There’s always the urge to remove oneself out of a comfort zone. In regards to games, a majority of the time developers grow tired of presenting the same experience and want to switch things up even if their fan base may not take kindly to the change. By working alongside Koei Tecmo’s Team Ninja development group (the same minds behind the lauded “Ninja Gaiden”, “Nioh”, and “Dead or Alive” franchises; not to mention the much ballyhooed “Dissidia Final Fantasy NT”), SquareEnix is shaking up the status quo of what it means to be a “Final Fantasy” game yet again.
Gone is the turn-based combat of yore, or the flashy, frenetic gameplay that has been both praised & criticized in regards to “Final Fantasy XV” and “Final Fantasy VII Remake”. In the combat formulas’ places is a more precision-focused hack & slash experience just waiting to make players regret that one fight where they didn’t block at the right moment. The initial demo didn’t leave yours truly with the highest hopes of what the full game would produce. But during a very crowded release time, I took a chance to see if “Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin” was just as chaotic as what Jack and his band of warriors are trying to conquer, or a surprising sleeper hit of 2022.
Did I Complete “Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin”?
The publisher-proclaimed prequel to the first “Final Fantasy” seen on the NES in the late 1980s doesn’t go the route of its predecessor in terms of gameplay. Taking control of Jack, players are joined a majority of the time by two of, eventually, four allies that the gamer can only command them to up their attack ferocity for a temporary period of time. This third-person, action-adventure, hack & slash RPG with massive loot drops also provides players the chance to mix & match multiple items including weapons and armor, and, most importantly, job classes.
Depending on the mission, players will earn level-based items for Jack & company to equip that will help them handle the onslaught to come. Coupled with that loot is an upgradable and expansive job system featuring branching points across multiple options such as working toward becoming a “Sage” that can utilize black & white magic during battle by unlocking certain sections of the “Black Mage” and “White Mage” classes.
With twenty-seven job classes that can be maxed out at level ninety-nine, players looking to complete “Origin” will most likely be grinding the post-story content that can produce loot leveled at 300 via the “CHAOS” difficulty. Depending on the difficulty chosen before a mission (players can change the difficulty at any save sphere/point or via the overview map), players will have more limiters or less including every death during missions set at “ACTION” difficulty or above will see Jack and crew losing the magic points gained by executing enemies before their deaths. Also, saving mid-mission will restore all the enemies slain beforehand; making it a thought-out decision to save at a particular point or venture on with the hope an enemy doesn’t one-shot Jack in the near future.
Before gamers tackle the hardest of the hard options, they must first finish all nineteen main story missions, as well as all forty-two side quests including hidden side missions found during various main missions. This feat of completing the story and side missions on “ACTION”/normal difficulty took me over forty hours with a lot left to do in terms of completion if I choose to journey through the game’s most difficult aspects.
Did “Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin” Live Up to the Hype?
“Origin” is a very interesting “Final Fantasy” spin-off in regards to not only the story presentation by being more condense & less hefty in regards to cutscenes & dialogue unlike recent franchise entries, but also combat. Not a turn-based JRPG, but a “Souls”-like, “Nioh”-inspired experience, “Stranger” allows players a few avenues in regards to combat mostly associated with an expansive job system. Jack can perform light strikes with his weapon, or unleash a chargeable heavy attack. While most of the melee-based jobs will allow Jack to run in and slash through most enemies, said foe can also armor through attacks and, at times, completely ignore being hit to retaliate.
Moments like a “Tormented Soul” skeleton warrior sporting a sword & shield taking what would be a debilitating strike from Jack’s gigantic ax doesn’t stop it from pulling off a charged attack of its own that, if the player attempted to do, would have been stopped by a foe’s strike. That’s where effective blocking comes into play with Jack having two options for stationary defense: “Guard” and “Soul Shield”. At the bottom of the screen during combat is a “Break Gauge” that wears down with each strike lowering said gauge until Jack temporarily collapses when the meter is emptied. Holding the “Guard” button frequently makes it impossible for the “Break Gauge” to refill. Even more damaging to “Break Gauge” restoration, but greatly beneficial in terms of defense and potential retaliatory efforts is the “Soul Shield”.
The “Soul Shield” is, essentially, a supernatural parry system that completely blocks damage if used at the right time while also adding a bit of MP (Magic Points) restoration in the process (using the “Guard” button right before Jack is hit can also negate damage, but doesn’t restore MP or knock an enemy back as well as the “Soul Shield”). But unlike holding the “Guard” button, activating the “Soul Shield” for a period of time without it blocking an attack will drain the “Break Gauge” quickly; making it more beneficial as a defensive mechanism used at the perfect time when an enemy is about to hit Jack.
The “Soul Shield” is also effective in turning an attack against an enemy. Almost every foe has four types of attacks: regular strikes that usually come out of nowhere, yellow-colored maneuvers that can be interrupted if Jack and crew hit said enemy enough times before the adversary can execute the action, unblockable moves colored in red that usually do heaps of damage if they land, and purple attacks that Jack can absorb via the “Soul Shield” that the player can fire back at the enemy if Jack’s “Break Gauge” doesn’t deplete before utilizing the absorbed attack. These absorbed attacks can be greatly beneficial for obvious reasons – stopping a potentially devastating move from crippling Jack while gaining a temporary attack that can potentially wear down the enemy’s own “Break Gauge”.
Though cutting down a foe’s health is a great option for victory, depleting their “Break Gauge” is usually a quicker option. Throwing out magic attacks associated with an enemy’s weakness, using those “Soul Shield”-absorbed moves, or constantly hitting a blocking enemy before they can retaliate will wear down an enemy’s “Break Gauge” that, when depleted, puts them in a stun state where Jack can perform a “Soul Burst” – a one-hit kill maneuver similar to those seen in a pro wrestling match or “Yakuza” video game without the wrestling ring or city street objects respectively. Most importantly in regards to a “Soul Burst” attack is the fact using the mechanic allows for Jack’s MP meter to not only replenish if sections are empty, but also extends it; giving the main protagonist more Magic Points to work with for both spells and specific combat abilities unlocked via the multiple job classes.
Some of these combat abilities (known as “Command Abilities”) include adding poison to Jack’s blade for a short period of time or becoming a dangerous spinning top with Jack’s daggers extended from his sides. Players can also assign these abilities including magic spells to Jack’s multiple combo strings to really top off an attack barrage in fine fashion. MP and the “Break Gauge” are also connected to Jack’s main combat ability, “Lightbringer” – a mode, when activated, temporarily increases Jack’s strength & defenses while slowly draining the “Break Gauge” that makes the “Lightbringer” a perfect desperation attack when fighting a horde of tough enemies or a boss that won’t go down and is at its last slither of health.
Job classes, as noted, are a major implementation associated with the combat as players can assign two jobs to Jack at a time. Each job has a specific combat ability associated with it that can’t be equipped without having that job class currently activated like the “Warrior” class’ “War Cry” ability that, when used, ups Jack & company’s attack power while providing them regenerating health for a short period of time.
There are also job-specific offensive combat abilities such as throwing Jack’s spear when he’s a “Lancer” that, at higher levels, can provide an immediate “Soul Burst”. Beyond the fun of trying out different job classes and seeing what works for the player is the fact it doesn’t feel restricting to try something new even at lower levels. Going from a level twenty “Ronin” to a level one “Lancer” does decrease Jack’s overall stats until the player can level that class up, but doesn’t negate the player’s chances of actually succeeding as long as they have some appropriately leveled gear equipped.
The execution of magic and continuous loot is definitely a mixed bag. On the positive side of things is how impactful magic is during combat. Discovering an enemy’s elemental weakness and charging up, say, “Thundaga” to electrocute a water-based foe to empty their “Break Gauge” never gets old. But there are times when trying to choose and charge a magic attack will work against the player as the ferocious enemies will either attack from off-screen or rush Jack; costing MP without an attack to show for it, or, due to magic-type selection being on a weapon wheel, the intended spell not chosen while the nearest magic is unleashed because the player moved their fingers in an effort to block or dodge an incoming attack. Moments of frustration will definitely occur for a gamer when a planned “Quake” spell turns into an “Aero” attack because of the magic wheel’s finicky nature and the hasty combat forcing the player’s defensive hand at the worst possible time in regards to preparing a spell.
One thing the game refuses to limit the player on is loot. Almost every defeated enemy drops loot, be it weapons, armor, or health-restorative potions. This attained gear, as per the norm now in games, is rarity based with high level loot reaching that impressive five-star, ultra-rare rating. Each piece of gear and weapons have up to three innate traits like “Damage Received –0.8%” that can be upgraded via materials obtained by dismantling other weapons and gear. Players can also change those traits via “Smithy” – who is too responsible for dismantling gear – so if a player finds a nice piece of loot that doesn’t have the trait they want they most likely will have the resources to change that trait which can too be upgraded.
Arguably the most important thing about loot is the job class associated with gear. Each equipped gear that has a job class associated with it can increase the “Affinity Level” of a currently active job. The “Affinity Level” percentage will give job buffs including boosting the magic attack effectiveness as a “Sage” or reducing HP loss when activating “The Dark Knight’s” class ability. Though players can make it through the story and side missions on “ACTION” difficulty by just letting the computer optimize all the characters’ gear load-out, the bonuses coming from high percentage “Affinity Levels” definitely encourages the player to take the time out between missions to scour their inventory and figure out what’s the best gear for the upcoming battle.
As noted, loot is plentiful. The inventory space, however, is incredibly limited for some odd reason. This wouldn’t be an issue if players could dismantle gear anytime they wanted. Instead, Smithy is only available in the overview mission map; meaning if a player’s inventory fills up during a mission they will miss out on any loot that isn’t associated with that mission’s grand prize at its conclusion. The limited inventory space and Smithy being unavailable during missions even at save spheres is, definitely, one of the game’s worst aspects.
There’s an option for playing online with friends and randoms alike. There are multiple settings in terms of creating or joining a room (difficulty level, story point, items focusing on collecting) with the biggest advantage of playing with humans other than incredible builds is the fact everyone gains progression and loot instead of just the hosting player.
“Stranger of Paradise” definitely has its high points in regards to the narrative, but sticks to the most simplistic of storytelling presentations possible with Jack and the intended Warriors of Light teleporting from place to place while having, mostly, the same conversations about Jack’s need for combat and thirst to fight Chaos. There is an unintentional hilarity that ensues when Jack shouts at, what would become a boss fight, “Are you Chaos?” It isn’t until the last four story missions or so that some big revelations to who and what Jack is become clearer to set up a mostly fantastic ending. Sadly, taking a more minimalist approach to character work, though paying homage to the game that inspired “Origin”, makes it hard to really appreciate the struggles of each protagonist fighting to remember how and why they are positioned to fight Chaos on a constant basis.
This minimalist approach to storytelling is complemented by the mission design, specifically in regards to side quests. All of the main story missions have players going through various locations usually cramped in nature to reach a boss at the end. Side missions have players revisiting the same areas from the main story missions to fight a different foe or mini-boss, or attain a specific piece of loot placed in a chest on the other side of an area in comparison to the player’s starting point.
Technically, “Origin” is rough around the edges in multiple ways. Thankfully, one of those rough edges isn’t stability in regards to crashes or game-breaking bugs; though does suffer from frame rate drops at random moments even when playing on a Playstation 5. The game doesn’t look good with washed-out color palates made worse when backtracking or trying to identify points of advancement due to the lacking way points or progressive mission information outside of the character’s remarking about their most recent accomplishment.
In regards to gameplay, combat’s biggest issue really comes with its boss battles. Though all enemies have attack patterns, those patterns are solely associated with the attacks themselves and not how the foes act in a manner where the player can identify what they do in sequence and learn from those sequences. Certain bosses will spam their biggest maneuvers especially when the second phase of a fight begins.
Players may find themselves incredibly frustrated when it seems a boss is conquerable and that adversary will suddenly unleash their most damaging attacks in succession without much time for Jack to avoid said attack and, if his “Break Gauge” is emptied, is prone to a follow-up strike that most likely will result in a “Game Over.” Another reason for failure in combat will come via the camera. Due to the enclosed nature of almost every environment and the camera either not going through walls or objects, opting to press against said barrier instead, will make it difficult to see things like incoming enemies or a blockade that is preventing Jack from dodging before it’s too late.
Similar to other games in the genre, online co-op can suffer from disconnects, but gamers can jump back into a room without losing a ton of progress. On the opposite end of the player-friendly aspect in regards to online co-op compared to the single-player experience is the fact Jack can be revived in co-op, but not in single-player. Why there couldn’t be a timer associated with Jack’s eventual death in single-player mode where the AI can revive him is another head scratcher.
“Stranger of Paradise” is, as expected, a hardcore experience that is hindered by some technical issues, odd developer decisions, and a campy character presentation that is offset by mostly stellar & challenging gameplay, copious amounts of loot alongside an extensive job system, and more meme-worthy moments than someone could shake their sword at in the face of Chaos.
Should You Play “Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin”?
There’s a certain charm associated with “Origin” that can’t be denied. Thanks to an impressive combination of copious combat options, ridiculous gear drops, and one of the most extensive job systems seen in any “Final Fantasy” game, there’s a mesmerizing rhythm encouraging the player to continue on even when a boss is continuously stomping Jack to death. But the narrative presentation, character development, and certain technical issues prevents “Stranger” from being a must-play game especially at full asking price.
Though it’s not saying much, this will go down as one of the better, if not best, “Final Fantasy” action spin-offs thus far that really encourages gamers to push themselves to their limits after either renting it or purchasing it when on sale. Here’s to destroying Chaos and all that it brings including ignoring foul odors, interrupting monologues, and power bombing a fiend to the depths of crystallized Hell.
