Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin Review

Table of Contents

Introduction
Story
Characters
Graphics & Music
Gameplay & Difficulty
Conclusions

Introduction

Strangers of Paradise is a game developed by Team ninja from Koei Tecmo Games. They’re the team behind games like Nioh, Ninja Gaiden and even Dead or Alive.

Strangers of Paradise is a very, very divisive game among critics. Some say it’s cheesy, some say it’s memeable. And yes, all that is true. But if you’re willing to look slightly past those things, you will find a brilliant action RPG with souls like elements. The gameplay is really fun, the job system is amazing and even the story has its moments where it shines. You can tell the devs put a lot of heart into this game.

Story

Strangers of Paradise is a prequel/reimagining of the 1987 NES game Final Fantasy from Square.

The story of this entry is a confusing one, but I’ll do my best to simplify it. You play as Jack and his friends who are believed to be the fabled four Warriors of Light. You embark on a quest to defeat Chaos.

As usual, you proceed to collect the elemental crystals similar to the original Final Fantasy, but things change when you recruit a fifth party member, which goes against the legend of the four warriors.

Characters

Jack: He’s the lead character, he’s a hot headed, laser focused warrior with one goal and one goal only: To kill Chaos! He tends to act like an a**hole to his friends, but he does actually care for them. He also loves to listen to Nu Metal music on his Ipod like device (yes, this is a thing).

Neon, Sophia, Jed and Ash: These are Jack’s main companions, I’m linking them together as they all have a similar personality. They mainly serve to push Jack through, although the reveal towards the end with them is very satisfying if you’ve played the original Final Fantasy 1.

Astos: The king of the dark elves, throughout the whole game, you are never really sure of his intentions. He’s sarcastic, charismatic and seems to know more than he lets on. In Strangers of Paradise he has a much larger role than he did in the original game.

Graphics & Music

Strangers of Paradise is a nice looking game. Several designs seem like they were pulled straight out of Final Fantasy Dissidia NT (Most likely as it was the same team that developed that game).

If you’re a fan of the original, seeing characters like Garland and the Fiends in glorious HD is a sight to behold. It may not be breathtaking visuals like Final Fantasy 7 remake, But it is a good looking game.

The music is another solid spot, it takes several classic themes and updates them to sound a bit more modern. The boss themes in particular stand out as they are epic to say the least.

Gameplay & Difficulty

The gameplay is really good in this game. It’s an an action RPG with souls like elements to it. It has an in depth job system with a total of 28 different jobs to choose from.

You play with a party of three going through several missions with a boss fight and a cutscene at the end of each one. The action feels impactful, you can feel every blow. Every victory feels extremely earned. Exploration is entertaining, my only gripe would be that the items and gear end up being a bit too much. At the end of a mission you can easily end up with 200 plus items and gear with little to no difference between each other.

The difficulty can be a bit challenging for newcomers to the souls like genre. However, this game will not punish you as badly as other games if you die.

Additionally, this can be played online with two other friends. It makes it easier, but also a lot more fun.

Conclusions

Strangers of Paradise is not a game for everyone.

Over the years Its critics are widely divided. Some love it, some hate it. Me personally, I enjoyed most of my time with this game.

The gameplay is amazing, it can be played co-op online which makes it even more entertaining.

The story may not be the best, but it is good at times. Even the corny dialogue at times that at first felt cringey ended growing on me. And the ending sequence, it’s actually really good.

I highly recommend it if you haven’t tried it, give it a chance.