Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin (2022; PC, PS4, PS5, XBONE, Xbox Series X/S)

[Koby]

Premise

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is an action role-playing game in which players explore environments and fighting monsters of the Final Fantasy series. Combat takes place in real-time, with Jack being able to switch between two assigned jobs and use physical and magical attacks. Once an enemy's "break gauge" is depleted, Jack can perform a finishing blow that crystallizes the enemy, allowing Jack to harvest them and restore a portion of his magic meter.

 

It is set in a dark fantasy interpretation of the setting for the original Final Fantasy game, with a group of people drawn into it from another world. The main character is Jack, a man consumed by a need to destroy Chaos. He is accompanied by his companions Ash and Jed, and during the journey faces the knight Garland who has taken on the role of Chaos; while seemingly the foretold Warriors of Light, each has doubts as to whether that is their role.

 

Development

Final Fantasy Origin is being co-developed by franchise creators Square Enix and Koei Tecmo division Team Ninja. It is being co-directed by Daisuke Inoue, Hiroya Usuda and Nobumichi Kumabe; co-produced by Jin Fujiwara and Fumihiko Yasuda. The story and scenario are being written by Kazushige Nojima. Tetsuya Nomura created the original concept, and acts as character designer and creative producer. Nomura created the initial idea for Origin after production finished on Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, imagining an action-focused game about conquering locations. When later approached for a new Final Fantasy concept, he combined this initial concept with a different concept of a game series focusing on an angry older protagonist to create the final concept.

 

The aim behind the title was a mature, "brutal" take on the Final Fantasy series that would separate it from the rest of the franchise while retaining connections to it. The gameplay was designed to emulate Team Ninja's known style of challenging action combat; Team Ninja had previously worked with Square Enix on Dissidia Final Fantasy NT. Commenting on the scenario, Nojima highlighted one line, "It's not a hope or a dream. It's like a hunger. A thirst.", as the mainspring of the story, saying it.

 

The game's existence was leaked by industry insiders in May 2021. It was announced during a Square Enix livestream forming part of E3 2021; its platforms are PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Microsoft Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. A limited time trial version was also launched alongside the announcement, intended as a standalone demo to elicit feedback from players to fine tune the game prior to release.

 

The trailer met with a mixed response from journalists and fans due to its tone and characters designs. The demo was balanced so it was approachable using different playstyles, incorporating different job types and difficulty levels. At release, the demo was found to not launch due to corrupted files, prompting Square Enix to work on a fix. A patch released on June 15, fixing the corrupted files and allowing the demo to be played. The patch came included with first-time downloads.

 

 

[Koby]

 

Demo Gives a pretty good in-depth view of the mechanics, job system, skill sets, etc. Actually somewhat interested in the game after seeing this... versus that shitty trailer that made me think it was going to be complete garbage.

 

Shame no PC demo though.

 

One thing to note is one of the biggest gripes from the E3 presentation trailer was the very basic character design and shitty outfit, but turns out they were just showing us the non-equipment version in the trailer cause they're idiots. Every piece of equipment changes the character. Would've been smart to show off a decked out character instead of a raggedy shirt.

 

 

In the demo this is the only playable character. The other two guys just follow you around and are AI controlled. You don't even see their health bars though it does ask you to heal them when they're near death.

 

Seems equipment has it's own level too. Not something you can actually level up or nothing... but for example: Twilight Tunic (Lv. 3) and Twilight Tunic (Lv. 5). So you can find equipment that is the same but has better stats.

 

Also weapon type can change your job. Started off as a Swordsman, can unlock Warrior Job through the Swordsman Skill Tree, but then equipping a Mace type weapon turned him into a Mage.

[Koby]

Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin launches on Steam April 6th.

[Lonewolfe187]

lol its classic 2000s amv edge good times good times

[Zemekis]

It ran so poorly on the PS4 I gave up on it. Back-lighting would shine through the characters' heads in cutscenes, stuttering gameplay, and jagged textures...I don't need games to look all that good, but it needs to play smoothly if it's an action game. The disappointment of that release turned me off to trying the game for PS5 or PC. Funnily enough, I got it through GameFly on a trial subscription so I didn't buy it or pay to play it. I guess I'm just butthurt that they even released the game for sale in that state so I'm against it now.

I'll admit that the memes surrounding its lead-up to release were good. Sadly, it's only been a year or so since release and it's already forgotten by most. It'll remain a footnote in FF's history unless they release a sequel. (opinion)

[Koby]

Just now, Zemekis said:

It ran so poorly on the PS4 I gave up on it. Back-lighting would shine through the characters' heads in cutscenes, stuttering gameplay, and jagged textures...I don't need games to look all that good, but it needs to play smoothly if it's an action game. The disappointment of that release turned me off to trying the game for PS5 or PC. Funnily enough, I got it through GameFly on a trial subscription so I didn't buy it or pay to play it. I guess I'm just butthurt that they even released the game for sale in that state so I'm against it now.

I'll admit that the memes surrounding its lead-up to release were good. Sadly, it's only been a year or so since release and it's already forgotten by most. It'll remain a footnote in FF's history unless they release a sequel. (opinion)

I finally played the game to completion last Summer via the PC version on Steam. It ran excellent on my PC, but while my PC isn't top-end, it's definitely higher end than the average according to Steam statistics: AMD R5 3600 CPU, 32 GB DDR4-3600 RAM, Nvidia RTX 3060 GPU and the game was installed on a nvme drive. Had a lot of fun with the game, which is why I plowed through it so quickly.

 

Took about 28 hours of playtime for the main game with its side quests. With the DLC though, my final playtime was around 53 hours upon 100% completion.

[Zemekis]

Oh yeah I'm sure it would run fine on my 3080, I think I was just soured by them releasing a version that's nearly unplayable. I'm such a stickler for physical copies that I'll even opt for the weaker system's release if it's physical. That leads me into situations like these so I know it can be a dumb stance to take. Squeenix still holds some blame for having the audacity to charge money for the PS4 version. 

I have a few friends who played the game on PC and they had no complaints. I think I'm just butthurt about the version I played for reasons that'll only make sense to me. Despite having a nearly top of the line PC, I mostly use it for indie games or playing particularly rare retro games I don't have the console/disc/cart for. PC is the best choice these days for multiplayer as well I think. I should try out newer games to put my hardware through its paces more often.