The surprising collaboration between Koei Tecmo's Team Ninja and Square Enix produced Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, a prequel and retelling of the first game of the series. An attempt to answer any questions the original left all those years ago, such as what happened to the Lufenians, a time-traveling civilization that was long extinct by the start of the original.

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Stranger of Paradise is understood as a homage to the series, complete with callbacks and references, both overt and hidden, everywhere you look. We'll touch on a little bit of everything end game here, including Anima and Chaos difficulty.

7 Search Among The Hidden

SOP Secret Access once you get pushed by this door into a secret room

If there is one thing this game teaches you, it's that if you fall into the dark abyss traps, you are dead. No ifs, ands, or buts. However, what if you were told that there are hidden paths inside of the abyss - would you jump? The walls that move in the mission Memories of Earth will push you off if you don't destroy them in time. Well, what if you were to let the second wall win the scuffle? You might find a secret room inside that abyss it's pushing you toward.

Whether it's treasure, items, or monsters, there is just the right number of nooks and crannies inside the varying dungeons that deserve to be thoroughly checked out. You never know if you'll find something that will help you get past that boss you're struggling with.

6 Experimenting With End Game Gear

Stranger of Paradise Chaos Gear menu with level 172 gear

Once you finish the main game, you unlock the chaos difficulty, which allows you to get much better gear drops than on the other difficulties and deepens the customization with the gear you obtain. Chaos mode is essential if you want to build affinity for two jobs at once.

Unfortunately, there isn't much in the way of story in the end game, so all you can really do is grind out and maximize your gear to fight each of the big baddies on Chaos difficulty. There is a bright side, as DLC is planned, so now is just as good a time as any to get ready for all the new monsters and encounters you will be facing.

5 Anima Crystals Aren't Just For Missions

SOP Anima Farm killing a fire elemental for anima crystals

Levels in Chaos mode require Anima crystals in order to unlock harder difficulties in each level, making Anima worth the grind. You can of course unlock new missions and higher levels for them, but another useful way you can use the crystals is to level up your jobs.

Don't feel as though you have to complete each level individually either - if you feel like your skill is up to par, feel free to try a higher difficulty than your current one. If you are successful, you will receive not only the rewards for that level, but also for each difficulty you skipped to finish that level. It's handy to get multiple rewards at once.

4 Don't Sleep On The Paladin Job

SOP Paladin casting holy fang attack on chaos advent

It's safe to say that most people who played Stranger of Paradise tried out plenty of the builds and found their favorites - totally understandable. However, you might not want to sleep on some of the more defensive builds out there.

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Take Paladin, for example: sure it’s mostly good for keeping your HP up and for defense, but the move Holy Fang is not to be overlooked. While it's good for keeping your HP filled, you shouldn't wait to use it until your health is low, but to use it when you have a good amount of HP. When you do, Holy Fang gains a passive damage boost when you have a full HP bar. You're basically a walking, self-healing tank.

3 Don't Skip Too Many Chaos Levels

SOP Chaos Difficulty spreads all over the world map once you beat the story

Understandably, this information seems paradoxical to what you read earlier about skipping over levels. That part remains true. If you were to try and skip more than six levels (or are six levels weaker than the base level for that mission), you will take a penalty, and the results are pretty severe.

First, it will take a lot more for you to break the enemies' gauge, while simultaneously you become extremely fragile and easily broken. While technically doable if you are careful, showing a little restraint while trying to grind what you need will be quicker in the long run. Patience is a conquering virtue, after all.

2 The Lufenian Connection

SOP Lufenian showing us the fashion of the future as our memory is wiped

The Lufenians are a huge part of the story in Strangers of Paradise, as they are the ones who are in control of the world and its chaotic energies (to an extent at least), to which they can harvest the incoming energies to fuel their home and idyllic version of paradise. They were in the original Final Fantasy of course, as sort of refugees who were kicked out of their home by the Sky Fiend. But there is also another connection they have that stems from another Final Fantasy spin-off title: Dissidia. The transfer and collection of energy? Check. Resetting the world and eventually causing harm to harness said energy? Check and check.

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In Dissidia, Shinryu is a force that made a pact with the Lufenian Cid, along with characters Cosmos and Chaos, to manage a way to return home. The pact locked Cosmos and Chaos in a battle spanning eons, with each battle ending in a reset of the warriors involved losing their memories to feed Shinryu. Theorists have speculated that the same Shinryu is the catalyst in both games.

1 Remember Lightbringer Mode In The Endgame

SOP Lightbringer activated by jack to take down all the enemies

When you are working on your dungeon runs, sometimes the gameplay can get a little rhythmic in form: block, dodge, swing, and repeat. Maybe after around ten hours, you might forget about a mechanic or two, and that's okay. Lightbringer is a mode that gives you damage and break boost but requires at least two bars of MP to activate.

Additionally, certain jobs have an affinity with Lightbringer, such as the basic swordfighter or the advanced job of Berserker, which will enhance the berserker's ability to break damage even greater. Plus, it serves as an alternate Soul Burst, provided your enemy's health is at zero. It sounds like a common sense mechanic to remember while playing, but in the heat of the moment, you never know when you'll forget about it.

NEXT: Stranger Of Paradise: Things Only Players Of The Previous Games Will Notice