sticking with him.
He taught me that if your character is good enough to tackle most of the cast, all you have to do is trust in your skill to perform as them. Don’t think about counterpick characters. Suck less than the opponent. Win the hearts of whoever may support you.
Jecht means a lot to me, even if it’s not exactly in the most conventional ways a J-RPG anti-hero / villain would be influential. Very happy for his inclusion in the next Dissidia game. <3