There’s always been something particularly special about the opening cinematics of Final Fantasy games. The beautiful graphics accompanied by gorgeous soundtracks leave an unforgettable impression. I can vividly remember watching the starting FMV for each of my most beloved Final Fantasy favourites, and the feeling of excitement they provided.
Watching the Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin opening sequence filled me with a sense of nostalgia, but it was clear from the copious amounts of blood splatter that this was not going to be your typical Final Fantasy. It sums up Stranger of Paradise as a whole — though seemingly paradoxical, it offers something that is both intimately familiar while pushing the series to places it has never seen before.
There were two things that enthralled me about Stranger of Paradise — the mystery and the memories. Stranger of Paradise uses the original Final Fantasy as a motif and so, unsurprisingly, much of the content and the basic premise are similar. The development team explained that it’s not a remake or a sequel, so what is it? I was burning to find out.
Whatever it is, Stranger of Paradise is bloody, brutal, and challenging. This should come as no surprise given that it’s the lovechild of Square Enix and Koei Tecmo’s Team Ninja, the people responsible for the Nioh series. You can see a lot of Nioh’s influence throughout the game, especially in the combat system and with how boss fights play out. Battles are fast-paced, fun, and frenzied. There’s something particularly satisfying about smacking enemies about, grabbing them, and smashing them in the face with a brutal Soul Burst finisher.
Even with tutorials, combat can be overwhelming. Soul Shields, staggering enemies, guarding, break gauges, Soul Bursts, and that’s all before you even start looking into the job system with its multitude of available roles, job affinities, combos, and battle sets. If you thought the Junction system in Final Fantasy 8 took some time to get used to, the in-depth systems of Stranger of Paradise up the ante even further. You can muddle through without learning the fine points, but you won’t see the full benefits.
Even though Stranger of Paradise is geared towards a more mature, challenge-loving audience, it doesn’t ostracize FF fans by being too difficult. There’s a Story Mode difficulty that can be paired with an additional Casual Mode, so you can breeze through and enjoy the plot without the risk of throwing your controller in a fit of game rage.
The difficulty is just one element, however. Most compelling is how Stanger of Paradise tells (or retells) old Final Fantasy stories. I knew going in that I couldn’t take things at face value. Even if something was a certain way in the original game, all bets were off for this latest adventure. This was made clear when the marketing revealed that Jack, the protagonist of Stranger of Paradise, is actually Garland, one of the antagonists of the original. Confused yet? It gets even more complicated as you go on.
You’re teased with snippets of information in the form of logs and missives that pop up in the loading screen or found throughout areas that give you glimpses of the bigger picture, yet the answers always seem to be just out of reach. I loved trying to put these clues together to puzzle it out and there are still some questions that went unanswered. I’m now desperately waiting for friends and colleagues to play too so we can dissect the storyline together. I can’t remember the last time I was so excited to discuss a game with others.
Final Fantasy wasn’t the only title from the series that Stranger of Paradise used for inspiration, and that’s the second thing that captivated me about this game — it was like taking a stroll down memory lane. Areas based on the original Final Fantasy can be deceptive, they might fit the bill in name, but the aesthetic and music are often a reimagining of another area from another game entirely. Stranger of Paradise’s version of Mount Gulg is based on the Fire Cavern of Final Fantasy 8, with different sections of the map paying homage to its parent game, such as the Chamber of the Lonely Lion to pay tribute to Squall.
The game is crammed full of references to other games in the series and I can’t convey enough just how emotional it was for me to play through so many familiar landscapes, not only reliving the joy of whichever game they originated from but seeing them reimagined in modern graphics as well. One area in particular that took my breath away was the Hallowed Massif, based on Final Fantasy 10’s Mt. Gagazet, where I couldn’t help but marvel at the stone figures of the Fayth.
Stranger of Paradise manages to capture more than just the look and sound of bygone games; it also encapsulates the feeling. Running around in the Ancient’s Tower based on Final Fantasy 11’s Delkfutt’s Tower rekindled memories I had long forgotten. The shuffling sound of Gigas on the floor above you, making you well aware you’re going to need to topple a giant in the near-future, enemy pots honing in to attack you, those damned endless corridors that all look the same, while you use glowing circular portals to get around.
It reminded me that I never mastered my sense of direction in FF11 and often just followed a far more knowledgeable friend to get through the maze of corridors. So many moments like this came flooding back to me as I played Stranger of Paradise. It was like looking back through a scrapbook of Final Fantasy history, but one that will be tailored to each FF fan who plays it as it will conjure up unique memories for each player.
It’s easy to fool yourself that you’re playing your typical FF game, but then Stranger of Paradise will do something completely unexpected. At the beginning of the game, before the King of Cornelia will allow you to go forth and kill Chaos, he asks that you defeat some other enemies to prove your worth first. Typical RPG fanfare, running around before actually getting to the point, am I right? Instead Stranger of Paradise cuts all that and just fast-forwards you to a cutscene of your boys after they’ve done the legwork, streamlining the normal RPG experience.
One of the most jarring aspects of the game that long-term FF fans might struggle to adapt to is the lack of a real world to explore. You simply select dungeons from the map, and even when you go to Cornelia to check in with the King, it’s not a proper location that you can investigate. The world-building is limited because of the lack of explorable environments, leaving you with a feeling of detachment from the setting and its inhabitants. This was something I struggled with at first. I had to remind myself to stop judging Stranger of Paradise as if it were a mainline title in the series and appreciate it for what it is. When you consider Jack and his comrades don’t remember who they are and where they come from, embracing this detachment seems to fittingly put you in their shoes of feeling like a stranger, but I still wish there was more to it.
While you can’t run around Cornelia and pick up side quests or speak to NPCs, these elements still exist in some form. You can unlock side missions for different locations by fulfilling certain criteria, giving you a reason to delve back into a dungeon. You can also talk to NPCs via the world map menu, where you can witness little snippets that largely seem pointless.
My only real, minor annoyance with the game is that the lighting or filters applied could be a little off at times. I’m well aware that sometimes this was deliberately done, but there were other scenes that were a murky mess, washed out from the lighting, or the bad filter detracted from whatever was happening on screen.
Stranger of Paradise is violent, dark, and brilliantly captivating. It’s a must-play for Final Fantasy fans. Steeped in sentiment and lovingly crafted homages to our favourite games, it offers a new mystery to unravel and breaks the mould of what you’d expect from the series. You might miss having a wide world to explore, proper side quests, and all the usual trimmings, but there’s a lot to love about Stranger of Paradise that you won’t find in your back catalogue of FF games.
Score: 4/5. A review code for PlayStation 5 was provided by Square Enix.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin in an action RPG from Team Ninja, and serves as an alternate-world prequel of sorts to the original Final Fantasy. It follows the story of Jack, a man obsessed with destroying Chaos.