I think, throughout the years, the Final Fantasy series and I have developed a kind of abusive relationship. Yes, we started making passionate love. The hours, days, weeks, months, years I’ve invested in this series only I know. I finished FF1, 4, 5, 6, 7, Crisis Core, Dirge of Cerberus, 7 Remake, 8, 9, 10, X2, 12, 13, 13-2, and 15. I have played Type-0, Tactics, Tactics advance, Crystal Chronicles, Dissidia, Dissidia Duodecim, Dissidia NT. I have also played FF14 A Realm Reborn (and am thinking about buying it to make more online content, so tell me if you’d enjoy that in the comments.)
What do I want to say with all that? Well, I KNOW MY FINAL FANTASY. I will forever love how this series made me feel. I just don’t know if the series loves me back. If it Loves us, gamers, back.
I think what I am trying to say is that Stranger of Paradise is a love letter from a lover that has made me so happy throughout the years. A lover that accessed layers and levels of emotions that no other had come close to doing so. A lover that, for better or worse, had something deeply meaningful to tell me, that would make me wonder day and night about it. A lover that, in a sense, made me question faith and precepts which I wouldn’t have done so otherwise. Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, this lover simply felt that it had to choose between loving me and taking care of its looks, and, therefore, would stop bringing anything intelligent or creative to the relationship. That is how I feel the Final Fantasy series has been treating me, and don’t you dare come for me saying “What about FF7 REMAKE”. FF7 Remake is a remake. Yes, it’s phenomenal. Yes, they changed stuff. But it was already built. It was the equivalent of picking up the fondest of memories and giving it new colors and even more meaning. Beautiful and poetic in every sense, but a memory nonetheless.
Final Fantasy was always more about a ping pong of reinventing itself here and now while self-referencing its legacy.
Could “Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins” be like that lover whom I fell in love with so many years ago? Or is it just somebody that I used to know? A Stranger dressed and posing as a long lost love that is alive only in my memories? A reminder that I must move on!?
I must say that I felt a bit skeptical about this game when the first trailer came out. It was ridiculous. The Protagonist yelled “Let’s kill Chaos” at least 20 times. But I also felt intrigued by his daddyness. If there are unexplored territories in the franchise, those are the DILF and MILF. I mean, look at FF15. If you told me they were a JPop band going to their concert and suddenly had to save the world from impending doom, then I would have believed it. Not only that. Vaan, Tidus, Squall, Cloud and any other protagonist could totally be considered pretty boys, so to see Jack manliness combined with the face of a twink who transitioned quite well into his daddy years is a nice change of pace
Also, playing the game’s demo made me feel even better about the game. Great mechanics, good visuals, interesting setting and voice acting. I felt like it was a variant (gameplay wise) of FF7Remake. Real time battles, revamped soundtrack and the job system. It really felt like I was playing the original game like the devs envisioned, but, due to resources and technology of the time, could not execute it.
To my surprise, the final product was not that different from the demo. Gameplay-wise, there a tons of new weapons and jobs, and most are very fun to play, but my guess is that you will choose a path and master it. My favorite character to play in FF7 Remake was Tiffa, so I obviously went for the Pugilist path, but my soul was also abducted by Nioh2, so I had to choose the Ronin path for my second job. In my opinion, this is a glimpse of what Final Fantasy 12 could be if it had been made in current times.
It’s impossible to talk about this game without mentioning the series' track record.
I saw an amalgamation of many modern FF mechanics in FF7 Remake, and I see it here. But I do think they worked better on FF7R then they do here, and the sole reason for that is that Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins tries too hard (and inefficiently) to be a blend of Dark Souls, Nioh, FF 13, 15 and 7R, whereas it should remove the soulslike element of Dark Souls and embrace more of a Nioh, FF12, 13, 15, 7R and Nier Automata mechanics. I said it once and I’ll say it again: Dark Souls combat system SUCKS, but I absolutely love what it brought to the table in terms of grandiosity. I think the parry and dodge systems of SoP are bad, they should be MUCH BETTER (like Nioh and Nier Automata, respectively), but I think the pacing of the combat is good (like FF15 and 7R). I also think your partners, in combat, suck (like 7R and 15). They should have a gambit system (like FF12). I think the job system is very good (like FF12 and many others), but because you can only control Jack in battle, it does not matter if your partner has any cure, they will not cure you because their AI SUCKS (like FF7R and FF15). A gambit system would do wonders in this game, because then we would be able to customize your party’s actions and the combat would be optimized. As it is, it does not matter if your companion is a mage or a sage, they will be as unhelpful as Donald in Kingdom Hearts.
What about music? What about lore? What about character development?
Well… they are there. And they work… most of the time.
How much do you really remember from the Original Final Fantasy? If your answer is “not much” then the story will be confusing at times, but serviceable at best. It will not change your life or make you lie in bed thinking about the existence of a god, or “what is wrong or right”. It will have a Prologue, 3 acts and a very extensive epilogue. That’s that.
However, if you remember something from the original or something from the Dissidia games, then you might really enjoy how this tale unfolds. I, for one, loved it. But I will not spoil it because I do think that the story should be savored like a delicious premium chocolate. It will give you pleasure, melt in your mouth and leave you with an incredible taste in the mouth, but it’s chocolate and your body will not take any good advantage from it, but your munchies will.
Jack is a very interesting protagonist, and since he’s a daddy and not a twink, he will not nag about like a boring teen or young adult. He will grunt and punch like a testosterone filled man with no time to waste because he really wants to kill Chaos and he has no time for shenanigans. I love his response, and what could be considered bad writing, I applaud it as “Pragmatic storytelling”. I wish more JRpgs told more pragmatic storytelling.
I read a long time ago, I don’t remember when, that FF devs and producers wanted Final Fantasy to go back on being a reference in RPGs. After the SOMEWHAT fiasco of FF15 (when your game is SO incomplete that you need to watch a movie, read a comics, play a mobile game and wait for 7 DLCs to tell the story that was supposed to be in the final product, then YES, it is a FIASCO) I am very happy to say that Stranger of Paradise can hold its own, not as a spin off, but as a very good remake of a main series title. The music is forgettable, the characters are… there and entertain (mostly Jack, to be honest). But the game does a masterclass on building on a very solid foundation, finally bringing to life the Final Fantasy that saved Squaresoft from bankruptcy a long time ago. The Final Fantasy that was envisioned. That is no small feat. Yet, one of its biggest issues is that for every two steps it takes in the right direction, it steps back one. Let it be a FINAL FANTASY first, it can emulate a soulslike later. If you plan on investing (which you should), you will find yourself really enjoying a dark and intriguing Fantasy world that will probably make you yearn for more. You will sink your teeth in the combat and drain it until you can no more, and you will have fun.
And, just like a lover that wants you back and decides to write a love letter a bit rough around the edges, you will find that this lover may have understood the error of their ways, and even if they are too vain at times, they really want to make you have fun again, different from how it was, in a more mature and reimagined way. And, who knows? Maybe you feel like trying again, for old times sake. I know I did, and lord, I still do.
I give Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins an 8,5.