Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin shouldn't be as effective as it is. But this playful exploration of Square Enix's pride and joy delivers on its absurd premise and Team Ninja-centric action.
Final Fantasy has been a series of constant evolution. Whether those changes be incremental or borderline genre shifts, the beloved RPG namesake feels virtually timeless.
In the past 15 years, the fluctuating expectations of what makes a Final Fantasy game have been stretched to their breaking point. Is it a turn-based RPG? Is it a hybrid MMO? A buddy roadtrip adventure? I often think players overlook the major shifts and risks each new entry has taken, perhaps because one game in the series is seen as the ideal on a player-by-player basis.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin dares to ask what Final Fantasy could be when broken out of the homeland of Square Enix. It is blatantly a Final Fantasy game… but also not entirely. Without the branding, it would be another strange yet engaging action game. Without the pedigree of Team Ninja, it would have been a mechanically humdrum Soulslike.
Somehow, the concoction worked. And while I don’t think Stranger of Paradise is for everyone, it exists as a kind of magical occurrence. An absurd, often baffling story clashes with humor and self-seriousness in just the right way. A deep roster of skills and combos buttresses the job system many may fondly remember. Better yet, it offers a tantalizing peek into what could be possible if other developers were given the Final Fantasy license and ran with it.
What makes Stranger of Paradise initially fascinating is how it plays with the expectations of being a retelling of the original Final Fantasy game. You know, the one about a group of heroes trying to save the world involving crystals, a bad guy named Garland, and the force of Chaos? Those familiar with the first Final Fantasy, even tangentially, should recognize those hallmarks. And anyone who has embraced the memes of Stranger of Paradise‘s reveal trailer should be well versed in both games’ concept of Chaos.
The hero of this particular saga is Jack Garland. And yes, that name is going to deliberately raise some eyebrows. He and his friends Ash and Jed meet on the battlefield with the singular goal of besting Chaos, an entity represented as tangible threat and an all-encompassing plague. Stranger of Paradise has no qualms with allowing its characters to deliver one-note, boisterous dialog that does not wax poetic. Yes, this is a game that seemed to exist on the fuel of memes but actually delivered justification to the absurdity.
Team Ninja is not attempting to haphazardly reboot the Final Fantasy timeline or bastardize its legacy. Rather, Stranger of Paradise uses many of the themes, locations, enemies, and characters of the title to craft a narrative that is adjacent to the original. I’m not sure how much a newcomer to the series can appreciate the amount of reference and reverence found in Stranger of Paradise but it won’t completely eliminate the enjoyment to be found.
The world-building done in the game services the numerous proper nouns and lore bits that would have otherwise had your eyes glaze over. This is a game written and acted with love, as characters speak with respect to the events occurring. Still, there are numerous stylistic choices and liberties taken which cause the narrative delivery to be significantly less dry than it could have been. The use of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” and the frequent bursts of “Chaos!” heartily make their rounds but those jokes don’t encapsulate the true weirdness and risky choices made.
Stranger of Paradise gambles in its reimagining of the Warriors of Light saga and it pays off. By the game’s end I can’t say that I was entirely surprised by the twists. Instead, I was pleased that Team Ninja tried and succeeded to be different.
And a lot of the positivity can be given towards the implementation of Final Fantasy imagery across the game. A Tonberry can devastate your party instantly, just like its appearance in other entries. Bombs can take a beating but will blow up if not killed before the explosion. Seeing the Kingdom of Corneria updated along with familiar dungeons and shrines will bring a smile to players like me who simply just recognize it all.
By packaging this world and its story in a combat-heavy experience that feels uniquely Team Ninja allows Stranger of Paradise to exist on its own merits. Players who have dived into the acclaimed Nioh are going to be right at home with the game.
The basics are very straightforward, having players use a variety of light and heavy attacks to string together combos with various weapons and jobs. Special skills consume MP which becomes increasingly important in harder battles with bosses or enemy groups. Targeting spells like Fira takes some time to hold down a button and select a direction, feeling slow at first but becoming more intuitive with time and leveling up.
An interesting mechanic is the game is the use of Soul Burst and Soul Shield. To conserve potions and elixirs between checkpoints, players will want to end fights as fast as possible and without using up too much MP. Enemies have a “break” gauge and when this is depleted, can be inflicted with a Soul Burst that initiates a dramatic animation for each enemy and makes them explode, rewarding MP and possibly providing the player with extra. The Soul Shield acts as a kind of damage absorption tool but it drains the player’s break gauge, setting them up for extra damage and stagger if abusing it. However, timing the Soul Shield at the right time acts like a kind of parry and if the player parries a spell, they will absorb it and be able to send it back to the enemy.
Stranger of Paradise can be a bit convoluted at first. While a great tutorial system exists to let players execute moves and try everything out, it can all be very daunting. Playing on a normal difficulty means that players need to be mindful of enemy attack windows and how to properly time offense and defensive maneuvers. Though not overly punishing, Team Ninja is known for grueling mechanics that will crush players to help better educate them.
What provides the necessary amount of complexity and enjoyment is that job system that literally uses jobs across the Final Fantasy franchise. By investing skill points and leveling up, players will unlock various moves and buffs that expand their capabilities. Party members can be assigned jobs meant to supplement various playstyles and fill in personal gaps. Synergies exist between skills where players can be Paladins that do damage and heal, Blue Mage status buffs, inflict ailments on foes, or just focus on raw damage output.
The flexibility of the job system is one of the best things about Stranger of Paradise. It never grows into a convoluted mess and players can focus on the skills they want without worrying about lengthy combo inputs. That being said, frustration may arise from the game’s subpar presentation in menus and poor readability when trying to navigate the sheer amount of loot that is rewarded. An auto-equip option exists but, much like Nioh, Stranger of Paradise floods the player with gear that can feel like a swamp to figure out. Additionally, world navigation and quest selection is mostly delegated to menu selection, making power optimization and progression feel sluggish at times.
Regardless of these issues, Team Ninja has delivered on a worthy Final Fantasy game. It may not be a mainline entry but I don’t think a numbered Final Fantasy title is always what the world needs. Spin-offs can have great value because they allow players the opportunity to revisit a beloved universe and the amount of realities Square has delivered over the past decades means there’s plenty of ripe fruit to pluck.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin rises above the absurd memes and the raised eyebrows. Unsurprisingly, the pedigree of Team Ninja should give players little hesitation that a competent, accomplished developer was at the helm. And the result is an engaging, complex take on the first Final Fantasy, the origins of a franchise that deserves more strange experiments.
