Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin Reviews
Team Ninja serves up some solid Soulslike combat with a generous helping of cheese.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin's story doesn't come together until the final hours, but when it does it pairs nicely with a solid and engaging action combat system and a strong dose of FF nostalgia.
Baffling writing aside, default story difficulty makes this the breeziest Soulslike ever, while combat still carries depth.
Enjoyable Souls-lite combat can't make up for the tedious loot system and laughably bad storytelling, in this misconceived Final Fantasy spin-off.
There's a half-decent time to be had bashing your way around Stranger of Paradise's dungeons, but routine level design, rough edges and messy narrative delivery stop the experience evolving into a compelling adventure. Despite its efforts to create ordered systems, chaos has the final word.
Stranger of Paradise is the strangest Final Fantasy game yet, bounding wildly between awful and fantastic. If you can tolerate Jack (and that’s a big ask), the excellently crafted combat is worth a look. You may be coming to this game for the story and Final Fantasy experience, but it’s all about combat and little else.
I didn’t expect to enjoy smashing the heads of monsters like this. I also didn’t expect to enjoy a story about a hyper-masculine man like Jack. But what I’ve come to learn in my time with Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is that Jack isn’t a knight in shining armor. He’s better.
There's a lot of meme potential in Stranger of Paradise thanks to its willingness to be aggressively confusing, but fun, varied combat carries its most WTF moments forward.
Impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.
Stranger of Paradise is one of "those" games - a scuffed diamond that's a joy to play, yet has unmissable imperfections. However, while annoying, a poor story and bland visuals don't diminish its punchy RPG action, nor its rewarding web of character customisation options. Needless to say, we're pretty eager to see how Stranger is received by the Final Fantasy fandom.
We are not sure if she will be remembered as a complete disaster or as a hooligan with a lot of personality. What we do have clear is that Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins is pure and absolute chaos.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
If you're curious about what Final Fantasy would look like as a Souls or Nioh-style action game, Stranger of Paradise is a solid effort. It's just a shame that it's bogged down by its oddball narrative choices and its cumbersome loot system, which makes the total package such a mixed bag. I suppose it's the nature of this chaotic beast.
Stranger of Paradise's main feature is the style of play and not any other item.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
An action RPG with several technical and structural problems, fun at times but too immature to achieve the objectives it sets itself.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is a B-movie game. It’s loud, dumb, and full of fun. You have to ignore a lot – a lot – of issues if you want to extract the joy from its chaotic heart, but once you commit, toy around with the weapons, penetrate its poorly-explained mechanics and forgive Jack for his one-dimensional personality, you’re left with a game that’s part Devil May Cry, part Nioh, and part Face/Off. And let’s be honest, who doesn’t want to play that?
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is a decent action RPG, but it's occasionally weighed down by unnecessary mechanics and inconsistent difficulty.
It’s far from the best Final Fantasy game. It certainly isn’t the best action game. But it’s still a fast-paced and enjoyable playthrough.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is an incredibly fun game, filled with bombastic combat, which also expands on the existing lore of the original Final Fantasy.
Stranger of Paradise is a good game, but it had the potential to be a great game. Its self seriousness backfires to a genuinely endearing degree, but also leaves the story poorly fleshed out and possibly hard to follow. The combat may be fun, fluid, and visceral, but issues with the PC version should make players look to other platforms.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin seems to prove that the Final Fantasy franchise can thrive in the action game scene with this first franchise venture from Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo. The title isn't a true home run, but it is an exciting adventure that expands the franchise lore in a unique direction. The Final Fantasy Job system is as interesting and exciting as ever and adds a unique twist on the action game format as players grind through each challenging dungeon and fill in all the Job talent trees one by one.