Dissidia: Final Fantasy's genre has been described as "dramatic progressive action" and its graphics will be in three dimensions. It will have wireless one-on-one game play and fights revolving around the use of individual special skill sets of characters to do damage to opponents. Players can also customize their characters with equipment.
Characters movement is navigable within the three-dimensional field map. Characters are able to perform special maneuvers such as running on walls and sliding on rails by pressing the triangle button on the PlayStation gamepad whenever a guide appears in the field map, a feature first used in Kingdom Hearts II. There are also field elements known as Dejon Trap which decreases a character's Brave points.
The overall objective of the game is to reduce the opponent’s HP to zero. This is done by attacking him using either of two attack types; the single-hit HP attack and combo-able assist attack; using the square or circle buttons on the PlayStation game controller respectively. HP attack drains the opponent's HP while assist attack drains his Brave while increasing their own. Brave is the stat that determines each character's attack power. Depleting the Brave stat enables a character to enter a state known as Break.
Another element known as EX mode enables a character to inflict massive damage to an opponent. Each character has an EX gauge that increases by obtaining an item known as EX force that appears in each stage. A player enters the EX mode by pressing square and X on the gamepad when the EX gauge is filled. Performing a combo during EX mode allows a character to unleash an unavoidable EX burst special move, similar to the limit break in the Final Fantasy series.
There are several tactics the player should be aware of in battle. Moving around and jumping is essential. Some characters even have triple jumps. The characters have a different set of attacking methods: HP attacks and Assist attacks without pressing a direction, HP attacks and Assist attacks while pressing a direction, HP attacks and Assist attacks in the air and so on. These attacks are significantly different from each other as some attacks are short range while some are long range, some are fast to initiate, while some are slow. The R button is guard and pressing X with R is a quick dodge. Certain Characters can dual-wield by pressing the R button and the triangle at the same time.